Chapter#24

The car ride felt painfully short as we pulled back up into court.

As I suspected, my mother and a few other guardians were standing at the front door of Lissa's palace waiting for us.

I shivered, her long glance stabbed me from beneath her dark lashes.

Shit.

Lissa sensing my uneasiness pulled me close to her and whispered in my ear.

"It's ok Rose." She said, her eyes pulling to my mother. "It will be ok."

"Your majesty." My mother said with a flared bow.

Lissa nodded and followed with a courtesy of her own. "Guardian Hathaway."

"Rose." She bit with clenched teeth.

I kept my head down but nodded, acknowledging her cold greeting.

"If it would please the queen I would like to speak to your guardian in private." She continued.

I turned, my mother stood over me, towering with an expectant gaze.

"Of course." Lissa said with a fluid tone.

I turned to her, feeling a deep seed of betrayal wrinkle against my eyes.

She shrugged her shoulders apologetically, but in the backlash of it I could almost hear her saying 'You gotta deal with it sometime.'

She was right, and the sooner the better.

So, with a nod I raised my face up to my mother and smiled.

As I expected, she hadn't smiled back.

I could feel Dimitri approach. It was a small comfort having him near me. I wondered if he would be able to come with me to see my mother.

No. I thought, dismissing it quickly from my mind. I was going to be a mother, and a wife. I had to grow up and learn to face things on my own.

But it still helped having him there, even for a moment.

"Guardian Hathaway. It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Guardian Belikov." She said, reaching her hand out to Dimitri.

"I trust you had a…"

She paused, assessing us before speaking again. "Pleasurable vacation."

"Yes, quite." Dimitri said, a naughty smile played on his lips when he looked down on me.

I laughed, coolly disguising it as a cough.

Looking up at my mother's still vengeful face I would say I hadn't fooled her.

Clearly, he got where she was going, and was more than willing to stand up for me. For us.

"It's a shame what happened with Eddie." She said. "He had a lot of promise."

He nodded, a dark cloud pillowed on his face.

"Yes, a shame." He turned, when Christian made his way towards the door.

Giving me an apologetic glance he kissed my forehead and then reached over to my mother. "I'll see you later." He promised with a hushed breath.

"Guardian Hathaway. If you'll excuse me."

She nodded and shook his hand. I watched as he climbed the stairs.

I then turned to my mother. "Well, perhaps we can grab something to eat?" She offered.

I nodded, and thankfully she had ushered my hand towards the palace.

We were eating in. Thank goodness.

I didn't feel like dealing with the publicity. Not yet.

I knew there would be a lot of questions with 'my change' and I could only imagine what would happen once my pregnancy went public.

No, we needed to address that with the government first.

I followed her outstretched hand and we walked into the grand foyer.

It first greeted you with its large marble staircase, and twisted gold banister.

To the sides of it were equally grand halls and tapestries of gold and green filling the space.

Lissa's family colors.

We made our way down, deeper beneath the palace walls until we ended up in one of the queen's many vacant rooms.

Mostly she would use these rooms for meetings with advisors or counsel, but for right now it was the place where my mother and I were going to eat.

"So." She said as she sat across from me at the table. "How does it feel to be a complete disgrace?"

Crap.