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coincidence their family has died out."

I gaped. "That's ridiculous." But I suddenly wasn't so sure.

"Is it?" Emily's eyes were on me, as though guessing my doubts. "What do you think they'd do if another Dragomir came forward?

The people who oppose Vasilisa? What do you think they'd do if only one person stood between them and her family's power?"

Her implications were shocking . . . yet, I knew they weren't impossible. Glancing over at Jill, I felt an empty, sinking feeling in my

stomach. What would I be subjecting her to? Sweet, innocent Jill. Jill wanted adventure out of life and could still barely talk to guys

without blushing. Her desire to learn to fight was half-youthful impulse and half-instinct to defend her people. Stepping into the royal

world could technically help her people too—though not in a way she'd ever expected. And it would mean getting involved with the dark

and sinister nature that sometimes filled the Court.

Emily seemed to read my silence as agreement. A mix of triumph and relief crossed her face, all of which vanished when Jill

suddenly spoke up.

"I'll do it."

We all turned to stare. Thus far, I'd been regarding her with pity, thinking of her as a victim. Now, I was startled at how brave and

resolved she looked. Her expression was still underscored with a little fear and shock, but there was a steel in her I'd never seen

before.

"What?" exclaimed Emily.

"I'll do it," said Jill, voice steadier. "I'll help Lissa and . . . and the Dragomirs. I'll go with Rose back to Court."

I decided mentioning the myriad difficulties of me getting anywhere near Court wasn't important just then. Honestly, I had reached a

point where I was playing all of this by ear, though it was a relief to see Emily's fury shifted away from me.

"You will not! I'm not letting you near there."

"You can't make this choice for me!" cried Jill. "I'm not a child."

"And you're certainly not an adult," retorted Emily.

The two began arguing back and forth, and soon John jumped in to support his wife. In the midst of the family bickering, Sydney

leaned toward me and murmured, "I bet you never thought the hardest part of finding your ‘savior' would be getting her mom to let her

stay out past curfew."

The unfortunate part about her joke was that it was kind of true. We needed Jill, and I certainly hadn't envisioned this complication.

What if Emily refused? Clearly, keeping Jill's heritage a secret was something she'd been pretty adamant about for a while—say, like,

fifteen years. I had a feeling Jill wouldn't be beyond running away to Court if it came down to that. And I wouldn't be beyond helping her.

Once more, Sonya jumped into the conversation unexpectedly. "Emily, didn't you hear me? This is all going to happen eventually,

with or without your consent. If you don't let Jill go now, she'll go next week. Or next year. Or in five years. The point is, it will happen."

Emily sank back against the chair, face crumpling. "No. I don't want this."

Sonya's pretty face turned bitter. "Life, unfortunately, doesn't seem to care what we want. Act now while you can actually stop it from

being a disaster."

"Please, Mom," begged Jill. Her jade Dragomir eyes regarded Emily with affection. I knew Jill might indeed disobey and run off

—but she didn't want to, not if she didn't have to.

Emily stared into the distance, long-lashed eyes vacant and defeated. And although she was standing in the way of my plans, I knew

she did it out of legitimate love and concern—traits that had probably drawn Eric to her.

"Okay," said Emily at last. She sighed. "Jill can go—but I'm going too. You aren't facing that place without me."

"Or me," said John. He still seemed bewildered but was determined to support his wife and stepdaughter. Jill regarded them both

with gratitude, reminding me again that I'd just turned a functional family dysfunctional. Emily and John coming with us hadn't been part

of my plans, but I couldn't blame them and didn't see what harm they'd cause. We'd need Emily anyway to tell everyone about Eric.

"Thank you," I said. "Thank you so much."

John eyed me. "We still haven't dealt with the fact that there's a fugitive in our home."

"Rose didn't do it!" That fierceness was still in Jill. "It was a setup."

"It was." I hesitated to speak my next words. "Probably by the people opposing Lissa."

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Emily paled, but I felt the need for honesty, even if it reaffirmed her fears. She took a steadying breath. "I believe you. Believe that

you didn't do it. I don't know why . . . but I do." She almost smiled. "No, I do know why. It's because of what I said before, about those

vipers at Court. They're the ones who do this kind of thing. Not you."

"Are you sure?" asked John uneasily. "This mess with Jill is bad enough without us housing a criminal."

"I'm certain," said Emily. "Sonya and Jill trust Rose, and so I do. You're all welcome to stay here tonight since we can hardly head out

to Court right now."

I opened my mouth to say we most certainly could leave right now, but Sydney elbowed me sharply. "Thank you, Mrs. Mastrano," she

said, summoning up that Alchemist diplomacy. "That would be great."

I repressed a scowl. Time was still pressing on me, but I knew the Mastranos were entitled to make some preparations. It was

probably better to travel in the daytime too. A rough check of my mental map made me think we could do the whole drive back to Court

in one day. I nodded in agreement with Sydney, resigning myself to a sleepover at the Mastrano house.

"Thanks. We appreciate it." Suddenly, something occurred to me, summoning back John's words. This mess with Jill is bad

enough without us housing a criminal. I gave Emily as convincing and reassuring a smile as I could muster. "We, um, also have some

friends with us waiting out in the car . . ."

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TWENTY-TWENTY-FOURFOUR

TWENTYTWENTY --FOURFOUR

CONSIDERING THEIR EARLIER antagonism, I was a bit surprised to see Sonya and Robert combine their powers to create an

illusion for the Dashkov brothers. It obscured their appearances, and with the addition of some fake names, the Mastrano family just

assumed the guys were part of our increasingly bizarre entourage. Considering the distress and upheaval already going on in the

house, a couple more people seemed the least of the Mastranos' worries.

In playing good Moroi hosts, it wasn't enough to just cook up dinner. Emily also managed to get a feeder to come by—a sort of

"blood delivery service." Normally, Moroi who lived outside sheltered areas and intermingled among humans had access to secret

feeders living nearby. Usually, these feeders had a keeper of sorts, a Moroi who made money off the service. It was common for Moroi

to simply show up at the home of the feeder's "owner," but in this case, Emily had made arrangements for the feeder to be brought to

her house.

She was doing it as a courtesy, the kind she'd do for any Moroi guests—even ones who were delivering news she'd dreaded

receiving for most of her life. Little did she know just how desperately welcome blood was to the Moroi we'd brought along. I didn't

mind the brothers suffering a little weakness, but Sonya definitely needed blood if she was going to continue her recovery.

Indeed, when the feeder and her keeper showed, Sonya was the first to drink. Dimitri and I had to stay out of sight upstairs. Sonya

and Robert could only manage so much spirit-illusion, and hiding Robert and Victor's identities from the feeder's Moroi was

imperative. Obscuring both me and Dimitri would have been too much, and considering our most-wanted status, it was essential we

not take any risks.

Leaving the brothers unsupervised made Dimitri and me nervous, but the two of them seemed too desperate for blood to attempt

anything. Dimitri and I wanted to clean up anyways, since we hadn't had time for showers this morning. We flipped a coin, and I got to

go first. Only, when I finished and was rummaging through my clothes, I discovered I'd gone through my clean "casual wear" supply and

was down to the dress Sydney had included in the backpack. I grimaced but figured it wouldn't hurt to put the dress on for one night.

We wouldn't be doing much more than waiting around for tomorrow's departure, and maybe Emily would let me do laundry before we

left. After decent hair styling with a blow dryer, I finally felt civilized again.

Sydney and I had been given a guestroom to share, and the brothers occupied another. Sonya was going to stay in Jill's room, and

Dimitri had been offered the couch. I didn't doubt for a second he'd be stalking the halls as the household slept and that I'd be trading

shifts with him. For now, he was still showering, and I crept out into the hall and peered down over a railing to check out the first floor.

The Mastranos, Sonya, and the brothers were all gathered with the feeder and her keeper. Nothing seemed amiss. Relieved, I

returned to my room and used the downtime to check on Lissa.

After the initial excitement of passing her test, I'd felt her calm down and had assumed she was getting much-needed sleep. But, no.

She hadn't gone to bed. She'd taken Eddie and Christian over to Adrian's, and I realized she was the one who'd woken him up from

the dream I'd shared with him in the car. A skimming of her recent memories gave me a replay of what had happened since the time

he left me and staggered to his door.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking from face to face. "I was having a good dream."

"I need you," said Lissa.

"I hear that from women a lot," said Adrian. Christian made a gagging sound, but the faintest glimmer of a smile crossed Eddie's

lips, despite his otherwise tough guardian-stance.

"I'm serious," she told him. "I just got a message from Ambrose. He's got something important to tell us, and . . . I don't know. I'm still

not certain of his role in everything. I want another set of eyes on him. I want your opinion."

"That," Adrian said, "is not something I hear a lot."

"Just hurry up and get dressed, okay?" ordered Christian.

Honestly, it was a wonder anyone slept anymore, considering how often we were all pulled out of sleep. Adrian nonetheless did

dress quickly, and despite his flippant comments, I knew he was interested in anything related to clearing my name. What I was

uncertain of was whether he'd tell anyone about the mess I'd gotten myself into, now that I'd slipped and revealed some of my true

activities.

My friends hurried over to the building they'd visited before, the one where Ambrose lived and worked. The Court had woken up,

and people were out and about, many undoubtedly wanting to find out about the second monarch test. In fact, a few people catching

sight of Lissa called out happy greetings.

"I had another trial tonight," Lissa told Adrian. Someone had just congratulated her. "An unexpected one."

Adrian hesitated, and I waited for him to say he'd already heard that from me. I also waited for him to deliver the shocking news

about my current company and whereabouts. "How'd it go?" he asked instead.

"I passed," she replied. "That's all that matters."

She couldn't bring herself to tell him about the cheering people, those who didn't just simply support her because of the law but

because they actually believed in her. Tasha, Mia, and some surprise friends from school had been among the onlookers, grinning at

her. Even Daniella, there to wait for Rufus's turn, had grudgingly congratulated Lissa, seeming surprised Lissa had made it through.

The whole experience had been surreal, and Lissa had simply wanted to get out of there.

Eddie had gotten pulled away to assist other guardians, despite his protests that he was Lissa's escort. So, Christian and Tasha

had ended up having to take Lissa home alone. Well, almost alone. A guardian named Ethan Moore joined them, the one Abe had

teased Tasha about. Abe exaggerated some things, but he'd been right this time. Ethan looked as tough as any guardian, but his

kickass attitude occasionally faltered whenever he looked at Tasha. He adored her. She clearly liked him too and flirted along the way

—much to Christian's discomfort. I thought it was cute. Some guys probably wouldn't go near Tasha because of her scars. It was nice

to see someone who appreciated her for her character, no matter how disgusted Christian was by the thought of anyone dating his

aunt. And I actually kind of liked seeing Christian so obviously tormented. It was good for him.

Ethan and Tasha left once Lissa was securely back in her room. Within minutes, Eddie showed back up, grumbling about how

they'd delayed him with some "crap task" when they knew he had better things to do. He'd apparently made such a fuss that they'd

finally released him, so he could hurry back to Lissa's side. He made it just ten minutes before Ambrose's note arrived, which was

lucky timing. Eddie would have freaked out if he'd come to her room and found her gone. He would have thought Strigoi had

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kidnapped his charge in his absence.

That was the series of events leading up to what was happening now: Lissa and the three guys going off to Ambrose's secret

meeting.

"You're early," he said, letting them in before Lissa could even knock a second time. They stood inside Ambrose's own room now,