But Rose isn’t alone. She has friends who care about her fate, just as she cared about theirs.
“Let her go, or I’ll kill you.”
We all turned at the new voice, a voice dark and angry. Mason stood in the doorway, framed in light, holding my dropped gun. Isaiah studied him for a few moments.
“Sure,” Isaiah finally said. He sounded bored. “Try it.”
—page 300
Mason raises the gun and fires it into Isaiah’s chest over and over . . . It doesn’t do anything.
Isaiah releases Rose and grabs hold of Mason’s head. Without warning, he twists sharply . . . and Rose hears a sickening crack.
Mason’s eyes go wide . . . and then blank . . . as he collapses to the ground.
He’s dead. The Strigoi killed him. Mason came back to save Rose’s life and now he’s gone forever.
Horror and shock crash over Rose. When Elena makes a move to feed on Mason’s dead body, Rose stops feeling—she just acts. She couldn’t stop this from happening, but she can protect Mason now. She screams for the Strigoi to stay away from Mason.
The chotki Lissa gave Rose for Christmas falls from her pocket and Isaiah picks it up, intrigued by the Dragomir symbol on it. He’d really love to kill a Dragomir—
The aquarium suddenly bursts apart. The water magically coalesces in the air and moves forward to wrap around Isaiah’s face, giving Rose a chance to grab a piece of the broken aquarium glass. She plunges it into the vampire’s chest—aiming for the heart. He’s still alive, but he blacks out from the pain. Rose then grabs a sword that’s mounted on the wall and, taking everything she’s learned from both Dimitri and her mother, attacks Elena. It isn’t easy with a dull blade, but her rage gives her the strength to decapitate the Strigoi.
Mia’s at the doorway, looking ill at the violent scene before her. It was her water magic that broke the aquarium and suffocated Isaiah. The girl Rose previously considered her nemesis had come through for her when it counted the most—tough times forge strong bonds and can turn enemies into allies . . . and friends.
When Isaiah tries to rise to his feet, Rose is on him. Hacking and hacking, she finally manages to detach his head from his body, eliminating the immediate Strigoi threat.
She’s killed her first two Strigoi today—a huge accomplishment for a novice guardian. She should feel proud. This is everything she trained for! But it doesn’t seem to matter—Mason is dead. Grief-stricken, Rose doesn’t want to leave his body. Not for any reason.
Others finally arrive, but a dazed and in-shock Rose ignores them, blind to anything but her need to protect Mason’s body. But then Dimitri is there at her side, softly urging her to put down the sword. He soothes Rose, telling her that everything is okay now. She’s still driven to protect her friend, but Dimitri assures her she’s done that.
The sword drops from her hands and clatters to the ground. Rose collapses—she wants to cry, but she can’t. Dimitri wraps his arms around her and helps her to her feet.
Others are there, too. People Rose knows and trusts, but she can’t concentrate enough to tell who they are. She just clings to Dimitri, unable to move from the spot where her friend was killed.
Janine’s there—although Rose doesn’t register anything other than a voice telling Dimitri to get Rose out of the house. Her mind refuses to process what happened, and all she can really do right now is follow simple directions, aided by Dimitri. His presence and strength is all that’s helping to get her through this.
She eventually finds herself on an Academy jet on its way back to St. Vladimir’s, with Janine by her side. She wants to know what she can do for her daughter, but Rose doesn’t answer. As the tears finally come, all she can do right now is cry over the death of her friend.
MARKED BY DEATH
Having successfully killed two Strigoi, Rose is honored in a molnija ceremony. Before, she’d looked at the marks—like those her mother has—as badges of honor, but now they represent something she wants to forget. After the back of her neck is tattooed, she’s greeted into the ranks of the guardians.
And then when my mother came up to me, I couldn’t help the tear that ran down my cheek. She wiped it away and then brushed her fingers against the back of my neck. “Don’t ever forget,” she told me.
Nobody said, “Congratulations,” and I was glad. Death wasn’t anything to get excited about.
—pages 314-315
Something very small has shifted in Rose and Janine’s relationship. They aren’t friends, but they’re not enemies anymore either. They both bear the marks of death—as well as the inner scars. And that forges something between them that is strong enough to start to erase past hurts.
POP QUIZ: Frostbite
1. Rose is scheduled for an important interview at the beginning of Frostbite to determine her commitment to being a guardian. What is this interview called?
2. Before he’ll teach her to use a silver stake, Dimitri insists that Rose learn the location of what?
3. A “hat trick” for a guardian would be to kill three Strigoi by staking, ________, and burning.
4. What does Tasha Ozera teach?
5. What is Adrian Ivashkov’s royal title?
6. Whose mother is killed during the Strigoi attack on the Drozdov family?
7. True or false? Tasha suggests to everyone that they should lower the graduation age of dhampirs so there will be more guardians to protect Moroi.
8. Where do the guardians pinpoint the location of the Strigoi they’re searching for?
9. Who makes up the trio that originally leaves the ski lodge to hunt Strigoi?
10. What does Mia explode with her magic to help Rose when she fights the Strigoi?
* For quiz answers, see p.299.
After the ceremony, flowers are delivered to Rose from Adrian—and Lissa fills her in on the details about the other spirit user. He’s going to take the semester off from college and hang out at St. Vlad’s with them. His plan is to work with Lissa on how to use spirit—but he wouldn’t mind spending more time with Rose, either.
Dimitri lets Rose know there’s no practice today because she needs to recover. Taking a life, even a Strigoi’s, is a lot to come to terms with. Rose blames herself for Mason’s death, but Dimitri tells her not to. Rose has made some bad decisions lately, but Mason was responsible for his own decisions. It wasn’t Rose’s fault.
Speaking of decisions, Dimitri’s made one of his own lately.
“I told her no. Tasha.”
“I . . .” I shut my mouth before my jaw hit the floor. “But . . . why? That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You could have a baby. And she . . . she was, you know, into you . . .”
The ghost of a smile flickered on his face. “ Yes, she was. Is. And that’s why I had to say no. I couldn’t return that . . .couldn’t give her what she wanted. Not when . . .” He took a few steps toward me. “Not when my heart is somewhere else.”
I almost started crying again. “But you seemed so into her. And you kept going on about how young I acted.”
“You act young,” he said, “Because you are young. But you know things, Roza. Things people older than you don’t even know. That day . . .” I knew instantly which day he referred to. The one up against the wall. “ You were right, about how I fight to stay in control. No one else has ever figured that out—and it scared me. You scare me.”
—pages 325-326
They know they still can’t be together—not really. Between the age thing and being Lissa’s guardians, there’s too much working against them. However . . . they’re not Lissa’s guardians yet.
Dimitri kisses Rose passionately, which fills her with hope and happiness, and then says he’ll see her at their next training session. After all, he still has things to teach her. Lots of things.
CHAPTER 3
Shadow Kriss
RICHELLE ON SHADOW KISS
If readers thought the ending to Frostbite was harsh, it was nothing compared to this one. Frostb
ite was just the warm-up act! Again, I’d known from day one that the series was going to go in this direction, so the ending to this book wasn’t that difficult for me to write. In fact, it’s probably one of my favorite things that I’ve ever written! No author wants to be cruel, but we all really want to create something that has an impact on readers, and Shadow Kiss’s ending certainly delivered. This book’s publication was also kind of a wake-up call for me about how much of a following the series now had. The first book had done well, but it certainly wasn’t an overnight blockbuster. The series’ popularity had been growing steadily but gradually, and it wasn’t obvious to me, the author, how big the fan base was getting. Both Shadow Kiss and the previous book had made the New York Times Bestseller list, but the impact of what that truly meant didn’t hit me until, immediately after Shadow Kiss’s publication, my inbox began getting filled with distraught e-mails from readers devastated by the ending. I was flooded with comments from those who couldn’t believe I’d done something so mean to the characters. An astonishing amount of people told me that they’d thrown the book across the room in outrage—but then they’d add that they were eager to read the next book. What probably shocked me the most was that there was a handful of people who believed this was a trilogy and that I actually ended the series this way! Now that would’ve been mean.
First line: His fingertips slid along my back, applying hardly any pressure, yet sending shock waves over my flesh.
GHOST FROM THE PAST
Rose is having a very sexy dream, but it’s not Dimitri who’s the object of her affection; it’s . . . Christian?
Oh no. It’s happening again. Rose slipped into Lissa’s mind by accident, something that’s easier to control when she’s awake. Luckily, she’s able to pull herself out of her friend’s romantic encounter with her boyfriend.
But now she’s extremely cranky since it’s only another reminder that Lissa can have the perfect relationship out in the open, but Rose’s feelings toward Dimitri need to be bottled up and kept a secret. So not fair.
She doesn’t want to go back to sleep and risk facing the couple again, so she decides to get some fresh air. Maybe a walk through the campus will help take her mind off her own troubles . . .
But her “troubles”—aka Dimitri—are currently out on patrol. She plays it off like her being out in the middle of the night (which in the vampire world is actually day) is no big deal.
“Rose—” Dimitri’s hand caught my arm, and despite all the wind and chill and slush, a flash of heat shot through me. He released me with a start, as though he too had been burned. “What are you really doing out here?”
He was using the stop fooling around voice, so I gave him as truthful an answer as I could. “I had a bad dream. I wanted some air.”
“And so you just rushed out. Breaking the rules didn’t even cross your mind—and neither did putting on a coat.”
“ Yeah,” I said “ That pretty much sums it up.”
“Rose, Rose.” This time it was his exasperated voice. “ You never change.”
—page 7
But she has changed. What happened in Spokane—losing Mason and singlehandedly killing two Strigoi—has given Rose a darker outlook on life. And Dimitri knows it.
When Alberta, the captain of the school guardians, draws near, Dimitri tells Rose to stay out of sight. But from her hiding place, she ends up hearing something shocking. Dimitri is scheduled to testify at Victor Dashkov’s upcoming trial for kidnapping Lissa. Victor had wanted her to use her spirit ability to heal his debilitating disease and didn’t hesitate in killing anyone who got in his way. Now he’s being judged. But this doesn’t make any sense to Rose . . . why aren’t she and Lissa testifying on their own behalf? They were both involved in the incident.
Alberta leaves and Rose comes out of her hiding spot to grill Dimitri about this. Victor is one of the highest-ranking royals, very close to the throne, and Dimitri says that those who know about the trial would prefer things stay quiet. He assures her that there’s more than enough evidence to put Victor behind bars without Rose or Lissa attending the trial. While Dimitri is sorry and understands why she’d be upset about this—Rose would love to help convict the man who very nearly destroyed her and Lissa’s lives—it wasn’t his decision.
They part ways and an annoyed Rose heads back to her dorm. But someone is watching her. Someone familiar.
Stunned, she realizes that it’s Mason.
But that’s impossible. He was killed three weeks ago!
He beckons to her, a sad, grim expression on his face. Terrified, she runs away. When she looks back, he’s gone. Maybe it was just her imagination.
GETTING EXPERIENCED
The next day is the exciting start of the novices’ field experience. For the next six weeks, Rose—even though she has two molnija marks, she’s still a novice guardian—and the other seniors in her class will be assigned a Moroi student. Each of them will protect their Moroi from fake Strigoi attacks, instigated by guardians, to test what they’ve learned so far. Rose thinks it’s a done deal that she’ll be assigned to Lissa. The two of them will ace this assignment. Piece of cake.
But she isn’t. She’s shocked when Eddie gets Lissa. And Rose gets . . . Christian.
This seriously can’t be happening. She’s supposed to get Lissa—her best friend. The girl she protected for two years when they were out on their own. The one she will be protecting full-time once they graduate. Somebody must have made a huge mistake!
An angry and indignant Rose confronts Alberta and Dimitri and insist they see reason and reassign her to Lissa. Instead, she’s told that this is a lesson for her. In real life guardians don’t have a choice: whoever they’re assigned to is who they get. Bottom line: she’ll need to suck it up or she’ll fail this very important assignment.
Fine. But she’s not going to be happy about it.
Meanwhile, ever since they got back from Spokane, Adrian’s been hanging out at the school to learn more about the spirit ability he and Lissa share. But it’s not Lissa who he has a thing for. It’s the pretty girl he likes to call “little dhampir.”
“Look, Rose. You don’t have to keep up with the hard-to-get thing. You’ve already got me.”
Adrian knew perfectly well I wasn’t playing hard to get, but he always took a particular delight in teasing me. “I’m really not in the mood for your so-called charm today.”
“What happened, then? You’re stomping through every puddle you can find and look like you’re going to punch the first person you see.”
“Why are you hanging around, then? Aren’t you worried about getting hit?”
“Aw, you’d never hurt me. My face is too pretty.”
—pages 34–35
But his flirtation is lost on her in her current dark mood. He notices that it’s not just her mood, but her aura that’s also edged in darkness. It’s like there’s always a shadow following her. Something about how he says it makes her shiver. Once before, Adrian mentioned that Rose “takes shadows” from Lissa. But Rose doesn’t know what this means. For now, it simply feels like a permanently bad mood.
Lissa has been officially granted permission to go off her depression meds and is able to use her magic again so that she and Adrian can get deeper into learning spirit. This worries Rose, who’s seen her friend slide into darkness before because of her power. She asks Eddie, who’ll be working closely with Lissa during the tests, to keep an eye on her.
As the field experience begins, Rose needs to tag along with Christian—who she’s still not overly fond of despite their shared traumatic experience in Spokane—wherever he goes. Before the end of day one, they’re presented with their first “attack,” and Dimitri is playing one of the Strigoi. Eddie—also part of the kidnapping by Strigoi—fights them off and gets Rose to hang back and “protect” the Moroi. It goes fairly perfectly, even though Rose would prefer to play a bigger role in the scuffle. Still, not bad for a first day’s work. Also, as she spen
ds some time with Christian, things get friendlier between the two. She begins to think the next six weeks won’t be so bad after all.
While accompanying Christian back to his dorm, Brandon Lazar, a friendly Moroi student who also lives there, falls into step with them. Rose is surprised to see that his face is bruised, which makes her wonder if he too has been fighting guardians lately. She questions him about this, and the kid shrugs it off as nothing, firmly telling the inquisitive Rose to let it go. But that’s not something Rose does very easily, not when her curiosity—and concern—has been piqued. She’s going to press for more information, but suddenly, they’re attacked again!
Finally, Rose has a chance to kick some butt and show everybody that she’s got what it takes to be a guardian. She puts herself in between Brandon and Christian and faces off with Stan, an instructor who’s given her a hard time ever since she returned to the school.
But when a vision of Mason appears again, it’s enough to make Rose completely lose her focus, and she gets taken down hard, failing the assignment very badly. After all of her complaints and attitude about being assigned to Christian rather than Lissa, Stan assumes she’s trying to rebel against the test.
Rose is dragged before a disciplinary committee and reprimanded, but she can’t exactly tell them the truth. To say she’s seeing ghosts would make her look crazy and possibly get her kicked out of school—or worse. But to say nothing makes her look incompetent—someone not capable of guarding a royal like Lissa. It’s a lose-lose situation.
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