The ownership of all characters related to and involving the novels of The Vampire Academy and Bloodlines Series remain the sole property of Richelle Mead, the Penguin Group and any affiliates.

No copyrights have been infringed on maliciously.

A/n: Okay, so I know that I was supposed to post the first chapter in By the Baring of my Soul and I have written it…but its complete crap, so I'm going back to the drawing board on that one. I might scrap it entirely and change the chapters I would have written in one-shots.

Thank you everyone for the AWESOME reviews for Ritual. I hadn't intended to continue with it as it was technically a one-shot but as so many of you have asked for a follow up on Rose's revenge (and you know she's going to make Dimitri pay for setting her up) it is definitely something that I will consider in the future, but in the meantime…

I've been toying with the idea for a while on how to write a one-shot describing Dimitri's proposal. I hadn't really given it any serious thought because it's Rose, so it was never going to be an easy one to write because she's difficult on a good day, but after receiving a really nice guest review for Siberian Persuasion asking how it was going to happen, I decided to give it a try.

It's longer than I intended (no big surprise) so I've changed it from a one-shot to a short story probably with three or four chapters.

Enjoy!

~ The Engagement ~

"So tell me, Belikov," Abe Mazur mused quietly from over the rim of his coffee cup; eyeing me with darkly enigmatic eyes that were shrewdly assessing and always calculating. "When exactly are you planning on marrying my daughter?"

"Abe!"

Raising his eyebrows in a look of almost innocent puzzlement at his daughter's irritable bark from beside me, Abe tilted his black head towards her but kept his eyes very firmly on me.

To some, it might look as though it was an expression of regret, but there wasn't the least bit of remorse to be found anywhere on his sharply focused features…Abe knew exactly what he was up to.

He had been searching for his daughter's exposed nerve since arriving at Court yesterday morning and although she had managed to keep things between them mostly civil; mainly because she had avoided him like the plague for most of his visit, he had kept chipping away at her every opportunity he had.

Quirking a sardonic brow at him, I held his direct gaze for a second longer as I made my own feelings on the matter clear. Not appreciating his interference any more than Rose, my disapproval would have been more than obvious to even the most disinterested onlooker, but it seemed as though I no longer had his attention…he had found what he wanted.

"Yes, Rosemarie?" Abe imparted innocently as he finished off the last of his coffee liqueur and scooped up another bite of his soufflé; raising the gilded spoon to his mouth as his fathomless eyes glinted with the deviltry that seemed to come so naturally to him. "Is something wrong?"

Scowling at her father, Rose folded her arms crossly over her chest, but he appeared undaunted by her wrath…not something that many could ever claim to be.

"You know exactly what's wrong, old man," she uttered with a quiet snarl as her jaw jutted out aggressively. "Drop it."

Setting his spoon down very deliberately, Abe rested back against his seat and clasped his ringed fingers together over the midriff of his gold satin waistcoat as he continued to smirk at her; the light from the candelabra hanging high above us in the Queens private dining-room glinted off the gold hoop earring in his left ear as dangerously as it did the glint in his eyes.

He seemed to find something amusing in his daughters demand…as if it was a challenge he had no intention of backing down from because he was entirely comfortable in knowing that he would so easily win.

"I'm your father and as such, I have a right to ask these questions, so no, I will not drop it. It's also my parental duty to do so as your mother is in Shanghai and isn't here to do it herself. It's a perfectly reasonable question, Rosemarie," he fired back with gentle mockery. "But with the way you're acting, it's as if you have something to hide. Do you?"

Grinding her teeth together with such violence that I was sure it could be heard by everyone at the table, the tension that had been simmering just below the surface between the pair became increasingly difficult to ignore.

It was a dangerous kind of tension…the kind that often escalated into open warfare between father and daughter.

The relationship between the pair had been anything but smooth since their first meeting but it had begun to improve over recent months. With such similar personalities, there was bound to be a certain amount of friction created between them as their perceptions of the world around them clashed.

It was only on the occasions that the pretence of civility was stripped away to reveal deeper emotions that both father and daughter seemed to keep so well hidden, that it became painfully obvious that the resentment Rose still harboured towards Abe was nowhere near fading.

"Really?" Rose responded acidly to her father's goading as her jaw unlocked. "Since when? After eighteen years of being an absentee father, you now think that you have a right to interfere in my life when you've only been a part of it for less than three years? You don't, Abe, and even if I did have something to hide, it would be my own damn business and none of yours!"

Hearing a quiet sigh whisper towards me from the right, I turned my head marginally to eye Lissa over Rose's head as she frowned lightly at the pair in concern as they began to verbally dissect each other.

It had been her idea to invite Abe to stay at Court during the last leg of his North American business trip and although her intentions had been good, the look of apprehension in her pale green eyes clearly showed that she was now regretting her invitation.

Meeting my gaze as the combatants between us continued to focus exclusively on each other rather than the other three people seated at the table, Lissa smiled so warily that it looked almost like a grimace.

You did warn me, she mouthed with sardonic understanding as her restless fingers smoothed over the pale pink silk of her skirt.

Nodding once, I heard a quiet snicker to my left as the other person at the table noticed our byplay.

Glancing away from her and towards the source of the smothered laughter, I realised that although Lissa might have been deeply sympathetic to her best friend's emotional turmoil, there was another at the table that wasn't as compassionate.

Seated to my left, Christian was acting as through his dessert was a fascinating subject, but the smile he couldn't hide behind his spoon wasn't fooling anyone…and neither was the enjoyment reflected in his ice-blue eyes as he looked up at me mischievously from beneath his inky-black lashes.

When Lissa had first suggested the dinner, the grin he had been unable to smother had said a thousand words. He had anticipated that at the very best that it would be an uncomfortable situation for Rose and at the very worst would develop into a full-blown argument.

To his mind, either scenario was a plus.

As he and Rose were often at loggerheads – usually over something to do with Lissa when one didn't agree with the opinion of the other – Christian wasn't above using Rose's discomfort to his advantage; he was often on the losing end of the arguments and would take retribution any way he could, even if it was vicariously.

Shaking my head at him quickly as I saw the look of amusement on his face turn to sly calculation, Christian ignored my warning as he sat back laconically and resting his arm over the back of his chair, angled his body towards us.

"Yeah, Rose," he challenged lazily as I saw Lissa roll her eyes in exasperation at him from the corner of my eye. "Do you have anything to hide? If not, then why not put poor Belikov out of his misery. He actually wants to marry you. How many others can claim that after spending any amount of time with you?"

"Christian!"

Winking at Lissa as she scolded him, Christian smiled tauntingly at Rose as she slowly turned her head away from her father and pinned him with an expression of contempt before she sneered sweetly at him through gritted teeth.

"Mind your own damn business, Christian. No one asked you."

Fiddling with the cufflinks of his white shirt, Christian merely smiled pleasantly as Lissa continued to glower at him. "We're all friends here aren't we and this is an open discussion, so I'm making my opinion known. Abe is right; you're acting very suspiciously. Why is that?"

Sighing, I drummed my fingers impatiently against my thigh. Christian knew as well as the rest of us that Rose's views on marriage had been warped when she was young by the perceptions of Moroi/Dhampir relationships. Her parent's dysfunctional relationship hadn't helped any, so why was he persisting with this?

"How I act or behave is your opinion; it has nothing to do with me. And I don't see you rushing off to buy a ring for Lissa, so where the hell do you get off lecturing me?" Leaning forward as Christian flinched at the accusation before looking briefly up at Lissa; Rose rested her elbows on my legs as she finished twisting the knife.

"I'll tell you, like I told him; you don't have a right to interfere in my life. So stay out of it!"

Pursing his lips, he held up his hands in surrender, but there was an odd look in his eyes as he winked again at Lissa and gave up…for the moment. It made me wonder what he was up to.

Lips thinning as his impeccably trimmed goatee flattened to a thin, stabbing point, Abe reacted to his daughter's pithy remarks with an accent that was noticeably thicker…Christian might have backed down, but he wasn't about to.

"Of course I have a right to interfere in your life; you're my child…whether you like it or not. And need I remind you that you wouldn't have a life right now, young lady, if not for me. I'm the one that broke you out of the Court's prisons, remember? How long do you think you would have lasted after your sentencing?"

Wincing at the reminder of a time that we would have all preferred to forget; a time when Rose had been accused of murdering Lissa's predecessor and had been under the watchful eye of an executioner clamouring for a victim, I felt the bunching of Rose's muscles beneath my fingertips.

Knowing that the more wound up she became, the more difficult it would be to calm her down later; I untangled my fingers from the heavy fall of her hair and flattening my palm, ran it soothingly up and down her velvet-covered spine.

Dressed in a sheath dress of dark maroon, the sleeves ended at her wrists and the hem well above her knees. Hugging every sinful curve she had, the high mandarin-collar was adorned with tiny pearl buttons that got in my way as I tried to distract her, but even if they hadn't, it wouldn't have mattered.

The tension that had invaded the muscles of her back, shoulders and neck wasn't going to simply melt away at my touch.

"You didn't break me out," Rose hit back aggressively as she shot forward in her seat and my caressing fingers tightened around her slender neck to keep her in her seat. "Dimitri, Eddie and Mikhail broke me out…all you did was blow up half of Court at Tatiana's funeral."

Shrugging without any real concern for the property damage that had only recently been fully restored, Abe signalled to a waiter discreetly stationed against a wall to refill his coffee.

"Semantics, Rosemarie. That was merely a distraction. Do you honestly think they would have been able to accomplish your daring prison break if I hadn't? Whose idea was that in the first place, mmm?"

Rolling her eyes, Rose sat back in her seat as she crossed her darkly-stockinged legs and scoffed at her father. "What do you want…a round of applause? All you did was what you've probably been doing all your life: breaking rules and the law."

"All of that might be true, little girl, but I am your father and I will ask these questions. And before you go throwing stones, I would like to remind you that you are not a paragon of virtue. The list of rules and laws that you've broken or bent to suit your needs is far longer at your age than it was at mine."

Turning to address me directly, Abe smiled pleasantly but still managed to somehow make it menacing at the same time. "So I ask again. When are you planning on marrying my daughter?"

"Ughhhh!" Groaning loudly, Rose tossed her linen napkin onto her plate in disgust before she slumped back into her seat. Narrowing her eyes, she viewed her father's self-satisfied expression. It was an expression that seemed to signal he knew he was pressing on that nerve again and there was nothing that she could do about it.

It probably wasn't the wisest decision on his part; Rose could be just as devious as he was.

Stroking my thumb beneath her hairline, I watched as a diabolical gleam darkened her already dark-brown eyes; the colour was Abe's and they were suddenly just as conniving. Sliding a hand off her lap, Rose placed it on my thigh and curled her fingers around the hard muscles that leapt and quivered at her touch.

Neither Lissa nor Christian could see the deliberately provocative movement, but Abe could and Rose knew it. With the vantage point provided by his height, he could see every flex of his daughters fingers against the leg clad in charcoal-grey dress-pants and with each one the smug expression on his face fell away a little.

Knowing his daughter was purposely taunting him and also knowing the reaction wasn't going to be a good one; I covered Rose's hand with my own to keep them still, but did not remove it as I politely addressed him.

"Mr. Mazur. I understand your concerns even though I'm not a father and under the same circumstances, I would probably ask the same questions, but as Rose and I haven't discussed our future plans with each other yet, I don't think it's appropriate to discuss them with you yet. I hope you understand."

Snorting scornfully across the table from us, Abe shook his head at the diplomacy of my answer, but wasn't impressed by it. He could recognize a ploy when he saw one and much like his daughter, cut right to the chase.

"That's an evasion, my boy, and you know it."

"So what if it is?" Rose interrupted harshly as her fingers flexed violently against my leg and bit into the muscle as she defended me against her father.

"Roza," I interrupted softly, squeezing her fingers gently again. "You don't need to defend me."

"I know I don't need to, comrade…but I'm going to anyway." Turning on her father again, Rose jeered. "You've never been married; you've probably never even considered the possibility of it, so what the hell gives you the right to preach about it to us?"

Looking at his daughter with eyes that were suddenly no longer cunning, but oddly solemn, Abe shook his head at her. "That's not true," he countered quietly. It was an uncommon quietness for him, almost as if Rose had suddenly found the nerve she had never known she was looking for.

"I have considered marriage before – very seriously, actually."

"Really? Which one of your Moroi girlfriends did you propose to, or doesn't your memory go back that far?" Rose spat sarcastically as the pitch of her voice rose and Lissa looked on at her in what was once concern, but was now more.

They might no longer share the bond that had been forged when Lissa had pulled her back from the brink of death at fifteen, but she didn't really need it to pick up on the undertone of resentment that was making itself more known than usual. Rose was normally better at disguising it, but this was a particularly sore spot for her.

"She wasn't Moroi; she was Dhampir," Abe replied softly before he deliberately paused and dropped his bombshell. "And she was your mother."

…to be continued.