Feeling she has no other choice, she takes off the charmed silver ring she’s wearing and summons ghosts to attack Dimitri, distracting him so she can get to the bridge. Once there, she puts the ring back on. When the ghosts fade, she’s faced again with the stubborn Strigoi whom she once loved. He refuses to let her escape. She climbs onto the railing of the bridge, and Dimitri thinks she means to kill herself, something he doesn’t want her to do.
“We need to be together.”
“Why?” I asked softly. The word was carried away on the wind, but he heard.
“Because I want you.”
I gave him a sad smile, wondering if we’d meet again in the land of the dead. “Wrong answer,” I told him.
—page 425
She lets go, but before she can fall to her death, he grabs hold of her and begins to drag her back up. It gives her the chance to finally do what she came to Russia for in the first place.
I looked him in the eye. “I will always love you.”
Then I plunged the stake into his chest.
It wasn’t as precise a blow as I would have liked, not with the skilled way he was dodging. I struggled to get the stake in deep enough to his heart, unsure if I could do it from this angle. Then, his struggles stopped. His eyes stared at me, stunned, and his lips parted, almost into a smile, albeit a grisly and pained one.
“That’s what I was supposed to say . . .” he gasped out.
—page 426
Dimitri falls into the river and disappears from sight. Rose is filled with grief, and for a moment she wants to throw herself into the river after him.
But somehow she manages to pull herself together. She gets a ride to Novosibirsk and calls the only person she knows she can trust—Sydney. Sydney hooks her up with another Alchemist who takes the exhausted Rose to a safe house to rest.
When she wakes, Abe is there, as are Mark and Oksana. Oksana has been using spirit to heal Rose’s wounds, and Abe has arranged a flight back to the States for her. Seeing Oksana use her spirit powers is a jarring reminder of the trouble Lissa’s in.
When Rose checks on her friend, things have gone from bad to worse. She’s about to fall from the ledge of a window that Avery has compelled her to stand on. But before Rose can come up with a plan, Avery senses her and shoves her out of Lissa’s head.
If Rose doesn’t do something fast, she knows Lissa is going to die! Fortunately, she has a crazy idea that just might work. She asks Oksana to use spirit to help link up the connection between Rose and Lissa. For the first time ever, the connection goes in both directions, and Rose is able to help Lissa fight back against the compulsion.
Avery strikes back with super-compulsion, enough to make Rose believe she’s somewhere else, living a perfect fantasy life with Dimitri. So not fair, especially after what just happened between them. It’s painful, but Rose knows Dimitri is lost to her. Lissa, however, is not. And it’s Lissa who she needs to fight for now.
Avery’s brother, Reed, and her guardian, Simon, join the fight... and they’re definitely on Team Avery. It’s suddenly clear to Rose what’s happening—both the boys are bound to Avery. They’re both shadow-kissed!
A combination of Lissa’s physical strength and Oksana and Lissa’s spirit magic, along with the timely arrival of Adrian, help Team Lissa win this fight. A last surge of spirit energy fries Avery’s connection to her bondmates—and their minds as well.
Proud of her friend and of Adrian, Rose promises Lissa she’ll be home soon.
A FAIRY TALE
Rose tells Oksana that the silver ring she charmed with spirit seemed to bring Dimitri back to his former self for a short time. In return, the spirit user tells Rose something incredible. There’s a rumor—more like a fairy tale—that another spirit user claimed to have brought a Strigoi back to life. The man’s name is Robert Doru.
Abe recognizes the name. Robert is connected to someone Rose knows very well—he’s Victor Dashkov’s half-brother.
The idea that something like this could be possible is stunning... and very sad. Dimitri’s dead because Rose killed him. It’s too late now to think about trying to save him.
Finally, she returns to Montana. In the airport, she finds Adrian waiting for her. She’s exhausted and grieving but very happy to be home. Adrian fills her in—Avery planned to kill Lissa and bring her back to life, just like she did with her brother and guardian, increasing her power by having three bondmates. However, making Lissa seem like an out-of-control party girl would cover her bases if she failed to bring her back from the dead. Now Avery and her bondmates are no longer a threat—that last burst of spirit left them completely insane, and they are institutionalized.
When Rose finally sees Lissa, all is forgiven the minute the two girls embrace. They’re both thrilled to see each other. Rose tells Lissa everything that’s happened to her, leaving nothing out—even the heartbreaking fact that she had to kill the man she loved.
Alberta, the head guardian at St. Vlad’s, wants Rose to come back so she can graduate. She’s too valuable to lose permanently. Besides, a benefactor has helped pull a few strings to smooth things with the school’s officials so she’s welcomed back to the Academy. To Rose it’s fairly obvious this “benefactor” is Abe.
Rose accepts. She’s officially back at St. Vlad’s.
The next day, she runs into Christian and tries to convince him to patch things up with Lissa. But he’s not ready to forgive and forget—her recent actions and behavior really hurt him. While Rose would love to fix things, she agrees to give him time to figure things out.
Walking away from Christian, she’s surprised by a familiar voice calling out to her. Her mother has come to the school especially to see Rose and make sure she’s okay. Rose expects to be reprimanded for acting foolishly, but instead Janine comforts her, happy her daughter is okay after such a harrowing journey. She makes Rose promise to stay in school and graduate.
Janine recognizes the colorful cashmere scarf Rose is wearing—it’s one Abe gave to Rose as a gift. Her mother says that it’s a family heirloom that belongs to Ibrahim.
Ibrahim? It’s a name Rose recognizes instantly, a Moroi her mother was romantically involved with once upon a time . . .
Oh crap.
She didn’t have to tell me. It was all over her face, her expression dreamily recalling some other time and place—some time and place that had undoubtedly involved my conception. Ugh.
“Oh God,” I said. “I’m Zmey’s daughter. Zmey Junior. Zmeyette, even.”
—page 489
It must have been Janine who sent Abe after her in Russia to convince her to come home. Or rather . . . her father.
She supposes there are worse fathers to have.
Abe has even looked further into the Robert Doru issue by contacting Victor Dashkov, but he refuses to say anything. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Dimitri is dead.
Or is he?
An envelope is delivered to Rose that contains a silver stake—the same one she stabbed Dimitri with. There’s a note attached telling Rose that she forgot an important lesson—not to turn her back until she knows her enemy is dead.
Dimitri is alive. And according to this message, they’ll be going over the lesson again the next time he sees her—which will be soon.
Rose promised she’d stay in school and graduate. She will. But now she has another goal. She needs to find Victor Dashkov and learn more about how his half-brother brought a Strigoi back to life using spirit. It’s a crazy quest and one she’ll need Lissa’s help with.
“Do you believe in fairy tales?” I asked, looking up into her eyes. Even as I said the words, I could imagine Mark’s disapproval.
“What . . . what kind of fairy tales?”
“The kind you aren’t supposed to waste your life on.”
—page 501
They’re going to break Victor Dashkov out of prison in a fleeting shot to save Dimitri. However, if Dimitri comes for her first, all this hoping for miracles will be for n
othing. She’ll have to fight him again, and this time she knows neither will survive.
It’s a good thing Rose works well under pressure...
POP QUIZ: Blood Promise
1. What intricate design does Sydney, the Alchemist, have tattooed on her face?
2. What is the name of Avery Lazar’s guardian?
3. Which of Dimitri’s sisters is currently pregnant?
4. What is Abe Mazur’s serpentine nickname?
5. Which holiday do Lissa and her friends celebrate at the Moroi Royal Court?
6. Fill in the blanks: Abe cautions Rose that he can be a very good friend or a very ___.
7. Who does Lissa kiss at a party that will later get her into hot water with her boyfriend, Christian?
8. Finish Dimitri’s quote: “You forgot my first lesson: Don’t ________.”
9. Who does Dimitri work for now that he’s a Strigoi?
10. There’s a rumor that a Strigoi was once brought back to life by a spirit user named Robert Doru. Who is Robert’s half-brother?
* For quiz answers, see p.299.
CHAPTER 5
Spirit Bound
RICHELLE ON SPIRIT BOUND
This was another tough book for readers, as poor Rose’s torment continued. I think we get comfortable with certain well-hashed storylines and tropes in literature and just assume certain problems will resolve in an expected, happy way. It was there- fore a shock to readers to see that even with one obstacle removed for Rose, the road to happiness and romance was still fraught with problems. I received a lot of frustrated e-mails from readers who couldn’t understand why Dimitri behaved the way he did. I wasn’t so bothered by this, just as I wasn’t too upset about the endings to previous books. I think when you know how things are eventually going to end up in the series, bad things don’t hit you as hard! Unfortunately, I’m the only one who has this luxury of foresight. Probably the most difficult part was writing a reaction for Dimitri that felt natural and realistic after his ordeal but that didn’t slow the series down too much. It’s a tough line to walk.
First line: There’s a big difference between death threats and love letters—even if the person writing the death threats still claims to actually love you.
GRADUATION
Rose went to Russia to kill the man she loves. She failed. Now she’s getting regular love letters from him—love letters with a deadly intent.
And we will be meeting again. With graduation, you’ll be turned out of the Academy, and once you’re outside the wards, I ’ll find you. There is no place in this world you can hide from me. I’m watching.
Love,
Dimitri
—page 12
Romance from an obsessed Strigoi isn’t fun. These constant and chilling reminders of the evil version of Dimitri torture Rose.
It’s a miserable situation, but Rose does have a plan . . . one that still gives her hope. Her longtime enemy Victor Dashkov has a half-brother who is rumored to have brought a Strigoi back to life. To get Victor’s help is going to be tricky, though. She’ll need to bust him out of prison—and yes, she realizes how crazy this sounds. First on her to-do list, however, is fulfilling the promise she made to her mom by graduating from St. Vlad’s. With Dimitri weighing so heavily on her mind, actually making it to graduation could be tricky.
On the day of the final guardian trials, Rose sees her father, Abe, chatting with Adrian. She finds out later he’s threatening her new boyfriend with extreme bodily harm if he ever hurts Rose.
How charming.
Since coming back to St. Vlad’s, Rose has held true to her deal and decided to give Adrian a chance. And . . . it’s actually been great so far—Adrian is handsome, funny, and incredibly charming, and he helps add some much-needed light into her dark life. While she’s extremely attracted to the sexy Moroi royal, she knows she’s not ready to take their relationship to the next level and have sex. She still needs time to mend her broken heart.
Rose has already faced real threats and killed lots of Strigoi, which gives her a big advantage over the other novices. She doesn’t realize it as she’s going through the obstacle course in front of a large audience, but the school’s rigged her test to be way harder than the others. Even so, she passes with flying colors, earning the highest marks in her class and impressing instructors and classmates alike. She’s definitely earned her promise mark—the tattoo given to graduating guardians to show they’ve officially completed their training. It’s a bittersweet moment. On the one hand, Rose has proven she’s awesome at fighting. On the other hand, it’s because she’s had a lot of real-world practice—including with her Strigoi ex-boyfriend.
Abe throws her a party to celebrate. Lissa is there to support Rose, but the princess gets jealous when she sees her ex, Christian, hanging out with Jill. Christian’s been teaching the younger girl defense. It’s clear to Rose that Lissa and Christian still have major feelings for each other, despite all the drama Avery Lazar caused between them. But they’re both too stubborn to admit their mistakes and get back together.
Even now, when she should be happy and focused on the excitement of doing so well on her tests, Dimitri remains on Rose’s mind. If there’s one person who might be able to get Rose the info she needs about the prison Victor’s being held in, it’s her pirate-mobster father. Abe tells her it’s called Tarasov and it’s in Alaska. The info about its location would likely be found in the guardian’s headquarters at the Moroi Royal Court—but it’s top secret.
Well, that works perfectly, actually. Rose happens to be headed for Court later that week. Graduates go there for orientation and to receive their assignments.
Since Jill’s not a graduate, she heads home for the summer with her mom, Emily. Rose makes a point of saying goodbye to the girl she’s come to consider a friend before she and the others take the flight to Court.
Driven by her need to find the answers to possibly save Dimitri, Rose visits someone she thinks could help her: Mia Rinaldi. Though Rose once considered her an enemy, Mia’s since become a friend and ally. The water user confirms that the info Rose needs (records about outside security at other places—schools, royal homes . . . prisons) can indeed be found in the guardians’ security office—although Rose doesn’t reveal why she needs it. The two, plus Lissa, whose compulsion they need to get them in, make plans to go there mid-afternoon (which is the middle of the night in the vampire world). But before the end of the visit, Christian arrives to see Mia—and Lissa fumes with jealousy.
The girls make plans to meet later to sneak into the security office. But first, before Rose can get her hands on information to help her ex-boyf riend, she’s got a dinner date with her current boyfriend. Adrian wants Rose to meet his family.
She dresses accordingly.
The small smile on his face told me he liked what he saw.
“You approve?” I asked, spinning around.
He slipped an arm around my waist. “Unfortunately, yes. I was hoping you’d show up in something a lot sluttier. Something that would scandalize my parents.”
“Sometimes it’s like you don’t even care about me as a person,” I observed as we walked inside. “It’s like you’re just using me for shock value.”
“It’s both, little dhampir. I care about you, and I’m using you for shock value.”
—page 68
While at the dinner party, Rose meets Adrian’s mother, Lady Daniella Ivashkov. She’s surprisingly warm and generous toward her son’s dhampir girlfriend. His father, on the other hand . . . well, Lord Nathan Ivashkov is a bit of a jerk. And not just toward Rose, toward Adrian too.
It’s not the most comfortable dinner, that’s for sure. And when Queen Tatiana stops by for a visit, it’s even less so—though oddly, the queen seems to be treating Rose with a little more respect than she has in the past.
The queen has been having a lot of problems with disagreements in the Moroi community, which is trying her patience. Most of the issues stem from the ongoing prob
lem of having too few guardians and too many Moroi for them to all be guarded properly. And yet, while most Moroi are worried about security, not enough are interested in learning to defend themselves. It’s a hot topic that will come to a head very soon.
As Rose is about to leave, Daniella lets her know privately that she’s okay with a dhampir girl dating her son. After all, she knows it won’t lead to marriage. She just hopes Rose won’t break Adrian’s heart too badly when it inevitably ends. Rose doesn’t know how to react to this. She doesn’t want it to be true, but there’s a small part of her that still hopes to save Dimitri and spend the rest of her life with him.
If only.
Making excuses (in other words, lying) to Adrian about where she’s off to, Rose heads off to go to the security office with Mia and Lissa. Lissa’s skill with compulsion gets them in, and Rose searches the files for any information she can find about Tarasov Prison. And she does find it. But she also finds Mikhail Tanner, one of the guardians on duty, who’s wondering why she’s poking around where she doesn’t belong.
It’s a familiar name and someone she immediately feels an important connection to. Mikhail was the dhampir in love with Sonya Karp—the Moroi teacher at St. Vlad’s who went crazy from using spirit and chose to end her madness by turning Strigoi. Mikhail had searched for Sonya with the intention to kill her, much as Rose did with Dimitri, but never found her. When Rose explains her crazy theory involving Victor’s brother restoring Strigoi to their former Moroi selves, Mikhail is stunned . . . and willing to give Rose the benefit of the doubt. He even volunteers to help. This is an ally who will prove very valuable in the coming weeks.
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