Chapter 1: Interrogation

Sydney's POV

With Jill missing, Lissa had a hundred things to focus on. She apparently picked Adrian and I to focus on because it would be a good distraction from everything else. After all, how often do you see a human and a vampire get together? Especially if the human is an Alchemist. At least, that's what Rose said. We were in Lissa's office, her questioning our relationship. She said it was just to make sure our marriage wasn't a sham, but I think she was just curious about our drastic changes.

"So... how did this start?" Lissa asked.

"Oh, I can answer that one!" Rose brightened. "She said he was cute for a vampire when we were looking at footage of him."

Adrian smirked. "I knew you liked me from the beginning!"

I smiled. "Being attracted isn't the same thing as loving you, Adrian."

"Rose, I think they should answer the questions." Lissa shot her a look.

"Oh come on, Liss. Do you know how interesting this is to someone like me? Besides, I knew the answer to that one. It's not like I'm going to answer every question. Although, I might comment..." Rose admitted.

Lissa rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. "Okay, besides what Rose just said, when did it start."

"You know me, cousin. I charm all women from the beginning." Adrian winked.

I sighed. "I thought he was attractive the first few times I saw him, like in the footage and when I was under house arrest at Court. Plus, Rose made him sound interesting..."

"You complimented me?" Adrian teased.

"You were still technically my boyfriend." Rose shrugged. "Besides, just because you sounded interesting, that doesn't mean I complimented you."

"But since I was an Alchemist, I didn't focus too hard on Adrian." I continued. "It wasn't until we were in Palm Springs that I got to know him better, and at that point, he was still hung up on what happened with Rose."

Rose looked a little uncomfortable at that, but she knew she couldn't take all the blame for Adrian's problems.

"Admit it, you loved me. And that's why you forced yourself to be with Brayden." Adrian teased.

"Brayden?" Lissa and Rose both looked confused.

"Now you say his name right!" I exclaimed. "Even Jill... never mind. I tried dating Brayden because I'd never tried dating anyone before—and I doubt Trey would've let me get away with not going on at least one date. I didn't date him because of you. Although, it's kind of your fault he dumped me..." I smiled as I remembered the breakup.

"A guy actually dumped you?" Rose snorted.

"He said I was irresponsible and that he couldn't be in such a toxic relationship. It made my week." I laughed.

"He also said you looked like a whore." Adrian pointed out.

"You baited him into that!" I protested.

"He still said it." Adrian shrugged.

I face-palmed.

"Sydney Sage, toxic, irresponsible, and a whore?" Rose busted up laughing. "God, things really have changed."

"Sydney Ivashkov." Adrian corrected.

"Continue." Lissa looked amused too.

"Aside from multiple attempts to sabotage Brayden, Adrian actually tried to be my friend for the most part. And there were times that I'd help him when he was being affected by Spirit." I said. "And then Ms. Terwilliger didn't really help the situation..."

"Don't be mean to Jackie." Adrian teased. "She's awesome."

"I was talking about her putting more pressure on me. Especially since she knows about vampires. And teaching me magic was against my will at first." I pointed out.

"What are you guys talking about?" Rose asked.

I summoned a fireball. "Ms. Terwilliger is a witch. And she taught me to be one."

Rose looked surprised for a second and then groaned. "That means Yeva wasn't lying about witches."

"I don't think Dimitri's grandmother is the same kind of witch. Mostly because Yeva claims to be born that way, but Ms. Terwilliger summons it from the earth." I said.

"Thank God." Rose said.

"Anyway, Adrian was actually a big factor in me not getting killed by Lee Donahue or the Strigoi. I was starting to realize I had feelings for him, but I suppressed it like a good little Alchemist." I rolled my eyes at the last part. "And then when he really started to like me... Jill started acting weird."

"Weird how?" Lissa questioned.

"She didn't have a crush on me, but she'd stare at me like she did. And she'd compliment me in odd ways, like saying how beautiful my hair looked." I said.

Rose bit back a laugh. "Sounds about right."

"Did... did that happen to you too?" Lissa turned to Rose.

"Not with Christian. I could control it by that point. But with Aaron..." Rose admitted. "I didn't think of him that way, but I felt what you felt."

Lissa looked mortified, but turned back to us. "Go on."

"And then Adrian and I spent more time together, which gave me the chance to get to know him and like him. We were really good friends. But I noticed something off about Adrian, especially when I mentioned Brayden. I assume those were the signs that he liked me. He even stopped taking our self defense class so he wouldn't have to touch me." I said.

"Ah, the days with Wolfe." Adrian sighed with mock fondness.

"And he helped me with a lot of things I was doing. He even started helping me with magic stuff, because I needed to trust someone with it." I continued.

"Don't act like you hate magic. After all, it did give us a lovechild." Adrian wiggled his eyebrows.

Rose and Lissa looked more shocked than when Adrian told them we were married.

"He's talking about Hopper—a dragon I summoned." I said.

"Actually, he's a demon. But Sydney doesn't like admitting that." Adrian smirked.

"What has this world come to? Adrian settling down? Sydney marrying vampires and summoning demons?" Rose joked.

"Anyway, Adrian grew on me. But when he admitted he loved me and kissed me... I tried to suppress my feelings again. I told him I couldn't even if I wanted to." I said. "He was mad at me for a few weeks and Jill gave me a lot of glares."

"You two are a weirder couple than Dimitri and I." Rose snorted.

"I'm not so sure." Lissa smirked.

"Then when we were on our way to Sonya's wedding, he told me he wasn't mad anymore and would just love me from afar. Of course by Adrian's definition, that means indirectly bringing it up and accusing me of bringing it up when I called him out on it." I continued.

"Sounds like Adrian." Rose smiled.

"Hey, it does not!" Adrian protested.

"Remember the perfume? And only giving me money in exchange for agreeing to a date when I got back from Russia?" Rose said. "You don't know how to love from afar."

"Adrian even helped me beat a really powerful witch who sucks out people's souls. I told him I loved him but had to leave for Mexico with Marcus—a rebel Alchemist." I said. "But I ended up staying and starting a relationship with him. The only problem at that point was my schedule and Zoe."

"I like this. It's a fairy tale kind of romance. Kind of." Rose said.

"And we went through all sorts of things, ranging from magic to Spirit to Zoe to finding a new ink for Marcus and his Merry Men." I said.

"Merry Men?" Lissa smiled.

"Adrian's nickname for it." I shrugged. "But Zoe found the Love Phone—an untraceable phone Adrian and I were using—and told the Alchemists. They ambushed Eddie and I. That was when I tricked him and gave him a message for Adrian."

"The center will hold." Adrian smiled fondly.

"And the Alchemists took me. I fought them at first, thinking about getting back to Adrian. But then I realized I had to at least pretend they were reeducating me." I said.

"But reeducation wasn't that bad, was it...?" Lissa looked guilty.

Adrian had mentioned her hesitancy to rescue me.

"I was in a concrete cell naked for a while when they were trying to mentally break me." I recalled. "And then they tried literal reeducation on me and punished me severely when I said they were wrong."

Lissa flinched and Rose looked uncomfortable.

"But I eventually got out and reunited with Adrian." I continued. "He said we should get married so you could protect me. We agreed for that reason, but I also agreed because I knew there was no one else for me. That was it."

Rose and Lissa looked like they were getting to the happy ending of a romantic comedy.

"And the Alchemists gave you guys a pretty good idea of what happened from there." Adrian said. "Now do you believe that our marriage actually means something to us?"

"Yes." Rose sounded like she was holding back tears. That was a rarity for her. "But I didn't think you were lying when you showed up last night."

"I believe you." Lissa said. "But you'll have to make others believe it too. Like the Alchemists and other Moroi."

"Yes, President Snow. I'll convince everyone of how much I love Katniss." Adrian smirked.

"That's not funny. You know what I meant." Lissa frowned. "Now... now I have to get back to finding Jill. Good luck with everything."

Lissa left the room. Rose was about to follow, but then she paused.

"You really have changed, haven't you?" Rose laughed. "I guess this means you don't think you're the victim of my happy ending anymore?"

Adrian turned serious. "If anything, we benefited. It brought me closer to Sydney. I'm not a victim."

Rose smiled with relief.

"This sucks. That means Wolfe was actually right about not letting yourself be a victim." Adrian frowned.

"If it makes you feel better, that's one of the only things he's right about. The man has an eyepatch and eleven chihuahuahs." I laughed. "Plus Ms. Terwilliger's thirteen cats."

Adrian perked up a little at that.

"Do you guys want to go on a coffee run with me?" Rose asked.

"Coffee run?" Adrian questioned.

"I have to get it, you look like you could use it, and I know Sydney loves it." Rose shrugged.

"I still get one cup a day." I shrugged and stood up.

"One?" Rose cocked an eyebrow.

"Adrian limits himself to one drink of alcohol a day and I drink only one cup of coffee. Adrian actually quit drinking altogether, but I'm not ready to quit yet." I explained.

"Now I know what you guys have is love. If you two can limit yourselves that much, then you really love each other." Rose joked.

I smiled. "Want to go, Adrian?"

Adrian shrugged and stood up. "Why not?"

Then we followed Rose on her coffee run.