Rose looked around the library they currently stood in. Why did they had to come to this stupid meeting if they weren't even in the room for whatever was being discussed?

"UGH! DIMITRI, WHY ARE WE HERE?" Rose yelled looking away from the stacks of dusty ancient leather-bound books.

"Because Lissa and Christian are upstairs talking to Asian Guardian Council. And we were told to go do something. And then when we sat down in the Guardian lounge we were bombarded by questions. Then I suggested we go to our room and you said you didn't want to have a qui..." Dimitri started.

"Whoa! No! You were the one who said you didn't want to fool around in our room. You said it was because we are technically still on duty and we shouldn't be caught with our pants down." Rose said crossing her arms.

He looked at her amused, "You can't remember what I told you five minutes ago, but you can remember what I said about sex two hours ago?"

Rose frowned, "Whatever, entertain me."

Dimitri shook his head.

"One, two, three..."

Rose knew what he was doing and took off hiding in between the bookshelves of the ancient library. She stepped silently listening from him. Suddenly she was pulled back and she instantly fought back and took off. Dimitri pinned her down on the ground holding her hands up above her.

"Got you," he said with a smirk.

"Dimitri Belikov, how dare you disrespect a library by running around in it. Have you no respect for books?" I teased.

"Oh, please, you and I both know you could care less what happens to these books."

Rose snickered, "Yeah, but you do."

He chuckled nuzzling her neck, "Maybe."

Rose pushed Dimitri off of her, "Let's see what kind of old crap these Romanians keep in their libraries."

Dimitri shook his head and got up in that cool way of his where he just uses his legs. And Rose attempted to mirror him, but then decided she'd just get up the normal way. They walked together and looked around.

"I can't understand what the hell these things say." Rose groaned.

"Roza, if you took the time to learn..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'd be able to understand. Look I was in Russia for a good amount of time and I barely knew how to put an order together let alone read. I'm good with English."

He muttered about her being lazy in Russian.

"Hey, I'm not lazy! I just have better things to do."

He snorted and looked over to a glass cabinet filled with books.

"What, Comrade? Remind you of your mom's house?"

"No," he said, "These just look interesting."

"How?" Rose asked, "They look like the same books all around us."

"No, these are journals. Handwritten things... And they're in Russian." he said distractedly.

"Really?" Rose asked stepping toward it, "Who's?"

"You'll find this interesting."

"What?"

"Аннушка Дочь Федора,"(phonetically it would be said, "Annushka Dochʹ Fedora") he said reading, "Annushka, Daughter of Fyodor."

"Who?" Rose asked perplexed.

Dimitri looked down from there.

"Анна, отважный убийца. Anna, the Brave Assassin," (Phonetically Anna , otvazhnyy ubiytsa) he said.

"Shadow-Kissed Anna." Rose said breathlessly.

"That must be the title they gave her first."

"No wonder we never heard anything about Anna. All her journals were locked up here." Rose said quietly opening the cabinet and opening the book.

The story she had followed so closely when she'd been Shadow-Kissed.

"Could you read this to me?" Rose asked looking back at Dimitri.

"There is no need for that, Guardian Hathaway." a thick Romanian voice said from behind them.

"Why not?" Rose said frowning.

Guardian Arcos, the leader of the Guardian's council in Asia walked toward them with Lissa and Christian in tow.

"We actually have those diaries translated in English for our scholars. We also have some by St. Vladimir himself. Are you interested, Guardian Hathaway?" he said smiling.

"For sure, Arcos." Rose replied with a smirk.

"Give me a moment."

He bowed to Lissa and Christian then disappeared.

"What did you find?" Lissa asked.

Rose showed them the journal, "This is Shadow-Kissed Anna's journal."

"Really?" Lissa asked her eyes sparkling.

"Yep," Rose said grinning.

Guardian Arcos came back out walking toward them handing them a box with English copies of the books.

"Is it possible to borrow the actual books?" Lissa asked looking like a kid in the candy store.

"Um...not usually, but you are the queen. Let me talk to the librarian."

"Only you two could find something like this." Christian said shaking his head.

Guardian Arcos came back, "The librarian said she wants to talk to you before you take them."

Lissa smiled brightly, "Okay."

Christian groaned.

"Well, Dimitri and I are going to go to bed. You nerds have fun reading over Russian stuff." Rose said with a smile letting Dimitri grab the box.

They hurried out of the room and up to their suite. Rose curled up on the bed holding the first book in her hand. It was time to dive into some memories.