Spirit Bound Chapter Twelve

WHICH WAS CONFIRMED WHEN WE fin all toldy stumbled back up to the Royal moreoverterfly.I wasnt the unaccompanied peerless in misgiving, of course. Lissa was summ unmatchabled to the queen for chastising, though I k new-fashioned shed suffer no actual punishment. non akin Eddie and me. We might be out of school, only if we were technically under the jurisdiction of the official guardians now, which meant we faced as much trouble as whatever disobedient employee. Only Adrian escaped whatsoever consequences. He was free to do what invariably he treacertain(p)d.And really, my punishment wasnt as bad as it could work been. Honestly, what did I have to lose at this point? My chances of guarding Lissa had already been sketchy, and no one had treasured me as a guardian except Tasha anyway. A crazy Vegas weekendwhich was our cover storywas hardly enough to dissuade her from taking me on. It was enough, however, to make many of Eddies prospects withdraw their requests for him to be their guardian. Enough still pauperismed him that he was in no d displeasure of losing a good position, but I felt horribly guilty. He didnt breathe a word to anyone or so what wed done, but individually time he looked at me, I could see the condemnation in his eyes.And I adage a stagger of him in the following couple days. It turned out guardians had a system in place to deal with those who were disobedient.What you did was so irresponsible that you might as well be back in school. Hell, elementary school, even.We were in one of the offices in the guardians headquarters, being yelled at by Hans Croft, the guy in charge of all the guardians at Court and soulfulness who was instrumental in guardian assignments. He was a dhampir in his early fifties, with a bushy gray-and-white mustinessache. He was also an asshole. The scent of cigar smoke constantly encircled him. Eddie and I were sitting meekly before him while he paced with his hands behind his back.You could have got cristal the last Dragomir killednot to mention the Ivashkov boy. How do you say the queen would have reacted to the death of her great-nephew? And talk close timing You go off party-hopping right when the guy who tried to kidnap the princess is running loose. not that you would know that, seeing as you were probably to a fault busy playing slot machines and using your fake IDs.I winced at the reference to superordinate, though I suppose I should have been relieved that we were above suspicion for his escape. Hans read my grimace as an admission of guilt.You might have graduated, he decl bed, but that does not mean you ar invincible.This whole encounter reminded me of when Lissa and I had returned to St. Vladimirs, when wed been chastised for the same intimacy recklessly running off and endangering her. Only this time, there was no Dimitri to defend me. That constraining made a lump ashes in my throat as I remembered his face, serious and gorgeous, those br accomplish eyes intense and passionate as he spoke up for me and convinced the others of my value. and no. No Dimitri here. It was just Eddie and me alone, facing the consequences of the real world.You. Hans pointed a stubby finger at Eddie. You might be lucky enough to slide out of this without too many repercussions. Sure, youll have a black mark on your record forever. And youve totally screwed up your chances of ever having an elite royal position with other guardians to support you. Youll get some assignment though. Working alone with some minor nobility, probably.High-ranking royals had more than one guardian, which continuously made protection easier. Hanss point was that Eddies assignment would be lowlycreating more piddle and danger for him. Casting him a sidelong glance, I saw that hard, determined look on his face again. It seemed to say he didnt c are if he had to guard a family by himself. Or even ten families. In fact, he gave off the vibe that they could drop him alone into a nest of Strigoi and hed take them all on.And you. Hanss sharp character jerked my gaze back to him. You will be lucky to ever have a job.Like always, I spoke without envisageing. I should have taken this silently like Eddie. Of course Ill have one. Tasha Ozera wants me. And youre too short on guardians to keep back me sitting around.Hanss eyes gleamed with bitter amusement. Yes, we are short on guardians, but theres all sorts of work we affect donenot just personal protection. Someone has to staff our offices. Someone has to sit and guard the front gates.I froze. A desk job. Hans was threatening me with a desk job. All of my horrible imaginings had convolute me guarding some random Moroi, someone I didnt know and would possibly hate. But in any of those scenarios, I would be out in the world. I would be in motion. I would be fighting and defending.But this? Hans was right. Guardians were needed for the Courts administrative jobs. True, they only kept a handfulwe were too valuablebut someone had to do it. One of those someones being me was too awful to comprehend. Sitting around all day for hours and hours like the guards in Tarasov. Guardian life had all sorts of pedestrianbut necessarytasks.It truly, truly hit me then that I was in the real world. Fear slammed into me. Id taken on the title of guardian when I graduated, but had I really understood what it meant? Had I been playing make-believeenjoying the perks and ignoring the consequences? I was out of school. There would be no detention for this. This was real. This was life and death.My face must have given away my feelings. Hans gave a small, cruel smile. Thats right. Weve got all sorts of ways to tame troublemakers. Lucky for you, your ultimate fates still being decided. And in the meantime, theres a lot of work that needs to be done around here that you two are going to be helping with.That work over the next a few(prenominal) days turned out to be menial manual labor. Honestly, it wasnt too differen t from detention, and I was pretty sure it had just been created to give wrongdoers like us something awful to do. We worked twelve hours a day, much of it out introductions hauling rocks and dirt to build some new, pretty courtyard for a set of royal towns wad houses. Sometimes we were put on cleaning duty, scrubbing floors. I knew they had Moroi workers for these kinds of things, and probably they were being given a vacation right now.Still, it was better than the other work Hans would give us sorting and filing mountains and mountains of paper. That gave me a new appreciation for information going digital and again made me worry about the future. everyplace and over, I kept cerebration about that initial conver sit downion with Hans. The threat that this could be my life. That I would never be a guardianin the lawful senseto Lissa or any other Moroi. Throughout my training, wed always had a mantra They come first. If I had really and truly screwed up my future, Id have a new m antra A comes first. then(prenominal) B, C, DThose work days kept me away from Lissa, and the front-desk staff within our respective constructions went out of their way to keep us asunder too. It was frustrating. I could keep track of her through the link, but I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to talk to anyone. Adrian stayed away too and didnt both(prenominal)er with dreams, qualification me wonder how he felt. Wed never had our talk after Las Vegas. Eddie and I often worked side by side, but he wasnt speaking to me, which left me with hours of being detain with my own opinions and guilt.And believe me, I had plenty of things to intensify my guilt. Around Court, people didnt really notice workers. So whether I was inside or outside, people were always talking like I wasnt there. The biggest topic was Victor. Dangerous Victor Dashkov on the loose. How could it have happened? Did he have powers no one knew about? multitude were afraid, some even convinced hed show up at Court and get a line to kill everyone in their sleep. The inside job theory was running rampant, which continued to keep us above suspicion. Unfortunately, it meant a lot of people now worried about traitors within our midst. Who knew who might be working for Victor Dashkov? Spies and rebels could be lurking at Court, planning all sorts of atrocities. I knew all the stories were exaggerated, but it didnt matter. They all came from one kernel of truth Victor Dashkov was walking the world a free man. And only Iand my accomplicesknew it was all because of me.Being seen in Las Vegas had continued to provide an alibi for the prison break and had made what wed done seem even more rash. People were aghast that wed let the Dragomir princess run off while there was a dangerous man on the loosethe man whod assaulted her Thank God, everyone said, that the queen had pulled us out of there before Victor found us. The Las Vegas trip had also haveed up a whole new line of speculationone that involved me personally.Well, that doesnt surprise me about Vasilisa, I overhear a woman say while I was working outdoors one day. She and some friends were strolling along toward the feeders building and didnt even see me. Shes run away before, right? Those Dragomirs dejection be wild ones. Shell probably go sequential back to the first party she can find, once they catch Victor Dashkov.Youre wrong, her friend said. Thats not why she went. Shes actually pretty levelheaded. Its that dhampir thats always with herthe Hathaway girl. I heard she and Adrian Ivashkov went to Las Vegas to elope. The queens people just barely got there in time to stop them. Tatianas furious, especially since Hathaway declared nothing will keep her and Adrian apart.Whoa. That was kind of a shock. I mean, I guessed it was better for people to think Adrian and I were running off than for them to accuse me of aiding and abetting a fugitive, but still I was kind of amazed at how that conclusion had come about. I hoped T atiana hadnt heard about our so-called elopement. I was pretty sure that would ruin whatever progress she and I had made.My first real social contact came in the form of an unlikely source. I was turn overing dirt into a raised flower bed and sweating like crazy. It was nearing bedtime for Moroi, meaning the sun was out in full spend glory. We at least had a pretty site while working the Courts giant church.Id spent a lot of time at the Academys chapel but had rarely visited this church since it was set uttermost from the main buildings of the Court. It was Russian Orthodoxthe predominant Moroi religionand reminded me a lot of some of the cathedrals Id seen while actually in Russia, though not nearly as big. It was made of beautiful red stonework, its towers topped with green-tiled domes, which were in turn topped with golden crosses.Two gardens marked the far boundaries of the churchs extensive grounds, one of which we were working on. Near us was one of the Courts most remarkab le sites a giant statue of some ancient Moroi queen that was almost ten times my height. A matching statue of a king stood on the opposite side of the grounds. I could never remember their names but was pretty sure wed gone over them in one of my history classes. Theyd been visionaries, changing the Moroi world of their time.A figure appeared in my periphery, and I assumed it was Hans coming to give us another awful chore. Looking up, I was astonished to see it was Christian.Figures, I said. You know youll get in trouble if someone sees you talking to me.Christian shrugged and sat on the edge of a partially completed stone wall. Doubt it. Youre the one wholl get into trouble, and I really dont think things can get any worse for you.True, I grunted.He sat there in silence for several moments, watching me shovel pile after pile of dirt. Finally, he asked, Okay. So how and why did you do it?Do what?You know exactly what. Your little adventure.We got on a plane and flew to Las Vegas. Wh y? Hmm. Lets think. I paused to wipe sweat off my forehead. Because where else are we going to find pirate-themed hotels and bartenders who dont card very much?Christian scoffed. travel, dont bullshit me. You did not go to Las Vegas.Weve got plane tickets and hotel receipts to prove it, not to mention people who saw the Dragomir princess hit it big on slot machines.My attention was on my work, but I suspected Christian was shaking his head in exasperation. As soon as I heard three people had broken Victor Dashkov out of prison, I knew it had to be you. Three of you gone? No question.Not far away, I saw Eddie stiffen and glance around uneasily. I did the same. I might have been desperate for social contact, but not at the risk of dangerous parties overhearing us. Our crimes getting out would make garden labor seem like a vacation. We were alone, but I still pitched my voice low and attempted an honest face.I heard they were humans hired by Victor. That was yet another theory running wild, as was this one Actually, I think he turned Strigoi.Right, Christian said snidely. He knew me too well to believe me. And I also heard one of the guardians has no retrospection of what made him attack his friends. He swears he was under the control of someone. Anyone who had that kind of compulsion could probably make others see humans, mimes, kangaroos.I refused to look at him and slammed the shovel hard into the ground. I bit my lip on any angry retort.She did it because she thinks Strigoi can be restored to their original form.My head shot up, and I stared at Eddie in disbelief, astonished hed spoken. What are you doing?Telling the truth, replied Eddie, never stopping his work. Hes our friend. You think hes going to report us?No, rebel Christian Ozera was not going to report us. But that didnt mean I wanted this out. Its a fact of life The more people who know a secret, the more likely it is to leak.Unsurprisingly, Christians reaction was not all that different from every one elses. What? Thats impossible. Everyone knows that.Not according to Victor Dashkovs brother, said Eddie.Will you stop it? I exclaimed.You can tell him or I will.I sighed. Christians pale dingy eyes were staring at us, wide and shocked. Like most of my friends, he rolled with crazy ideas, but this was pushing the crazy line.I thought Victor Dashkov was an only child, Christian said.I move my head. Nope. His dad had an affair, so Victors got an illegitimate half-brother. Robert. And hes a flavor user.Only you, said Christian. Only you would find something like this.I ignored what appeared to be a return to his normal cynicism. Robert claims to have healed a Strigoikilled the undead part of her and brought her back to life. Spirit has limits, Rose. You might have been brought back, but Strigoi are gone.We dont know about olfactions full range, I pointed out. Half of it is still a mystery.We know about St. Vladimir. If he could restore Strigoi, dont you think a guy like him woul d have been doing it? I mean, if thats not miraculous, what is? Something like that would have survived in the legends, argued Christian.Maybe. Maybe not. I retied my ponytail, replaying our encounter with Robert in my mind for the hundredth time. Maybe Vlad didnt know how. Its not all that easy.Yeah, agreed Eddie. This is the good part.Hey, I shot back at him. I know youre mad at me, but with Christian here, we really dont need anyone else making snide comments.I dont know, said Christian. For something like this, you actually might need two people. Now explain how this miracle is supposedly done.I sighed. By adding life-time to a stake, along with the other four elements.Spirit charms were still a new concept to Christian too. Never thought of that. I guess spirit would shake things up but I cant imagine you staking a Strigoi with a spirit-charmed stake would be enough to bring them back.Well thats the thing. According to Robert, I cant do it. It has to be done by a spirit user.M ore silence. Id rendered Christian speechless yet again.At last he said, We dont know that many spirit users. Let alone any who could fight or stake a Strigoi.We know two spirit users. I frowned, recalling Oksana in Siberia and Avery locked away where? A infirmary? A place like Tarasov? No, four. Five, counting Robert. But yeah, none of them can really do it.It doesnt matter because it cant be done, Eddie said.We dont know that The desperation in my own voice startled me. Robert believes it. Victor even believes. I hesitated. And Lissa does too.And she wants to do it, Christian said, catching on quickly. Because she would do anything for you.She cant.Because she doesnt have the ability or because you wont let her?Both, I cried. Im not letting her anywhere near a Strigoi. Shes already I groaned, hating to reveal what Id discovered in our time apart through the bond. She got a hold of a stake and is trying to charm it. So far, she hasnt had much luck, thank God.If this were possible, began Christian slowly. It could change our world. If she could learn What? No Id been so eager to get Christian to believe me, and now I wished he hadnt. The one saving grace in all this was that with none of my friends thinking it was possible, none of them had given any thought to Lissa actually trying to fight a Strigoi. Lissas no warrior. No spirit user we know is, so unless we find one, Id rather I winced. Id rather Dimitri died.That lastly made Eddie stop working. He threw down his shovel. Really? I never would have guessed that. Sarcasm to rival my own.I spun around and strode toward him, my fists clenched. Look, I cant take this anymore Im sorry. I dont know what else to say. I know I screwed up. I let Dimitri get away. I let Victor get away.You let Victor get away? asked Christian, startled.I ignored him and continued shouting at Eddie. It was a mistake. With Dimitri it was a weak moment. I failed in my training. I know I did. We both know it. But you know I didnt intend the damage I caused. If youre really my friend, you have to know it. If I could take it back I swallowed, strike to feel my eyes burning. I would. I swear I would, Eddie.His face was perfectly still. I believe you. I am your friend, and I know I know you didnt mean for things to turn out like they did.I sagged in relief, surprised at how truly worried Id been about losing his respect and friendship. Looking down, I was startled to see my fists balled up. I relaxed them, unable to believe Id been that upset. Thank you. Thank you so much.Whats all this shouting?We both turned and saw Hans heading toward us. And he looked pissed off. I also noticed then that Christian had practically vanished into thin air. Just as well.This isnt social time growled Hans. You two still have another hour left today. If youre going to get distracted, then maybe you should be separated. He beckoned to Eddie. Come on. Theres some filing with your name on it.I shot Eddie a sympathetic look as Hans led him away. Yet I was relieved it wasnt me off to do paperwork.I continued my labors, my mind whirl with the same questions Id had all week. I had meant what I said to Eddie. I wanted so badly for this dream of Dimitri being saved to be true. I wanted it more than anythingexcept Lissa risking her life. I shouldnt have hesitated. I should have just killed Dimitri. Victor wouldnt have escaped. Lissa wouldnt have given Roberts words a second thought. thought of Lissa pushed me into her mind. She was in her room, doing some last-minute packing before going to bed. Tomorrow was her Lehigh visit. Unsurprisingly, my invitation to go with her had been revoked in light of recent events. Her birthdaysomething that had been horribly overlooked in this messwas this weekend as well, and it didnt seem right for me to be apart from her during it. We should have been celebrating together. Her thoughts were troubled, and she was so consumed by them that a sudden knock at the door made her jump.Wondering who could be visiting her at this hour, she opened the door and gasped to see Christian standing there. It was surreal to me too. Part of me still kept thinking we were in our school dorms, where rulestheoreticallykept guys and girls out of each others rooms. But we were no longer there. We were technically adults now. He must have gone straight to her room after seeing me, I realized.It was astonishing how quickly the tension ratcheted up between them. A bundle of emotions burst into Lissas chest, the usual mix of anger, grief, and confusion.What are you doing here? she demanded.The same emotions were in his face. I wanted to talk to you.Its late, she said stiffly. Besides, I seem to remember you dont like talking.I want to talk about what happened with Victor and Robert.That was enough to startle her out of her anger. She cast an anxious look into the hallway and then beckoned him inside. How do you know about that? she hissed, hastily shutting the door.I just saw Rose.How did yo u get to see her? I cant see her. Lissa was as frustrated as me over how our superiors had been keeping us apart.Christian shrugged, careful to bear on a safe distance between them in the suites small living room. Both of them had their arms crossed defensively, though I dont think they realized how they were mirroring each other. I snuck into her prison camp. Theyve got her shoveling dirt for hours.Lissa grimaced. With the way theyd kept us separated, she hadnt known much about my activities. Poor Rose.Shes managing. Like always. Christians eyes turned toward the couch and her open suitcase, where a silver stake lay on top of a silk blouse. I doubted that shirt would survive the trip without a million wrinkles. Interesting thing to bring on a college visit.Lissa hastily shut the suitcase. Thats none of your business.Do you really believe it? he asked, ignoring her comment. He took a step forward, his eagerness plainly making him forget about wanting to keep away. Even as distract ed as she was by the situation, Lissa immediately became aware of their new proximity, the way he smelled, the way the light shone on his black hair. Do you think you could bring back a Strigoi?She turned her attention back to the conversation and shook her head. I dont know. I really dont. But I feel like I feel like I have to try. If nothing else, I want to know what spirit in a stake will do. Thats harmless enough.Not according to Rose.Lissa gave him a rueful smile, realized what she was doing, and promptly dropped it. No. Rose doesnt want me going anywhere near this ideaeven though she wants it to be real.Tell me the truth. His gaze burned to her. Do you think you have any chance of staking a Strigoi?No, she admitted. I could barely throw a punch. But like I said, I feel like I should try. I should try to learn. To stake one, I mean.Christian pondered this for a few moments and then gestured toward the suitcase again. Youre going to Lehigh in the morning?Lissa nodded.And Rose go t cut from the trip?Of course.Did the queen spell to let you bring another friend?She did, admitted Lissa. In particular, she suggested Adrian. But hes sulking and Im not really sure if Im in the mood for him.Christian seemed pleased by this. Then bring me.My poor friends. I wasnt sure how much more shock any of them could handle today.Why the hell would I bring you? she exclaimed. All her anger returned at his presumption. It was a sign of her agitation that shed sworn.Because, he said, face calm, I can teach you how to stake a Strigoi.