Most of our escorts left us once Lisa and I were seated, and I felt a little less like a prisoner.

OnlyAlberta, the captain of the school's guardians, and Dimitri stayed. They took up positions along the wall, looking stoic and terrifying, just as their job description required.

Kirova fixed her angry eyes on us and opened her mouth to begin what would no doubt be a major bitch session. A deep, gentle voice stopped her.

"Vasilisa."

Startled, I realized there was someone else in the room. I hadn't noticed.Careless for a guardian, even a novice one.

With a great deal of effort, Victor Dashkov rose from a corner chair.Prince Victor Dashkov. Lisa sprang up and ran to him, throwing her arms around his frail body.

«Uncle,» she whispered. She sounded on the verge of tears as she tightened her grip.

With a small smile, he gently patted her back. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe,

Vasilisa. " He looked toward me. "And you too, Rose."

I nodded back, trying to hide how shocked I was. He'd been sick when we left, but this-this was horrible. He was Natalie's father, only about forty or so, but he looked twice that age. Pale.Withered.

Hands shaking. My heart broke watching him. With all the horrible people in the world, it didn't seem fair that this guy should get a disease that was going to kill him young and ultimately keep him from becoming king.

Although not technically her uncle-the Moroi used family terms very loosely, especially the royals-Victor was a close friend of Lisa's family and had gone out of his way to help her after her parents had died. I liked him; he was the first person I was happy to see here.

Kirova let them have a few more moments and then stifflydrew Lisa back to her seat.

Time for the lecture.

It was a good one-one of Kirova's best, which was saying something. She was a master at them. I swear that was the only reason she'd gone into school administration, because I had yet to see any evidence of her actuallyliking kids. The rant covered the usual topics: responsibility reckless behavior, self-centeredness….Bleh. I immediately found myself spacing out, alternatively pondering the logistics of escaping through the window in her office.

But when the tirade shifted to me-well, that was when I tuned back in.

"You, Miss Hathaway, broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust.A trust that you violated by selfishly taking the princess away from here. The Strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomirs;you nearly enabled them to do it."

"Rose didn't kidnap me. " Lisa spoke before I could, her voice and face calm, despite her uneasy feelings. "I wanted to go. Don't blame her."

Ms. Kirovatsk ed at us both and paced the office, hands folded behind her narrow back.

"Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one who orchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was stillher responsibility to make sure you didn't carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone. If she'd done her duty, she would have kept you safe."

I snapped.

"Idid do my duty! " I shouted, jumping up from my chair. Dimitri andAlberta both flinched but left me alone since I wasn't trying to hit anyone.Yet. "I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none ofyou " — I made a sweeping gesture around the room- "could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to."

Through the bond, I felt Lisa trying to send me calming messages, again urging me not to let anger get the best of me.Too late.

Kirova stared at me, her face blank. "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?"

I bit my lip.

"I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left-aside from the novelty of it, no doubt-was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."

"No, that's not-"

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

My cockiness dried up. "I…what?"

Lisa stood up beside me. "You can't do that! She's my guardian."

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents-"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave."

I stared at Kirova, unable to believe what I was hearing. "Where are you going to send me?To my mom inNepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to myfather?"

Her eyes narrowed at the bite in that last word. When I spoke again, my voice was so cold, I barely recognized it.

"Or maybe you're going to try to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day."

"Miss Hathaway, " she hissed, "you are out of line."

"They have a bond. " Dimitri's low, accented voice broke the heavy tension, and we all turned toward him. I think Kirova had forgotten he was there, but I hadn't. His presence was way too powerful to ignore. He still stood against the wall, looking like some sort of cowboy sentry in that ridiculous long coat of his. He looked at me, not Lisa, his dark eyes staring straight through me. "Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?"

I at least had the satisfaction of seeing Kirova caught off guard as she glanced between us and Dimitri.

"No…that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious, " he said. "I suspected as soon as I started watching them."

Neither Lisa nor I responded, and I averted my eyes from his.

"That is a gift, " murmured Victor from his corner. "Arare and wonderful thing."

"The best guardians always had that bond," added Dimitri. "In the stories."

Kirova's outrage returned. "Stories that are centuries old, " she exclaimed. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?"

He shrugged. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential-"

"Wild and disrespectful? "I interrupted. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"

"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now, " said Kirova. "Hersanctioned guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lisa?"

That was pretty mean of me to say-particularly since most Moroi and their guardians were of Russian or Romanian descent-but the comment seemed cleverer at the time than it really was. And it wasn't like I was one to talk. I might have been raised in theU.S., but my parents were foreign-born. My dhampir mother was Scottish-red-haired, with a ridiculous accent-and I'd been told my Moroi dad was Turkish. That genetic combination had given me skin the same color as the inside of an almond, along with what I liked to think were semi-exotic desert-princess features: big dark eyes and hair so deep brown that it usually looked black. I wouldn't have minded inheriting the red hair, but we take what we get.

Kirova threw her hands up in exasperation and turned to him. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds andvery raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again."

"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."

"No, I won't, " I argued. No one listened to me.

"Then give her extra training sessions, " he said.