Part 13 (2/2)

”Hey.” I lowered my voice. ”Don't look like that. She doesn't know what she's talking about, okay? Don't let this get you down. Don't do anything you shouldn't.” She glanced back up at me. ”It's going to happen again, isn't it?” she whispered. Her hand, still clutching the tree, began to tremble.

”Not if you don't let it.” I tried to look at her wrists without being too obvious. ”You haven't?...”

”No.” She shook her head and blinked back tears. ”I haven't wanted to. I was upset after the fox, but it's been okay. I like the coasting thing. I miss seeing you, but everything's been all right. I like...” She paused.

I could hear the word forming in her mind.

”Christian.”

”I wish you couldn't do that. Or wouldn't.”

”Sorry. Do I need to give you the Christian's-a-psychopathic-loser talk again?”

”I think I've got it memorized after the last ten times,” she muttered.

I started to launch into number eleven when I heard the sound of laughter and the clatter of high heels on stone. Mia walked toward us with a few friends in tow but no Aaron. Immediately my defenses snapped on.

Internally, Lissa was still shaken over the queen's comments. Sorrow and humiliation were swirling inside of her. She felt embarra.s.sed over what others must think of her now and kept thinking about how her family would have hated her for running away. I didn't believe that, but it felt real to her, and her dark emotions churned and churned. She was not okay, no matter how casual she'd just tried to act, and I was worried she might do something reckless. Mia was the last person she needed to see right now.

”What do you want?” I demanded.

Mia smiled haughtily at Lissa and ignored me, taking a few steps forward. ”Just wanted to know what it's like to be so important and so royal. You must be so excited that the queen talked to you.” Giggles surfaced from the gathering group. ”You're standing too close.” I stepped between them, and Mia flinched a little, possibly still worried I might break her arm. ”And hey at least the queen knew her name, which is more than I can say for you and your wannabe-royal act. Or your parents.”

I could see the pain that caused her. Man, she wanted to be royal so badly. ”At least I see my parents,” she retorted. ”At least I know who they both are. G.o.d only knows who your father is.

And your mom's one of the most famous guardians around, but she couldn't care less about you either. Everyone knows she never visits. Probably was glad when you were gone. If she even noticed.”

That hurt. I clenched my teeth. ”Yeah, well, at least she's famous. She really does advise royals and n.o.bles. She doesn't clean up after them.”

I heard one of her friends snicker behind her. Mia opened her mouth, no doubt to unleash one of the many retorts she'd had to acc.u.mulate since the story started going around, when the lightbulb suddenly went off in her head.

”It was you,” she said, eyes wide. ”Someone told me Jesse'd started it, but he couldn't have known anything about me. He got it from you. When you slept with him.”

Now she was really starting to p.i.s.s me off. ”I didn't sleep with him.”

Mia pointed at Lissa and glared back at me. ”So that's it, huh? You do her dirty work because she's too pathetic to do it herself. You aren't always going to be able to protect her,” she warned. ”You aren't safe either.”

Empty threats. I leaned forward, making my voice as menacing as possible. In my current mood, it wasn't difficult. ”Yeah? Try and touch me now and find out.”

I hoped she would. I wanted her to. We didn't need her messed-up vendetta in our lives just now. She was a distraction-one I very much wanted to punch right now.

Looking past her, I saw Dimitri move out into the garden, eyes searching for something-or someone. I had a pretty good idea who it was. When he saw me, he strode forward, s.h.i.+fting his attention when he noticed the crowd gathered around us. Guardians can smell a fight a mile away. Of course, a six-year-old could have smelled this fight. Dimitri stood beside me and crossed his arms. ”Everything all right?”

”Sure thing, Guardian Belikov.” I smiled as I said it, but I was furious. Raging, even. This whole Mia confrontation had only made Lissa feel worse. ”We were just swapping family stories. Ever heard Mia's? It's fascinating.”

”Come on,” said Mia to her followers. She led them off, but not before she'd given me one last, chilling look. I didn't need to read her mind to know what it said. This wasn't over. She was going to try to get one or both of us back. Fine. Bring it on, Mia.

”I'm supposed to take you back to your dorm,” Dimitri told me drily. ”You weren't about to just start a fight, were you?”

”Of course not,” I said, my eyes still staring at the empty doorway Mia had disappeared through. ”I don't start fights where people can see them.”

”Rose,” groaned Lissa.

”Let's go. Good night, Princess.”

He turned, but I didn't move. ”You going to be okay, Liss?”

She nodded. ”I'm fine.”

It was such a lie, I couldn't believe she had the nerve to try to put it past me. I didn't need the bond to see tears s.h.i.+ning in her eyes. We should never have come back to this place, I realized bleakly.

”Liss...”

She gave me a small, sad smile and nodded in Dimitri's direction. ”I told you, I'm fine. You've got to go.”

Reluctantly, I followed him. He led me out toward the other side of the garden. ”We may need to add an extra training on self-control,” he noted.

”I have plenty of self contr-hey!” I stopped talking as I saw Christian slip past us, moving down the path we'd just come from. I hadn't seen him at the reception, but if Kirova had released me to come tonight, I suppose she would have done the same for him.

”You going to see Lissa?” I demanded, s.h.i.+fting my Mia rage to him.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and gave me that look of bad-boy indifference. ”What if I am?”

”Rose, this isn't the time,” said Dimitri.

But it was so the time. Lissa had ignored my warnings about Christian for weeks. It was time to go to the source and stop their ridiculous flirtation once and for all.

”Why don't you just leave her alone? Are you so messed up and desperate for attention that you can't tell when someone doesn't like you?” He scowled. ”You're some crazy stalker, and she knows it. She's told me all about your weird obsession-how you're always hanging out in the attic together, how you set Ralf on fire to impress her. She thinks you're a freak, but she's too nice to say anything.”

His face had paled, and something dark churned in his eyes. ”But you aren't too nice?”

”No. Not when I feel sorry for someone.”

”Enough,” said Dimitri, steering me away.

”Thanks for 'helping,' then,” snapped Christian, his voice dripping with animosity.

”No problem,” I called back over my shoulder.

When we'd gone a little ways, I stole a glance behind me and saw Christian standing just outside the garden. He'd stopped walking and now stood staring down the path that led to Lissa in the courtyard. Shadows covered his face as he thought, and then, after a few moments, he turned around and headed back toward the Moroi dorms.

Twelve

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