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THE VANS PARKED IN A seer Moroi was quite a shock to Lissa Guardians hosts, just as they had at the no asin the way as the vans attees, and faces looked in the s, trying to get a glimpse of the royal candidates
Lissa stared at the ave her a co smile "This is normal They all want to knoho made it and who didn’t They especially want to know’ She inclined her head toward the front of the van Peering through the windshield, Lissa spied the other six candidates Because the forest course could only accoroup had been split in half The rest of the candidates would take the sa their competitors had passed today
Lissa was used to order and decoruerness and frenzy a them now And of course, the "co at Court wereover the heads of others to find out what had happened People were shouting some of the candidates’ names, and I was half-surprised they hadn’t cos and banners
Lissa and her companions exited the van and were h the crowd It became obvious pretty quickly who had passed and who hadn’t This sent the crowd abuzz evenaround and feeling lost It was one thing to rationally discuss the pros of her running for queen with her friends It was an entirely different matter to suddenly be thrust into what the elections truly s:the tests Now, as she took in the crowd, she realized the election was bigger than her, bigger than anything she could have iined For these people, it wasn’t a joke It wasn’t a scauratively on the line Moroi and dhampirs lived inside various countries and obeyed those laws, but they also obeyed this government, the one that operated out of the Court It reached around the world and affected every dhampir and Moroi who chose to stay in our society We had so or queen shaped our futures
The guardians in charge of the crowds finally gave the okay for fah the masses and collect their nominees Lissa had no one Both Janine and Eddie--despite earlier claiiven te with Lissa 24/7, and she certainly had no family to come for her Adrift, she felt dizzy in the chaos, still stunned by here everyone n her candidacy right now At the same time, she suddenly wanted to be worthy of the elections She wanted to hold her head high and walk into the tests proudly, even if she was taking the hand at last caught hold of her aret out of here’ He pulled her away, shouldering through the onlookers "Hey,’ he called to a couple guardians on the crowd’s periphery "A little help here for the princess?’
It was the first ti around the authority of his bloodline To hteen, he could now technically be addressed as Lord Ozera I’d forgotten that The two guardians hadn’t They rushed to Lissa’s side, helping Christian part the crowd The faces around her were a blur, the noise a dull roar Yet, every once in a while, so of her naon, which was the sy This is real
The guardians efficiently led her out of it all and back across the Court’s grounds to her building They released her once they considered her safe, and she graciously thanked them for their help When she and Christian were in her room, she sank onto the bed, stunned
"Oh my God,’ she said "That was insane’
Christian smiled "Which part? Your welcome home party? Or the test itself? You look like you justwell, I’m not really sure what you just did’
Lissa took a quick survey of herself They’d given her dry towels on the ride ho as it dried Her shoes and jeans had mud all over them, and she didn’t even want to think about what her hair looked like
"Yeah, we--’
The words stuck on her tongue--and not because she suddenly decided not to tell him
"I can’t say,’ she murmured "It really worked The spell won’t let me’
"What spell?’ he asked
Lissa rolled up her sleeve and lifted the bandage to show him the tiny tattooed dot on her arm "It’s a compulsion spell so I won’t talk about the test Like the Alchemists have’
"Wow,’ he said, truly iht those worked’
"I guess so It’s really weird I want to talk about it, but I justcant’
"Its okay,’ he said, brushing some of her damp hair aside "You passed That’s whatI want to focus on right now is a shohich is kind of ironic, considering how soaked I ah, and instead stared off at the far wall
"Hey,’ said Christian gently "What’s wrong? Did the crowd scare you?’
She turned back to hi, yeah But I just realizedI don’t know I realized I’one on since--’
"The beginning of ti Nathan’s nonsensical statement
"Nearly,’ she answered, with a soes beyond tradition, Christian The elections are a core part of our society Ingrained We can talk about changing age laws or fighting or whatever, but this is ancient And far-reaching Those people out there? They’re not all Aet soh the Court is here, it rules Moroi everywhere What happens here affects the whole world’
"Where are you going with this?’ he asked She was lost in her own thoughts and couldn’t see Christian as objectively as I could He knew Lissa He understood her and loved her The two of them had a synchronicity similar to what Dihts spun in directions he couldn’t guess He’d never admit it, but I knew part of why he loved her was that--unlike me, who everyone kneas impetuous--Lissa always seemed the picture of cal totally unexpected Those hted him--but sometimes scared him because he never knew just howin her actions Noas one of those ti her, and likeout the worst
"I’ to take these tests seriously,’ she said "It’s--it’s shaoal is to find out who frah the trials like someone who intends to be queen’
Christian hesitated before speaking, a rarity for him "Do you want to be queen?’
That snapped Lissa fro about tradition and honor "No! Of course not I’hteen I can’t even drink yet’
"That’s never stopped you fro more like his usual self
"I’e I want Rose back I don’t want to rule the Moroi nation’
A sly look lit Christian’s blue eyes "You know, Aunt Tasha makes jokes about how you’d actually be a better queen than the others, except so’
Lissa groaned and stretched back on the bed "I love her, but we’ve got to keep her in check If anyone could actually get that law changed, it would be her and her activist friends’
"Well, don’t worry The thing about her "activist friends’ is that they have soat the same time’ Christian stretched out beside her and pulled her close "But for what it’s worth, I think you’d be a great queen too, Princess Dragoet dirty,’ she warned "Already am Oh, you mean from your clothes?’ He wrapped his arms around her, heedless of her da in a dusty attic and own exactly one dress shirt You really think I care about this T-shirt?’
She laughed and then kissed hi her mind free itself of worry for athey were on a bed, I wondered if it was tio After several seconds, she pulled back and sighed contentedly
"You know, sometimes I think I love you’
"Soe
She ruffled his hair "All the tiot to keep you on your toes’
"Consider ain but stopped when a knock sounded at the door Lissa pulled back from the near-kiss, but neither of them broke from the embrace
"Don’t answer,’ said Christian
Lissa frowned, peering toward the living room She slipped out of his arms, stood up, and walked toward the door When she was several feet froly "It’s Adrian’
"More reason not to answer,’ said Christian
Lissa ignored hih, my devil-may-care boyfriend stood there Fro Ever’
Adrian studied Lissa and then looked at Christian sprawling on the bed on the far side of the suite "Huh,’ Adrian said, letting hi to fix the faomirs Good idea’
Christian sat up and strolled toward the official Council business’
Adrian was dressed casually for hih heActually, it probably was God, Ion?’ asked Lissa While Christian seemed to consider Adrian’s arrival a personal offense, Lissa knew that Adrian wouldn’t be here without a good reason-- especially this early in the Moroi day Although he had on his norlitter in his aura He had news
"I’ve got him,’ said Adrian "Got him trapped’
"Who?’ asked Lissa, startled
"That idiot Blake Lazar’
"What do you mean trapped?’ asked Christian, as perplexed as Lissa "Did you set out a bear trap on the tennis courts or so?’
"I wish He’s over at the Burning Arrow I just bought another round, so he should still be there if we hurry He thinks I went out for a cigarette’
Judging fro he actually had been out for a cigarette And likely shared in the round "You’ve been at a bar this early?’
Adrian shrugged "It’s not early for humans’
"But you’re not--’
"Come on, cousin’ Adrian’s aura didn’t have the muted colors of someone as completely drunk, but yes, he’d definitely had a few drinks "If pretty boy Auy can tell us the names of other jealous women’ "Why didn’t you ask him yourself?’ asked Christian
"Because ,’ said Adrian "Whereas Blake will beprincess here’
Lissa really wanted her bed, but finding out anything to help y within her "Okay, let et some different clothes and brushin the bathroom, she heard Adrian say to Christian, "You know, your shirt’s kind of grungy-looking Seems like you could put in a littlea princess’
Fifteen minutes or so later, the threesome were on their way across Court to a tucked away bar inside an adinally thought it was a weird place to house a bar But, after a recent stint of filing, I’d decided that if I were doing office work for living, I’d probably want a quick source of alcohol on hand, too
The bar was di aside, it really was early for Moroi, and only a couple patrons were there Adrian esture to the bartender, which I presunal because the wo a drink
"Hey, Ivashkov! Where’d you go?’
A voice called over to Lissa and the others, and after a fewat a corner table As Adrian led the--about Adrian’s age, with curly black hair and brilliant teal eyes, kind of like Abe’s recent tie It was as though so color of both Adrian and Christian’s eyes and ether He had a leanly e--and, even with a boyfriend, Lissa could ad co out a chair
The Moroi then noticed Adrian’s coht hold of Lissa’s hand, leaned over, and kissed it "Princess Drago you from a distance was beautiful Up close? Divine’
"This,’ said Adrian grandly, "is Blake Lazar’
"It’s nice to meet you,’ she said
Blake smiled radiantly "May I call you Vasilisa?’
"You can call me Lissa’
"You can also,’ added Christian, "let go of her hand now’
Blake looked over at Christian, taking a fewvery proud about those extra seconds "I’ve seen you too Ozera Crispin, right?’