Amnesia // Dimitri Belikov

III

"I'm falling apart,
I'm barely breathing,
with a broken heart that's still beating."

***

'Rose, is everything okay?'

Lissa's voice sounded kind and concerned, through the bond Rose could feel all the worry that swirled in her mind. She took a deep breath, 'Everything's fine.'

'You've been in there for a real long time.'

A sigh escaped Rose's lips as she took the bathroom door off the lock, her hands still shaking. Lissa stepped inside and sat down on the ground, next to Rose. 'You can talk to me,' Lissa whispered.

Rose sniffled and leaned her head back against the wall, 'It's okay... I've just not been sleeping that well recently. It's kind of getting to me, you know?'

Lissa pushed her knees up to her chest and folded her arms around them, 'This bond might go just one way, but you're still my best friend and I can tell when you're holding back information.'

A lone tear trickled down Rose's cheeks, 'It's a long story.'

'I've got time.'

'No, you don't. You have guests.'

'Christian will be fine, I'll tell them that you had food poisoning from something you tried to make yesterday. They'll buy it, everyone knows what a terrible cook you are. And I just stayed to help you through it, like friends do.'

A giggle escaped Rose's lips, 'Please don't be mad.'

'Why would I be mad?'

Rose looked down in shame, 'I- I kept something from you- something pretty big.'

Lissa's eyes widened, 'Okay... well that hurts. But if you weren't able to literally read my mind, maybe you'd know a bit less about me as well... So I suppose that's not too bad.'

And somehow, the walls she'd built completely shattered, a waterfall of tears flowing down her cheeks. Soft sobs left her lips as she buried her head in between her hands, 'He doesn't love me anymore.'

Lissa crawled closer towards Rose, pulling her head gently onto her lap, her fingers lacing through her brown locks. 'Who?'

'He- I sacrificed everything... I went to Russia, risked my goddamn life. I got captured, Lis, tortured. I lived up to the bloodwhore title everyone was so prone to give me at the Academy.'

'Who are you talking about?'

Rose pushed herself up and looked Lissa in the eyes, 'Dimitri.'

She watched as the eyes of her friend widened, 'Guardian Belikov? But he was your mentor.'

She tore her gaze away, sobs leaving her lips, 'It didn't matter, we loved each other. He loved me. And now- I can't even- he just... I...'

'It's okay,' Lissa whispered as she pulled her into her embrace.

Tears burned in Rose's eyes, her entire body trembling as she sobbed, 'We were going to be together Lis, he was going to get an allocation, be Christian's guardian. We were going to be- and then they attacked the school, the rescue mission... I went to Russia,' she paused as sobs cut her off and then continued, 'Juliet had it easy, you know... I mean.. she barely knew the guy and... she never had to kill him.'

'That's why you went to Russia,' Lissa spoke, the realisation hitting her and sadness coating her voice, 'to kill Dimitri.'

'And he captured me Lis, he drank my blood. I escaped- staked him- thought he was dead. I had to live knowing that I killed him. But then he wasn't dead- and I got these death threats from him,' she wiped her cheeks dry of tears, 'we found a way to save him. And everything was going to be okay, we were going to have our happy ending. But he didn't even want to see me.'

'Oh my god,' Lissa whispered, 'I'm so sorry... I didn't know.'

'He said he doesn't love me,' she choked on her voice, 'Love fades. Mine has.'

Lissa pulled Rose closer, she'd never seen her so broken, so weak and empty. She rocked back and forth, 'It's going to be okay.'

There was a knock on the bathroom door, followed by Christian's voice, 'Lissa, you need to say goodbye to the guests.'

Lissa placed a soft kiss on Rose's head and raised on her feet, leaving the bathroom and going to the dining room. As she caught side of Dimitri, her emotions suddenly turning bitter.

Eddie was the first to speak, 'Is Rose okay?'

'Yeah, she has food poisoning, tried to cook something yesterday, didn't work out. Anyway, have a good night everyone.' Her goodbye was followed by choruses of "goodnight's". But she wasn't done yet, 'Dimitri, could you wait a second?'

Christian frowned as he glanced at his girlfriend and watched while everyone left, except for Dimitri.

'Is there anything I can help you with, Princess?' he asked politely.

'Take a step forward.'

Dimitri frowned, but did as he was asked and took a step towards Lissa. Only to be met by her hand, on his cheek. His eyes turned wide in shock, but he didn't do anything to defend himself. And as Lissa looked in his eyes she slowly saw the realisation dawn on him, guilt flooding his aura. She stared him dead in the eye and slapped him across the cheek again.

'You may go now,' she spat.

And as Dimitri left, Christian turned towards her in disbelief, 'What the hell was that about?'

'Nothing.'

'That didn't look like nothing.'

Lissa looked her boyfriend dead in the eye, 'He got what was coming for him.'