She is mine, and I am hers.
Well, no one treats me like a full-fledged royal, said Lissa, turning back to the dresses. No reason to act like one now. Show me your straps and short-sleeves.
So that’s how you’re going to fix the family problem. Little Dragomirs. Good idea.
I can understand bitchiness in any language.
Adrian tipped my face up toward his and kissed me. Like always, the world around me stopped moving. No, the world became Adrian, only Adrian.
Maybe I was in love, but I was still me, after all.
For a moment his eyes locked onto me with an intensity that left me breathless.
Did Belikov bend the rules of time and space to get here so fast? He can do that, right?
You never really realize how many people care about you until they all turn out to support you.
We’re the same! Even Sonya says we are. We’ve always been the same, and we’re both acting the same stupid way now! We hold ourselves to higher standards than everyone else.
As I’d observed, it was clear that Rose was willing to do anything and fight anyone to protect her friend. I admired that – I admired that a lot – but it didn’t stop me from striking out to block her.
Okay, God, I thought. Get me out of this and I’ll stop my half-assed church-going ways. You got me past a pack of Strigoi tonight. I mean, trapping that one between the doors really shouldn’t have worked, so clearly you’re on board. Let me get out of here, and I’ll... I don’t know. Donate Adrian’s money to the poor. Get baptized. Join a convent. Well, no. Not that last one.
Yet, it had been Dimitri’s gentleness and thoughtfulness mixed with that deadliness that made him so wonderful. The same hands that wielded stakes with such precision would carefully brush the hair out of my face. The eyes that could astutely spot any danger in the area would regard me wonderingly and worshipfully, like I was the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world.
I loved you!” he yelled. He jumped up out of his chair so quickly I never saw it coming. “I loved you, and you destroyed me. You took my heart and ripped it up. You might as well have staked me!” The change in his features also caught me by surprise. His voice filled the room. So much grief, so much anger. So unlike the usual Adrian. He strode toward me, hand clasped over his chest. “I. Loved. You. And you used me the whole time.
Frustration filled his features. “Rose I’ve done a lot of bad things, most of which I can never fix or find redemption for. My only choice now, if I want to reclaim my life, is to go forward, stopping evil and doing what’s right. And what is NOT right is taking a woman from another man, a man I like and respect. I’ll steal cars. I’ll break into houses. But there are lines I WILL not cross, no matter what I –.
I told you before, we’re the center,” she said. “And the center will hold.
The other problem in my life is Dimitri. He’s the one who killed Natalie, and he’s a total badass. He’s also pretty good-looking. Okay-more than good-looking. He’s hot-like, the kind of hot that makes you stop walking on the street and get hit by traffic. But, like I said, he’s my instructor. And he’s twenty-four. Both of those are reasons why I shouldn’t have fallen for him. But, honestly, the most important reason is that he and I will be Lissa’s guardian when she graduates. If he and I are checking each other out, then that means we aren’t looking out for her.
Being with you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, the one perfect decision I’ve made in a lifetime of fumbling and poor judgment. I’d go through it all again to be by your side. Never doubt that. Never doubt how I feel about you.
More than his exterior hit me. I felt warm and safe just being with him. He brought comfort after my terrible day. So often with other people I felt a need to be center of attention, to be funny and always have something clever to say. It was a habit I needed to shake. But with him I never felt like I had to be anything more than what I already was. I didn’t have to entertain him or think up jokes or even flirt. It was enough to just be together, to be so completely comfortable in each other’s presence – we lost all sense of self-consciousness.
My wife, ladies and gentlemen. Beauty, brains, and now brawn.