Lissa nodded. “Do you think she’ll do it? Do you think she can kill Dimitri?”

Adrian took a long time in answering. “I think she can. The question will be if it kills her in the process.”

Lissa flinched, and I was a bit surprised. The answer was as blunt as one Christian might give. “God, I wish she hadn’t decided to go after him.”

“Wishing’s useless now. Rose has got to do this. It’s the only way we can get her back.” He paused. “It’s the only way she’ll be able to move on.”

Adrian surprised me sometimes, but this took the prize. Lissa thought it was foolish and suicidal to go after Dimitri. I knew Sydney would agree if I told her the truth about this trip. But Adrian… silly, shallow, party-boy Adrian understood? Studying him through Lissa’s eyes, I realized he actually did. He didn’t like it, and I could hear the hurt in his words. He cared about me. My having such strong feelings for someone else caused him pain. And yet… he truly believed that I was doing the right thing-the only thing I could do.

Lissa looked at the clock. “I’ve got to go before curfew. I should probably study for my history test, too.”

Adrian grinned. “Studying’s overrated. Just find someone smart to copy off.”

She stood up. “Are you saying I’m not smart?”

“Hell no.” He rose also and went to pour himself a drink from the fully stocked bar he kept on hand. Self-medicating was his irresponsible way of keeping spirit’s effects at bay, and if he’d been using spirit all night, he would want the numbness of his vices. “You’re the smartest person I know.

But that doesn’t mean you have to do unnecessary work.”

“You can’t succeed in life if you don’t work. Copying from others won’t get you anywhere.”

“Whatever,” he said with a grin. “I copied all through school, and look how well I’m doing today.”

With an eye roll, Lissa gave him a quick hug goodbye and left. Once out of his sight, her smile faded a bit. In fact, her thoughts took a decidedly dark turn. Mentioning me had stirred up all sorts of feelings within. She was worried about me-desperately worried. She’d told Christian that she felt bad about what had happened between us, but the full force of that didn’t hit me until now. She was racked by guilt and confusion, continually berating herself for what she should have done. And above all, she missed me. She had that same feeling I did-like a part of her had been cut out.

Adrian lived on the fourth floor, and Lissa opted for the stairs rather than the elevator. All the while, her mind spun with worry. Worries about whether she’d ever master spirit. Worry for me. Worry that she wasn’t currently feeling spirit’s dark side effects, which made her wonder if I was absorbing them, just as a guardian named Anna had. She’d lived centuries ago and was bonded to St. Vladimir, the school’s namesake. She’d absorbed spirit’s nasty effects from him-and had been driven insane.

On the second floor, Lissa could make out the sounds of shouting, even through the door that separated the stairwell from the hallway. Despite knowing it had nothing to do with her, she hesitated, curiosity getting the best of her. A moment later, she quietly pushed the door open and stepped into the hall. The voices were coming from around the corner. She carefully peered around it-not that she needed to. She recognized the voices.

Avery Lazar stood in the hallway, hands on her hips as she stared at her father. He stood in the doorway to what must have been his suite. Their stances were rigid and hostile, and anger crackled between them.

“I’ll do what I want,” she yelled. “I’m not your slave.”

“You’re my daughter,” he said in a voice both calm and condescending. “Though at times I wish you weren’t.”

Ouch. Both Lissa and I were shocked.

“Then why are you making me stay in this hellhole? Let me go back to Court!”

“And embarrass me further? We barely got out without damaging this family’s reputation-much. No way am I going to send you there alone and let you do God knows what.”

“Then send me to Mom! Switzerland’s got to be better than this place.”

There was a pause. “Your mother is… busy.”

“Oh, nice,” said Avery, voice heavy with sarcasm. “That’s a polite way of saying she doesn’t want me. No surprise. I’d just interfere with her and that guy she’s sleeping with.”

“Avery!” His voice rang out loud and angry. Lissa flinched and stepped back. “This conversation is done. Get back to your room and sober up before someone sees you. I expect you at breakfast tomorrow, and I expect you to be respectable. We have some important visitors.”

“Yeah, and God knows we’ve got to keep up appearances.”

“Go to your room,” he repeated. “Before I call Simon and make him drag you there.”

“Yes, sir,” she simpered. “Right away, sir. Anything you say, sir.”

And with that, he slammed the door. Lissa, ducking back behind the corner, could hardly believe he’d said those things to his own daughter. For a few moments, there was silence. Then, Lissa heard the sound of footsteps-coming toward her. Avery suddenly rounded the corner and stopped in front of Lissa, giving us our first good look of her.

Avery was wearing a tight, short dress made of some kind of blue fabric that shone silvery in the light. Her hair hung long and wild, and the tears pouring from her blue-gray eyes had destroyed the heavy makeup she wore. The scent of alcohol came through loud and clear. She hastily ran a hand over her eyes, obviously embarrassed at being seen like this.

“Well,” she said flatly. “I guess you overheard our family drama.”

Lissa felt equally embarrassed at being caught spying. “I–I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I was just passing by…”

Avery gave a harsh laugh. “Well, I don’t think it matters. Probably everyone in the building heard us.”

“I’m sorry,” Lissa repeated.

“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No… I mean, I’m sorry he… you know, said those things to you.”

“It’s part of being a ‘good’ family. Everyone’s got skeletons in their closet.” Avery crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. Even upset and messy, she was beautiful. “God, I hate him sometimes. No offense, but this place is so fucking boring. I found some sophomore guys to hang with tonight, but… they were pretty boring too. The only thing they had going for them was their beer.”

“Why… why did your dad bring you here?” Lissa asked. “Why aren’t you… I don’t know, in college?”

Avery gave a harsh laugh. “He doesn’t trust me enough. When we were at Court, I got involved with this cute guy who worked there-total nonroyal, of course. Dad freaked out and was afraid people would find out. So when he got the job here, he brought me along to keep an eye on me and torture me. I think he’s afraid I’ll run off with a human if I go to college.” She sighed. “I swear to God, if Reed wasn’t here, I’d just run away, period.”

Lissa didn’t say anything for a long time. She’d gone out of her way to avoid Avery diligently. With all the orders the queen was giving Lissa lately, this seemed the only way Lissa could fight back and stop herself from being controlled. But now, she wondered if she’d been wrong about Avery.

Avery didn’t seem like a spy for Tatiana. She didn’t seem like someone who wanted to mold Lissa into a perfect royal. Mostly, Avery seemed like a sad, hurting girl, whose life was spinning out of control. Someone who was being ordered around as much as Lissa was lately.

With a deep breath, Lissa rushed forward with her next words. “Do you want to eat lunch with Christian and me tomorrow? No one would mind if you came to our lunch period. I can’t promise it’ll be, um, as exciting as you want.”

Avery smiled again, but this time, it was less bitter. “Well, my other plans were to get drunk by myself in my room.” She lifted a bottle of what looked like whiskey out of her purse. “Scored some stuff of my own.”