Rounding a corner, I stopped when I saw Natalie had beaten me to Lisa. I considered interrupting but stepped back before they could see me. Spying might be bad, but I was suddenly very curious to hear what Natalie had to say to Lisa.

"She shouldn't have said that, " Natalie said. She wore a yellow dress similar in cut to Lisa's, but

somehow lacked the grace and poise to make it look as good. Yellow was also a terrible color on her. It clashed with her black hair, which she'd put up into an off-center bun. "It wasn't right, " she went on.

"Don't let it bother you."

"Kind of late for that. "Lisa's eyes were locked firmly on the stone walkway below.

"She was wrong."

"She'sright, " Lisa exclaimed. "My parents…and Andre…they would have hated me for what I did."

"No, they wouldn't have. " Natalie spoke in a gentle voice.

"It was stupid to run away. Irresponsible."

"So what?You made a mistake. I make mistakes all the time. The other day, I was doing this assignment

in science, and it was for chapter ten, and I'd actually read chapter elev- " Natalie stopped herself and, in a remarkable show of restraint, got herself back on track. "People change. We're always changing, right? You aren't the same as you were then. I'm not the same as I was then."

Actually, Natalie seemedexactly the same to me, but that didn't bother me so much anymore. She'd grown on me.

«Besides,» she added, "was running away really a mistake? You must have done it for a reason. You must have gotten something out of it, right? There was a lot of bad stuff going on with you, wasn't there?

With your parents and your brother. Imean, maybe it was the right thing to do."

Lisa hid a smile. Both of us were pretty sure Natalie was trying to find out why we had left-just like everyone else in the school. She sort of sucked at being sneaky.

"I don't know if it was, no, " Lisa answered. "I was weak. Andre wouldn't have run away. He was so good. Good at everything. Good at getting along with people and all that royal crap."

"You're good at that too."

"I guess. But I don't like it. I mean, I like people…but most of what they do is sofake. That's what I don't like."

"Then don't feel bad about not getting involved, " Natalie said. "I don't hang out with all those people either, and look atme. I'm just fine. Daddy says he doesn't care if I hang out with the royals or not. He just wants me to be happy."

"And that, " I said, finally making my appearance, "is whyhe should be ruling instead of that bitch of a queen. He got robbed."

Natalie nearly jumped ten feet. I felt pretty confident her vocabulary of swear words mostly consisted of «golly» and "darn."

"I wondered where you were, " said Lisa.

Natalie looked back and forth between us, suddenly seeming a little embarrassed to be right between the best-friends dream team. She shifted uncomfortably and tucked some messy hair behind her ear.

"Well…I should go find Daddy. I'll see you back in the room."

"See you, " said Lisa. "And thanks."

Natalie hurried off.

"Does she really call him'Daddy'?"

Lisa cut me a look. "Leave her alone. She's nice."

"She is, actually. I heard what she said, and as much as I hate to admit it, there was nothing there I could really make fun of. It was all true. " I paused. "I'll kill her, you know.The queen, not Natalie. Screw the guardians. I'll do it. She can't get away with that."

"God, Rose! Don't say that. They'll arrest you for treason. Just let it go."

"Let it go?After what she said to you?In front of everyone?"

She didn't answer or even look at me. Instead, she toyed absentmindedly with the branches of a scraggly bush that had gone dormant for the winter. There was a vulnerable look about her that I recognized-and feared.

«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, Lisa was still shaken over the queen's comments. Sorrow and humiliation were swirling inside of her. She felt embarrassed 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 wasnot 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 Lisa and ignored me, taking a few steps forward. "Just wanted to know what it's like to beso important andso 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.Oryour parents."

I could see the pain that caused her. Man, she wanted to beroyal so badly. "At least Isee my parents, " she retorted. "At least I know who they both are. God 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 evennoticed."

That hurt. I clenched my teeth. "Yeah, well, at least she's famous. She really does advise royals and nobles. 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 accumulate since the story started going around, when the lightbulb suddenly went off in her head.

"It wasyou, " 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 youslept with him."

Now she was really starting to piss me off. "I didn't sleep with him."

Mia pointed at Lisa 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, shifting 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.