Reading VA: Reading Vampire Academy (A VA fanfic)

Seventeen

DPOV
"Okay. Who wants to read next?" Christian asked after our quick break. That had lasted all of ten minutes.
"Me again," said my darling fiancé. Christian threw the book at her. She aptly, skilfully and gracefully caught it.

That woman was beauty incarnate, I swear. She was my angel, that was for certain.

"A few days later, Lissa found me outside the commons and delivered the most astonishing news.
""Uncle Victor's getting Natalie off campus this weekend to go shopping in Missoula. For the dance. They said I could come along.""

I knew where the this was going. I knew what part of my history with Rose was about to be revealed. This was going to be interesting.

The group was still quiet as my love continued reading. I could see Lissa, Christian and Roza wanted to grumble over Natalie again. Normally my beauty was the first to grumble, but she was the one who, ironically enough, was being the most mature.

The moment that ring slid onto her finger, and her parents reluctantly agreed, she'd looked more mature. None of her features had changed, but with the addition of the ring and the change in relationship status, she'd changed the way she carried herself. I doubted she realised what she was doing, but it was becoming and I loved her now more than I ever had before, more than I'd ever imagined possible.

I kept puzzling out and admiring the change my woman had made while she kept reading. I didn't hear much of it, so caught up in Roza's lethal beauty and the thoughts her existence created in my mind.

I tuned back in to hear, ""Yup. You're going to be Dimitri's partner."
"A moment of funny silence fell, probably not noticeable to anyone except Dimitri and me. Our eyes met.
""Guarding partner," Dimitri clarified unnecessarily, like he too had been thinking of other kinds of partners." I had. I most certainly had and I wasn't going to apologise for it when Roza and I were now in one of those partnerships.
""Yup," agreed Spiridon.
"Oblivious to the tension around him, he went on to explain how guardian pairs worked." Rose kept reading through what happened until when she'd let slip another double-edged line that I'd never forgotten.
""And I can't ever take my eyes of her," I noted. "Or you."" The room burst out laughing, just as Spiridon had at the time.
"You can't keep your hands off him!" teased Vika.
"You never have! Neither of you have ever been able to keep your eyes or hands off each other!" continued Christian.
"I agree," laughed Alberta. "I quite agree. Who ever thought the first of your grade to get engaged would be Rose Hathaway?" She smiled kindly and fondly at us. "Again, congratulations you two."
"Thanks Alberta," said Rose.
"Thank you, Petrov," I responded.
"Keep reading!" laughed Lissa.

Everyone refocused. Rose restarted. "Spiridon laughed again and elbowed Dimitri. "You have a star student there. Did you give her a stake?""

I had had a star student. I now looked at her absolutely adoringly. How had I ever thought I could keep myself from her? How had I ever thought I could push us into purely professional roles when we weren't meant to fit in them? I had always loved her, always. It was impossible not to.

""You have to keep telling yourself they aren't the same person you knew. They've become something dark and twisted. Something unnatural. You have to let go of attachments and do what's right. If they have any grain of their former selves left, they'll probably be grateful.""

Rose's voice was pained, and it was clear to me and everyone else that she wanted to cry. It was the one thing she'd failed to do for me. Repeatedly failed at it. My fiancé put the book down on the table and turned to face me. The tears were threatening to spill. I had to get her out. And fast. So I stood and lifted her up so she was clinging to me, perched on my hip like a baby. The room remained silent as I took my vulnerable Rose out the door and down the hall.