The Hathaway charm

1

Guardian Emily feels her legs hurt ever so slightly as she moves for the first time in three hours, she had hoped her body would have been used to standing, yet, even after months, her body feels stiff after a long meeting. It's something she's afraid to ask the seasoned guardians around her though.

She refuses to do anything, anything at all to indicate to them that she was unfit for the role. She was the only guardian picked out of her year to work with the queen, Vasilisa Dragomir and she simply cannot allow herself to make a mistake, make any mistakes that will lead to that decision being reversed.

Emily had kept her head down and worked and listened to everything she was being told for this. To have the best possible future.
To be able to hold one of the highest positions in the Dhampir system.

She had never done a single thing in her life that would step out of line. For this, it was terrifying to think that someone could take that away.

Rose Hathaway could take it away.

Rose Hathaway was an older Dhampir woman that Emily had gone to school with, she was three years older, and currently the highest position holder in Dhampir court as the queen's head of security.
When Emily was in school and she had heard that the older woman had become head of security for the new Moroi queen, she had counted to three, walked back to her room, and yelled into her pillow.

Rose Hathaway had always been the exact opposite of Emily, she was rash and immature and didn't care about anything. Of course, like Emily, Rose Hathaway had always been top of her class but the difference was she did whatever she wanted, partied, broke any rules she wanted to, and sat in her room and studied and studied.

It had felt like a slap to the face at that moment in her final year of the Academy to be told that she was the exact opposite and had achieved so much.

It meant that the childhood that Emily had given up had been for no reason.

Of course, it wasn't Rose's fault, Emily had done all that because her mother had been a bloodwhore in the true sense of the word. Partying and throwing herself at any moroi for a quick fix had been the only thing she wanted, so Emily had been promptly shipped to the academy doors and forgotten. Emily had wanted to be the exact opposite of that woman. While Rose Hathaway had a famous Dhampir mother who had shown her the ropes.
Emily knew it was all no one's fault but the world's but in that moment in her room, she had contemplated just giving up, packing up, and leaving.

Because how was that fair?

How did she get to have an amazing life where she experienced all the luxurious world of the moroi thanks to her being friends with the last Dragomir, party, and then on top of that discover literally a whole new magic system that restored strogoi, making the impossible possible and so on?
It was like despite all the work Emily had filled into making her life decent non of it mattered at all.

Emily had sworn that she hated Rose Hathaway that day.

And now, as that same woman who was also her boss now stood in front of her, Emily couldn't help the slight blush that crept onto her face.

Rose Hathaway was magnetic.

Emily watched as she stood in the room full of other guardians in casual white and green combo sweatpants and cropped white-T looking like the most beautiful women in the world. The queen of the moroi world. Queen Vasilisa looked dull in her expensive tailored dress next to her.

"Fiinaaallyy" Rose yawned "I've been waiting for like 30 minutes, I thought you said that stupid meeting was supposed to end an hour ago?" she said, speaking with an easy confidence Eamily was sure she would never have.

Queen Vasilisa simply rolled her eyes at this "You know how they are, also 30 minutes? How were you half an hour late?"

"Because I thought I'd be spared the waiting if I was half an hour late, but clearly not"

The two women intertwined their hands together and started to walk, making Emily and the 5 other guards that follow her be their shadows.
While younger her would have been frustrated by this, but now she wasn't sure she wanted any sort of spotlight.

She was happy to be away, to simply watch as Rose smiled and shined.

Andrew, one of the guardians following the two with me suddenly but subtly bumped into me, taking my attention, "What" I whispered, not looking in his direction.

'Nothing, just reminding you that if you stare more you'll start drooling"

"Like you don't think she's beautiful" I whispered back, not dignifying his taunt with a response.

"Sure I do, everyone does, but no one wants Belikov's rath anytime soon."

Guardian Belikov had been someone I had looked up to when we were in school. He had also of course scared me shitless back then, but that was to be expected from the god.

Now looking at how he and Rose interact, carefree and happy makes my chest hurt. I didn't have any right to, of course, considering she literally found out how to bring someone from the dead to be with him, I don't think I will be ever questioning their devotion or love for each other. But it didn't hurt any less seeing people be in love, the type of love that you wanted.

"And non of us are in love with her like you" Andrew continued on, voicing Emily's thoughts too easily.

No one should have known, because no matter how much her stupid heart wanted it because it was unrealistic and not something that would go anywhere but the few friends she had made since getting out of school had gotten together and gotten drunk one random night when they were on break. It wasn't even at a bar, but a smaller home get-together since Emily had never set foot in a bar. Yet, somehow she had gotten drunk enough to slip up, to say that it was unfair how goddamn beautiful rose hathaway was.

Emily couldn't even decide if she wanted to be her or wanted to date her.

Whatever it was, she knew it was entirely unrealistic as she saw lord Ozera and Guardian Belikov join the two women.

In that moment, as they walked up to each other, Rose's eyes and face, they looked so different. Like the entire world just didn't exist, like seeing him in that moment was worth the world and more even though she had likely seen him earlier today and Emily knew that she didn't need to look at guardian Belikov to know that his face looked the same for that one split second before they became professional again.

It all was so much that suddenly Emily almost had tears in her eyes.

It wasn't even that she didn't have rose hathaway but the wonder of if she would ever have anyone that looked at her like that.

With that much love. With so much love that the world would burst from it.