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I also knew why she'd given the nazar to me. My father had given it to her. I didn't think she<br />
wanted to talk anymore about it, so I didn't ask. It was enough to know that maybe, just maybe,<br />
their relationship hadn't been all about business and genes after all.<br />
We said goodbye, and I returned to my classes. Everyone knew where I'd been that morning,<br />
and my fellow novices wanted to see my molnija marks. I didn't blame them. If our roles had<br />
been reversed, I would have been harassing me too.<br />
"Come on, Rose," begged Shane Reyes. We were walking out of our morning practice, and he<br />
kept swatting my ponytail. I made a mental note to wear my hair down tomorrow. Several<br />
others followed us and echoed his requests.<br />
"Yeah, come on. Let's see what you got for your swordsmanship!"<br />
Their eyes shone with eagerness and excitement. I was a hero, their classmate who'd dispatched<br />
the leaders of the roving band of Strigoi that had so terrorized us over the holidays. But I met<br />
the eyes of someone standing at the back of the group, someone who looked neither eager nor<br />
excited. Eddie. Meeting my gaze, he gave me a small, sad smile. He understood.<br />
"Sorry, guys," I said, turning back to the others. "They have to stay bandaged. Doctor's orders."<br />
This was met with grumbles that soon turned into questions about how I'd actually killed the<br />
Strigoi. Decapitation was one of the hardest and rarest ways to kill a vampire; it wasn't like<br />
carrying a sword was convenient. So I did my best to tell my friends what had happened,<br />
making sure to stick to the facts and not glorify the killings.<br />
The school day couldn't end a moment too soon, and Lissa walked with me back to my dorm.<br />
She and I hadn't had the chance to talk much since everything had gone down in Spokane. I'd<br />
undergone a lot of questioning, and then there'd been Mason's funeral. Lissa had also been<br />
caught up in her own distractions with the royals leaving campus, so she'd had no more free<br />
time than me.<br />
Being near her made me feel better. Even though I could be in her head at any time, it just<br />
wasn't the same as actually being physically around another living person who cared about you.
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