Dimitri POV

"Where is Lissa?"

"I thought she was with you. You know, dressing up and all such girly stuff."

"No she wasn't. She left a long time ago. Maybe she's with Christian." Rose protested.

"But she was not with Christian either. He had been searching for her," I asked amazed.

"Anyway, let it be. She is the queen and must have a lot of pressing engagements. Besides she has guardians to take care of her. Nothing can happen to her," Rose said, as if convincing herself.

"We can go and check if you want," I offered.

"No, I don't want to disturb her. What if she is busy? Besides," she looked at me and whispered softly, " I don't want to spoil our big day. I want to spend every single moment with you today."

I must have blushed, because my cheeks felt hot.

"What about night? Do you want to spend the night too with me," I hinted.

It was her turn to look down. She turned tomato red.

"Dimitri, finally you are mine. I can't believe it. After whatever happened in out life, it's like a dream,"she spoke in a dream like trance.

"We're not married yet, darling," I joked, "What if I ran away from the altar?"

"Stop teasing me. First you come and convince me and then threaten to run away...How dare you?"

The false expression of anger on her face, made me burst out in laughter.

We were standing in the wings of the grand stage, decorated with strings of blood-red roses and serene, white freesia blossoms. The stage had diffusing white light from a grand crystal chandelier. The atmosphere was like the Cinderella ballroom.

From where we stood, I could hear the excited chatter of the invitees. Mikhail Tanner with his wife Sonya Karp were busy monitoring last minute decorations.

On the other side I could see Lord Christian with his regal air, move about among servants, ordering them here and there. They all had worked together to make this day a grand one.

In front of the stage was Adrian in his royal suit, and casual hairdo, with the everlasting smirk on his face.

Sydney in her neatly styled, white minidress with matching collars and cuffs, stood beside him, a perfect picture of Alchemist discipline. Sydney might have given up her profession, but had retained it's mannerisms.

I could see the minister behind the curtain, in his majestic attire of gold, ready with the holy scriptures, to unite us forever.

"So," I turned to Rose, "Are we ready?"

She caught my hand and turned me around to face her.

I could see an unnatural desperation in her eyes.

"Do you remember your promise?I am with you in this mission. I had that one condition for our marriage," she enquired.

My heart skipped a beat. Just after this, would start the most difficult phase of our life. I had to take Rose on my mission against the strigoi. Though she had made me promise to focus on my task and that she would fend for herself, my heart knew it was not possible.

Once she was bound to me, by love and marriage, I had the responsibility of protecting her forever. So even on the mission, I would always have her back. I would always throw myself in front of her. Death will have to go through me to touch her.

For the first time I realised that I was endangering Rose's life for no reason at all.

Oh why could I not refuse her? Why did I have to put the condition of marriage? I had messed up again. Now Rose was sure to accompany me.

"I promised you," I whispered avoiding her eyes, " Why do you break my heart always? Why do I have to knowingly endanger your life?"

"Listen Comrade," she said, tossing her hair defiantly, "Never try to bribe, blackmail or threaten me. Now where have I heard this? Oh yeah, I told the queen, long ago."

I couldn't help a smile even in that tense situation.

And finally I gave her a tug. This was a cue for her to follow me into the stage.

                    .....................

Standing before the oath book, I felt my mouth was dry. I nervously licked my lips. A few more minutes and Rose would be mine forever.

I stole a quick glance at her. She was nervously playing with the petals of the roses in her frothy bouquet. I chuckled to myself. She was just as jittery as me.

"Do you promise..." the priest began but was cut off by another voice.

"What's the hurry Rose? YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED WITHOUT ME?"

The voice was familiar, but the edge of coldness in it froze me. Instinctively I reached out to catch her hand. But it was too late. Rose is snatched out of my arms by an immense strength.

I looked up in horror to see Rose being held by the throat to the wall, gasping and choking. And the person holding her was death pale. Her once green eyes, now predatory red. She was still wearing the designer bridesmaid dress. And as she tossed back her platinum hair, the crown of gold and emerald glittered in a deadly way.

QUEEN VASILISA SABINA RHEA DRAGOMIR!

She had been awakened and was holding my bride as a hostage, as I stared helplessly...

A/N What will happen now? Any guesses? Well answer friends. I want to see how the story progresses from here.

I wrote this update sitting in my computer practical classes at college. 😉Well we had one free hour and free internet so I made the full use of my time for this update. My teacher noticed but never told me a word. 😊Guess he knows my obsession. Well I certainly was doing something better than all my friends spending time in ideal chat and YouTube movies. 😒😒So I hope I haven't done any mistake. Please correct me if I did.

Thanks Pipigrin teamhathaway my all time favorite readers.