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 nothing. 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 problem 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.
At a party where potential guardians are presented to Moroi, Rose seeks out her friend Eddie to ask him to accompany her and Lissa to Alaska. She could use all the help she can get.
“If you need me, I’ll do it. No matter what it is.”
“You don’t know what it is.”
“I trust you.”
“It’s kind of illegal. Treasonous, even.”
That took him aback for a moment, but he stayed resolute. “Whatever you need. I don’t care. I’ve got your back.”
—page104
His loyalty is amazing—despite Rose’s warnings—and the plan is set. Rose, Lissa, and Eddie meet later, and Mikhail smuggles them out of Court in the trunk of a car. Together they head to the airport.
PRISON BREAK
When they arrive in Alaska, Rose and Eddie go to the prison to scope out the tight security. The only way in seems to be through the front gates.
Lissa’s been charming silver jewelry with spirit to help them today. When she’d returned to the school from Russia, Rose gave Lissa the silver ring Oksana had charmed with spirit, and just holding it helped give Lissa an idea how she could work the same kind of magic with other jewelry. When they each wear a piece, it gives them a magical disguise, enough to sneak them into the prison, and Rose and Lissa take on the form of human feeders delivered by Eddie for the Moroi prisoners.
It’s been a difficult journey so far, but one that pays off when Victor is brought to the feeding room. Though he’s quite weakened, both from being a prisoner and from his disease, he recognizes Rose right through the magical disguise . . . and he’s intrigued by what this means.
“Oh my. This might be the best meal I’ve ever had.” His voice was barely audible, covered by the conversation of the others.
“Put your teeth anywhere near me and it’ll be your last meal,” I murmured, voice just as quiet. “But if you want any chance of getting out of here and seeing the world again, you’ll do exactly what I say.”
He gave me a questioning look. I took a deep breath, dreading what I had to say next.
“Attack me.”
—pages 126–127