Page 5 (1/2)
FIVE
OR RATHER, THEY HAD BEEN Strigoi A regiuardians had hunted them down and killed them If rumors were true, Christian had witnessed it all when he was very young And although he wasn’t Strigoi hiht he wasn’t far off, with the way he alore black and kept to hioi or not, I didn’t trust hiet out of there - not that ood Stupid one-way bond
"What are you doing here?" she asked
"Taking in the sights, of course That chair with the tarp on it is particularly lovely this tis of the blessed and crazy St Vladis in the corner"
"Whatever" She rolled her eyes andto leave, but he blocked her way
"Well, what about you?" he taunted "Why are you up here? Don’t you have parties to go to or lives to destroy?"
Some of Lissa’s old spark returned "Wow, that’s hilarious Ae now? Go and see if you can piss off Lissa to prove how cool you are? Soirl I don’t even know yelled at ot to deal with you? What does it take to be left alone?"
"Oh So that’s why you’re up here For a pity party"
"This isn’t a joke I’ry It was trued and leaned casually against the sloping wall "So aht the hats What do you want toto take you a whole day to be popular and loved again? How you’ll have to wait a couple weeks before Hollister can ship out soht not be so long"
"Lethim aside
"Wait," he said, as she reached the door The sarcasm disappeared from his voice "What¡­um, as it like?"
"What hat like?" she snapped
"Being out there Away from the Acade, caught off guard by what seereat No one kneho I was I was just another face Not Moroi Not royal Not anything" She looked down at the floor "Everyone here thinks they knoho I am"
"Yeah It’s kind of hard to outlive your past," he said bitterly
It occurred to Lissa at that ht be to be Christian Most of the time, people treated hihost They didn’t talk to or about hi its shadow onto the entire Ozera family
Still, he’d pissed her off, and she wasn’t about to feel sorry for him
"Wait - is this your pity party now?"
He laughed, ally "This room has been my pity party for a year now"
"Sorry," said Lissa snarkily "I was coer claihts Besides, I have to make sure I stay near the chapel as oi¡­yet" Again, the bitter tone rang out
"I used to always see you at oi couldn’t enter holy ground More of that sinning-against-the-world thing
"Sure," he said "Why else go? For the good of your soul?"
"Whatever," said Lissa, who clearly had a different opinion "I’ll leave you alone then"
"Wait," he said again He didn’t see out here too if you tell lanced back at him
He leaned forward "Of all the rumors I heard about you today - and believe me, I heard plenty, even if no one actually told them to me - there was one that didn’t co else: why you left, what you did out there, why you came back, the specialization, what Rose said to Mia, blah, blah, blah And in all of that, no one, no one ever questioned that stupid story that Rose told about there being all sorts of fringe humans who let you take blood"
She looked away, and I could feel her cheeks starting to burn "It’s not stupid Or a story"
He laughed softly "I’ve lived with humans My aunt and I stayed away after my parents¡­died It’s not that easy to find blood" When she didn’t answer, he laughed again "It was Rose, wasn’t it? She fed you"
A renewed fear shot through both her and uardians on the scene knew, but they’d kept that knowledge to themselves
"Well If that’s not friendship, I don’t knohat it is," he said
"You can’t tell anyone," she blurted out
This was all we needed As I’d just been reminded, feeders were vampire-bite addicts We accepted that as part of life but still looked down on the a Moroi take blood from you was almost, well, dirty In fact, one of the kinkiest, practically pornographic things a dha sex
Lissa and I hadn’t had sex, of course, but we’d both knohat others would think ofher
"Don’t tell anyone," Lissa repeated
He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and sat down on one of the crates "Who arab theseat You can have it today and hang out for a while If you’re not still afraid ofhim He looked dark and surly, lips curled in a sort of I’erous He didn’t look Strigoi Gingerly, she sat back down in theseat, unconsciously rubbing her arainst the cold
Christian watched her, and a moment later, the air warmed up considerably
Lissa met Christian’s eyes and smiled, surprised she’d never noticed how icy blue they were before "You specialized in fire?"
He nodded and pulled up a broken chair "Noe have luxury accommodations"
I snapped out of the vision
"Rose? Rose?"
Blinking, I focused on Di ; we stood in the s
"Are you all right?"
"I¡­yeah I was¡­I ith Lissa¡­" I put a hand toor clear experience like that "I was in her head"
"Her¡­head?"
"Yeah It’s part of the bond" I didn’t really feel like elaborating
"Is she all right?"
"Yeah, she’s¡­" I hesitated Was she all right? Christian Ozera had just invited her to hang out with hih theto the dark side But the feelings huer scared or upset She was alh still a little nervous "She’s not in danger," I finally said I hoped
"Can you keep going?"
The hard, stoic warrior I’d one - just for a moment - and he actually looked concerned Truly concerned Feeling his eyes onflutter inside of oofy, just because the ood After all, he was an antisocial god, according to Mason One as supposedly going to leave me in all sorts of pain
"Yeah I’ rooed into the workout clothes so in jeans and a T-shirt Gross Lissa hanging out with Christian troubled ht away for later as h any ested to Dimitri that hed, and I was pretty sure it was at me and not with me
"Why is that funny?"
"Oh," he said, his s "You were serious"
"Of course I was! Look, I’ve technically been awake for two days Why do we have to start this training now? Let o to bed," I whined "It’s just one hour"
He crossed his arone He was all business now Tough love "How do you feel right now? After the training you’ve done so far?"
"I hurt like hell"
"You’ll feel worse tomorrow"
"So?"
"So, better to jump in nohile you still feel¡­not as bad"
"What kind of logic is that?" I retorted
But I didn’t argue anyhts and reps he wanted me to do, then sprawled in a corner with a battered Western novel Sood