“Yup. You’re going to be Dimitri’s partner.”
A moment of funny silence fell, probably not noticeable to anyone except Dimitri and me. Our eyes met.
“Guarding partner,” Dimitri clarified unnecessarily, like maybe he too had been thinking about other kinds of partners.
—page 233
On the trip, Rose complains that she doesn’t get to carry a weapon like the other guardians do. Dimitri isn’t so sure she’s ready to kill a Strigoi yet. It’s not an easy thing to do, especially because a Strigoi might be someone she knows from the past—killed, and then brought back to life as a member of the evil undead. Despite how difficult it might be, they both strongly agree that if either of them were turned Strigoi—monsters who have lost all morals and who kill innocent people—they’d want someone to kill them.
Conversation on the ride turns to others who’ve had to face the same horrible task—hunting someone they once loved—and one example hits very close to home. Until now, Rose has kept a secret from Lissa. The princess is shocked to hear that Ms. Karp—the teacher who seemed to have so much in common with Lissa—ultimately chose to become Strigoi. Rose learned this the night she decided they had to run away to help keep Lissa safe from her abilities, since the more she used them, the worse they’d get. After turning Strigoi, Ms. Karp was then hunted by her former guardian lover, Mikhail Tanner.
It’s a sobering conversation, and Rose suddenly isn’t sure if she’d be able to do the same—to hunt down and kill someone she loves. Little does she know that it’s something she’ll have to face head-on in her not-too-distant future.
Trying to focus on more pleasant pursuits, the group gets to shopping, which is difficult with Rose acting as Lissa’s guardian. It’s tricky trying on cool clothes when you’re trying to guard your best friend from potential threats. In fact, it’s impossible. Lissa takes the initiative and buys Rose a sexy black dress to wear to the upcoming school dance. Lissa also spots a beautiful gold and diamond necklace with a pendant the shape of a rose that she thinks would be perfect for Rose’s outfit—she always loves to buy Rose “rose” stuff—but it’s sadly far outside of even the Dragomir princess’s price range.
Rose is in a good mood when they return to the school. She hops from bench to bench on the way back to their dorms—but suddenly, the wood gives way and she feels searing pain as her ankle snaps. After blacking out, she wakes in the clinic with a concerned Dimitri nearby who is relieved she’s okay. Strangely, her ankle isn’t broken like she thought it was.
By her side in the clinic, Dimitri has a couple of gifts for Rose. The first is a small box and a note from Victor congratulating her on a successful first day as Lissa’s guardian. She opens the box and peers inside, surprised to see gold and diamonds glinting out at her. It’s the expensive rose necklace she and Lissa had seen at the mall. Wow . . . talk about generous!
Also generous is Dimitri’s gift—although it didn’t cost nearly as much. It’s Rose’s favorite lip gloss. She can’t believe he noticed. She’s touched by the thoughtful gift and, without really thinking about it first, Rose gives him a hug . . . and things heat up quickly.
At the first touch of his skin on mine, I shivered. He wound a lock of my hair around one finger, just as he had in the gym.
Swallowing, I dragged my eyes up from his lips. I’d been contemplating what it’d be like to kiss him. The thought both excited and scared me, which was stupid. I’d kissed a lot of guys and never thought much about it. No reason another one—even an older one—should be that big of a deal. Yet the thought of him closing the distance and bringing his lips to mine made the world start spinning.
—page 251
Unfortunately, any kissing potential is interrupted by the doctor coming to check on Rose, who appears to be fine. Dimitri wonders out loud if perhaps Rose simply has excellent healing abilities—he’s heard of how she emerged unscathed from the car accident with Lissa’s family.
In that moment, Rose comes to a shocking realization. Lissa can heal animals—she’s seen it herself. She must have healed Rose’s broken ankle today, going against the promise she’d made not to use her abilities again. Then something even bigger occurs to her. Lissa must have also healed Rose’s injuries after the car accident. That’s why they both walked away unharmed.
Through their bond, Rose mentally finds an upset Lissa in the attic with Christian. Lissa’s surprised to see him in their hiding spot, especially when he’s clearly been trying very hard to ignore her.
A snarky Christian tells Lissa that lately she’s been acting a lot like her brother, Andre, who was a royal jerk. He’s the real reason Mia has had it out for Lissa all this time. According to Christian, Andre used Mia and threw her away. Lissa refuses to believe it and thinks Christian must be lying about her beloved brother just to upset her. She bets Christian’s just upset that Lissa would date someone like Aaron, who she doesn’t really like, rather than him.
“I like him.”
“Like or like?”
“Oh, there’s a difference?”
“Yes. Like is when you date a big, blond moron and laugh at his stupid jokes.”
Then out of nowhere, he leaned forward and kissed her. It was hot and fast and furious, an outpouring of the rage and passion and longing that Christian always kept locked inside of him. Lissa had never been kissed like that, and I felt her respond to it, respond to him—how he made her feel so much more alive than Aaron or anyone else could.
Christian pulled back from the kiss but still kept his face next to hers.
“That’s what you do with someone you like.”
—page 259
Lissa feels the desire between them, but her dark emotions are raging out of control from using her healing ability on Rose’s ankle earlier. She yells for Christian to get out and, even though they’d both agreed to share the attic, he begrudgingly does as she wishes. Her mood continues to plummet and she ends up cutting herself again. This time, she slices deeper than ever before. And Rose, through her bond, senses it’s too far.
Rose rushes to tell Dimitri what she’s seen—he’s known about their bond since day one, but not many other people do. She’s not risking this secret right now as much as she’s betraying Lissa’s confidence, but her friend is hurt and needs help before she loses too much blood. It’s Rose’s attempt, yet again, to protect her friend.
However, when Lissa is brought to the clinic for treatment, she’s furious that Rose told on her. To Lissa, it feels as if the only person in the world she trusted has betrayed her—even though Rose only did so to save her life.
With all the drama, Rose almost forgets about the school dance. Having her best friend hate her guts doesn’t make the thought of being social very appealing, but Rose lets Mason convince her to go anyway. He’s been a loyal and supportive friend all along, and he never believed in the “blood whore” rumors for a moment. As much as she’d rather stay home, she reluctantly puts on her new, sexy dress and the rose necklace from Victor. And she has to admit—she looks pretty damn good. It’s a sentiment that Dimitri seems to share; when they cross paths on her way to the dance, he can’t seem to take his eyes off her.
Mason has a surprise for Rose at the dance that he’s personally arranged. He gets Jesse and Ralf to admit—once and for all—that they were lying about Rose being a blood whore. Well, duh. Rose already knew that, but at least now everyone else will too. But that’s not all! How did Mia get the boys to lie about what happened? She slept with them—both of them.
Jesse . . . and Ralf? Um, eww!
The secret is out and Mia is mad as hell. She’s ready to blame everyone for her mistakes and share her pain—which all stemmed from her treatment at the hands of Lissa’s brother. Mia confronts Lissa and tells her point-blank that her craziness is going to get her locked up. Rose, automatically defending her best friend even when they’re not speaking, responds by punching Mia in the face and breaking her nose.
Rose has never been al
l that great at impulse control.
Devastated by Mia’s taunts and that everyone heard them, Lissa flees the dance, and Rose yells for Christian to go after her. She’d do it herself, but she’s being escorted by guardians back to her dorm room so she doesn’t get in any more trouble.
Once in her room, a worried Rose reaches out to Lissa through their bond. In the chapel attic, Christian is soothing Lissa and her mood is improving . . . but suddenly guardians bust in. They knock Christian out and kidnap Lissa!
THE NECKLACE
Rose knows she needs to find help immediately, but her thoughts suddenly become fuzzy. Something tells her to go to Dimitri, so she heads to his room. It’s very hard for her to focus, especially when he answers his door bare-chested and fresh from the shower.
Rose’s desire for Dimitri skyrockets and she can’t seem to control it. Dimitri grabs her wrists to stop her from crossing a line between them, but the second his hands land on her skin, he’s also seized by whatever force is affecting Rose. Now he wants her too. Badly.
“Do you think I’m pretty?”
He regarded me with utter seriousness, like he always did. “I think you’re beautiful.”
“Beautiful?”
“You are so beautiful, it hurts me sometimes.”
—page 283
Things get hot and heavy between them—fast! Before too long, Rose is naked and Dimitri isn’t far from it. She’s overwhelmed with desire for him and thinks she’ll lose her virginity to him—which is totally okay with her. But when Dimitri removes her necklace, the voice urging her to be with him is gone. The attraction is still there—no doubt about it—but the need is less intense. They realize the necklace is charmed with a compulsion spell—in this case, lust. When Dimitri throws it out the window, clarity returns, and with it, Rose remembers that Lissa is in terrible danger!
They race to tell Kirova what Rose saw through the bond, but the headmistress doesn’t believe her. At least, not until an injured Christian staggers in.
The group moves immediately into action to rescue Lissa. Dimitri insists Rose come along because through the bond, Rose can tell the direction that Lissa and her captors are headed.
She’s able to see who took her best friend—it’s Victor Dashkov! Kind and helpful, practically a member of Lissa’s family, Victor Dashkov!
He’s the one who gave Rose the charmed necklace—he was trying to stop her from intervening in this kidnapping. Through the bond, Rose sees and hears what a shocked and frightened Lissa is now experiencing—that Victor knows about Lissa’s ability to heal and wants her to do the same with his disease.
Victor has suspected this for a while—ever since the car accident that killed her parents. Rose watches on and is as stunned as Lissa is when he reveals something the girls weren’t fully aware of until this very moment. In the accident that killed Lissa’s parents and brother . . . Rose also died. But there was a difference—Lissa brought Rose back to life with “spirit.” It’s what forged the psychic bond between them. Because of this, Rose is “shadow-kissed.”
Just like Anna—St. Vladimir’s guardian, Rose realizes. St. Vlad also used spirit to bring Anna back from the dead.
It turns out that Victor and his daughter, Natalie, have been leaving the dead animals for Lissa in an attempt to test her abilities in spirit, which is the fifth magical element Moroi can specialize in. Since it’s so rare, it’s been forgotten over the centuries by nearly everyone in Moroi and dhampir society.
It was important for Victor to prove that Lissa was, in fact, a spirit user because only a Moroi who possessed spirit could keep his disease at bay. Victor is determined to receive regular healings, regardless of the cost to Lissa’s mental and physical health.
But it’s all for the greater good. Or so he claims. Victor was next in line to the throne, and he thinks he can regain his status once he’s healthy again. He has big plans for the future of the Moroi race.
When Lissa refuses to help, Rose watches with horror through the bond as Victor has her friend tortured by one of his air-user henchmen who magically suffocates Lissa until she finally agrees to do as he wishes.
Lissa uses her healing ability to heal Victor, and he becomes stronger and stronger. Meanwhile, Lissa only gets weaker from using so much spirit magic.
RESCUING LISSA
Rose is sickened by what is happening to her best friend and feels helpless that she’s unable to protect her from the pain. She directs the guardians to the cabin where Lissa is being kept. Before they storm in, Dimitri tells a furious and frustrated Rose to stay behind in the SUV. But alone in the car, Rose realizes they won’t find Lissa—the bond shows her that Lissa has escaped the house and is now on her own in the wilderness.
She needs to find her friend . . . and fast. When Rose finds her, Lissa is backed up against a tree by a pack of Victor’s psi hounds, psychically connected wolf-like beasts. They turn on Rose when they realize she’s there. In the nick of time, Christian—who stowed away for the trip in an attempt to save the girl he’s fallen for—arrives to help fend them off, but he’s violently attacked.
Alberta, the head of the school’s guardians, swoops in and shoots the dangerous animals. Christian is badly hurt . . . and dying. Lissa wants desperately to heal him, but she’s too weak from healing Victor.
Before, Rose might have hesitated to let her friend feed from her in public, risking being labeled again as a blood whore, but there’s no question what she needs to do to help Lissa to save Christian. Her friend needs blood to regain her energy and her magic; Rose offers her neck to the cause, and it’s enough to give Lissa the energy to save Christian.
The other guardians capture Victor and hold him prisoner under full-time guard at school. They realize Natalie is also to blame. Not only did she help plant the dead animals, but, as an earth-magic user, just like her father, she was the one responsible for rotting the wood that broke Rose’s ankle. It was another attempt to get Lissa to use her healing ability, proving once and for all that she is a spirit user.
In the wake of her kidnapping, Lissa realizes what she really wants. For starters, she wants Christian—the boy who has stood by her side, in the attic and out, the one who stowed away in the back of a van in order to help rescue her. She breaks up with Aaron and officially starts dating the social outcast, not caring what damage this relationship might do to her royal reputation.
Not everyone’s romantic life is quite as happy. Dimitri makes sure Rose is aware that what happened because of the lust charm was wrong and stupid.
“Even if you choose not to tell, you need to understand that it was a mistake. And it isn’t ever going to happen again, ” he added.
“Because you’re too old for me? Because it isn’t responsible?”
His face was perfectly blank. “No. Because I’m just not interested in you in that way.”
—page 314
Ouch. Rose is heartbroken to know that Dimitri doesn’t return her feelings for him. In the end, what she feels is just a stupid schoolgirl crush, but it’s one she can’t seem to shake no matter how hard she tries.
And she tries very hard. She even goes to visit Victor in his cell to ask him to break the lust compulsion that makes her still want to be with Dimitri. But instead, Victor tells her startling news: the spell only works on feelings already present—feelings both of them would have had to share. Before Rose can figure out what this means, she hears a commotion down the hall. Natalie has arrived to help her father escape and there’s something very different—and very scary—about her.
She’s been turned into a Strigoi. And now she’s more than strong enough to throw Rose against the wall when she attempts to get in her way. But luckily, before Natalie can finish her off . . . Dimitri arrives.
He manages to stake Natalie, saving Rose. While other guardians race to recapture Victor, Dimitri takes an injured Rose to the clinic. On the way, she wants to know if what she’s learned about the lust charm is true. Does Dimitri really feel
something for her?
Yes, it’s true. He does want Rose . . . but they can’t be together.
“[Y ]ou and I will both be Lissa’s guardians someday. I need to protect her at all costs. If a pack of Strigoi come, I need to throw my body between them and her.”
“I know that. Of course that’s what you have to do.” The black sparkles were dancing in front of my eyes again. I was fading out.
“No. If I let myself love you, I won’t throw myself in front of her. I’ll throw myself in front of you.”
—page 324
He’s right. Even though Rose still desperately wants Dimitri, she knows she must protect her best friend over anything else. It’s her job.
But Rose can’t be resentful because Lissa is there to help her heal the injuries she sustained from fighting Natalie. Still, Lissa’s dark moods are a serious problem. She agrees to go on depression medication to help. One downside of this is that she’ll be blocked from using spirit magic, but it’s worth it to regain her shaky sanity.
Being on meds is one way to lose touch from the magic. But there’s another—Natalie had said during her short confrontation with Rose that becoming Strigoi was worth giving up the magic of being Moroi.
This makes something click into place for Rose.
Ms. Karp’s spirit magic is what had driven her insane. She didn’t become Strigoi because she was mad—she did it to escape from the madness. It’s a chilling realization for Rose, especially since Ms. Karp and Lissa seem similar to her in so many ways. Is Lissa inevitably headed down the same dangerous path? Would Lissa ever make the same tragic decision as their teacher did to escape the side effects of having such a powerful ability?