“So, explain this,” Avery said, winding linguine around her fork. “You just, what, hang around the Academy all day? Are you trying to redo your high school experience?”

“Nothing to redo,” said Adrian loftily. “I totally ruled my high school. I was worshipped and adored-not that that should come as a shock.” Beside him, Christian nearly choked on his food.

“So… you’re trying to relive your glory days. It’s all gone downhill since then, huh?”

“No way,” said Adrian. “I’m like a fine wine. I get better with age. The best is yet to come.”

“Seems like it’d get old after a while,” said Avery, apparently not convinced by the compelling wine simile. “I’m certainly bored, and I even spend part of the day helping my dad.”

“Adrian sleeps most of the day,” noted Lissa, trying to keep a straight face. “So he doesn’t actually have to worry about finding things to do.”

“Hey, I spend a good portion of my time helping you unravel the mysteries of spirit,” Adrian reminded her.

Avery leaned forward, curiosity all over her pretty face. “So it’s actually real? I heard stories about spirit… about how you can heal people?”

It took Lissa a moment to respond. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to her magic being out in the open now. “Among other things. We’re still figuring it out.”

Adrian was more eager than she was to discuss it-probably in the hopes of impressing Avery-and provided a quick rundown of some of spirit’s abilities, like auras and compulsion. “And,” he added, “I can visit people in their dreams.”

Christian held up a hand. “Stop. I can feel there’s a comment coming on about how women already dream about you. I just ate, you know.”

“I wasn’t going to go there,” said Adrian. But he kind of looked like he wished he’d thought of the joke first. I couldn’t help being a little amused.

Adrian was so brash and flippant in public… and then, in my dreams, he’d show that serious and concerned side. He was more complex than anyone gave him credit for.

Avery looked floored. “Man. I used to think using air was cool. I guess not.” A small breeze suddenly blew her hair back, making her look as though she were posing for a swimsuit photo shoot. She gave the group a dazzling smile. All that was missing was a photographer.

The sound of the bell made them all stand up. Christian realized he’d left homework in another class and hurried off to get it-after kissing Lissa goodbye, of course.

Adrian departed equally as fast. “The teachers start giving me dirty looks if I hang around once classes start.” He gave Lissa and Avery a small half bow. “Until next time, ladies.”

Avery, who couldn’t care less about what teachers thought, walked with Lissa to her next class. The older girl’s face was thoughtful. “So… you really are with Christian, right?” Was she ever. If Avery’d seen half the things I’d seen Christian and Lissa do through the bond, there’d be no question.

Lissa laughed. “Yes, why?”

Avery hesitated, piquing Lissa’s curiosity. “Well… I heard that you were involved with Adrian.”

Lissa nearly stopped walking. “Where did you hear that?”

“

At Court

The queen was saying how happy she is about you guys being a couple and how you’re always together.”

Lissa groaned. “That’s because whenever I go to Court, she invites him too and then sends us both off to do things for her. It’s not by choice… well, I mean, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind spending time with him, but the reason we’re always together there is because Tatiana makes us.”

“She seems to like you, though. She talks about you all the time, about how much potential you have and how proud she is of you.”

“I think she’s proud to manipulate me. Going there is such a pain. She either completely ignores the fact that I’m dating Christian or takes whatever chance she can get to slip in insults about him.” Queen Tatiana, like so many other people, could never forgive Christian’s parents for willingly turning Strigoi.

“Sorry,” said Avery, looking like she felt really bad. “I didn’t mean to bring up a bad subject. I just kind of wanted to know if Adrian was available, that’s all.”

Lissa wasn’t mad at Avery. Her fury was turned toward the queen, at how she assumed everyone would behave the way she wanted and dance when she commanded it. The Moroi world had been ruled by a king or a queen since the beginning of time, and sometimes, Lissa thought it was time for a change. They needed a system where everyone had an equal say-royal and non-royal alike. Even the dhampirs.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt her temper spike, anger and frustration flaring up in a way more common to me than her. It made her want to scream sometimes, to walk right up to Tatiana and tell her their deal was off. No college was worth this. Maybe she’d even tell Tatiana that it was time for a revolution, time to overturn the Moroi’s backward Lissa blinked, astonished to find she was shaking. Where had that emotion come from? It was one thing to be upset with Tatiana, but this…?

She hadn’t had such out-of-control rages since she first began using spirit. With a deep breath, she tried to use some of the calming techniques she’d acquired so that Avery wouldn’t know what a nutcase she’d nearly turned into.

“I just hate people talking about me, that’s all,” Lissa said at last.

Avery hadn’t seemed to notice Lissa’s lapse into anger. “Well, if it makes you feel better, not everyone thinks that about you. I met a girl… Mia?

Yeah, that was her name. Some non-royal.” Avery’s dismissive tone suggested she held the view a lot of royals had toward “common” Moroi. “She just laughed about you and Adrian being together. Said it was ridiculous.”

Lissa almost smiled at that. Mia had once been Lissa’s rival and a self-centered brat. But after Strigoi killed her mother, Mia had taken on a fierce, determined attitude, one both Lissa and I liked immensely. Mia lived at Court with her father, secretly training to fight so that she would be able to battle Strigoi someday.

“Oh,” said Avery suddenly. “There’s Simon. I should go.”

Lissa looked across the hall and saw Avery’s stern guardian. Simon might not be as grim as Avery’s brother Reed, but he still had that same stiff and dour look he’d had when Lissa first met him. Avery seemed to get along with him fine, though.

“Okay,” said Lissa. “I’ll see you later.”

“You bet,” said Avery, starting to turn.

“Oh, and Avery?”

Avery glanced at Lissa. “Yeah?”

“Adrian is available.”

Avery’s only answer was a quick grin before she headed off to join Simon.

Back with the Belikovs in Baia, the memorial service was going forward. Neighbors and friends, all dhampirs, slowly arrived, many bringing food. It was my first glimpse of the dhampir community, though it still didn’t seem as mysterious as Sydney had implied. The kitchen turned into a banquet hall, with every counter and table surface covered in dishes. Some were foods I knew, and there were lots of desserts-cookies and pastries covered in nuts and icing that smelled freshly baked. Some of the dishes I’d never seen before and wasn’t sure I wanted to ever again. There was a slimy bowl of cabbage in particular that I went out of my way to avoid.

But before we ate, everyone went outside and gathered in a semicircle in the backyard. It was the only place that could accommodate so many people. A priest appeared just then, a human one. That surprised me a little, but I supposed when living in a human town, dhampirs would attend a human church. And to most humans, dhampirs looked just like them, so the priest no doubt thought he was making an ordinary house call. A handful of Moroi who had been in town were also present, but they, too, could more or less pass for humans-pale ones-if they were discreet with the fangs. Humans didn’t expect to see the supernatural, so their minds rarely considered it an option, even when it was right in front of them.