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Thirteen

WHEN WE GOT BACK to our rooo take care of soer to patch up the earlier conflict with Christian - probably in the for removal - and didn’t ask any questions There was a phone inan operator, I was able to find out which room was Dimitri’s

He was surprised to see me at his door - and a little wary The last time this had happened, I’d been under the influence of Victor’s lust charressively

"I have to talk to you," I said

He let me come in, and I immediately handed over the note

"V D - "

"Yeah, I know," said Dimitri He handed the note back "Victor Dashkov"

"What are we going to do? Ihe’s going to sell us out"

Di every angle of this, just like he would a fight Finally, he pulled out his cell phone, which was a lot cooler than having to rely on the room’s phone "Give me a moment"

I started to sit on his bed, decided that was dangerous, and instead sat on the couch I didn’t knoho he was calling, but the conversation took place in Russian

"What’s going on?" I asked when he finished

"I’ll let you know soon For noe have to wait"

"Great My favorite thing to do"

He dragged an armchair up and sat opposite me It seemed too sed to raceful in the process

Beside me was one of the Western novels he always carried around I picked it up, again thinking about how alone he was Even now, at the Court, he’d chosen to stay in his room "Why do you read these?"

"Some people read books for fun," he observed

"Hey, watch the dig And I do read books I read them to solve mysteries that threaten my best friend’s life and sanity I don’t think reading this cowboy stuff is really saving the world like I do"

He took it frohtful and not as intense as usual "Like any book, it’s an escape And there’s so about the Old West No rules Everyone just lives by their own code You don’t have to be tied down by others’ ideas of right and wrong in order to bring justice"

"Wait," I laughed "I thought I was the one anted to break rules"

"I didn’t say I wanted to Just that I can see the appeal"

"You can’t fool me, comrade You want to put on a cowboy hat and keep lawless bank robbers in line"

"No ti you in line"

I grinned, and suddenly, it was a lot like e cleaned the church - before the fight, at least Easy Comfortable In fact, it was a lot like the old days e’d first begun training together, way back before everything had gotten so cos had always been complicated, but for a while, they’d been less complicated It made me sad I wished we could relive those early days There’d been no Victor Dashkov, no blood on my hands

"I’m sorry," Di cheesy novels?"

"For not being able to get you here I feel like I let you down" I glimpsed a shadoorry on his face, like he was concerned he e

The apology totally caught uard For a moment, I wondered if he was jealous of Adrian’s influence in the same way Christian had been Then I realized it was co Dimitri a hard ti Somewhere - deep inside - he felt the same, at least where I was concerned He didn’t want to denysince vanished, and I suddenly just felt drained And stupid

"You didn’t," I told him "I acted like a total brat You’ve never let me down before You didn’t let ave s If anotherso sweet that I would have floay Instead, his phone rang

Another conversation in Russian took place, and then he stood up "All right, let’s go"

"Where?"

"To see Victor Dashkov"

It turned out that Dimitri had a friend who had a friend, and soed to get into the Court’s prison facilities

"Why are we doing this?" I whispered as alked down the hall toward Victor’s cell I’d really, really hoped for stone walls and torches, but the place looked very modern and efficient, with marble floors and stark white walls At least there were no s "You think we can talk him out of it?"

Die on us, he’d just do it without any warning He doesn’t do things without a reason The fact that he told you firstto find out what it is"

We reached Victor’s cell He was the only prisoner currently being held Like the rest of the facility, his roo you’d find at a hospital Everything was clean, bright, and sterile - and very bare It was a place without any sort of stimulus or distraction whatsoever, which would have driven me crazy in one hour The cell had silvery bars that looked very hard to break, which was the most important part

Victor sat in a chair, idly exa his nails It had been three ain s I hadn’t knoere buried in me suddenly burst to the surface

One of the hardest things of all was seeing hiht that health by torturing Lissa, and I hated hiht be dead by now

He had receding black hair, with only the slightest touch of silver He was in his forties and had a regal, allanced up at our approach Eyes the saomir and Dashkov families had a lot of intertwined history, and it was creepy seeing that eye color in someone else A smile lit his face

"Oh my This is a treat Lovely Rosemarie, practically an adult now" His eyes flicked toward Di you that way for quite a while"

I pressedwith us, you son of a bitch What do you want?"

Dientle hand on my shoulder and pulled me back "Easy, Rose"

I took a deep breath and then slowly stepped backward Victor straightened up in his chair and laughed

"After all this time, your cub still hasn’t learned any control But then, maybe you never really wanted her to"

"We aren’t here to banter," said Dimitri calmly "You wanted to lure Rose over, and noe need to knohy"

"Does there have to be so, and so to have a chance for any friendly chats to smirk stayed on his face, and I decided then that he was lucky to be behind bars and out ofto have a friendly chat now," I growled

"You think I’, but I’ You’ve always been a fascinating subject to me, Rosemarie The only shadow-kissed person we know of I told you before, that isn’t the kind of thing you walk away from unscathed There’s no way you can quietly sink into the regimented routine of academic life People like you aren’t meant to blend in"

"I’m not some kind of science experi "What’s it been like? What have you noticed?"

"There’s no tiet to the point," warned Di to leave"

I didn’t understand how Diave Victor my coldest smile "There’s no way they’ll let you off toreat once you get sick again - and you will, you know"

Victor regarded me levelly, still with that as die, Rose Well, except for you, I suppose Or maybe you are dead I don’t know Those who visit the world of the dead can probably never fully shake their connection to it"

There was a snarky retort onheld me back Those who visit the world of the dead What if s weren’t because I was crazy or because he was seeking revenge? What if there was so that had happened when I’d died and co me to Mason? It was Victor who had first explained what it meant to be shadow-kissed I wondered now if he had any of the answers I’d been looking for

My face aveyou’d like to say?"

I hated to ask hi my pride, I asked, "What is the world of the dead? Is it heaven or hell?"