Last Sacrifice (6)

by Richelle Mead

  ʺSomeone already tried to get rid of records linking Lissaʹs dad to a mistress.ʺ I again spoke without thinking and hated myself for it. I didnʹt want to give the brothers any more info. I didnʹt want to play like we were all working together here.

  ʺAnd let me guess,ʺ said Victor. ʺThatʹs what youʹre trying to do, isnʹt it? Find this Dragomir bastard.ʺ

  ʺHey, donʹt—ʺ

  ʺItʹs just an expression,ʺ he interrupted. ʺIf I know you two—and I feel confident I do—Vasilisa is desperately trying to clear your name back at Court while you and Belikov are off on a sexually charged adventure to find her brother or sister.ʺ

  ʺYou donʹt know anything about us,ʺ I growled. Sexually charged indeed.

  He shrugged. ʺYour face says it all. And really, itʹs not a bad idea. Not a great one either, but not bad. Give the Dragomir family a quorum, and youʹll have a voice speaking on your behalf on the Council. I donʹt suppose you have any leads?ʺ

  ʺWeʹre working on it,ʺ I replied evasively.

  Victor looked at Robert. I knew the two didnʹt have any psychic communication, but as they exchanged glances, I had a feeling they were both thinking the same thing and confirming with each other. At last, Victor nodded and turned back to me.

  ʺVery well then. Weʹll help you.ʺ He made it sound like he was reluctantly agreeing to do me a big favor.

  ʺWe donʹt need your help!ʺ

  ʺOf course you do. Youʹre out of your league, Rose. Youʹre wandering into a nest of ugly, complex politics—something you have no experience with. Thereʹs no shame in acknowledging that, just as Iʹm not ashamed to admit that in an irrational, ill-planned fist fight, you would certainly prove superior.ʺ

  Another backhanded compliment. ʺWeʹre doing just fine. We have an Alchemist helping us.ʺ There. That would show him who was out of whose league. And, to my credit, he did look slightly impressed. Slightly.

  ʺBetter than I expected. Has your Alchemist come up with a location or any lead yet?ʺ

  ʺSheʹs working on it,ʺ I repeated.

  He sighed in frustration. ʺWeʹre going to need time then, arenʹt we? Both for Vasilisa to investigate Court and you to start tracking this child.ʺ

  ʺYouʹre the one who acts like you know everything,ʺ I pointed out. ʺI figured youʹd know something about this.ʺ

  ʺTo my chagrin, no.ʺ Victor didnʹt really sound all that put out. ʺBut as soon as we get a thread, I assure you, Iʹll be essential in unraveling it.ʺ He walked over to his brother and patted Robertʹs arm comfortingly. Robert stared back adoringly. ʺWeʹll visit you again. Let us know when you have something useful, and then weʹll meet up with you.ʺ

  My eyes widened. ʺYouʹll do no such—ʺ I hesitated. Iʹd let Victor escape in Las Vegas. Now he was offering to come to me. Maybe I could repair that mistake and make good on my earlier threat to him. Quickly, I tried to cover my lapse of speech. ʺHow do I know I can trust you?ʺ

  ʺYou canʹt,ʺ he said bluntly. ʺYouʹve got to take it on faith that the enemy of your enemy is your friend.ʺ

  ʺIʹve always hated that saying. Youʹll always be my enemy.ʺ

  I was a bit surprised when Robert suddenly came to life. He glared and stepped forward. ʺMy brother is a good man, shadow-girl! If you hurt him . . . if you hurt him, youʹll pay. And next time you wonʹt come back. The world of the dead wonʹt give you up a second time.ʺ

  I knew better than to take the threats of a crazy man seriously, but his last words sent a chill through me. ʺYour brother is a psycho—ʺ

  ʺEnough, enough.ʺ Victor again gave Robert a reassuring pat on the arm. Still scowling at me, the younger Dashkov brother backed off, but I was willing to bet that invisible wall was back in place. ʺThis does us no good. Weʹre wasting time—which is something we donʹt have enough of. We need more. The monarch elections will start any day now, and Tatianaʹs murderer could have a hand in those if there really was some agenda going on. We need to slow down the elections—not just to thwart the assassin, but also to give all of us time to accomplish our tasks.ʺ

  I was getting tired of all this. ʺYeah? And how do you propose we do that?ʺ

  Victor smiled. ʺBy running Vasilisa as a candidate for queen.ʺ

  Seeing as this was Victor Dashkov we were dealing with, I really shouldnʹt have been surprised by anything he said. It was a testament to his level of craziness that he continually caught me unprepared.

  ʺThat,ʺ I declared, ʺis impossible.ʺ

  ʺNot really,ʺ he replied.

  I threw my hands up in exasperation. ʺHavenʹt you been paying attention to what weʹve been talking about? The whole point is to get Lissa full family rights with the Moroi. She canʹt even vote! How could she run for queen?ʺ

  ʺActually, the law says she can. According to the way the nomination policy is written, one person from each royal line may run for the monarch position. Thatʹs all it says. One person from each line may run. There is no mention of how many people need to be in her family, as there is for her to vote on the Council. She simply needs three nominations—and the law doesnʹt specify which family they come from.ʺ

  Victor spoke in such a precise, crisp way that he might as well have been reciting from a legal book. I wondered if he had all the laws memorized. I supposed if you were going to make a career of breaking laws, you might as well know them.

  ʺWhoever wrote that law probably assumed the candidates would have family members. They just didnʹt bother spelling it out. Thatʹs what people will say if Lissa runs. Theyʹll fight it.ʺ

  ʺThey can fight it all they want. Those who are denying her a Council spot base it on one line in the law books that mentions another family member. If thatʹs their argument, that every detail must count, then theyʹll have to do the same for the election laws—which, as I have said, do not mention family backing. Thatʹs the beauty of this loophole. Her opponents canʹt have it both ways.ʺ A smile twisted at Victorʹs lips, supremely confident. ʺI assure you, there is absolutely nothing in the wording that prevents her from doing this.ʺ

  ʺHow about her age?ʺ I pointed out. ʺThe princes and princesses who run are always old.ʺ The title of prince or princess went to a familyʹs oldest member, and traditionally, that was the person who ran for king or queen. The family could decide to nominate someone else more fitting, but even then—to my knowledge—it was always someone older and experienced.

  ʺThe only age restriction is full adulthood,ʺ said Victor. ʺSheʹs eighteen. She qualifies. The other families have much larger pools to draw from, so naturally, theyʹd select someone who seemed more experienced. In the Dragomir case? Well, thatʹs not an option, now is it? Besides, young monarchs arenʹt without precedence. There was a very famous queen—Alexandra—who wasnʹt much older than Vasilisa. Very well loved, very extraordinary. Her statue is by the Courtʹs church.ʺ

  I shifted uncomfortably. ʺActually . . . itʹs, um, not there anymore. It kind of blew up.ʺ

  Victor just stared. Heʹd apparently heard about my escape but not all of the details.

  ʺItʹs not important,ʺ I said hastily, feeling guilty that Iʹd been indirectly responsible for blowing up a renowned queen. ʺThis whole idea about using Lissa is ridiculous.ʺ

  ʺYou wonʹt be the only one who thinks so,ʺ Victor said. ʺTheyʹll argue. Theyʹll fight. In the end, the law will prevail. Theyʹll have to let her run. Sheʹll go through the tests and probably pass. Then, when voting comes, the laws that govern those procedures reference a family member assisting with the vote.ʺ

  My head was spinning by now. I felt mentally exhausted listening to all these legal loopholes and technicalities.

  ʺJust come right out and put it in simple language,ʺ I ordered.

  ʺWhen voting comes, she wonʹt be eligible. She has no family to fulfill the role required at the actual election. In other words, the law says she can run and take the tests. Yet, people canʹt actually vote for her because she has no family.ʺ

  ʺThatʹs . . . idiotic.ʺ

  ʺA
greed.ʺ He paused. I donʹt think either of us ever expected to concur on something.

  ʺLissa would hate this. She would never, ever want to be queen.ʺ

  ʺAre you not following this?ʺ exclaimed Victor. ʺShe wonʹt be queen. She canʹt. Itʹs a badly written law for a situation no one foresaw. Itʹs a mess. And it will bog down the elections so badly that weʹll have extra time to find Vasilisaʹs sibling and find out who really killed Tatiana.ʺ

  ʺHey! I told you: Thereʹs no ‘weʹ here. Iʹm not going to—ʺ

  Victor and Robert exchanged looks.

  ʺGet Vasilisa nominated,ʺ said Victor abruptly. ʺWeʹll be in touch soon on where to meet you for the Dragomir search.ʺ IT

  ʺThat′s not—ʺ

  I woke up.

  My immediate reaction was to swear, but then, remembering where I was, I kept my expletives inside my own head. I could make out Dimitriʹs silhouette in the corner, alert and watchful, and didnʹt want him to know I was awake. Closing my eyes, I shifted into a more comfortable position, hoping for true sleep that would block out the Dashkov brothers and their ridiculous schemes. Lissa running for queen? It was crazy. And yet . . . it really wasnʹt much crazier than most of the things I did.

  Putting that aside, I let my body relax and felt the tug of true sleep start to take me down. Emphasis on start. Because suddenly, I felt another spirit dream materializing around me.

  Apparently, this was going to be a busy night.

  ELEVEN

  I BRACED MYSELF, EXPECTING TO see the Dashkov brothers appear again with some last minute ʺadvice.ʺ Instead I saw—

  ʺAdrian!ʺ

  I ran across the garden Iʹd appeared in and threw my arms around him. He hugged me back just as tightly and lifted me off the ground.

  ʺLittle dhampir,ʺ he said, once he put me down again. His arms stayed around my waist. ʺIʹve missed you.ʺ

  ʺIʹve missed you too.ʺ And I meant it. The last couple days and their bizarre events had completely unhinged my life, and being with him—even in a dream—was comforting. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him, enjoying a small moment of warmth and peace as our lips met.

  ʺAre you okay?ʺ he asked when I broke away. ʺNo oneʹll tell me much about you. Your old man says youʹre safe and that the Alchemist would let him know if anything went wrong.ʺ

  I didnʹt bother telling Adrian that that probably wasnʹt true, seeing as Abe didnʹt know weʹd gone freelancing with some backwoods vampires.

  ʺIʹm fine,ʺ I assured Adrian. ʺMostly bored. Weʹre holed up in this dive of a town. I donʹt think anyone will come looking for us. I donʹt think theyʹd want to.ʺ

  A look of relief spread over his handsome face, and it occurred to me just how worried he was. ʺIʹm glad. Rose, you canʹt imagine what itʹs like. They arenʹt just questioning people who might have been involved. The guardians are making all sorts of plans to hunt you down. Thereʹs all this talk about ‘deadly force.ʹʺ

  ʺWell, they wonʹt find me. Iʹm somewhere pretty remote.ʺ Very remote.

  ʺI wish I could have gone with you.ʺ

  He still looked concerned, and I pressed a finger to his lips. ʺNo. Donʹt say that. Youʹre better off where you are—and better not to be associated with me any more than you already are. Have you been questioned?ʺ

  ʺYeah, they didnʹt get anything useful out of me. Too tight an alibi. They brought me in when I went to find Mikhail because we talked to—ʺ

  ʺI know. Joe.ʺ

  Adrianʹs surprise was brief. ʺLittle dhampir, youʹve been spying.ʺ

  ʺItʹs hard not to.ʺ

  ʺYou know, as much as I like the idea of having someone always know when youʹre in trouble, Iʹm still kind of glad I donʹt have anyone bound to me. Not sure Iʹd want them looking in my head.ʺ

  ʺI donʹt think anyone would want to look in your head either. One person living Adrian Ivashkovʹs life is hard enough.ʺ Amusement flickered in his eyes, but it faded when I switched back to business. ʺAnyway, yeah. I overheard Lissaʹs . . . um, interrogation of Joe. Thatʹs serious stuff. What did Mikhail say? If Joe lied, that clears half the evidence against me.ʺ It also theoretically killed Adrianʹs alibi.

  ʺWell, not quite half. It would have been better if Joe said you were in your room during the murder instead of admitting heʹs a flake who doesnʹt remember anything. It also would have been better if he hadnʹt said all this under Lissaʹs compulsion. Mikhail canʹt report that.ʺ

  I sighed. Hanging out with spirit users, Iʹd started to take compulsion for granted. It was easy to forget that among Moroi, it was taboo, the kind of thing youʹd get in serious trouble for. In fact, Lissa wouldnʹt just get in trouble for illicitly using it. She could also be accused of simply making Joe say whatever she wanted. Anything he said in my favor would be suspect. No one would believe it.

  ʺAlso,ʺ added Adrian, looking dismayed, ʺif what Joe said gets out, the world would learn about my motherʹs misguided acts of love.ʺ

  ʺI′m sorry,ʺ I said, putting my arms around him. He complained about his parents all the time but really did care about his mother. Finding out about her bribery had to be tough for him, and I knew Tatianaʹs death still pained him. It seemed I was around a lot of men in anguish lately. ʺAlthough, I really am glad she cleared you of any connection.ʺ

  ʺIt was stupid of her. If anyone finds out, sheʹll be in serious trouble.ʺ

  ʺWhatʹs Mikhailʹs advice then?ʺ

  ʺHeʹs going to find Joe and question him privately. Go from there. For now, thereʹs not much more we can do with the info. Itʹs useful for us . . . but not for the legal system.ʺ

  ʺYeah,ʺ I said, trying not to feel disheartened. ʺI guess itʹs better than nothing.ʺ

  Adrian nodded and then brushed away his dark mood in that easy way of his. Still keeping his arms around me, he pulled back slightly, smiling as he looked down at me. ʺNice dress, by the way.ʺ

  The topic change caught me by surprise, though I should have been used to it with him by now. Following his gaze, I noticed I was wearing an old dress of mine, the sexy black dress Iʹd had on when Victor had unleashed a lust charm on Dimitri and me. Since Adrian hadnʹt dressed me for the dream, my subconscious had dictated my appearance. I was kind of astonished it had chosen this.

  ʺOh . . .ʺ I suddenly felt embarrassed but didnʹt know why. ʺMy own clothes are kind of beat up. I guess I wanted something to counteract that.ʺ

  ʺWell, it looks good on you.ʺ Adrianʹs fingers slid along the strap. ʺReally good.ʺ

  Even in a dream, the touch of his finger made my skin tingle. ʺWatch it, Ivashkov. Weʹve got no time for this.ʺ

  ʺWeʹre asleep. What else are we going to do?ʺ

  My protests were muffled in a kiss. I sank into it. One of his hands slid down the side of my thigh, near the dressʹs edge, and it took a lot of mental energy to convince myself that him pulling the dress up was probably not going to clear my name. I reluctantly moved back.

  ʺWeʹre going to figure out who killed Tatiana,ʺ I said, trying to catch my breath.

  ʺThereʹs no ‘we,ʹʺ he said, echoing the line Iʹd just used on Victor. ʺThereʹs me. And Lissa. And Christian. And the rest of our misfit friends.ʺ He stroked my hair and then drew me close again, brushing a kiss against my cheek. ʺDonʹt worry, little dhampir. You take care of yourself. Just stay where you are.ʺ

  ʺI canʹt,ʺ I said. ʺDonʹt you get it? I canʹt just do nothing.ʺ The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. It was one thing to protest my inactivity with Dimitri, but with Adrian, I needed to make him and everyone else at Court think I was doing the ʺright thing.ʺ

  ʺYou have to. Weʹll take care of you.ʺ He didnʹt get it, I realized. He didnʹt understand how badly I needed to do something to help. To his credit, his intentions were good. He thought taking care of me was a big deal. He wanted to keep me safe. But he didnʹt truly get how agonizing inaction was for me. ʺWeʹll find this person and stop them from doing whatever it is . . . they want to do. It might take a
long time, but weʹll fix it.ʺ

  ʺTime . . .ʺ I murmured against his chest, letting the argument go. Iʹd get nowhere convincing him I needed to help my friends, and anyway, I had my own quest now. So much to do, so little time. I stared off into the landscape heʹd created. Iʹd noticed trees and flowers earlier but only now realized we were in the Churchʹs courtyard—the way it had been before Abeʹs assault. The statue of Queen Alexandra stood intact, her long hair and kind eyes immortalized in stone. The murder investigation really was in my friendsʹ hands for now, but Adrian had been right: it might take a while. I sighed. ʺTime. We need more time.ʺ

  Adrian pulled away slightly. ʺHmm? Whatʹd you say?ʺ

  I stared up at him, biting my lower lip as a million thoughts spun through my mind. I looked again at Alexandra and made my decision, wondering if I was about to set new records in foolishness. I turned back to Adrian and squeezed his hand.

  ʺI said we need more time. And I know how we can get it . . . but . . . well, thereʹs something you have to do for me. And you, uh, probably shouldnʹt mention it to Lissa yet . . .ʺ

  I had just enough time to deliver my instructions to Adrian—who was as shocked as Iʹd expected—before Dimitri woke me up for my shift. We switched off with little conversation. He had his usual tough face on, but I could see the lines of fatigue etched upon his features. I didnʹt want to bother him—yet—with my Victor and Robert encounter. Not to mention what Iʹd just told Adrian to do. Thereʹd be plenty of time for a recap later. Dimitri fell asleep in that easy way of his, and Sydney never stirred the entire time. I envied her for a full nightʹs sleep but couldnʹt help a smile as the room grew lighter and lighter. Sheʹd been inadvertently put on a vampire schedule after our all-night adventures.

  Of course, Lissa was on the same schedule, which meant I couldnʹt visit her during my watch. Just as well. I needed to keep an eye on this creepy collective weʹd stumbled into. These Keepers might not want to turn us in, but that didnʹt make them harmless either. I also hadnʹt forgotten Sydneyʹs fears about surprise Alchemist visits.