𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 ▸ Dimitri and Rose share a hopeless love. Knowing they shouldn't care for each other doesn't make holding back any easier. When a Strigoi threat abroad sees Dimitri reallocated on a suicide mission, will he make it out ali...
In the many years that followed, we always referred to those few months after I graduated as our summer of love. The summer when Dimitri showed me his abiding love by building me a home, and at the end of it I by giving him our first child. We didn't realize it at the time, but the foundations of love, friendship, humor, and camaraderie formed in those brief, precious months before two became three were to form the backbone of our lives together and sustained us through the bad times as well as the good.
I was sitting in the courtyard of Abe's house in Turkey watching the sun set. My love sat beside me, his eyes closed, a small smile on his face. He was turning forty in a few weeks. There were strands of gray starting to appear in his dark hair, and the crinkles at the corners of his eyes were deeper. But he still looked the same to me. With my lover's eyes, he was still the handsome man who'd swept me off my feet sixteen years ago.
"You're staring Roza," he chuckled, sensing my eyes on him like he always did.
"I am, Comrade," I acknowledged, lifting a lock of my long dark hair and tickling him with it.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked, opening an eye and peering at me curiously.
"Our summer of love," I replied in contentment, resting my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes as the memories that seemed like only yesterday played in my mind.
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"Duckie! How are you enjoying court?" I asked as soon as Mase answered his phone.
"Rose! It's good. Eddie and I went shopping yesterday, and today we just hung out."
"Have you had dinner, yet?"
"No, we're about to go and find something now."
"Well... You know how I visited Court with Dimitri when he first came back? I discovered the most amazing place. It's two blocks from where you're staying, and I've organized a surprise for you! Get Eddie and go out of the Guardian accommodations, turn left and walk for a block till the corner of Third and Tarus. Then turn right and walk for a block and it's at the next intersection. It's a pâtisserie. Go inside and ask for the takeaway order under the name Hathaway. It's already paid for."
"It isn't the same without you here, Rose. I always thought we'd be doing this together. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye at the Academy. I tried to come and see you in the infirmary, and they said no one was allowed in. And then the next thing I know you were gone."
"Sorry, Mase. After everything with Tasha... I just needed to get out of there. You'll forgive me once you see this pâtisserie, I promise! Now go get Eddie and go!"
"Alright Hathaway, keep your hair on! I'll call you later."
"Make sure you do, Mase," I said, a smile in my voice.
I was parked on the other side of the intersection from the pâtisserie. It was 8 am, so the start of my day. I'd promised Dimitri I'd only drive solo during daylight, so I'd waited for sunrise before setting out. With my hair up in a cap and a pair of sunglasses on, the guys wouldn't recognize me from this distance.
