Queen Thorn (complete)

Chapter 4

"Guardian Steel, would you ask Guardian Aylesworth to come in, I think that it is time that he met his new charge."

"Yes, of course your majesty."

A few minutes later, Ryan entered the room and bowed to Aunt Tati.

"Guardian Aylesworth, please come in and have a seat." 

As he sat down Aunt Tati informed him as to what was going on. "You are here because I have had you assigned to guard Princess Dragomir. While Guardian Belikov has received a promotion, he is the new head of Princess Ivashkov's security force."

Ryan looked stunned, before he bowed and thanked Aunt Tati for her confidence in him. Yeah right, she knows that you are an asshole and that you suck. You prick.

"But your majesty, Guardian Aylesworth was one of the graduates from St. Vladimir's with some of the lowest scores of his whole class."

"I am sure that he has improved over the years my dear. He is still alive after all. So, that should attest to his proficiency." Aunt Tati was doing everything that she could not to laugh at the look on Lissa's face. As for Ryan's past assignment, his graduation score was so low that he was assigned to the garage signing in and out cars that would be used by others. They didn't even trust him enough to actually WORK on the cars.

"That may be true your majesty, but Guardian Belikov and I have grown quite close over the years, romantically I mean."

I thought Dimitri's eyes were going to fall out of his head at her bald face lie. That was one look that not even his guardian mask could hide.

"Oh my, is this true Guardian Belikov?" My aunt asked as she turned to Dimitri but she already knew the truth because I had told her.

"No, your majesty. It. Is. Not." Dimitri told her truthfully.

"Would you care to explain the discrepancies in your stories?"

"Could we have some privacy your majesty?" Dimitri asked politely.

"Of course. Guardian Aylesworth, could you please excuse us?"

"Yes, of course your majesty." When he turned his back he smirked. He was thinking, and hoping, that if Lissa had a thing for her guardians that he would be able to 'nail', as he was thinking in his mind, the Dragomir Princess.

When the door closed behind Ryan Dimitri began. "As you know your majesty, Princess Dragomir staked me returning me to a dhampir. But before I was turned I was in love with Rose Hathaway, and I still am. Roza came to Russia in an attempt to free my soul. She also contacted my family and told them that I had been turned. While she was in Russia the strigoi me captured her and held her prisoner. While trying to get her to consent to letting me turn her, I fed from her. And yet no matter how much I fed from her, or how much I tortured and tormented her she refused to turn. She fought me tooth and nail for her freedom, for her life, for her 'humanity'. On the day that she escaped from me. She had fooled me into thinking that she was considering allowing me to turn her so that we could be together. But instead, she staked me with a wooden chair leg and escaped. We fought on a bridge over the Ob river where she staked me with an actual stake that time. But, because of the precarious position that we were fighting in she did not manage to stake me fully. Shortly after she returned to St. Vladimir's Academy the strigoi me started sending her death threat love letters. But that did not stop my Roza, she had found out after the bridge, that there was a way to restore a strigoi to their former selves. Which broke her heart, because she thought that she had found out about this information too late. Anyway, when she found out that I was still alive, she set out on a quest to restore me. She went through things you can't even begin to imagine to find out exactly how to change me back. But she did get her answers as you can see. When the time came Vasilisa staked me with a stake that had been charmed with spirit, which is what restored me. All thanks to the determination, love, imagination and sheer force of will of my Roza. When I was restored I felt so guilty about what I had done to my Roza as a strigoi. That I did the stupidest thing that I ever could have done, I pushed her away. And although I still loved her with my very soul I lied to her and told her that my love for her had faded. Which, as I said, was a complete and total lie. At the time I thought it was the truth, but my love for her was only  being hidden from me under all of the guilt, sadness and grief that I felt because of what I had done to her as a strigoi. I also thought, that by pushing her away, I was saving her from the guilt by association embarrassment and ridicule. I thought that I was not worthy of her love anymore, not that I had ever really been worthy of her. But I did not want to endanger her life and career by people seeing us together. When I told her that God awful lie is when she left court with her friends and I have not seen nor heard from her since. The day that I was restored she tried to see me, but I  was still so racked with grief and guilt that I told Princess Dragomir that I did not want to see Roza. When I told the princess that I didn't want to see my Roza she did everything that she possibly could to keep us apart. She even went so far as screaming at my Roza, cursing her out, threatening her, slapping her and so many other things just to keep Roza away from me. I did not know at the time that she was doing all of that, I was informed about it two months after my Roza left court. I received a typed letter in the mail telling me all of this. But, I still have no idea who the letter was from. Anyway, after my Roza left court both the princess and Lady Natasha Ozera began to vie for my affections. I have told both of them, repeatedly, that I do not care about either of them in that way. That I still love my Roza, and that I always will. But neither of them believed me, or if they did they just didn't care what I want or who I love. So, they continue to make their attempts at getting me to be with them. And as I said, I do not care about either of them in that way. I love only my Roza, and I wish with every part of me that I could get her back."