The Russian Selection

Chapter 7

It has been 3 weeks since Delilah's death. I have slowly come to terms with it and have been moving on. Lissa has been by my side the entire time and she distracts me with her wedding plans.

Dimitri has been very patient with me as well. He always comes up to my room for lunch and has a private meal with me. I have spent most of my time either in my room or in the gym.

Kirova hasn't been a bitch and demand that I come to the lessons. She usually just sends them to me via Mia.

I woke up this morning and decided that I was ready to enter back to the real world. The Selection is still going on and I still need to fight for Dimitri, no matter how much affection he has been showing me. There are still 5 other girls fighting for him.

"Mia, can you grab me the blue lace dress please?" I asked her as I sat down at my vanity. "Jill can you just lightly curl my hair?" Jill smiled at me, she is probably happy that I have come out of my coma.

Once Jill finished with my hair and light makeup, I went to get into my dress. It had blue lace at the top and then just a light silk fabric for the rest. The dress wasn't a tight fit but it wasn't super loose, just perfect. It went to my knees and with a pair of nude pumps; I was ready.

I smiled at both Mia and Jill before leaving my room. Mason has been standing watch at my door since we returned from Scotland and he was surprised to see me out and about.

"Rose," He said as the shock wore off and gave me his arm to escort me. "It is nice to see you outside of your room."

I just gave him a warm smile as we walked into the dining room. It surprised me that I was one of the first girls there. Dimitri was sitting at the head of the table reading a newspaper while sipping coffee. Olena was to his right reading the same paper while spreading jam on her black bread.

The scene made me happy; it felt real, normal. They both looked up when I took my normal seat and exchanged shocked looks.

"Rose," Olena said setting her paper to the side. "It is good to see you, I hope you are recovering well."

"I am," I said truthfully. "Thank you Your Majesty for your concern." She just smiled at me before returning to her paper.

A waiter set my normal breakfast in front of me and I went to town, causing Dimitri to chuckle. I was on my second helping of bacon when the rest of the Selected trickled in.

They all stopped in their tracks when they saw me, but tried to cover it up by sitting down hastily. Viktoria came in and sat down in her normal seat next to me and just pretended like everything was normal.

She said hello to me and started asking me her normal questions; how I am today, how I slept, and complimented me on my dress. We talked a little bit about the schools in Russia since we both had a passion for them.

Even though I still grieved for Delilah, it was nice to return back to normal. Natalie and Sonya were surprised to see me and tried to make small talk, but I could tell that they were being careful around me.

After I finished three plates of food, much to Dimitri and Viktoria's humor, I decided that I would excuse myself and head to the lessons early.

Dimitri followed me out of the dining room and caught me in the hallway.

"Rose," He said stopping me and pulling me aside so we weren't in the way of maids. "Are you sure you are ready?" I could see in his eyes true concern for me.

I just put a brave smile and kissed him on the cheek. "I can't wallow forever Dimitri. She would want me to move on with my life." He smiled and kissed my forehead. "Besides, I still have to fight 5 girls for you." I gave his hand a squeeze and left him in the hallway.