Never Too Late: A VA Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-two

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead does.

DPOV:

I felt myself tense and my hand instinctively wrap around Rose and her stomach protectively. I buried any emotion that might have been on my face deep within me. By the time the Princess and Ivashkov reached us, my face was perfectly blank. Next to me, on the other hand, Rose was having a quiet break down.

Before I could figure out how to get us out of this situation, they were upon us. Seemingly clueless, they both sat down in front of us.

“Hey, Rose, hi Guardian Belikov,” Lissa said cheerily.

I nodded stiffly in response, pulling Rose closer to my side. I began drawing comforting circles on her stomach. Being this stressed was not at all good for our baby, and if anyone caused Rose to go through a miscarriage because they were too stupid to be careful around her and not stress her out, I would kill them. Rose loved the baby and so did I; losing it would destroy both of us.

“Deep breaths, Roza,” I murmured, leaning close to her ear. “I’ll get us out.”

“Rose, you remember Adrian, right?” Lissa continued, oblivious as she stirred her soup.

After a moment’s hesitation, Rose nodded stiffly. Adrian smiled, looking happy to see her.

Lissa turned to me. “Guardian Belikov, this is Adrian Ivashkov, a really good friend of ours. We’ve been catching up on things all day.”

Adrian held out a hand to shake, but I ignored it, barely acknowledging him.

“Could you move away from Rose, Lord Ivashkov?” I said coldly. “Rose is not comfortable being this close to...men.” I stopped myself from saying something I would regret.

Ivashkov looked genuinely shocked and slightly hurt. “Oh, um, sure.” He moved towards me - and away from Rose - a couple feet. His actions and what Rose told me were confusing me; why was he being so careful and willing to make things easier on Rose? It had to be fabricated to keep Lissa close.

I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my anger at his fakeness in. I felt Rose’s hand on my knee, mimicking the movements my hand was making on her stomach. Looking down, I saw her upturned face furrowed with concern. Taking several deep breaths, I calmed myself for Rose’s sake.

“Rose, I hope you get used to guys quicker because Adrian is going to come back with us to the Academy to work with me on magic.” Lissa was bubbling with happiness and excitement.  

“That’s-that’s great,” Rose squeaked.

Why didn’t she say she didn’t want Lissa working on magic? In that instant, I realised exactly how terrified Rose was. Where had my strong, brave Roza gone? I wondered, looking down at the small girl in my arms. Suddenly, I was scared; not for myself, but for Rose.

“We should be going,” I said hurriedly, preparing to stand.

“What - wait, no! You don’t have to leave! We just started talking and it’s been so long since I’ve talked to Rose; I was hoping to catch up,” Ivashkov exclaimed. He looked at Rose. “Come on, tell your jailer to stay. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other!”

I felt a wave of homicidal rage. The only thing that kept me from tearing him limb from limb was Rose’s now restraining hand. She looked at me uneasily before giving Ivashkov a smile that looked more like a grimace.

“Great seeing you, but we must go!” She stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me after her. I resisted.

Instead, I leaned close to Ivashkov so neither girl could hear and said in a deadly calm whisper, “Stay away from Rose. If you get within ten feet of her, you will find yourself suddenly thirty feet away, plastered on whatever is nearest, be it a tree or a building. Don’t look at her, don’t think of her, don’t even dream about her. If you do...” I gave him a predatory smile. “I know a guy who knows a guy, and if you were to suddenly disappear, no one would find you. Stay the hell away from her.” I gave him another dark smile as I leaned back.