"I didn't lead a rebellion."

"Well you threatened to if the Council didn't do what you wanted."

"I did not!" I squeezed my eyes shut, searching for patience. I knew Lissa wasn't really the one accusing me of anything. But it turned out that when you marched into a Council meeting and warned them that their actions were going to have consequences, people didn't just let that go.

When I opened my eyes, Lissa was staring at me oddly. I recognized the way she looked at people when she was trying to read their aura. "Stop that," I snapped.

"Oh, it's fine," she brushed aside my concerns. "That barely counts as using Spirit."

I didn't feel like having another Spirit argument with her. Particularly when we were already in the middle of a different argument. "Why are you trying to read me, anyways? Do you think I'm lying to you?"

"Of course not. I didn't even mean to. I just did it without thinking about it."

"See? That's what I'm talking about." Looked like we were having another Spirit argument after all. "You're working so hard on this Strigoi vaccine that you're losing control. It's okay to not get it, Liss. I'm okay. I won't have another breakdown over it. And it's not like my blood was a complete waste. Look at all the tattoo ink Sydney was able to make."

"For all the good it's done," Lissa grumbled.

There, at least, we were in perfect agreement. It made sense to give what tattoos we could to guardians. They were the ones on the front lines of the fight with Strigoi. But lots of the Moroi royalty thought they should get the tattoos, in order to protect the elite of our society, they said. The problem was, no one wanted to be the first Moroi to get tattooed in case something went wrong.

It was very unlikely that anything would. Humans and dhampirs could get the tattoos without any problem, so there was no reason to believe that Moroi couldn't. But there was only one way to be sure and few people were willing to take the risk. Lissa was, of course, but the Council insisted that it was too dangerous for her to be the guinea pig. Others, like Mia, had also volunteered, but being tattooed first was too much of an honor for a commoner like her.

They drove me nuts, too proud to let someone else be the first and too scared to be first themselves. Dimitri and I both agreed that Christian would probably be the one to finally get inked. He was royal, so no one could say that he didn't deserve it, even if they did think it privately. And most of the elitist royals wouldn't care if something did go wrong with his tattoo.

It was killing me to sit on the sidelines and watch them fight over this, but I had been banned from the Council chambers. According to Lissa, I was lucky not to have been banned from the entire Court. All because the royals were mad that I had broken up their meeting several weeks ago and bought Lissa the time she needed to prevent them from making guardian service mandatory for all dhampirs.

"I'm not leaving you here without me," I said, getting back to the original argument.

"I'm perfectly safe at Court, Rose. I know you don't like Nathan, but he's a very competent guardian. It's best if you're out of the public eye for a little while. And you do need to go back to school eventually. It's either catch up or drop out."

I wouldn't have minded dropping out, but since the whole point of me being enrolled there was to keep an eye on Lissa, I wasn't even considering it. "So I'll catch up. But you need to be there too. I'm only there so that you can get your degree."

"I'm keeping up with my work. We have an arrangement with the school administration for times like this when I can't leave Court."

"So you just explained to them that sometimes the good vampires need their queen so she can't go to class?"

Lissa laughed, which had been my goal. "Of course, they took it very well." I laughed with her, and for a minute it felt like we were just two best friends. "We actually told them that I have a sick aunt."

"If your aunt is a metaphor for Moroi society, I'm afraid she's terminally ill."

"Don't say that." Lissa gave me a light shove. "We can still fix things, Rose. I need you to believe that. It's the only thing that makes all these ghastly politics bearable."

"I do believe you can fix things, you know that. I just wish it were easier." I sighed and paced around the room restlessly. "I need to get out, stretch my legs, get some air. Jake's on your door. You'll be fine."

"I know that; you're the paranoid one. Go, have a nice walk. Find Dimitri afterwards and tell him you need cheered up."

"And what do you think he's going to do about it?" I asked with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle.

Lissa snorted. "That is entirely between the two of you. I don't want to hear about it."

It felt good to laugh with her as I slipped out of the room. I exchanged nods with Jake and then headed downstairs and out of Lissa's building. Stepping out into the sunshine, I immediately felt myself relax. It was weak sunshine, since it was still very early in the morning, but considering the nocturnal schedule I was on these days, it still felt blindingly bright. I set off on a slow stroll around Court, enjoying the solitude. At this hour, most respectable Moroi were in bed, along with any guardians that weren't on active duty.

Dimitri was most likely back at our apartment, wondering where I was. I should probably go to him, but I was too restless for home and bed. I wanted to try and walk this mood off first. Unfortunately, I didn't think the answers to my problems could be found on a early morning stroll.

I just wanted life to be simple again. I wanted the Strigoi to be the bad guys my only concern to be keeping Lissa safe from them. Instead, I was mired in the sticky world of Moroi politics, forced to compromise on issues that seemed like they should be black and white to me, and punished for standing up for what I believe in. The bloodwhore compounds I'd abhorred and feared as a child turned out to be loving communities where people could live in peace and the Moroi Court, which was supposed to be the center of power in our world, was ineffectual and petty, squabbling over unimportant power struggles and ignoring the critical issues facing our society.

I kicked a rock off the path, then followed it for another, stronger kick. Chasing it through a few trees, I popped out along another path and stumbled into what could only be a very bad situation. Sydney was standing on the path, unsurprising since she would be craving sunshine as a human in vampire society. Facing her were Wesley Drozdov and his cronies, Brent Badica and Lars Zeklos. These three brought a whole new meaning to the word degenerate. It wasn't uncommon to find them out and about when everyone else was tucked up in bed, and they were never up to anything good.

I didn't know the full story, but there was bad blood between them and Adrian, and nothing good could come of them trying to corner his wife in a secluded section of Court at this hour. Sydney's face flooded with relief when she saw me, and I was surprised to see traces of fear in her eyes. I couldn't think of another human more capable of taking care of herself at Court than Sydney Sage Ivashkov. This wasn't good.

"Hey, look at this," Lars slurred. "The blood whore's come to join the fun."

The insult barely registered with me as I studied the situation. Lars was obviously drunk. The other two were hiding it better, but I had no doubt that all three had been drinking heavily for a while now. There was no telling what else they'd been ingesting. It made them unpredictable and dangerous, but I wasn't scared. It would be a cold day in hell before three impaired Moroi could take me down.

I deliberately turned my back to the Moroi, snubbing them. "Come on, Sydney." I gestured her down the path in front of me.

"Hey!" Wesley grabbed my shoulder. I turned on him so fast he sprang back, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture. "You can go if you want. But leave the feeder here."

"She's not a feeder," I snarled.

"She's a human," he sneered, "of course she's a feeder. It's all they're good for."

"Well, maybe not all," Brent threw in, grabbing his crotch obscenely.

I started for him, but Sydney grabbed me. "Rose," she whispered, "you can't start any more trouble. We have to walk away."

"I didn't start it," I pointed out, but I knew she was right.

"Jealous, blood whore?" Wesley asked. "It is hard to see how this feeder snagged Adrian. I mean, you, it's obvious what he saw in you. But her...well, there's got to be something special hiding in there to keep him coming back for more. We're gonna find out what it is." He stepped forward and made a grab for Sydney.

I turned into his path and used my shoulder to bump him back. "No, you're not." I used my guardian voice: firm, calm, and full of authority. "Step back, now."

"Make me," he challenged.

He had no idea how badly I wanted to. But I had to be on my best behavior. "Step back and we all walk away. If you don't, your behavior will be reported to the appropriate authorities."

He smirked at me. "Oh no, Hathaway's going to report me. Like that hasn't happened before."

I knew he was right. These three had been breaking rules their entire lives while their families swept it under the rug. Tonight would be no different. This was the world I lived in now, where money could buy immunity from any consequences and anyone without royal blood was fair game. As much as it made my blood boil, I was still prepared to let it go. Then Wesley brought his arm up and around, plunging something towards me.

I blocked automatically, my forearm smacking solidly into his. I was used to the pain of that contact; he wasn't. He cried out sharply and something clattered out of his fingers. The syringe lay on the path between us, glinting in the morning sun. This was more than harassing Sydney with a bunch of empty threats. This was an actual attempt to kidnap her as some sick retaliation against Adrian. My temper snapped and I saw red as I waded in with my fists up.