Page 9 (1/2)

NINE

I SNAPPED INTO HER MIND, once again seeing and directly experiencing ent on around her

She was sneaking into the chapel’s attic again, confir my worst fears Like last tiht, could that priest be any worse about securing his own chapel?

Sunrise lit up the stained-glass , and Christian’s silhouette was fra in theseat

"You’re late," he told her "Been waiting a while"

Lissa pulled up one of the rickety chairs, brushing dust off it "I figured you’d be tied up with Headmistress Kirova"

He shook his head "Not much to it They suspended me for a week, that’s all Not like it’s hard to sneak out" He waved his hands around "As you can see"

"I’et ht lit up his crystal-blue eyes "Disappointed?"

She looked shocked "You set someone on fire!"

"No, I didn’t Did you see any burns on him?"

"He was covered in flames"

"I had thehed "You shouldn’t have done that"

Straightening out of his lounging position, he sat up and leaned toward her "I did it for you"

"You attacked so you and Rose a hard tiured she could use the backup Besides, this’ll shut anyone else up about the whole fox thing, too"

"You shouldn’t have done that," she repeated, looking away She didn’t kno to feel about this "generosity" "And don’t act like it was all forit Part of you wanted to - just because"

Christian’s s expression dropped, replaced by one of uncharacteristic surprise Lissaability to read people

Seeing hiic is forbidden - and that’s exactly why you wanted to do it You got a thrill out of it"

"Those rules are stupid If we used ic as a weapon instead of just for war so ," she said firift It’s peaceful"

"Only because they say it is You’re repeating the party line we’ve been fed our whole lives" He stood up and paced the small space of the attic "It wasn’t always that way, you know We used to fight, right along with the guardians - centuries ago Then people started getting scared and stopped Figured it was safer to just hide They forgot the attack spells"

"Then how did you know that one?"

He crooked her a sot"

"Like your family? Like your parents?"

The s about rew hard To , but as Lissa studied and admired his features, he suddenly seeht," she admitted softly, after a moment "I don’t I’, Christian looked astonished Probably no one apologized to him that often Hell, no one even talked to him that often Certainly no one ever listened Like usual, he quickly turned into his cocky self

"Forget it" Abruptly, he stopped pacing and knelt in front of her so they could look each other in the eye Feeling hierous set why you of all people should act so outraged that I used ¡®forbidden’ ;of all people’? What’s that supposed to mean?"

"You can play all innocent if you want - and you do a pretty good job - but I know the truth"

"What truth is that?" She couldn’t hide her uneasiness from me or Christian

He leaned even closer "That you use compulsion All the time"

"No, I don’t," she said im awake at night, trying to figure out how in the world you tere able to rent out a place and go to high school without anyone ever wanting tocompulsion That’s probably how you broke out of here in the first place"

"I see You just figured it out Without any proof"

"I’ve got all the proof I need, just frocoed "No Actually, I’ve been watching you just because I like it The co was a bonus I saw you use it the other day to get an extension on that nment And you used it on Ms Car"

"So you assuood at convincing people" There was a defiant note in her voice: understandable, considering her fear and anger Only she delivered it with a toss of her hair which - if I didn’t know any better - ht have been considered flirtatious And I did know better¡­right? Suddenly, I wasn’t sure

He went on, but so in his eyes told me he’d noticed the hair, that he always noticed everything about her "People get these goofy looks on their faces when you talk to them And not just any people - you’re able to do it to Moroi Probably dhampirs, too Now that’s crazy I didn’t even know that was possible You’re so superstar" It was an accusation, but his tone and presence radiated the same flirtatiousness she had

Lissa didn’t knohat to say He was right Everything he’d said was right Her coet along in the world without adult help It hat had allowed us to convince the bank to let her tap into her inheritance

And it was considered every bit as wrong as using ic as a weapon Why not? It was a weapon A powerful one, one that could be abused very easily Moroi children had it drilled into the No one was taught to use it, though every Moroi technically had the ability Lissa had just sort of stumbled into it - deeply - and, as Christian had pointed out, she could wield it over Moroi, as well as hu to do then?" she asked "You going to turn me in?"

He shook his head and smiled "No I think it’s hot"

She stared, eyes widening and heart racing Soued her "Rose thinks you’re dangerous," she blurted out nervously "She thinks you ht have killed the fox"

I didn’t kno I felt about being dragged into this bizarre conversation Some people were scared offrom the amusement in his voice when he spoke, it appeared he wasn’t "People think I’m unstable, but I tell you, Rose is ten times worse Of course, that makes it harder for people to fuck with you, so I’ back on his heels, he finally broke the intimate space between them "And I sure as hell didn’t do that Find out who did, though¡­and what I did to Ralf won’t seeallant offer of creepy vengeance didn’t exactly reassure Lissa¡­but it did thrill her a little "I don’t want you doing anything like that And I still don’t knoho did it"

He leaned back toward her and caught her wrists in his hands He started to say so his thu back up at her, he had a strange - for hiht not knoho did it But you know so about"

She stared at hi in her chest "You can’t know all lanced back down at her wrists and then released theuess not"

A feeling of peace settled over her, a feeling I thought only I could bring Returning toat et, I slaainst the wall

I spent the rest of the night brooding until the ti downstairs, I went into the kitchen - a place I could visit so long as I kept things brief - and caught his eye when I cut through thepast hie on the fourth floor that nobody uses Take the stairs on the other side of the bathrooms and meet me there in five minutes The lock on the door is broken"

He coe dark, dusty, and deserted The drop in guardian numbers over the years n for Moroi society but terribly convenient right now

He sat down on the couch, and I lay back on it, putting my feet in his lap I was still annoyed after Lissa and Christian’s bizarre attic roet about it for a while

"You really here to study, or was it just an excuse?" I asked

"No It was real Had to do an assignment with Meredith" The tone in his voice indicated he wasn’t happy about that

"Oooh," I teased "Is working with a dhampir beneath your royal blood? Should I be offended?"

He ss "You’re a lot hotter than she is"

"Glad I make the cut" There was a sort of a heat in his eyes that was turningBut I needed to do soeance "Miaout with you She’s not royal"

His finger playfully poked ot lots of friends who aren’t royal And friends who are dhamps I’m not a total asshole"

"Yeah, but did you know her parents are practically custodians for the Drozdovs?"

The hand on ossip - and he was notorious for spreading it

"Seriously?"

"Yeah Scrubbing floors and stuff like that"

"Huh"

I could see the wheels turning in his dark blue eyes and had to hide a s up, Iover his lap I wrapped hts of Mia disappeared as his testosterone kicked in He kissed ainst the back of the couch, and I relaxed into what had to be the first enjoyable physical activity I’d had in weeks

We kissed like that for a long time, and I didn’t stop him when he pulled offsex," I warned between kisses I had no intention of losing e

He paused, thinking about this, and finally decided not to push it "Okay"

But he pushedwith that same fierceness His lips traveled down to ainst asp

He raised hi into my face with open surprise For athat rush of pleasure that a va what it’d be like to feel that whileout Then the old taboos kicked in Even if we didn’t have sex, giving blood while we did this was still wrong, still dirty

"Don’t," I warned

"You want to" His voice held excited wonder "I can tell"

"No, I don’t"