Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2)

by Richelle Mead

But I did die once. (I don’t recommend it.)

“How can he be dead? How could a Strigoi kill Arthur Schoenberg?” It didn’t seem possible. You couldn’t kill a legend.

I realized I was using a lot of can’t and don’t statements. It wasn’t easy having your core beliefs challenged.

“Yeah, but we’re alive, Rose. We can’t stop living because other people are dead. And we have to make sure more people don’t die.

“Belikov is a sick, evil man who should be thrown into a pit of rabid vipers for the great offense he committed against you this morning.”

“I swear, Rose, I think you should have a frequent patient’s card.” There was a small smile on her face. “Short of those with chronic problems like allergies and asthma, I don’t think there’s any other student I’ve seen here so often in such a short period of time.”

Mason’s mother wasn’t a guardian. She was a dhampir who’d chosen to just be domestic and have kids. As a result, I knew he saw her quite a bit. It was ironic, I thought, that my mom actually was here, but for all intents and purposes, she might as well have been somewhere else.

I always thought of my mother as some sort of unfeeling killing machine, but this was clearly hard for her.

“Those women aren’t here, Monica, because they’re too busy raising their children—you know, the ones you want to start sending out to the fronts as soon as they can walk. And please don’t insult us all by acting like the Moroi do a huge favor to the dhampirs by helping them reproduce. Maybe it’s different in your family, but for the rest of us, sex is fun. The Moroi doing it with dhampirs aren’t really making that big of a sacrifice.”

I think she was more worried I’d embarrass her or something. And all that becoming-a-mother-too -young stuff was stupid. I’m not going to do anything like that.” “Maybe she wasn’t talking about you,”

I didn’t want to think about that. If I did, I might have to reevaluate my relationship with her—maybe even acknowledge my mother as a real person—and I already had too many relationships stressing me.

You can’t force love, I realized. It’s there or it isn’t. If it’s not there, you’ve got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.

“Where you going?” he asked. “To break someone’s heart,” I replied.

WE NEEDED AN ESCAPE PLAN, and we needed it fast. Unfortunately, my only ideas called for things that really weren’t under my control. Like us being left completely alone so we could sneak off. Or having stupid guards whom we could easily fool and slip away from. At the very least, we should have been sloppily secured so that we could break free.

Isaiah didn’t restrain Mason’s arms. He didn’t jerk Mason upright by the hair or make long, rambling threats about an agonizing death. Isaiah simply stopped the attack, grabbed Mason’s head with both hands, and gave a quick twist. There was a sickening crack. Mason’s eyes went wide. Then they went blank.

All my life, in considering my future career as a guardian, I’d looked forward to the marks. I’d seen them as badges of honor. But now? Mainly they were going to be reminders of something I wanted to forget.

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.

Everyone has light around them, except for you. You have shadows. You take them from Lissa.