Hi everyone, thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! I still have a fair amount I want to do with this story, so this chapter will essentially be an emotional kind of filler. To set up my plans for later I needed to fill in some blanks, and for all of you hopeless romantics I'm sure this will really tickle your pickle ha-ha. Thank you all for remaining with me through this journey, and I will admit it is lovely to come home from 41 degree heat in Perth at the moment (105 Fahrenheit for my American followers) to my air con and pump out a chapter. My Kris is still not well and has been nothing but a grumbly ass with this record breaking hot summer and I've sent him off to finish playing Fallout so finally I have some 'me' time. Yay :)

Once more, I do not own VA, and enjoy.

Chapter 16

"Rosemarie," Ibrahim gasped, his tanned complexion paling as he stared at me. "Oh gods above, you're alive."

I froze, my half formed retort sticking to my lips. How did this man, this monarch, know my name? And why on Earth did he seem so stricken?

"I'm sorry?" I asked, furrowing my brow. "Do I know you?"

"Rosemarie," he repeated, his voice now brightening in wonder. "I thought you dead. You have to understand, that's why I never thought to look for you."

"Sire," stumpy interrupted rudely, gesturing wildly towards me. "Are you saying that you know this trollop?"

"Never- and I mean never", Mazur hissed, turning a ferocious glare on the guard, "Call my daughter that word if you wish to ever speak again."

Astonishment.

That was the first thing I felt. Completely and utterly taken aback.

Affronted.

How could this man be so cruel as to say such ridiculous things?

Anger.

Furious that I could have for one second believed that I may actually have somebody left in this world.

Anguished.

That was the last emotion I felt before I turned on my heel and walked away. Ignoring the calls of the King, I strode in a haze through the marbled corridors. For one brilliant, fleeting second I had entertained the notion that maybe I was something more than a slave girl, something more than the orphaned servant of the man I loved. For one moment I had envisioned that perhaps I could belong to Dimitri as an equal, not as a person living at the mercy of his pity. Yet that moment had passed as quickly as it had arrived, and once more I was Rose, belonging nowhere and to nobody, branded and beaten.

"Rose!" I realised too late that I hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings when I walked straight into Queen Olena. She was still dressed in her finery, and I apologised profusely as I tried to dance around her.

"Rose, stop." She commanded me, her soft voice demanding my compliance. "Are you okay? You don't look yourself."

"I'm fine," I babbled, desperately wanting to be alone. "I'm just on my way back to my- I mean, Dimitri's- chambers."

"Wait! Olena, stop her!" The deep voice was unmistakeable, and once more I tried to no avail to dance around Olena with my limp. "Olena, she is my beautiful Rosemarie," Ibrahim panted, having followed quickly to catch up to me. "She is my only child."

"Stop lying," I hissed, throwing courtesy out of the window in frustration. "Stop being utterly ridiculous."

But Olena was looking at me in a new light, curiosity dawning in her eyes. "Rose, how old are you really?" She questioned me softly. Out of respect and respect for her alone, I replied stiffly "I was 18 summers in the Spring."

"What was your mother's name?" Ibrahim interjected, unable to contain himself.

"None of your goddamn business," I snarled, but I couldn't move as Olena caught my shoulders with her strong hands.

"Answer him, Rose."

"Janine," I retorted stiffly. "My mother's name was Janine. Can I leave now?" I saw my escape route when Olena dropped her hands, her face becoming like stone.

"It can't be," she whispered. "Abe… It can't be. Janine hasn't been seen since…"

"Since she died in the attack in Sezar." Mazur finished. I recognised Sezar as the capital of Ilore, and suddenly one topic finally sunk itself into my thick head.

"You knew my mother?" I asked, astounded. The only memories I had of my mother were those of her as a world weary woman, fighting her way through life without once looking back. I knew nothing of her past, and nothing of her family. The closest she had ever gotten to talking about my past was when she would recall my father…

Recall my father. My father, whom I had inherited my tanned complexion and brown eyes from. My father, a man whom she had left for 'my safety'. I had always assumed that she had meant my father was abusive, but now for the first time ever another avenue opened up to me.

I had been in danger not from my Father, but from those around him. My chocolate brown eyes met his- the same shade of brown- and I whispered one word. A word of denial, of abhorrence, yet also of shock.

"No."

If you had asked me to recall how I wound up in the stables, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. I had fled wildly, blindly through the castle walls, heedless to those around me in my effort to escape everyone. Yet now Nate stood over me, comforting in his presence and silence, and I felt myself beginning to slip. I tried to deny it to myself over and over again, but some instinctive part of me recognised the situation for what it was. Somehow, at some point, my Mother must have taken me from the walls of Sezar to the small and isolated town of Andeep, where she had raised me alone. I had recognised Mazur because unbeknownst to me, I had seen him before. He was my Father, and I was no longer an orphan, and the very thought of what it meant terrified me.

"Lass, what's bothering you?" A gruff, familiar voice interrupted my thoughts, and I raised my tear-streaked face to meet that of Russ.

"Do you ever not know what to do?" I asked him in a small voice. "Do you ever feel that everything you thought you knew was a lie?"

"Ah lass," Russ replied, opening the stall door to lie against the stable wall next to me. "I don't know what's happened now, but I know yer been through a helluva lot in this past season." He gently clasped my hand in his, and I held on tightly.

"Russ," I tried again, my voice hushed. "Would it matter to you if I wasn't who you thought I was? If I wasn't really an orphan, or a servant?"

Russ stared at me for a long while, his face unfathomable before eventually replying.

"Rose, when I first met you, you were being dragged kicking and screaming from everything and everyone you knew, yet still you fought on." He brushed the back of my hand with his own. "You were this little slip of a thing but you fought with the strength of three men. You allowed nobody to get yer down, and nobody to defeat you." He paused, waiting for my hitching breath to abate. "Rose, where yer come from, it don't matter." He finally admitted. "What matters is who you are. To me, yer will always be the little girl with the big heart who gave hope to Thraln when it seemed all but gone. And that," he summarised, "is what really matters."

I sniffled, fighting back a different kind of emotion now. "Oh, Russ," I finally gave in, wrapping my arms around him in a tight embrace. "You are wonderful, do you know that?" Russ was becoming- no, I corrected- had become the father figure I had never had. He patted my back awkwardly. "Now lass, you don't want to be hugging me, I'm all dirty and yer will get that pretty dress fouled up." I giggled, rubbing my eyes free of tears. "Well, then it'll match my face," I sighed. "Russ, I don't think I've ever said it, but thank you for rescuing me from that hole in the ground."

"Don't thank me for that," he growled. "If I ever get my hands on the bastard who put yer there I'll wring his damned neck. And don't be putting yer pretty face down like that."

"You and me both," I mumbled. "Oh how the Ozera's will just love finding out they have all but declared war on Ilore." Russ looked at me sharply, but chose to remain silent. "I better find Dimitri," I sighed, brushing the hay from my dress. "There is something I need to tell him before his mother beats me to it."

I had expected to find Dimitri in the mess hall at this hour, however butterflies kicked into my stomach when I realised he was nowhere to be seen. I ignored the side glances cast by other household staff as I limped, my eyes red, back into the entrance. There I found Christian, but no Dimitri.

"Oh for god sake," I murmured as he approached me, "Please go away."

"Well?" He demanded. "How did it go? Did you pass Mazur the message?"

"What? Oh, shit," I replied, having completely forgotten the reason I had gone to Mazur in the first place. "No, but I met Olena on the way so I'm sure it would have been passed along first hand." A small lie, but close enough to the truth to be plausible.

"Hmm." Christian pursed his lips. "Maybe that is why she burst into the hall earlier trying to find Dimitri. Must've been important."

"Oh, shit," I repeated, my tone entirely different now. I needed to reach Dimitri before Olena; I had no idea how he would react, and I knew deep down I needed to be comforted by him more than any other.

"Oh?" Christian's piercing blue eyes honed in on mine, not missing a thing. "Do you know something Rose?"

"Christian." My voice was quavering. "I'm scared." The admission slipped out of its own accord, and he awkwardly patted my back.

"Now, now." He attempted to soothe me. "Whatever it is can't really be that bad, can it?" However, as the words came from his lips, Dimitri walked through the entrance behind him, causing me to leap forward wordlessly.

"Dimitri," I breathed, reaching for him.

But he stared wordlessly ahead, shrugging past me. I was stung, and it must have shown on my face for Christian frowned and reached out to catch his arm.

"Dim-" he started, before the Prince tore away from his grip.

"Don't touch me," He spat, disappearing through the arched entry hall.

"Well," Christian finally said as my face crumbled and people began to stare, "just maybe I was wrong?"

Dimitri POV

I sat on the railings of Olena's gardens, staring at the black night sky. Stars had once shone brightly upon Verex, however with the increasing aridity of the land, the constant dust had created a layer separating the vast emptiness from our world. Olena's gardens were one of the last places still carrying vestiges of green, however it wouldn't be long before that too would be nothing but a distant memory.

Just like the feelings I have for Rose, I thought bitterly.

"Dimka," a hushed voice whispered.

I didn't need to turn to recognise that it was my youngest sister standing behind me. Lost in thought, I hadn't heard her soft approach.

"What do you want Viktoria?" I asked, surprised by my own bitterness. I couldn't explain why I was so angered about the revelation my Mother had sprung on me mere hours earlier. I should be happy; finally, there was a chance that Rose and I may be together, may unite Ilore and Thraln at last. However, the thought of her as a Princess, as a pawn in a large and intricate chess game, and as- I had to admit it to myself- an equal, bothered me beyond reason.

"Dimka, you're being very selfish." Viktoria eventually spoke, her voice muted in the evening quiet. Her words were at odds with her tone, however I still found myself growing angry.

"Leave me alone, Viktoria," I snarled. But in true Viktoria fashion, she remained steadfast in her disapproval.

"Imagine how she must be feeling right now?" Viktoria added, disappointment evident in her words. "Imagine the feeling of having your entire life overturned in an instant, after everything she had been through?"

"And furthermore," she continued when I failed to respond, "Imagine opening up to somebody and allowing yourself to love them, only to have them shun you when you need them the most."

"Leave!" I finally shouted, my temper fraying. "Just leave me alone."

Viktoria merely stared at me with her luminous eyes, before turning to glide through the trees.

"If you change your mind, perhaps you should speak to Vasilisa," she muttered under her breath as she left.

Ashamed, I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. I was being completely unfair. I knew that. But the longer I sat, the more I realised that this is how my life would feel without Rose. Empty, plain, with all the shiny brightness of the stars lost to me forever. Who her parents were shouldn't matter. What mattered was that Roza was the most wonderful woman I had ever met, and that should trump everything else.

It was feeling like a complete git that I knocked on the door to Vasilisa's sleeping chamber. Unlike the other servants, due to her unique position as my own handmaiden she had her own room located at the base of the stairs to my wing. It was tiny, and hardly luxurious, but it sure beat allowing her to sleep in the common area.

"Lissa," I called softly, knocking on the wooden door. "Lissa, I need to speak to you."

"I'm sure you do," her voice yelled back, no sympathy present in her tone whatsoever. "But you can turn around and walk back the way you came."

I heard a small giggle follow that, and knew suddenly why Vika had sent me here. I could imagine that Rose would wish to avoid facing Mazur long enough to process her thoughts, and nobody would search for her in this tiny room.

"Lissa," I responded impatiently. "I need to speak to Roza."

The door was yanked open by a very annoyed looking Vasilisa.

"Not in here you won't" she told me frankly. "You two obviously need to talk, but I'm tired." I hid a smile at her frankness. Lissa's room was small enough that you could walk from each side in a few steps, containing only a mattress and wooden dresser. Because of this, Lissa was easily able to reach behind her to drag Rose from the bed and shove her unceremoniously into my arms, slamming the door behind us.

"I'm sorry."

The first words out of my mouth were apologetic. Rose and I sat facing one another, her legs crossed tightly. She was leaning against the corner of my desk, her face troubled. Red rimmed her eyes as if she had recently been crying, and her face makeup had smudged throughout the day.

"Why?" She questioned, and I didn't need any clarification for what she meant.

"I don't know," I admitted, once more feeling shame. "More than anything, I felt that maybe I would lose… you." I sighed heavily, raising my eyes to meet hers. "I thought that maybe, once you didn't need me anymore, you wouldn't want to be with me."

I knew the words had offended Rose the minute they left my mouth, and so I was hardly surprised when her jaw tightened in anger and a lightning fast fist smashed into my cheek.

"Ow," I moaned, wishing I had moved. For a small woman, Rose definitely packed a punch.

"You idiot!" She seethed, swinging her arm back once more. "No," I winced, grabbing her hand before she had a chance to hit me again. "Please?"

Her chest heaved. "How could you think that?" She growled. "More than anything, it means we can finally be together. And, maybe Thraln can have peace once and for all."

"But that's exactly it Rose!" I argued. "I don't want you to become a pawn of war! I want you to want me, not for the advantaged to our nations but for me!" I sounded selfish, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

"Dimitri," she said tenderly, reaching over to stroke the bruise already beginning to bloom on my face. "The rest is only an added advantage. The fact that we can be together means more than anything else in the world."

I leaned forward to drag Rose into my arms, breathing in the flowery scent of her hair.

"Well then, my Roza," I whispered, sliding away from her and raising her to her feet. Now that there were no barriers, there was something I knew that I absolutely could not wait any longer to do. To her astonishment I knelt, taking her small hands in my much larger ones.

"Rosemarie Mazur," I said formally, choosing to use her full name. "Long before you were a Princess, you were my Queen. My Roza, will you do me the greatest honour of my life, and become my wife?"

Well, there you have it. Only a measly 3000 words, but it does a lot to set up some really crucial things that I want to happen in the next few chapters. So, nobody yet knows that Rose is the heir to Ilore, what do you think will happen? And do you think Rose will accept Dimitri's offer now that he's stopped being a dick? Please let me know what you think, and I hope wherever you are that it is lovely and cool. :)