Does Love Really Fade? {Vampire Academy}

Hard Truths

In case you were wondering, I got my projects done on time! So yay for that. ANYWAY.

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As promised, Lissa woke me up with exactly enough time to get ready. Luckily I didn't look like a disaster so I was able to put on a fresh shirt and pull my hair back into a ponytail and look perfectly fine for a family dinner. It occurred to me after I'd walked out my door that I had no idea which restaurant in Court I was supposed to meet my parents at.

No sooner had I thought it when Abe appeared, now wearing a dark maroon shirt with more jewelry than usual. "Ah, I was prepared to wake you myself."

"I had a wake-up call. I would be there by now but you never told me what restaurant we were going to, so you can see my dilemma." I said.

"Oh? It must have slipped my mind." He said before gesturing down the hallway, still not elaborating on just where we were eating dinner.

I joined him anyway and realized I had no idea where we were going. At first, I figured it would be one of the posh restaurants Royal Moroi loved so much since Abe clearly had the ability to get into them, but then we passed all of them and Abe walked towards the residential area and I stopped in my tracks, "Wait, are we eating at someone's house?"

"I don't believe I ever told you we would be eating at a restaurant. I only said dinner, you filled the rest in yourself."

"Who's house is this?" I asked, slowly following him into the modest house.

"Mine." I nearly stopped again but let him open the door and walked inside before I responded.

"Since when do you have a house at Court?"

Abe raised an eyebrow, "I've always had a house here, I can hardly conduct business in a building where my every word can be heard by a curious neighbor with a glass."

I opened my mouth to question his logic, but knowing what he did, I decided his reasoning made sense. I'd want privacy if I ran an illegal goods trafficking business. "So who's cooking then? One of your hired guardians?"

"I am, of course." At this point, I couldn't bring myself to be surprised by Abe's revelations.

My mother was already in the kitchen when I walked in, a glass of wine nearby as she cut vegetables, which was probably the most bizarre scene I'd seen in a while. When we walked in she put down the knife and marched right over to me. I half expected a punch to the face but instead, she pulled me into a bone-crushing hug for nearly a minute before releasing me and stepping back, professional once again.

"Rose, I'm glad you made it, I wanted to speak to you earlier but Lord Szelsky left Court for a period today and I had to accompany him."

"It's fine, really. I didn't even know you were here until Abe told me."

"Yes, well, I'll be here until the time the bill either passes or gets shut down but the opposing members of the council. After that, I might not be around for some time."

I nodded, I knew what a guardian's life was like. Even before I left I was aware of just how lucky I was that my best friend was a royal Moroi. We used to imagine our life after the Academy, exploring the world, just us and whatever other guardian happened to be assigned to her. It would have been perfect. And then the Queen took her on as a protege and Dimitri was turned and it all went to hell. There would be no world travels with my best friend in the near future.

"Of course, I understand."

Never one to avoid a subject, she brought up my future while Abe went to prepare the dinner. "Rose, now that you're back, you need to consider what you plan on doing about becoming a guardian again. I can't make any promises but I have a favor or two I can call in. I doubt you'll be guarding anyone specific but the Court can always use more guardians, especially ones with your training. I assume, of course, that you kept up with your training since you left."