"What happened?"

Lissa and Christian sit side by side on a loveseat nearby. Green eyes and blue regard me with overt curiosity, that they've had to suppress until I felt up to filling them in.

I'm sitting up in bed, propped against several needlessly regal looking pillows. What little I remember of the trip back home to the palace is cloudy and painful, and even with Lissa's help, my ribcage is still very tender. Dimitri sits by my side, grasping my hand in a way that lets me know he hasn't left that spot since we got here. Apparently it was a punctured lung, and a bit of a close call.

My poor Russian god. We haven't had time to speak properly, but I can feel his worry radiating in waves. Between reliving his Strigoi self once more, and my latest near death experience, he's been stretched pretty thin.

There'll be plenty of time to talk later. For him to try pretending that he's okay.

The familiar pain is back in his eyes, and it breaks my heart. In the meantime, I decide to give him what mental space I can, and launch into a retelling of our escapades since we left. Lissa and Christian make an excellent audience, laughing and gasping in all the right places.

I'm just telling them about infiltrating the compound when a knock sounds on the door. After a beat, Abe walks in wearing a lurid pink suit.

"The heroes return," he smirks, but underneath I can see his genuine concern.

Lissa gives him something of a glare, but he ignores her as he walks over to Dimitri and I, and plants a kiss on my forehead, much to my surprise.

"I'm very glad to have you back safe," he murmurs, for my ears only. When he turns around to shake Dimitri's hand, my jaw drops. After the exchange, I can see something almost like respect in both of their demeanours.

Finally, he turns to the loveseat. "Apologies for the interruption, your Majesties. I didn't want to miss the good part."

I take this as my cue to continue my retelling.

"…and then I blacked out," I finish. A brief silence falls.

"So…what happened?"

"What do you mean? I just told you what happened."

"Did you get the thumb drive?"

My eyes meet Abe's briefly. Can he see my shame like I can see his anxiety? Regardless, my gaze skitters away from his.

You should have done better. There is no excuse.

Next to me, I hear Dimitri reach out a hand, as if to console me. But his touch never comes. Late to the party, I do what everyone else did the moment he moved; stare in disbelief at the tiny proffered object in his palm.

"You got it?" exclaims an awestruck Christian.

"And you simply wanted to, what? Not tell us before now so you could reveal it for maximum dramatic effect?"

Dimitri shrugs. "I forgot."

Can anybody else hear the pain in his hoarse voice? I just want to take him away from here, away from all this. But I know that saving him is going to be a lot more work than that.

In response to the giddy relief that sweeps through the room, making even Abe give a genuine smile, Dimitri frowns. "But I have no idea if this is the right one or not."

As reality dawns on her, Lissa's face pales. "It could be the decoy."

"Well, only one way to find out," Abe says, with effortless bravado. Not many people could affect a swagger like the one he deploys to retrieve the flash drive, especially not at a time like this.

He heads over to the other room where the state of the art TV is, and we all wait with bated breath.

"This is the right one!" he calls after a moment. His face is alight with excitement when he next enters the room, but then it dulls.

"Your Majesties," he says, turning to the Royals. "I am aware that I handled this situation badly. You must understand that in my line of work, if I were to disappear, countless people would sleep easier." He takes a breath, and then extends the flash stick to Christian. "Be that as it may, I would be grateful if you would dispose of this. It's too dangerous to continue, and you have my word that I will destroy all other copies."

Christian simply nods, and the room fills with the acrid smell of burning plastic.

"I am curious though. What would happen if they checked the other one, the decoy?"

I can't help but smile. "Then they will encounter a heavily encrypted Russian recipe for dealing with a hangover."

Even Dimitri laughs at that.

"Well, I guess all well that ends well," Lissa says, as they all begin to exit the room. "We'll give you some time to rest, Rose."

I have to ask before she goes.

"Oh, hey Liss? How much spirit is left in this thing?"

I hold up my hand, with the silver ring on it. Dutifully she crosses back over to me, and touches it briefly.

"It's still pretty strong," she reports. "Why?"

"I just want to know when I'm going to need a refill."

"Okay. Well it won't be for another few weeks."

"Thanks."

She nods, and takes her leave.

Finally, I can focus on Dimitri, who simply remains sitting there. He stares at nothing; mind clearly a thousand miles away. That haunted look that he was beginning to lose when we were with his family is now back in the edges of the small smile that he gives me. He looks sad.

"Hey, Comrade," I say gently. "It's not all bad."

I reach out to touch his face with my fingertips. His jaw is starting to get prickly again, and I can't help but smile. Like his, my smile is tinged with sadness; sadness that he had to go through all of that, just when he was starting to find himself again.

"Everything will be okay."

His eyes meet mine, and I can see that he desperately wants to believe me.

"I guess we'll see," he replies. His voice is husky from lack of sleep.

"Here." I scooch over in the bed and lift up the covers in invitation. He hesitates.

"There is room for two."

"I don't want to hurt you," he says.

"You won't. Come on."

Finally, he accepts, sliding off his shoes before joining me. It seems crazy that after everything we've been through, I can still get totally absorbed by his warmth, and the feeling of his body next to mine. Gingerly, he wraps an arm around my waist, and I entwine my fingers in his hair to pull him closer.

We stay like this, cuddling, enjoying each other in this moment we've been given. Gradually, his breathing becomes deeper and more regular, and eventually he falls asleep.

"Ya tebya lyubly," I whisper in his ear.

"Ya lyublyu tyebya fsyei dusho." I love you with all of my soul.

The safe moment shatters, and my blood runs cold. Dimitri is asleep. His lips did not move. And even if they had, if he had been the one to say it, it wouldn't be in that voice filled with nightmares.

I hope against hope that I somehow imagined it, but the sinking feeling in my stomach tells me that I know better. Slowly, filled with dread, I turn my head to look behind me.

There he is.

Strigoi Dimitri laughs darkly as my eyes widen. He's perched on the dresser, the picture of nonchalance, while his cold red eyes appraise me.

"You can't be here," I whisper. "I asked Lissa. There's still spirit in the ring."

He smirks, flashing his razor sharp fangs. "You can't get rid of me, Roza. I'm part of you. You didn't appreciate my little hints while you were in the compound?"

I dimly remember random thoughts popping into my head, saving my skin more than once. Realization dawns, chilling as moonlight. I should really have known.

"That was you."

He laughs again, like broken glass. The sound sends involuntary shivers down my spine. In his sleep, the real Dimitri snuggles closer to me, and I try to focus on his warmth.

"You know you can't tell him this time," Strigoi Dimitri states, clearly enjoying himself. "My poor dhampir self is weak and vulnerable, and you need to protect him. Can't go making him worry about his crazy girlfriend at a time like this, can you?"

I close my eyes, as if that will drown out the truth in his words. "Go away."

"You need to be strong for him."

"Shut up."

"And he's already so worried about scaring you off with his past."

"I said shut up!"

Dimitri stirs next to me. "Everything okay?" he groggily mumbles.

I try to make my voice soothing, to disguise my rising panic. "Everything is fine. Go back to sleep."

I press a kiss to his forehead and he obeys. I try to ignore the chuckling coming from behind me.

"Oh Roza. This is going to be so much fun."

Author's Note

Thank you so, so much for reading! This is the final chapter, and you have no idea how grateful I am to all of you who have been reading and encouraging! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter by leaving a review, and if you enjoyed this story, please feel free to follow and favourite! Also, apologies for any mistakes, as this fic is unBeta'd.

It's been a long wait. I know. I'm sorry. I had a complete block with this fic for the longest time, and then work and stuff got in the way. I'm kind of sad that this one is over. It's the longest fic I've ever written, and even though the first few chapters make me cringe, I'm pretty proud of the result. Thank you so much for sticking with me, and for your constant support and feedback! I will be posting other stories, so if you'd like to check them out, feel free.

The VA universe and the characters therein are the sole intellectual property of Richelle Mead.