Page 21 (1/2)

TWENTY-ONE

I’D NEVER BEEN COMPLETELY NAKED around a guy before It scared the hell out ofon the covers, we clung to each other and kept kissing - and kissing and kissing and kissing His hands and lips took possession of my body, and every touch was like fire on , I could barely believe this was happening And while the physical stuff felt great, I also just liked being close to him I liked the way he looked atin the world I liked the way he would say my name in Russian, murmured like a prayer: Roza, Roza

And so voice that had driven me up to his room, a voice that didn’t sound like nore Stay with hi else except hi else

I listened - not that I really needed any extra convincing

The burning in his eyes told s slow, maybe because he kneas nervous His pajama pants stayed on At one point, I shifted so that I hovered over hihtly, and I just barely caught sight of the back of his neck I brushed ertips over the six tiny marks tattooed there

"Did you really kill six Strigoi?" He nodded "Wow"

He brought ently grazed"Don’t worry You’ll have a lot uilty about it?"

"H the to do, but it still bothers you It’s why you go to church, isn’t it? I see you there, but you aren’t really into the services"

He suessed another secret about hiuilty exactlyjust sad sometimes All of them used to be human or dhampir or Moroi It’s a waste, that’s all, but as I said before, it’s so we all have to do Soood place to think about those kinds of things Sometimes I find peace there, but not often I find more peace with you"

He rolledpicked up once ht I’ to do it This is it I can feel it

He , he slid his hands behind my neck and unfastened Victor’s necklace

He set it on the bedside table As soon as the chain left his fingers, I felt like I’d been slapped in the face I blinked in surprise

Dimitri must have felt the same way "What happened?" he asked

"I-I don’t know" I felt like I was trying to wake up, like I’d been asleep for two days I needed to re with Lissa

My head felt funny Not pain or dizziness, butthe voice, I realized The voice urging one That wasn’t to say I didn’t want hi him there in those sexy paja over the side of face was pretty fine But I no longer had that outside influence pushing er turned on After several ht, he reached over and picked up the necklace The instant his fingers touched it, I saw desire sweep over hiain He slid his other hand ontolust slammed back into me My storoar becaain

Soh

"Lissa," I whispered, squeezingabout Lissa But I can’tree"

"I know" Still holding onto ainsthere" He pulled his face away, and I opened ave you?"

I nodded and could see the sluggish thought process trying to wake up behind his eyes Taking a deep breath, he removed his hand from my hip and pushed hi?" I exclaimed "Come back"

He looked like he wanted to - very badly - but instead he climbed out of the bed He and the necklace moved away from me I felt like he’d ripped part ofsensation of waking up, like I could think clearly onceall the decisions

On the other hand, Dimitri still wore a look of anireat deal of effort for hied to open it one-handed Cold air blasted in, and I rubbed oing to - ?" The answer hitout of bed, just as the necklace flew out the"No! Do you kno much that must have - ?"

The necklace disappeared, and I no longer felt like I aking up I ake Painfully, startlingly so

I took in s Dimitri’s room Me naked The ru coasped out It all came back, the memories and the emotions And, in fact, her held-back e levels More terror Intense terror Those feelings wanted to suck me back into her body, but I couldn’t let the to stay here With the words co that had happened

He was inevery bit like a badass god Ordering et dressed, he tossedon it to wear over the ski him downstairs; he made no effort to slow for ot there Orders shouted Before long, I ended up in the guardians’ main office with him Kirova and other teachers were there Most of the cauardians Everyone seemed to speak at once All the while, I felt Lissa’s fear, felt herfarther and farther away

I yelled at the, but no one except Dimitri would believe my story about her abduction until someone retrieved Christian from the chapel and then verified Lissa really wasn’t on cauardians Dr Olendzki appeared shortly thereafter, checking hi blood away froht, sooi were there?" one of the guardians asked et in?" muttered someone else

I stared "Wh - ? There weren’t any Strigoi"

Several sets of eyes stared at me "Who else would have taken her?" asked Ms Kirova prih thevision"

"No I’uardians"

"She’s right," mumbled Christian, still under the doctor’sto the back of his head "Guardians"

"That’s impossible," souardians" I rubbedthe conversation and going back to Lissa My irritation grew "Will you guys getfarther away!"