A/N: Since this chapter was already done, I figured I'd put it up now. :D

Disclaimer: Jill and Eddie belong to Richelle Mead. I just play with them.

The Trouble with Dragomir Princesses

Chapter Three

When Eddie said I got the day, he literally meant the day, as in those few hours of light before sunset.

I felt gypped.

Since it took two hours to get from the Royal Court to the mall, we'd had to leave at 8AM. The mall didn't open until 10 either way, so it worked out pretty well. But sunset would be around 4:30PM, and in order to be back at Court at that time, we'd have to leave the mall by 2:30. This only gave me a little over four hours to play with.

The ride there was uneventful. I was in a car with Serena and Morris and another guardian behind the wheel I didn't know very well, and I knew there were at least two other cars with a number of guardians following us. It was like my own secret service convoy. They must've thought I was in a great deal of danger if I required this much security during daylight hours when there was virtually no immediate threat of a Strigoi attack. Or possibility of one.

The mall was pretty spectacular. Since it was so close to Christmas, each store was decorated for the holiday season with lighted trees of every size and wreaths and ornament balls in varying colors. I even stopped to see the long row of human kids accompanied by their parents in line to visit Santa. Mannequins were dressed up in all the new seasonal styles. All the shoppers flitted around into stores, checking off Christmas gifts during the holiday rush I was sure.

Since there was so much to see and too many things to do within the short hours I had available, I figured if I spent no more than five minutes in each store, I could hit more stores. This plan fell through however, as I accidentally spent a great deal of time in Janie & Jack, delighted by all the baby clothes. There were just too many cute outfits, and I ended up buying whole collections for both boys and girls since I wasn't sure what Lissa and Christian were expecting.

I decided to spend my time exclusively shopping around for Christmas gifts, one for each of my friends back at Court, and of course, something for my parents as well. I decided on some thermal shirts for Rose because she liked practical things like that. I'd have liked to get her something expensive and girly, but she wouldn't have any use for jewelry because it would interfere while guarding, and she wouldn't like for me to lavish her with gifts she would never use.

For Dimitri, I picked up a hot chocolate gift basket complete with mug since I knew how much he liked the hot beverage during the holidays. I also bought him a Borders giftcard. He always had the same Western novels in hand whenever I saw him. Maybe it was time he got some new reading material.

Other than those baby clothes, I didn't have anything for Christian or Lissa. Christian was the hardest to shop for. I knew him the best of everyone, but it's always harder to shop for someone you know well because nothing ever seems good enough. Doubly so for someone you hardly knew. I looked down at my purchases. The baby clothes would have to be enough.

We were coming upon 1PM and I'd gotten just about everything I needed but felt like I'd hardly done anything at all. Only a short time left for myself. I wished I didn't have to leave so soon. I wished I hadn't been rushed and could've enjoyed the sights a little longer.

I wished I was normal so I could have more days like this.

"Princess, would you like to get your food to go, or eat here? We have enough time before we need to head out."

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Any restaurant in particular?"

I decided on The Cheesecake Factory because of all of the delicious smells and wonderful looking cheese pies in the window displays.

Serena, Morris and I took a booth and they immediately began to pour over the menu. I wondered if the other guardians were hungry, as it had been nearly six hours since we'd left Court. According to our schedules, we should still be asleep in bed and getting ready to start our day in a few hours. But since humans have daylight schedules, we had to plan accordingly. And since the sun would be setting in just a few short hours, we needed to be heading back to Court soon if we didn't want to risk being on the road after sunset.

"The pasta here looks incredible," Serena said, gazing ravenously at the pictures provided in the menu.

"I think I'll go with a burger. Nothing more classic than that," Morris said smiling warmly at me, certain of his choice.

The waiter came over with our drinks and took our orders. I decided on the rib-eye. Rare.

Despite how crowded the place was, our food didn't take very long to get to us. And man, didn't it smell wonderful. I hadn't eaten much at all that day as we toured the mall and was starved. I could smell my rib-eye, see how pink and juicy it was. Still bloody, the way I'd ordered it. My mouth began to water and I so, so badly would have liked to taste it, but I felt jittery just as the waiter set our food down.

My time was almost up and I wasn't ready to go back to Court, back to my prison.

I needed to get up, and I used the excuse that I had to use the restroom so that my strange behavior wouldn't seem quite so weird to my two guardians. Serena had to stand, as I was sitting on the inside of the booth and she was blocking the way. She followed me to the bathrooms of course, but we told Morris he could start without us.

Serena led us in the direction of the bathrooms, but stopped me just as we came upon the swinging door.

"Hang back for a minute, Princess. I need to do a sweep first." I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest and rolling my eyes.

That was when I noticed that we were very near an exit.

And the exit was obstacle free.

I warred with myself then. Where would I go if I could just leave right now? How far could I get before they noticed I was gone? How much trouble would I get in once they caught up with me? And I knew they would.

Some glitch in my brain told me to go for it, told me it wouldn't be so bad. Sunset was still a few hours away, and I desperately needed to breathe fresh air, air that hadn't been polluted by the breaths of the many guardians at my back. My heart began to pound heavily in my chest. Go, just go, it seemed to say.

With Serena's back still turned, I started to silently make my way towards the door, glancing up at Morris at the end of the row and knowing his eyes were trained very carefully on that burger of his. With a light foot, I tracked slowly so as not to draw any attention but also to look like any other casual customer leaving the restaurant. A family was just ahead of me with their two brown-haired children, and I tried my best to blend in with them as we exited together.

I couldn't believe it.

I was free.

And not a one of my guardians were any the wiser.

I took off across the street, walking with the small crowd of people as they headed away from the mall. I didn't have much of a disguise on me, save the knit slouch hat I'd worn to go shopping today and I did my best to stuff my unruly curls beneath it. My comfortable jeans and pale green sweater probably wouldn't make me stand out too much among this crowd, but they also wouldn't keep me very warm in this nearly freezing weather. What a stupid idea to go on the run without a warm jacket.

The problem now, other than my lack of outerwear, was to figure out which direction to head in. I knew there were guardians positioned at many of the entrances of the mall, but it wasn't like I was heading back in there. There was probably one with the car in the large parking lot near the Plaza, way at the other end of the mall lot where we'd parked. And I'd just ditched the two in the restaurant with me. That left the three or four guardians who'd been instructed to watch the outside, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Probably also to keep me in sight in case I left. But with how large this mall was, I doubted the guardians could keep track of all of the exits. As it was, I didn't see anybody I recognized as I made my way across the street to the parking garage. I trailed a little ways behind the family I'd exited the restaurant with, ducking my head behind the tall man in front of me just in case.

I felt awesome, like a convict on the run. The icy wind hit my face and it woke me up to the freedom I was suddenly feeling. It was a rush to escape, such a liberating sensation knowing there weren't any eyes on me.

Except, well, there were.

My heart sank and my throat constricted, knowing I was in deep shit as Eddie ran at me. The family I'd snuck behind had since gotten into their car and driven away, leaving me exposed and easily spotted among the cool colors of the family vans and snazzy sports cars. I could see Eddie shouting into his earpiece, no doubt alerting every guardian within a five mile radius to my whereabouts. Was I injured? Negative. Was I safe? Not for long…

Eddie grabbed me by my bicep and tugged me forward, a scowl on his face.

"Why do you keep running away?" he demanded. "Don't you know how reckless you're being?"

He dragged me to an elevator and led me towards a black unmarked car on the second level, similar to the one I'd traveled in. Apparently Eddie had chauffeured the extra guardians in a second car. Still gripping me tight, he opened the rear passenger door and pushed me forward, forcing me down into the cold leather seat. I understood that I'd done something crazy, but he didn't have to manhandle me so much. He reached over to yank the seatbelt across my torso when I locked gazes with him.

Before I'd even realized what I was doing, I was speaking aloud, our eyes still locked on each other. "Drive," I told him. "Drive us away from here."

I'd never used compulsion on anyone before and knew that what I was doing was at least a million times worse than ditching my guardians had been. But Eddie was already turning away, zombielike as he got behind the wheel. He started the engine and we began to reverse out of the space just as Serena and Morris showed up. "Lock the doors," I commanded, knowing the connection I'd formed with Eddie was still strong. The doors locked up tight just as Serena went to grip the handle. She blinked in surprise, Morris shouting, "What the hell are you doing? Unlock the damn doors!"

Eddie glanced around to see me in the backseat. "Don't listen to them," I said gently. "Just drive." He turned back around and put the gear in drive and we started to move forward. "Drive," I said again more urgently as Morris began banging on the window with his fist.

Serena and Morris weren't fast enough to catch us, though they ran a good ways as we sped down one level and out the garage. I didn't know where I wanted to go, but I began to feel sick in my stomach knowing that I'd be in a crazy amount of trouble if my guardians managed to catch up with me soon. Was tricking them really worth the trouble?

Yes, I thought. Because I was still free of them, and they couldn't guess any better than I could at where I was headed next. But I could probably expect a lovely tracking device locked around my ankle when I eventually returned to Court.

I could hear the shouts out of Eddie's earpiece, Serena's voice coming over as shrill and frantic as she tried to engage him. I commanded Eddie to remove his earpiece and give it to me. When he passed it over I listened briefly to the feedback coming through. They knew we'd left the lot. They tried to contact Eddie and figure out what in the hell made him think he could just drive away like he had. That was when I turned the dang thing off. Eddie took an entrance ramp onto an expressway and it was a straight shot from there to wherever we would end up.

As I sank back against the plush leather seats I began to consider how reckless my behavior had become within the past few days. Why was I doing this exactly? Honestly, what good would it do me? Even if I managed to get away for a short time, the risk I ran of getting attacked by Strigoi or another enemy was too great. And if something happened to me, Lissa would have to give up her throne.

But I couldn't help it. I needed to get away. It was so hard to breathe, knowing that everybody could see me. Was watching me. I had to get away. If I didn't… I felt like I might die.

Just then Eddie swerved sharply, nearly hitting another car on the expressway. He cursed loudly in alarm and that was when I realized I'd lost the connection. He was no longer under my control. He didn't speak, though I could see how furious he was with me from the tight set of his jaw. Looking left, he pulled into a nearly empty Park & Ride. Turning off the engine he sat back in the driver's seat and let out a frustrated breath that sounded more like a curse word before letting me have it.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he said angrily, turning around in time to see me flinch at the harshness of his voice. "Do you want to get yourself killed or something? Because at this rate you'll be dead within the week!"

"I didn't mean to–"

"You didn't mean to what? Run away?"

"I was going to say I didn't mean to use compulsion on you. I've never actually done it before. I'm sorry."

"But you're not sorry for endangering yours and all of your guardians' lives though, right?"

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

"No, I'm sorry," he said, starting up the car. "Sorry your recklessness almost got us both killed. Sorry I helped you. Now, give me back my earpiece." I handed it over and he yanked it roughly out of my grasp. Switching it back on, he realized we were out of range to contact the others through it, so he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and called, I could only assume, the guardians who'd been with us at the mall today. "We're at a Park & Ride on…" he glanced over at the GPS on the front panel. "…Matsonford Road. Yeah, we'll be here." Then he hung up.

A minute of tense silence with Eddie felt like an eternity, one in which you wanted to curl in on yourself and repent. Somehow, this guy could make you feel worse than you already did without saying a word to you.

Any minute now my legion would arrive to take me back to my prison. Instead of Jailbait, Adrian's nickname for me should've been Jailbird.

I couldn't take the silence anymore, and I felt so bad about what I'd done to him. Also, Eddie looked like he was getting ready to implode or something with how stiff he was at the wheel. I didn't know if he would accept any of my apologies, but at least he'd know it wasn't anything personal.

"I can't stand it," I said quietly, wringing my hands together, and knowing that all eleven of my guardians were making their way to me. I had such little time left to explain. "I hate feeling like I'm trapped. With so many people watching me…I feel like I'm suffocating."

Was any of this making sense to him? Or was I being completely irrational?

The tension in Eddie's shoulders released and his white-knuckled hold on the steering wheel loosened. "We can't do our job if you don't let us. We can't protect you if you're constantly trying to get away," he said. He wasn't quite as angry as before, though his voice was still firm when he turned to face me. "Can you even imagine what would've happened if we lost you? If something happened to you? This isn't a game."

"They wouldn't even let me go home to see my parents for Christmas," I said sadly. I barely got to see those two. Unless they visited me while I'd been safely inside the protected gates of St. Vladimir's Academy, or took time off work to see me over the summer while I was at Court, I never got to spend any time with them. The guardians' idea of keeping me safe was apparently confining me every place I went. Somehow, in a giant mall full of thousands of holiday shoppers, I was completely alone. I guess I could forget about ever having a life or friends. "They only need me alive because Lissa can't be Queen without me."

He looked at me, stricken. "Why do you think that?"

"Because it's true," I said simply. "No one really cares about me. They keep me locked up like a pet because they don't want me to get hurt."

And it was true. The only reason I even spent time with Lissa during our forced breakfasts was because it looked good. So that we could say that we spent time together even though words normally weren't passed between us. If I talked to anyone during that half hour of agony it was Rose. Christian and his guardian, Dimitri Belikov, would occasionally show up for those breakfasts… when Christian bothered to wake up in time. But for the most part, whenever I was here, I may well not have been. My presence didn't make any impact on Lissa other than for her to have her seat on the throne.

"Jill…" he said, shaking his head in disbelief, and I was surprised he'd actually used my name. "Now that's the dumbest thing you've done all night."

Well, that was like a boot in the ass. "I- what?" I said, flustered.

"Saying that nobody cares about you. That the only reason they protect you is because they can't let you die. Yes, Lissa can't be queen unless you're there. Yes, we protect you because we want Lissa to remain queen. But we do care. Rose cares. And I care."

"Listen, I'm sorry you couldn't go home for the holidays, but your safety is too important to take risks on. At least, we feel that way." The fact that I apparently was so free with risking my own life was implied in his tone. "Princess, we would give our lives to protect you."

And there we were, back with the whole "princess" bit.

Now I really felt like crying. Not only had I begun to resent that title, but that trapped feeling and the added disappointment of not being allowed to go home to be with my family only made things worse. I hadn't realized how seriously these little things had begun to weigh on me, turning me into some insane escape artist. And not even a successful one at that. But with Eddie telling me he'd protect me with his life, saying I'm not just a body to be protected, but a person that people actually cared about, I began to see how stupid I'd been in trying to run away.

Maybe this was all I'd needed to hear?

Now didn't that sound childish.

"Well, then I hope you don't lose your job. Because if someone's gonna have to watch me, I hope it's you."

He turned back around, looking a lot less hostile and a little more sheepish. Maybe it'd been something I said.

It wasn't long after that until the guardians arrived. Or, well, half of them anyway. I was sure the others were around somewhere, but the ones who'd pulled into the parking lot were with Morris and Serena. They both looked so disappointed, and I couldn't help but think about what Eddie had said.