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Sitting in a bathrobe next to Dimitri in Kirova's office, was not the way I had envisioned my Saturday night. I shouldn't have let it surprise me, because lately, nothing was happening the way I envisioned.

"How do I know I'm not being used as some pawn in your scheme to escape the Academy, yet again?" I didn't think pointing out that I had had plenty of opportunities to leave, because of her poor headmistress skills, would help me. So, instead I went with flattery.

"Ms. Kirova, I think you would see through one of my teenage plans to ditch school, wouldn't you?" Okay maybe that was more sarcasm than flattery.

"Stop speaking, Miss Hathaway." Wow, harsh.

Ms. Kirova, we have strong reason to believe Rose. She has had subpar behavior these past months, and I no longer think she wishes to leave the Academy.

I curled my fingers on the edge of my armrest, becoming more and more irritated as the minutes passed. Each moment I wasn't with Lissa, she came closer to death.

How could she leave the Academy without me? If she had just told me what she wanted to do, I would have come with her, and protected her.

The thing that baffled me most was that she planned to kill Christian herself. No Moroi would be able to do that, even a trained one. It wasn't physically possible, and from what I gathered from the bond, she didn't understand that. She thought that her love would be enough to convince him to let her kill him. I felt terrible for Lissa, but I would not let her do this to herself. Christian might be "dead" but that didn't mean she had to become his zombie bride, for crying out loud.

I couldn't handle it anymore.

"This is ridiculous, why are we just sitting here?! We need to be looking for Lissa! I wouldn't lie about something so serious, you know that!" I directed my last outburst at Dimitri.

"I was with Rose when she felt Lissa's whereabouts through the bond. She wouldn't be able to fake that emotion, or pain." He glanced over while saying the last part, clearly still worried about me.

"What do you mean you were with Rose? It's the middle of the night." Her questioning was coming too close to our heavily guarded secret.

While I quickly attempted to make up an excuse, Dimitri was ready with one. I assumed preplanned, by the ingenious of it.

"I was guarding Rose's hall and I heard screaming from her room," he said this as though it was obvious, and his bulging biceps and rolling r's debauched Kirova.

She gave me one last glance of annoyance and said, "Well, I will need to send a group of guardians to find the Princess. Guardian Belikov, please recruit Petrov and Alto. You will not need a lot of backup to find the Princess, especially without Hathaway assisting her." Of course, she had to end with an insult towards me.

"I'm going with them," I spoke with force.

"There is no need," Kirova shot back.

"Actually, there is." Kirova and I both looked surprised to hear Dimitri counter her, albeit, my surprise was love struck and hers was more dragon lady-esc.

Dimitri rapidly tried to make his words sound polite by explaining his interruption, "Rose and Vasilisa have the bond. She will be able to find her much more quickly than I, or any other guardian can." Dimitri even suggested a romantic getaway, "I will not need the assistance of Guardians Petrov and Alto if Rose is allowed to accompany me." Kirova glared at him skeptically, which caused him to explain in further detail, "After the Strigoi attack, we need all Guardians available to be on campus." Bingo, even Kirova couldn't muster an argument against Dimitri's logic.

"Fine, Miss Hathaway can go. Now leave," she said, flustered.

Dimitri and I both stood up and I followed behind him, my eyes only reaching the middle of his back.

Once we were out of Kirova's range of hearing or seeing, I quickly walked slightly passed him so that I was in front. I stopped and turned on my heel, making him falter in his long strides.

We were so close; when I tilted my chin up towards his face to talk to him, I brushed against his thin t-shirt.

"Nice plan, Comrade," I said, hopefully seductively.

He smiled down at me, but something about him was off, "What's wrong?"

"About earlier…it was stupid," he noticed my face turn incredulous, "No that's not what I meant! I will never regret my time spent with you, Roza." I sighed with relief and ran my hands slowly up his chest. When I reached the collar of his t-shirt I twisted it around my fingers and lightly tugged him down, so that we were at eye-level.

Our breathing was in harmony and his skin felt like silk beneath my fingers. We had not had an uninterrupted moment since the cabin, yet again reiterating they come first.

I pulled away; Lissa was making her way back into my mind. What I wanted right now didn't matter, my feelings were miniscule compared to her.

I straightened myself, looking at Dimitri as though he were my partner, not my lover.

"When do we leave?"

"We should leave now…Rose, is everything alright?" He was looking at me strangely, which caused a small crease to form between his eyebrows. Was it possible for him not to be so damn cute for ten seconds?

"I get distracted when I'm with you. I can't think or process anything, except that you're with me. God, Dimitri, even your breathing distracts me. How am I supposed to find Lissa with you? I mean, no offense, but you're just too beautiful for your own good," I chuckled dryly.

He held me in a steady gaze, looking like he knew something I didn't.

"You are so much more than you think. I look at you and I see beauty and strength, there is something in you, you cannot see yet. Roza, you would be able to save the whole world blind folded. Don't doubt yourself, ever." His dark eyes were still holding me captive and I couldn't breathe, so much as come up with a response. He spoke as if he was writing a book, and it killed me. It felt as though he had a hold of my heart and he was twisting and twisting, waiting to see how far he could go before I burst open and bled to death in front of him.

"Meet me at the gates in an hour," he said, stepping away. "And Roza," he added, "We'll find her. Now hurry," and with that he was gone.

I wasn't expecting to run into anyone while walking across the quad at this time of day, but I wasn't so lucky.

"Little dhampir!" Why? I do not have time for Adrian right now. I kept walking, hoping he would fall for the whole "Oops, I didn't hear you! No! Of course, I wasn't ignoring you!" He didn't. Typical.

"Rose! Hey! Wait up! We need to talk," geez, couldn't he take a hint?

"Where the hell is Lissa?" Obviously not.

I sighed, "I don't exactly know"

"What do you mean, 'don't exactly know'?"

"Well," I scoffed, "I have no idea."

"You must have some sort of idea, with the bond and all."

"Please, explain to me what 'and all' is, Adrian. I'm curious." He didn't respond, just kept walking with me towards my dorm.

"Alright, look, I can't feel anything through the bond right now. She's blocking me. I haven't the faintest idea where she is and it's killing me. Hopefully it will only take Dimitri and me a few days, God forbid weeks, to find her." He suddenly stopped walking.

"Oh no, don't tell me you and cradle-robber are going by yourselves to find Lissa."

I glanced back at him with a half-smile, "I am neither confirming nor denying."

"Great," he called after me, "Try to actually come back with Lissa and not a foreign STD!" I tried not to smile as I jogged up the stairs of my dorm.

I didn't know how long we were going to be gone, so I grabbed a few miscellaneous items that I would use on a weekend trip.

While I was walking down the hall, I remembered that I had forgotten my toothbrush. That would have been gross, especially for Dimitri.

Just as I was about to unlock my door I felt her. Lissa.

She was trying to sleep, in a small, cramped bed. However, her terror was keeping her wide-awake.

Her thoughts were swarming, but the thing that stuck out was her regret. She was realizing how stupid she had been for leaving the Academy, now knowing that she could not protect herself from the dark.

I was trying to sift through her thoughts to find her location, but there was nothing there…odd.

Then she turned on her side, peering at the person next to her.

Person next to her? What the hell, Lissa?

Then I realized it, she was not in some dingy hotel room in Montana. She was on a plane, leaving the country, fast. Moreover, I had no idea which country she was going.

It would definitely take more than a weekend trip to save Lissa.

I couldn't stop the little voice inside of me whispering, more time alone with Dimitri.

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