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"You're mad," he said as soon as he looked at my face. He had a knack for discovering my
moods. "What happened?"
"Some … authority problems. It's been a weird morning."
I sighed, unable to get Dimitri off the brain. Looking at Mason, I remembered how I'd been
convinced I wanted to get serious with him last night. I was a head case. I couldn't make up my
mind about anyone. Deciding the best way to banish one guy was to pay attention to another, I
grabbed Mason's hand and steered him away.
"Come on. Wasn't the deal to go somewhere…um, private today?"
"I figured you weren't drunk anymore," he joked. But his eyes looked very, very serious. And
interested. "I assumed it was all off."
"Hey, I stand by my claims, no matter what." Opening my mind, I searched for Lissa. She was
no longer in our room. She'd gone off to some other royal event, no doubt still practicing for
Priscilla Voda's big dinner. "Come on," I told Mason. "We'll go to my room."
Aside from when Dimitri inconveniently happened to be passing by someone's room, nobody
was really enforcing the mixed-gender rule. It was practically like being back in my Academy
dorms. As Mason and I went upstairs, I related to him what Dimitri had told me about the
Strigoi in Spokane. Dimitri had told me to keep it to myself, but I was mad at him again, and I
didn't see any harm in telling Mason. I knew he'd be interested in this.
I was right. Mason got really worked up.
"What?" he exclaimed as we walked into my room. "They're not doing anything?"
I shrugged and sat on my bed. "Dimitri said—"
"I know, I know … I heard you. About being careful and all that." Mason paced around my
room angrily. "But if those Strigoi go after another Moroi…another family…damn it! They're
going to wish they weren't so careful then."
"Forget about it," I said. I felt kind of miffed that me on a bed wasn't enough to deter him from
crazy battle plans. "There's nothing we can do."