More than a friend

Ch 15: Responsibilities

CPOV

The main table was already full, except for two empty chairs near the head of the table. We took our seats next to Adrian while on the other side of him, sat Lissa. I saw her smile softy to Rose who kindly returned the gesture, but when she looked my way I simply nodded.

Rose would always complain about how petty I was for not forgiving her. But the truth was, I think I had. I didn't hold any anger or bitterness towards her. I did in the past, there's no denying that, but not any more. I think time had allowed me to move on and heal.
Sounds cliché but that was the truth. Being away from court and all the gossip and drama had allowed me to focus on other things in my life. Seeing her here, in person, after so long made me realise that I truly didn't have any feelings for her. I no longer felt that pull towards her, that fluttering feeling of love or even that pain of heartbreak. I just felt nothing. Yes, she was still beautiful, there was no denying that either, but it just didn't attract me anymore.

Across from us sat aunt Tasha and Dimitri. It was clear it took a great deal for her to simply walk away from our earlier conversations. There was so much more she wanted to know and rightly so. She deserved the truth but unfortunately that wasn't an option.
I was shocked at myself for how things went down outside, but really what else could I have said?
'Hi Dimitri! Remember that time when you slept with your underage student and then disappeared, leaving her pregnant with a miracle baby who she had to raise on her own while you decided to hook-up with my aunt? No?! Well that's exactly what happened!"
I cringed at the thought. Yes the truth was definitely not an option in this case. Especially since Rose has no plan of including the infamous guardian in her daughter's life. But what if she did? I turned looked at the man and he couldn't take his eyes off Rose. His face hid all emotion but I could tell there was an war happening within him. It must have been shocking finding out the woman you supposedly loved had a child and a family with someone else. I bet he assumed she would have withered away in sorrow waiting for him to return. She would have if it wasn't for Sophie. She gave Rose the purpose to keep on fighting and the love and hope Dimitri hadn't been able to provide. I helped as well but most of credit went to Sophie.

"When the hell is your aunt going to show up? I haven't eaten all day and I would very much like to be anywhere else but here" Rose said leaning towards Adrian.

"She should be here any moment, Little Dhampire. And try to be a little more nice me, I did save you and fake baby-daddy over there the best seats in the house. A seat next to me" said Adrian with a smug look on his face. She glared at him for his choice of words but I intervened before she could get arrested for assaulting the queen's nephew.

"Remind me again why these seats so special?" I asked joining in the conversation.
"Because if you weren't sitting here you would have been next to a certain Russian giant and his mistress" he says jerking his head to the opposites side of the table.
"That's my aunt you're talking about" I said to Adrian with a threatening tone in my voice.
"Then I owe you one" she said to Adrian with a wink.

I just rolled my eyes while Adrian's grin grew.

Just then the royal guards entered the room and shortly after walked in Queen Tatiana.

We all rose to greet her and once she was seated we all followed and took our seats.
Usually these gathering start with a few pleasantries but the queen went straight to business.

"Shall we begin then? Most of you have travelled quite a distance to be here. I must say some of you were difficult to find and convince but I thank you all for your sacrifices to be here."
"The reason, as I'm sure most of you have figured out already, is the growing strigoi threat that our kind face. We are constantly attacked by the strigoi and it seems that their numbers are increasing by the day while ours are decreasing. We cannot continue moving forward, ignoring the fact that we are fighting a losing battle against the creatures. It goes against everything we stand for but we have to change our tactics in order to survive." She paused for a moment staring down at us, making sure we were prepared for her next words. "It is time the moroi learned how to use our powers in combat." The room went extremely still. Everyone's breath was caught. It has finally come to this.