Unforgiven - Complete

Chapter One

"Fuck you, Dimitri Belikov!" Rose muttered under her breath, applying wild cherry tinted lip gloss to her lips and pursing them in the mirror hanging on the inside of her locker. She undid her lazy braid, letting her long dark locks tumble artlessly in loose curls down her back. She intentionally kept her makeup subtle and light, her clothing attractive but not revealing. Her Babcia had had a saying - dress like Halloween, and you'll end up with ghouls in your pants. It probably lost something in the translation, but she understood the gist; if you dressed like a slut, you'd only end up attracting guys that liked that sort of girl. The best way to drive a guy mad was to look like you weren't trying too hard. In fact, to look like you weren't trying at all.

Not that she was trying, of course. After what that bastard had done over winter break, being anywhere near Dimitri Belikov was the last thing she wanted. Truth be told, even the thought of him turned her stomach and made her want to run and hide somewhere for a long, long time. But since they were stuck at St. Vladimir's Academy together, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing just how badly he'd hurt her.

Shutting her locker with perhaps a little more vehemence than was strictly necessary, Rose turned to see her best friend Lissa standing beside her. In many ways, they were a picture in opposites. Lissa was tall and slim – with that willowy figure common to supermodels. She was pale – light skin and blonde hair. In fact, it was only her rubine lips and piercing jade eyes that gave her any color at all. But she was undeniably a knockout. She was also the most genuine and loving person God had put breath into and for the last thirteen years Rozalia Mazur's best friend.

Rose, as she preferred to be known, took after her Polish father's side of the family; dark hair and eyes, although this was attenuated by her mother's Scottish heritage . She'd ended up with paler skin than her father's side of the family but with the other dark features. It was a striking combination. Another thing she'd got from her mother was her gentle curves. While Lissa could easily go braless anywhere, anytime, Rose had the full hips and breasts, and cinched waist, that declared her to be all woman.

While the two of them were opposites in looks, they were also opposites in temperament. Lissa was the one every teacher and parent loved. Sweet and good-natured, she never gave anyone a moment's trouble. Rose, on the other hand, was feisty and impulsive ; also traits she got from her Scottish mother. Notoriously outspoken, she was bright and loyal with a wicked sense of humor. And she held a grudge. Oh boy, did she hold a grudge.

"Are you ok?" Lissa asked, looking searchingly at her best friend.

There was no point lying. Lissa could always see right through her.

"I will be. Just don't let him near me," Rose whispered.

"You're in most of the same classes. You can't avoid him," Lissa said reasonably.

"I know. But today will be the first time I've seen him since it happened. I just don't want him to know how much he's hurt me," Rose explained beseechingly. "I don't want to see him. I don't even want to think about him!"

If Rose was thinking about Dimitri, it wasn't any wonder, Lissa thought ominously. They'd dated all of junior year. She and Christian, Rose and Dimitri; best friends dating best friends. The four of them had been almost inseparable, which is what made what happened so much worse.

St Vlad's, a combined Eastern Orthodox school, trod a careful line between parishioners whose diocese used the Julian calendar (where Christmas was celebrated on January 7), and those that favored the revised Julian calendar that recognized 25 December. To accommodate both groups, the school's winter break was long; running from late December until the second week of the New Year. As she'd done every second year for as long as she could remember, Rose had accompanied her parents to Scotland to spend a Catholic Christmas and visit with her mother's family before returning to spend an Orthodox Christmas at home. It was one of the many concessions negotiated between her fiercely religious Orthodox and Catholic parents, and there was no getting out of it.