"You told me I wouldn't go to trial," I said to Abe. My earlier annoyance returned. "I took a big chance with you!"
"It wasn't a big chance. Tarus couldn't have got you out of this either."
Abe's easy attitude about all this infuriated me further. "Are you saying you knew this hearing was a lost cause from the beginning?" It was what Mikhail had said too. How nice to have such faith from everyone.
"This hearing wasn't important," Abe said evasively. "What happens next is."
"And what is that exactly?"
He gave me that dark, sly gaze again. "Nothing you need to worry about yet."
One of the guardians put his hand on my arm, telling me I needed to move. I resisted his pull and leaned toward Abe.
"The hell I don't! This is my life we're talking about," I exclaimed. I knew what would come next. Imprisonment until the trial. And then more imprisonment if I was convicted. "This is serious! I don't want to go to trial! I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a place like Tarasov."
The guard tugged harder, pushing us forward, and Abe fixed me with a piercing gaze that made my blood run cold.
"You will not go to trial. You will not go to prison," he hissed, out of the guards' hearing. "I won't allow it. Do you understand?"
I shook my head, confused over so much and not knowing what to do about any of it. "Even you have your limits, old man."
His smile returned. "You'd be surprised. Besides, they don't even send royal traitors to prison, Rose. Everyone knows that."
I scoffed. "Are you insane? Of course they do. What else do you think they do with traitors? Set them free and tell them not to do it again?"
"No," said Abe, just before he turned away. "They execute traitors."
Many thanks to all the friends and family who have lent their considerable support to me as I worked on this, especially my amazing and patient husband. I know I couldn't get through this without you! Special thanks also to my pal Jen Ligot and her eagle eyes.
On the publishing side, I'm always grateful for the hard work of my agent Jim McCarthy, as well as everyone else at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management–including Lauren Abramo, who helps spread Vampire Academy around the world. Thank you also to the gang at Penguin Books-Jessica Rothenberg, Ben Schrank, Casey McIntyre, and so many others-who work a lot of magic for this series. My publishers outside the U.S. are also doing wonderful things for getting the word out about Rose, and I'm constantly amazed to see the growing international response. Thank you so much for all you do.
A last shout-out to my readers, whose continued enthusiasm still overwhelms me. Thank you for reading and loving these characters as much as I do.
FB2 document info
Document ID: c7354c8a-0a7a-434c-93d6-077e89633149
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 28 May 2010
Created using: FB Editor v2.3 software
Document authors :
Bakoro
About
This file was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.1.5.0.
(This book might contain copyrighted material, author of the converter bears no responsibility for it's usage)
Этот файл создан при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.1.5.0 написанного Lord KiRon.
(Эта книга может содержать материал который защищен авторским правом, автор конвертера не несет ответственности за его использование)
http://www.fb2epub.net
https://code.google.com/p/fb2epub/
Spirit Bound va-5 Page 38