He hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. Sorry I jumped all over you.” He returned her smile, fight patched up.
“So,” Lissa asked Mia, “who have you met here?”
I stared at them in amazement, but no one seemed to notice. I’d fixed their fight, and there’d been no acknowledgment. No Thank you, Rose, for pointing out how idiotic we’re being. It was bad enough I had to endure their romance day after day, with no consideration for how I felt. Now I was salvaging their relationship, and they didn’t even realize it.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, interrupting Mia’s description of some of the other teenagers here. I was afraid if I sat there, I was going to say something I’d regret or maybe break a chair. Where had this rage come from?
I went outside, hoping a gulp of cold air would calm me down. Instead, I got a face full of clove smoke.
“Don’t start in about the smoking,” warned Adrian. He was leaning against the building’s brick wall. “You didn’t have to come outside. You knew I was here.”
“That’s actually why I’m here. Well, that, and I felt like I was going to go crazy if I stayed inside another minute.”
He tilted his head to look at my face. His eyebrows shot up. “You aren’t kidding, are you? What happened? You were fine a few minutes ago.”
I paced across the ground in front of him. “I don’t know. I was fine. Then Christian and Lissa started having this stupid argument over you. It was weird. They were the ones who were mad—and then I ended up madder than both of them.”
“Wait. They were arguing over me?”
“Yes. I just said that. Weren’t you paying attention?”
“Hey, don’t snap at me. I haven’t done anything to you.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Christian’s jealous because you hang around Lissa so much.”
“We’re studying spirit,” said Adrian. “He’s welcome to join in.”
“Yeah, well, no one ever said love was reasonable. Seeing you come back together kind of set him off. And then he got upset because you pulled rank with the queen for Lissa.”
“I didn’t do it for her. I did it for all of you—but, well, you especially.”
I came to a halt in front of him. “I didn’t believe you. That you could do it.”
He grinned. “Guess you should have listened to my family history in that dream after all.”
“I guess. I just thought . . .”
I couldn’t finish. I’d thought Dimitri would be the one who came through for me, the one who—despite what he said—could make almost anything happen. But he hadn’t.
“Thought what?” Adrian prompted.
“Nothing.” With much effort, I managed to utter the next words. “Thank you for helping us.”
“Oh my God,” he said. “A kind word from Rose Hathaway. I can die a happy man.”
“What are you saying? That I’m normally an ungrateful bitch?”
He just looked at me.
“Hey! Not cool.”
“Maybe you could redeem yourself with a hug.”
I glared.
“A small one?” he begged.
With a sigh, I walked over and put one arm around Adrian, leaning my head lightly against his arm. “Thanks, Adrian.”
We stood like that for a heartbeat. I felt none of the crazy electricity or connection I did with Dimitri, but I had to admit that Lissa had been right about something. Adrian was annoying and arrogant at times, but he really wasn’t the bastard I often made him out to be.
The doors opened, and Lissa and the others stepped outside. They understandably looked surprised, but I didn’t care just then. Besides, they probably all thought I was pregnant with Adrian’s love child, so what did it matter? I backed away.
“Heading out?” I asked.
“Yeah, Mia’s got more important things to do than hang out with us,” joked Christian.
“Hey, I just told my dad I’d meet him. I’ll see you guys before I leave.” She started to walk away, then abruptly turned around. “God, I’m so out of it.” She reached into her coat pocket and handed me a folded piece of paper. “This is half the reason I found you guys. One of the court clerks wanted me to give this to you.”
“Thanks,” I said, puzzled. She headed off to see her dad while the rest of us strolled back to our accommodations.
I slowed my pace as I opened the note, wondering who in the world here would want to contact me.
Rose,
I was so happy to hear about your arrival. I’m sure it’ll make tomorrow’s proceedings that much more entertaining. I’ve been curious for quite some time about how Vasilisa is doing, and your romantic escapades are always an amusing diversion. I can’t wait to share them in the courtroom tomorrow.
Best,
V. D.
“Who’s it from?” asked Eddie, coming up beside me.
I hastily folded it up and shoved it into my pocket. “No one,” I replied.
No one indeed.
V. D.
Victor Dashkov.
THIRTEEN
WHEN WE GOT BACK to our rooms, I made up an excuse to Lissa about how I needed to go take care of some guardian stuff. She was eager to patch up the earlier conflict with Christian—probably in the form of clothing removal—and didn’t ask any questions. There was a phone in my room, and after calling an 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 charm and had behaved . . . aggressively.
“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? I mean, we talked about this, but now he really is saying he’s going to sell us out.”
Dimitri didn’t answer, and I could tell he was assessing 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 know who 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 now, we have to wait.”
“Great. My favorite thing to do.”
He dragged an armchair up and sat opposite me. It seemed too small for someone as tall as him, but, as always, he managed to make it work and appear graceful 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 from me and flipped it over, face thoughtful and not as intense as usual. “Like any book, it’s an escape. And there’s something . . . mmm. I don’t know. Something appealing 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 who wanted 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 time. I have enough trouble keeping you in line.”
I grinned, and suddenly, it was a lot like when we cleaned the church—before the fight, at least. Easy. Comfortable. In fact, it was a lot like the old days
when we’d first begun training together, way back before everything had gotten so complicated. Well, okay . . . things 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,” Dimitri said all of a sudden.
“For what? Reading cheesy novels?”
“For not being able to get you here. I feel like I let you down.” I glimpsed a shadow of worry on his face, like he was concerned he might have caused some irreparable damage.
The apology totally caught me off guard. 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 completely different. I’d been giving Dimitri a hard time because I’d been convinced he could do anything. Somewhere—deep inside—he felt the same, at least where I was concerned. He didn’t want to deny me anything. My earlier bad mood had long since 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 me down with this.”
The grateful look he gave me made me feel as if I had wings. If another moment had passed, I suspected he would have said something so sweet that I would have flown away. 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 somehow, despite the best security in the Moroi world, we managed to get into the Court’s prison facilities.
“Why are we doing this?” I whispered as we walked 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 windows. “You think we can talk him out of it?”
Dimitri shook his head. “If Victor wanted to take revenge on us, he’d just do it without any warning. He doesn’t do things without a reason. The fact that he told you first means he wants something, and now we’re going to 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 room reminded me of something 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 examining his nails. It had been three months since our last meeting, and seeing him again made my skin crawl. Feelings I hadn’t known were buried in me suddenly burst to the surface.
One of the hardest things of all was seeing him look so healthy and young. He’d bought that health by torturing Lissa, and I hated him for it. If his disease had run its normal course, he might 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, almost handsome cut to his face. He glanced up at our approach. Eyes the same pale jade as Lissa’s met mine. The Dragomir 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 Dimitri. “Of course, some have been treating you that way for quite a while.”
I pressed my face to the bars. “Stop screwing with us, you son of a bitch. What do you want?”
Dimitri put a gentle 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 now we need to know why.”
“Does there have to be some sinister reason? I just wanted to know how she was doing, and something tells me we aren’t going to have a chance for any friendly chats tomorrow.” That annoying smirk stayed on his face, and I decided then that he was lucky to be behind bars and out of my reach.
“We’re not going to have a friendly chat now,” I growled.
“You think I’m joking, but I’m not. I really do want to know how you’re doing. 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 experiment.”
He acted like I hadn’t said anything. “What’s it been like? What have you noticed?”
“There’s no time for this. If you don’t get to the point,” warned Dimitri, “we’re going to leave.”
I didn’t understand how Dimitri could sound so calm. I leaned forward and gave Victor my coldest smile. “There’s no way they’ll let you off tomorrow. I hope you enjoy prison. I bet it’ll be great once you get sick again—and you will, you know.”
Victor regarded me levelly, still with that amused look that made me want to choke him. “All things 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 on my lips, but something held me back. Those who visit the world of the dead. What if my Mason sightings weren’t because I was crazy or because he was seeking revenge? What if there was something about me—something that had happened when I’d died and come back—that was now connecting 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 must have given away something, because Victor gave me a speculative look. “Yes? There’s something you’d like to say?”
I hated to ask him for anything. It made my stomach turn. Swallowing my pride, I asked, “What is the world of the dead? Is it heaven or hell?”
“Neither,” he said.
“What lives there?” I exclaimed. “Ghosts? Will I go back? Do things come out of it?”
Victor was taking great pleasure in me having to come to him for information, just as I’d feared he would. I saw that smirk intensify.
“Well, clearly some things come out of it, because here you stand before us.”
“He’s baiting you,” said Dimitri. “Let it go.”
Victor gave Dimitri a brief glare. “I’m helping her.” He turned back to me. “Honestly? I don’t know that much about it. You’re the one who has been there, Rose. Not me. Not yet. Someday, you’ll probably be the one educating me. I’m sure the more you deal death out, the closer you’ll become to it.”
“Enough,” said Dimitri, voice harsh. “We’re going.”
“Wait, wait,” said Victor, voice congenial. “You haven’t told me about Vasilisa yet.”
I moved forward again. “Stay away from her. She doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
Victor gave me a dry look. “Seeing as I’m locked away here, I have no choice but to stay away from her, my dear. And you’re wrong—Vasilisa has everything to do with everything.”
“That’s it,” I said, suddenly getting it. “That’s why you sent the note. You wanted me here because you wanted to know about her, and you knew there was no way she’d come talk to you herself. You had nothing to blackmail her with.”
“Blackmail’s an ugly word.”
“There’s no way you’re going to see her—at least outside of the courtroom. She’s never going to heal you. I told you: You’re going to get sick again, and you’re g
oing to die. You’re going to be the one sending me postcards from the other side.”
“You think that’s what this is about? You think my needs are that petty?” The mockery was gone, replaced by a feverish and almost fanatical look in his green eyes. The tight set of his mouth stretched the skin of his face a little, and I noticed he’d lost weight since our last encounter. Maybe prison had been harder on him than I’d thought. “You’ve forgotten everything, why I did what I did. You’ve been so caught up in your own shortsightedness that you missed the big picture I was looking at.”
I racked my brain, thinking back to that time last fall. He was right. My focus had been on the wrongs he’d committed against Lissa and me personally. I’d forgotten other conversations, his insane explanations of his grand scheme.
“You wanted to stage a revolution—still want to. That’s crazy. It’s not going to happen,” I said.
“It’s already happening. Do you think I don’t know what’s going on out in the world? I still have contacts. People can be bought off—how do you think I was able to send you that message? I know about the unrest—I know about Natasha Ozera’s movement to get Moroi to fight with guardians. You stand by her and vilify me, Rosemarie, but I pushed for the very same thing last fall. Yet, somehow, you don’t seem to regard her in the same way.”
“Tasha Ozera is working on her cause a bit differently than you did,” noted Dimitri.
“And that’s why she’s getting nowhere,” Victor retorted. “Tatiana and her council are being held back by centuries of archaic traditions. So long as that sort of power rules us, nothing will change. We will never learn to fight. Non-royal Moroi will never have a voice. Dhampirs like you will continually be sent out to battle.”
“It’s what we dedicate our lives to,” said Dimitri. I could sense the tension building in him. He might show better self-control than me, but I knew he was getting just as frustrated here.
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