𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐏𝐇𝐀 ▸ [OOC/Omegaverse] Novice Rose Hathaway had worked to be her best friend's Guardian for as long as she could remember. But when Lissa's entire family died in a car accident, everything changed. Now the best Rose can hope for is a...
"I didn't know if anyone would be here," Tatiana said as she lowered herself onto a sofa in her new home. During the week and a half they had detained her, they'd evicted her from her extensive suite of rooms in the palace. Her space declared 'property of the Moroi and Dhampir people' they had moved her personal belongings into an apartment along the same laneway occupied by Adrian and Ambrose. An identical three-level apartment to that her nephew enjoyed, the former Monarch was grateful they situated her residence beside Ambrose's and not Adrian's.
"I wanted to help you settle in," Ambrose said lightly.
Her eyes flitting around the room, Tatiana recognized he'd put considerable effort into making the space comfortable and familiar. Some smaller pieces of furniture from her former abode had been brought to the new dwelling, along with rugs, books, and pieces of art. It was all very her.
"That was kind of you," she murmured, unsettled by her change of living space but more so by her change of circumstances. Earlier Guardian Croft had visited her in the rooms where she'd been detained. He'd started by thanking her for her many years of service, stating the coup had not been a personal attack on Her Majesty, but a necessary amendment to a system of government that wasn't working for most of those it represented. Unfailingly civil, Tatiana listened as he explained that they would not allow her to live in her quarters at the palace, but in recognition of her service, an apartment on the edge of the palace had been furnished for her use.
As far as Tatiana was concerned, the way Croft spoke to her was contemptible. While they'd always had a cordial professional relationship, his previous interactions with her had been marked by distinct deference. Such was no longer the case. When detailing her new living arrangements, and the conditions surrounding her release, Croft had spoken to her as though he considered himself her equal! A Dhampir dictating terms to the Moroi Queen as though he had any right to!
Choosing not to tip her hand, Tatiana voiced the expected words of thanks, her mind already planning her next move. If Croft, Mazur, and the rest of their traitorous cadre thought she would allow centuries of Royal Moroi rule to end, they had another thing coming. She would settle in and bide her time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to right recent wrongs. One thing she'd learned from Mazur was that timing was everything!
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"You don't feel used by our lunch with Lissa today?" Dimitri asked Rose when they returned from their lengthy meal with his wife's best friend. The food and conversation had been good, yet he still felt out of sorts. "If she'd wanted to catch up, we could have gone to their place..."
"She's in this position because of us," Rose chided, still feeling guilty about Lissa's displacement from the Royal Council and the timing surrounding it. "I don't care where we meet, and if it shows other Dhampir she cares, then why not?"
"She never wanted a public catch up like that before," Dimitri growled ominously, thinking every time they'd met over the years it was Rose traveling to Lissa, and usually in private. The Royal Princess had never gone out of her way to see Rose! He didn't doubt the friendship between Lissa and his mate, but sometimes he worried the young Royal Moroi expected too much of his Roza.
