Reading VA: Reading Vampire Academy (A VA fanfic)

Ten

RPOV
Not long after morning tea was finished, and Nadia had gone down for her morning nap, did the reading restart.

"Who's reading chapter ten?" I asked.
"Me!" exclaimed Adrian.

Okay then. I handed over the book and he opened it.
""Excuse me, Mr. Nagy? I can't really concentrate with Lissa and Rose passing notes over there."
"Mia was attempting to distract attention from herself-and her inability to answer Mr. Nagy's question-and it was ruining what had otherwise been a promising day."

We all listened in silence as Adrian continued. He managed to cover the reading of the note before snickers, laughter and snarky and sarcastic comments broke out.
When Adrian got to punishing me and Liss, Alberta pointed out to Dimitri the difference in the way the two teachers had handled their respective situations. The others had a right good laugh, which Dimitri and I took in stride.

Dimitri lustfully promised me I'd be paying in pleasure again tonight for slipping and naming him in that note. I all too happily accepted that I'd be getting so-called punishment again because it was doubling as an apology and make up. I had plans for tonight's session, he was going to 'pay' as well. It was all forgiven and in the past. But that didn't mean we couldn't use it as an excuse to have some serious fun making up for what we couldn't have while at the Academy, what Russia had granted yet tainted.

Adrian had restarted reading while I contemplated. That contemplation took up more time than I thought so I had missed a bit by the time I tuned back in. "I'd refused to let Lissa talk about the similarities between the fox and what happened two years ago. I didn't want to believe the two were connected, and certainly didn't want her to either.
"But I hadn't been able to stop thinking about that incident, not only because it was chilling, but because it really did remind me of what had just happened in her room."

The others not in the know wondered whether or not they had been related. Those in the know simply informed them answering those questions would be spoilers.

Adrian resumed reading when silence engulfed the group. Covering my recount of the incident and revealing a little of Lissa's sex life in the process. Making her shrink in embarrassment.
"Then the raven moved.
"Lissa gave a small scream and snatched her hand back. We both stared wide-eyed.
"The raven flapped its wings, slowly trying to right itself and stand up. When it managed to do so, it turned toward us, fixing Lissa with a look that seemed too intelligent for a bird. Its eyes held hers, and I couldn't read her reaction through the bond. At long last, the raven broke the gaze and lifted into the air, strong wings carrying it away.
"Wind stirring the leaves was the only sound left." Adrian continued on. Covering Ms Karp's reaction.

Next thing that came up was the argument with Mase. His ""bad taste"" comment was met with many hilarious reactions from the group. It had proved true after all. And I fessed up to now being on his side of that comment. In comparison to Dimitri, Jesse was in very poor taste. My man got a massive thrill when I said my taste in men changed to a taste in man, singular, that goes by the label of 'Russian badass battle-god Dimitri Belikov'. Everyone else grinned and laughed. The St Vlad's lot teased me over becoming the one thing they never imagined... Absolutely, completely, utterly and irrevocably lovesick, over my never-truly-been-just-a mentor. At that Mom looked as though she had had enough.

"Mom, can I talk to you? Outside."
"Sure." She nodded and followed me out into the hallway. "What did you want, Rose?"
"To get you out of there. You'd never excuse yourself because there is so many Moroi in there."
She sighed. "You're right."
"Mom? How are you really handling this?" I asked after a few quiet moments.
Again my mother sighed before speaking and after a number of emotions played on her face. "I don't really know how to explain it. There's so many things that are wrong about your relationship with him, how it came about."

She took a moment to regather her thoughts and carefully word them. Something neither of us are known for doing. We especially don't think before speaking around each other. Well... We used to be that way, but since the rescue-and, more importantly- since returning from Russia we've been working on that.

"I'm mad when making the same assumptions as everyone else will about your involvement while together at the Academy. Whether or not it was just some fling, something superficial. But then I see the way you two interact, really see it, and I see the connection. I want you happy and he does that. It's so clear, oh so clear." A cheeky smirk split her face. "It's evident in the marks yesterday's and last night's fun made." She stared pointedly and my neck.
"I know, I know. I'm not going to cover them when it has even more meaning to us than almost anyone else realises."
"Your father?"
"Yeah. Spoilers if I let you know now."
"You and him," she sighed again and shook her head. "There's a force between the two of you that creates an air of wanting the two of you as guarding partners. There always has been... Even if I refused to truly see it over the ski trip. There was and is this instant and cliché 'they're perfect together' moment in the professional sense when you glance at you two while working together. And again now, seeing you two all mushy. You're both badass and the top two of your generation, yet you would never guess it if you randomly walked in on you two in something like this. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's hard to wrap my head around, challenging my beliefs, and calling into question how well does anybody know you two other than the other."
"That makes sense. I really do love him, Mom. In spite of the circumstances of how it came about, I truly do love him. We've been through so much together in roughly one year. I can't not love him. And I don't say that lightly because well, you'll find out soon enough."
"I never should have worried about Adrian, am I right?"
"No, you shouldn't have."
"Rose," her mask and guard was completely down now. She was really being a mother right now, making herself vulnerable. "You two were so damn bloody obvious you weren't. I should have realised on Christmas Day. If not then, then over the ski trip.
"You didn't see him when you went missing. He was, to the rest of us guardians (and likely a number of adult Moroi), for him, a complete mess. He only wanted you back. You were his sole focus. He had to get you back. His composure was almost non-existent."
"I saw some of it through the bond," I noted. Damn! Spoiler.
"It's always been you, Rose. I can see that now. His focus has always been you.
"And as for your first marking, well. That was a dead giveaway too. Only a pair as involved as you two would have that much power shoot between you in such a tiny gesture. You do have your own language and almost no one suspected or asked 'why'. The two of you simply had this connection that seemed as though it was a part of the package deal. It's so natural to the two of you onlookers take it at face value if they even notice.
"Then in the caves, that was when you were most obvious. And I'm not talking about the breakdown when he was bitten. After him getting through that cave-in... Well... Now I think about it, you may as well have been all over each other." She paused. After thinking for a moment, she said "I just want you happy. I think I'll get used to Belikov being my son-in-law."
"Thank you, Mom." I quickly hugged my five-nothing mother as a sign of how much that means to me.

We rejoined the group not too much later. We both needed that talk. She needed to say it and talk it through with my ears as the only ones to hear. And I needed to hear her thoughts and reflections, what was going on in her head.

Adrian returned to reading. Finishing with the realisation Mase loved me. "Jealous, I realised. I could see it in his eyes. How had I never noticed this before? He was crazy about me. I guess I really was oblivious.
""It's alright, Mase. Forget about it." I smiled."
"That smile melts hearts, Roza." Dimitri whispered in my ear.
""And thanks for looking that stuff up."
"He smiled back, and I went inside, sad that I didn't feel the same way about him." Adrian finished.
"Were you? Were you really?" sarcastically questioned Christian.
"I was sad for him, I just didn't know that difference yet. Nor had I realised why I didn't." That brought about a round of laughter.
"You're wrapped in the why!" laughed the St Vlad's lot with a few of the others. Namely Vika, Paul and Sydney.

Once we'd calmed down, Paul asked, "lunch time?" We all answered him in the affirmative, tummies rumbling. Olena and her children left for the kitchen. Yes, Vika and Dimitri joined her again.