More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
With her pretty face and pale blond hair, she looked more like an angel than a vampire.
It was a blanket of pure, refined pleasure, wrapping me up and promising everything would be right in the world. On and on it went. The chemicals in her saliva triggered an endorphin rush, and I lost track of the world, lost track of who I was.
I’d chucked my book at our teacher and called her a fascist bastard.
The air felt cool in my lungs and smelled of pine and wet, decaying leaves. Overgrown forests ringed the perimeters of the Academy, and during the day, you could see mountains rising up in the distance.
“Headmistress. Whatever. She’s still a self-righteous old bit—”
The old hag looked exactly like I remembered, sharp-nosed and gray-haired. She was tall and slim, like most Moroi, and had always reminded me of a vulture.
A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian.”
A pink flush spread over her cheeks. “Don’t you ever touch me again. You screw with me, and I’ll screw you right back.”
You flirted with the other guys simply for the sake of flirting. You flirted with Jesse in the hopes of getting semi-naked with him. He was a royal Moroi, and he was so hot, he should have worn a WARNING: FLAMMABLE sign. He met my eyes and grinned.
“You never know who’s watching,” she used to say, walking briskly around the classroom as she shut all the blinds. “Or who’s following you. Best to be safe. Best to always be safe.”
I had a standing arrangement with God: I’d agree to believe in him—barely—so long as he let me sleep in on Sundays.
How come all the harmless people were so lame? Maybe that was the definition of safe.
“I found Jesus while I was gone.”
As much as I didn’t like him, his fake faith still made me smile.
“Following God’s path is never easy,” the priest was saying.
I considered fleeing but thought God might strike me down for that.
“Come on, she picks fights and talks about us behind our backs. She accused me of getting jeans from the Salvation Army yesterday.” “Your jeans are from the Salvation Army.” “Well, yeah,” I snorted, “but she has no right making fun of them when she’s wearing stuff from Target.” “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with Target. I like Target.”
some might argue that one can never know what’s in the heart of a woman—”
“For they are strange and mysterious creatures,”
“That’s because you’re the cautious one, and I’m the reckless one.”
Alphas are almost always the strongest physically, though many times, confrontations turn out to be more a matter of willpower and personality. When an alpha is challenged and replaced, that wolf may find himself ostracized from the group or even attacked.”
“I’m not a blood whore,” I snapped, pulling away from him.
“My reputation is already made, Rose. I set my standards and lived up to them long ago. What you do with yours remains to be seen.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes at his older-and-wiser manner. He’d once told me he was twenty-four. “Whatever you say, Grandpa. Can we try it again?”
“Yes,” Tatiana continued, “you are doubly named with power. Your names represent the finest qualities people have to offer and hearken back in time to deeds of greatness and valor.” She paused a moment. “But, as you have demonstrated, names do not make a person. Nor do they have any bearing on how that person turns out.” And with that verbal slap in the face, she turned away and continued her procession. A collective shock filled the room. I briefly contemplated and then dismissed any attempts at jumping into the aisle and tackling the queen.
“People change. We’re always changing, right? You aren’t the same as you were then. I’m not the same as I was then.”
“Don’t look like that. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about, okay? Don’t let this get you down. Don’t do anything you shouldn’t.”
I know what you are. You won’t survive being here. I’ll make sure of it. Leave now. It’s the only way you might live through this.
Here at the Academy, past and present warred with each other. It might have its beautiful old walls and gardens, but inside, modern things were creeping in.
Or maybe you’re just using compulsion on me to make me think you’re a two-faced bitch.
I looked at him and saw the earnestness on his face. He meant well. No point in being a bitch to him when I had so many other people to hate lately.
“Sometimes you need to be saved. I think you like being saved sometimes and just can’t admit it.”
You have to protect her. The more she uses it, the worse it’ll get. Stop her, Rose. Stop her before they notice, before they notice and take her away too. Get her out of here.
“You can keep playing with the brat pack, so long as you keep the ‘other stuff’ in check.”
But I was also starting to think that I might have made a big mistake about Christian. He was creepy and dark and liked to set people on fire, true. On the other hand, he was smart and funny—in a twisted way—and somehow had a calming effect on Lissa.
Fate must have been thinking the same thing, because five minutes after I left Lissa, I passed Christian walking across the quad. Our eyes locked for a moment before we passed each other. I nearly kept walking. Nearly. Taking a deep breath, I came to a stop.
“Yeah, well, we all have to do things we don’t like. That’s life.”
“I’m on the committee with him for that fund-raiser, and I hate hearing him run his fat mouth every day and seeing him flirt with anything female that walks by. You shouldn’t be punished for what he did. He needs to pay.”
This was the kind of dress that changed the world. The kind of dress that started religions.
“Did you see that dress?” “I saw the dress.” “Did you like it?” He didn’t answer. I took that as a yes. “Am I going to endanger my reputation if I wear it to the dance?” When he spoke, I could barely hear him. “You’ll endanger the school.”
“Back to prison,” I sighed, walking beside Lissa toward the commons. “Maybe if you fake a heart attack, I can make a break for it.”
“Beautiful?” “You are so beautiful, it hurts me sometimes.”
Everything from that night, everything I’d believed so beautiful and full of meaning, turned to dust before my eyes.
You have a greater sense of life and the world—far greater than even I have—even if you don’t realize it.
The greatest and most powerful revolutions often start very quietly, hidden in the shadows.” He eyed me. “Remember that.”
She glanced up at me, and that’s when I saw it. The faint ring of red around her pupils. Skin too pale, even for a Moroi. Blood smudged around her mouth. And most telling of all, the look in her eyes. A look so cold and so evil, my heart nearly came to a standstill. It was a look that said she no longer walked among the living—a look that said she was now one of the Strigoi.
Frantically, I fought against her, trying to mount some kind of defense, but it was like fighting Dimitri on crack.
Victor had told her not to kill me . . . but there was a look in her eyes, a look that said she wanted to. She wanted to feed off me; the hunger was there. It was the Strigoi way. I shouldn’t have talked to her, I realized. I’d hesitated, just as Dimitri had warned. And then, suddenly, he was there, charging down the hallway like Death in a cowboy duster.
With an eerie fascination, I watched them move, circling each other like partners in a deadly dance. She was stronger than him, clearly, but she was also a fresh Strigoi. Gaining superpowers doesn’t mean you know how to use them.
“Yes, Roza. I did want you. I still do. I wish . . . we could be together.” “Then why did you lie to me?”
