Once we landed in court, we settled in our room, unpacked our suitcases, got something to eat, and started heading towards the court's jail, where Victor was held. During our flight Dimitri made some arranges with his "connections" while I slept. It was a really long walk from our room to the jail, and once we got closer to the jail, I started to get nervous. What if he wouldn't tell us anything? What if he just laughed in my face and wouldn't help me? I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. Dimitri glanced at me from his side.

"It's nothing... I'm just a little nervous." I assured him.

He nodded and just gave my hand a small squeeze, reminding me he will always be here for me. But I'm pretty sure Dimitri was nervous too, because he kept his guardian mask on.

We walked into the building and saw a huge hallway, with little cells every 5 feet. The guardian outside told us that Victor's cell number was 1012. We were now on number 103. Oh great. More walking. Not every cell was full, but each cell had at least 2 prisoners. I had no idea there were so many Moroi and Dhampir criminals.

"They are not all Moroi and Dhampir." Dimitri said, guessing my thoughts.

"Strigoi??" I whispered and yelled at the same time.

"No", he said. "Humans."

I stared at him, as if he was talking gibberish.

"Some of them know about us. We are not as secret as most Dhampir and Moroi think we are."

"Like the humans that helped those Strigoi to kill Arthur and his family?" I asked.

"yes." He finally answered.

I just stared at the floor, trying to comprehend what I'm being told. If there are humans that are helping Strigoi out there, we are not nearly as safe as I thought we were. If humans are helping Strigoi, then that means that there is no safe time anymore. We have to be on guard 24/7. Literally.

We finally got to the 1000 part of the building, and immediately noticed the difference. The cells were cleaner, larger, with lights, and the walls were painted off white instead of gray. So this was the "royal prison". The one that is meant for royals who committed crimes. This is ridiculous.

"Well, well, well… who do we have here?" a voice from behind us said.

We turned around to see Victor sitting on his bed. He looked very old, even though Lissa healed him, it was never meant to be forever if she wasn't continuing the treatment, and she never will. I once loved Victor. He was the uncle I have never had. But ever since he kidnapped her and did all those horrible things to her, I just want to rip his throat out. But I can't. Because I need his help in order to live the life I was yearning for.

"The love birds…" he added with a grin on his face, as he saw our intertwined hands.

I just stared at him, and choked. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. Dimitri felt me tense, took a deep breath, squeezed my hand, and began talking.

"Rose is… shadow kissed." He still had a hard time using this term for me.

"Indeed she is. What are your doubts?" Victor said, with a slight smile playing in his lips, realizing we needed his help.

Instead of letting Dimitri struggle with explaining the whole thing… I switched onto my guardian face and started to do the talking.

"Spirit has consequences. Side effects, which make the spirit user, go crazy. Depressed, and even lose control."

Victor didn't reply, so I continued.

"Our bond. Mine and Lissa's. She… passes the spirit side effects to me, through our bond."

Victor smiled. "Ahh… I waited for that to happen."

"So you knew about this the whole time?" Dimitri asked, annoyed.

I nudged his rib with my elbow, and he gave me an apology look. Victor didn't say anything, he just stared. More likely, observed.

"Is there…" I took a deep breath- this is getting old. "Is there a way to prevent the side effects?"

"A way to prevent?" he asked. "No… not to prevent."

I knew there wasn't a way. We came here for nothing. I started to walk away, as Victor said,

"But." Our heads snapped back to him. "You can always heal." He said as if it was the simple truth.

"Heal?" Dimitri asked. "What do you mean?"

"Lissa can heal the side effects out of you."

Is he for real? "You know as well as I do that she can't. She already tried."

He was starting to piss me off. Couldn't he just spit it out?

"It might be difficult. But ask Lissa to pass some of her spirit powers to a kind of a jewel. It can be a necklace, an earring… but rings work the best." He said.

There is no way in hell I trust him with a jewel, not after the night of the lust charm. Me and Dimitri exchanged looks, probably thinking about the same night, as I started to turn around again, but this time Dimitri held me tightly to him, and didn't let me go. I looked up at him, and there was something else in his eyes.

"explain." Dimitri requested.

"What don't you get? You litt-"he stopped his comment because I shot him the glare.

"Well…"he started again. Now that's better." In order to have a shadow kissed person, you need to have a spirit user. When the spirit user brings the person back from the death, a bond is created between the two. The bond may only go one way. The shadow kissed person can feel, or sometime even see whatever his bond mate is experiencing. Once the spirit user starts practicing spirit frequently, the effects begin to take place. The shadow kissed person, gets the effects because of the bond, as Rose mentioned. In the legends there are a few ways of curing that. But I know only one. The spirit user, in this case- Lissa, needs to pass the spirit to an object that the shadow kissed person, in this case- Rose, can wear at all times. The object that has spirit in it will heal the effects from Rose, just like a spirit user heals a physical injury. Now, Lissa cannot heal it herself, because it is not something physical. It is mental, and so the object can heal it- if it is filled with spirit."

Dimitri and I stared into each other's eyes for what seems like ages, until a question popped in my mind.

"How can Lissa pass spirit to a ring?"

Victor thought about it for a minute and finally said, "Just like she heals a person, she does to the ring."

I nodded my head as a gesture of thanks, and Dimitri and I walked out of the jail, each deep in thought.