Queen Ruby

Chaper 32

"Ru-" I cut Roman off before he can finish asking me what I'm doing. Without any hesitation, I take his face in both my hands and pull him down a bit. Even standing on my tiptoes I'm not tall enough for what I'm about to do. I can feel his breath on my lips. I couldn't say what I was thinking when I closed the space between our lips, even if I wanted to.

I can feel Roman stiffen up at the sudden action, but he doesn't pull away. Instead, he wraps his arms around my wails and pulls me in closer. I sling my own arms around his neck. After a while, I pull away again. I can feel my face heating up and know that I am blushing. I look at the floor in silence, too afraid of my own actions. It's only now that my brain starts catching up with my body and the fact that I just kissed my guard hits me hard. I freeze up and squeeze my eyes shut to escape reality, but Roman won't let me. Carefully he pushes my chin up and places his forehead on mine.

"I'm sorry." He apologizes before pressing his lips on mine again. This kiss is longer and deeper. When we part again, both our eyes are half shut, a thin line of saliva hanging between us from our (French) kiss. Roman presses me close to him one more time before letting go and standing a few feet away. He looks like he wants to say something but just keeps his head down.

"Guard" I call him. He looks up in confusion.

"I order you to keep this secret with me," I say softly, smiling as I throw myself forward to hug him.

"Hey red?"

"Yea?"

"Let's continue this another time."

"Why?"

"Because, my queen, we are not the only ones in this apartment," Roman says with a sly grin on his face. My face turns red as a beet at the thought of anyone having seen us kiss. Roman, on the other hand, cracks up. Of course, this is funny to him. I punch is arm halfheartedly before leaving his side, to sit down at the table.

After dinner, I send Roman to check on Neo again. I don't want her waking up while I'm still here. If she found out she would tell Cinder and cinder would tell Salem and then we would lose the element of surprise and Roman couldn't spy anymore.

When Guard returns he seems relaxed. Neo is still sound asleep. He sits next to me on the small couch in his living room and gets out his scroll.

"We should keep your training up. I still haven't taught you everything I know." He says.

"Can we just train instead?" I ask him. "I don't feel like studying."

"Fine, but tomorrow we have to continue your studies." He agrees and we get up.

"Wait, I left Crescent Rose at Beacon!" I exclaim as I remember my weapon. Roman head palms before sighing and telling me to go get it and meet him at the temple. I nod before jumping out his window onto the roof of the building next to his. It doesn't take me long to get home with the help of my semblance. I get my things and run out before any of my friends can ask me where I was going.

I feel bad about what I did. I finally told my team about this, but now I have a new secret to keep. I remember when Weiss found out a while back, I didn't know what to do so I just took the easy way out and erased her memory. What if things don't go well with my team knowing? Can I erase their memories too? No, I shouldn't. I can't. I can't keep going back to Romans semblance. It's not good to erase memories. Should I return Weiss her memories? If I did she would find out what a coward I was. She will know I betrayed her trust. Even worse she will remember her confession. I will never say it out loud but the real reason I will never let her remember is that I know that we would never be able to go back to how we used to be.

When I arrived at the temple Roman was waiting for me.

------------------

"I must say, good job on the mission on Wednesday," Oz says as I enter his office.

"Thanks." I murmur under my breath. The last few days have both been fun and difficult. My team is still acting weird around me. They try to hide it, but I can tell that they don't trust me anymore.

"Are you ready for your meeting with Mr. Schnee tomorrow morning?" Oz asks me after I sit down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. I nod in silence.

"What's wrong?" I look up at his question.

"Is it that obvious?"

"You look like something has been bothering you."

I breathe slowly. "My team is acting weird around me. They don't trust me anymore. They think I'm crazy."

"I can't say I'm surprised. After all, it all sounds crazy. Did you make any progress building up an Army?"

"Even if they don't trust me, they are at least doing as I tell them to. In only a few days, we managed to organize a secret meeting. We spread the word that we would meet on Monday evening at the Temple." Weiss had organized and coordinated everything while Yang and Blake spread the word. The legend of the silver-eyed warrior reappeared on campus. The message was if you want to help fight for your world come to the meeting. No one knew exactly what it meant, but the curiosity was sure to bring at least a hundred to the meeting.

"What are you planning on telling them?" Professor Ozpin asks me.

"I am only going to tell them about Salem and the Rose Queen. I will only tell them enough to motivate them to fight with me, I won't tell them about the circle."

"it all sounds quite risky to me."

"That is why you are coming with me."

"I can't do that."

"I order you to come with me. I need you to be there, without you to confirm what I tell them, no one will believe me."

He sighs. "As you wish my Queen."