RPOV
With great effort, I forced my eyes to open. My eyelids felt incredibly heavy.
"Rose," Dimitri exhaled in relief and squeezed my hand. "Oh, thank god, Roza. You're finally awake."
"C-Comrade," I coughed out through a sore, dry, scratchy throat.
He came and sat on the edge of my bed, leaning over me, one arm took his weight on the bed next to one side of chest. "Oh Rose, you gave me a right scare. You shouldn't have tried to save me."
"What was I meant to do!" I cried. "I couldn't let you die!" Tears spilled against my wishes.
"Shhh, Roza. Shhh." Dimitri's hand freed itself from mine to wipe away my tears. "I'm fine. I'm right here. I'll always be right here. I love you."
"Did you really just say that in... where am I?"
His brown eyes sparkled in amusement. "We're in the clinic back at the Academy. And no, I didn't say it alo..." He pulled back in shock.
I immediately felt the loss of closeness between us. I swallowed so I could speak again. "Dimitri?"
Fear, uncertainty, love radiated in his eyes as he studied me. Confusion grew as he jumped away from me in shock.
"What? Why are you looking at me like I'm toxic?" Rejection flowed through me and I badly wanted to cry.
"I- I..." he shook his head and pressed his back further into the door. He was hiding something, some realisation I hadn't figured out yet. "I can't wrap my head around it."
"Dimitri!" I pleaded and curled into a ball. "What is it?"
"Try reaching out to Lissa. Use the bond. Where is she? How is she?" he tenderly directed, not moving any closer to me, still scared from whatever it was he realised.
I reluctantly steadied my breathing and reached out to her.

Except... I found nothing. Nothing from Lissa, no darkness, no location, no thoughts or feelings of hers. But that didn't mean I didn't come across flickers of another's emotion, another's thoughts... thoughts I couldn't decipher, except from the fact they weren't girly, weren't drunk, weren't English.

My eyes snapped open, frantic and confused. "Nothing. I found nothing. I couldn't connect to her. I don't know where she is or how she is."
"But you found something, didn't you?" he asked knowingly.
I nodded into my knees. "Yes, I found another set of emotions, another's thoughts."
He raised one brow. "And?"
"Yours," I whispered. "I'm somehow bonded to you. ... Please don't pull me in your head next time we..."
He chuckled. "I'm sure your own emotions will be strong enough to keep you in your own head."
"So..."
"Graduation night," he murmured as he rejoined me on the edge of the bed. "I promise." Dimitri pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear, curling it back around to cup my cheek. "We'll sort this out. I meant it before the rescue, I mean it more than ever now."

I searched out his feelings as I leaned into his hand. Yeah, he really did mean it. I could feel his love pulsing into me, reaching to me, embracing me in a way he had physically tried to do in the cabin. I felt his love, determination, honesty and commitment. He was committed to me in a way I'd never realised, in a way he hadn't previously allowed himself to acknowledge until our night in the cabin.

"Yeah, you do," I agreed softly. "I can't wait."
He smiled and his amusement radiated. "Typical."
"Don't tell me you're not going to count down the hours," I teased.
"I can't wait to have you all to myself for days or months at a time."
"Mmmm..." I sighed happily. "I can just see it. Days in the gym together... or better yet..." I said suggestively.
I saw him pick up on my hint. "In bed."
I grinned and blushed. "I didn't know you could be so... dirty."
The cabin and lust charm flashed in his mind and his emotions flared with love and passion, desire and desperation. "You're the exception."
"Haven't I always been exceptional?" I asked loftily.
"You're so full of it." he teased light heartedly, his expression warm and surprisingly youthful.

A soft rapping on the door interrupted us. Dimitri pecked my forehead before Mom walked in.
"Belikov," Mom greeted icily. Then she saw I was awake. "Rose. You're awake."
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Mom. I'm awake."
"You gave us all a scare." Mom turned to Dimitri and glared. "I'll talk to you, later." Why did both Dimitri and I get the feeling she knew?
"Take care, Rose." Dimitri nodded at me then Mom before stepping outside.
"What were you thinking!" Mom hissed. That was the Janine Hathaway I knew. "What in god's name were you thinking!"
"About?" I drawled to annoy her enough to spill whether or not she knew.
"Rosemarie! He's a guardian. What on earth were you thinking trying to save him?"
I refused to respond.
"It's true. Isn't it?" Mom fixed me with a hard, disapproving look. "You are involved."
I glared at her. "What's it to you? This is the first time you've been on campus more than once in year or more. Since when did you start getting motherly? You should be thankful. He risked his life to save mine."
"You got killed trying to save him!" she huffed in exasperation.
"He's more important and valuable than I am."
"How can you say that?"
"He is!" I exclaimed in offence. "He is more valuable than me."
"He clearly doesn't think so. You have no clue how distraught he was. We couldn't recognise him, Rose."
I sighed. "I might have a clue."
Mom narrowed her eyes at me. "Was the Princess right? Are you bound to him?"
"Yes," I admitted quietly. "I am."
"I am glad you're alive," Mom not-so-subtly changed the topic. "I'm going to talk to him."
I held out my hand. "Not before you surrender your stake and gun."
Mom looked horrified by the ordering tone in my voice. "Don't talk to me like that young lady."
"And you're not going near him until you've surrendered your weapons. I won't let you kill my lifeline." I curled my fingers into my palm demandingly. "Hand them over, Mom."
In absolute shock and displeasure she begrudgingly handed them over to me. "I do not like this, Rosemarie."
"I know. That's why I'm not letting you have a cheating way to hurt him. Know this, Mom, you hurt him and you hurt me."
"I gathered," she said bitterly, turned and stalked out the door- not failing to make a scene by slamming it. I tried to tune into my new bond, slip into Dimitri's head. As deep as our connection had been before the bond, I still couldn't slip in yet.