You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
hand. "You will recover—I know that now, and I'm glad. But you aren't there. Not yet. Losing<br />
someone you care about is never easy."<br />
My eyes dropped from his and studied the floor. "It's my fault," I said in a small voice.<br />
"Hmm?"<br />
"Mason. Getting killed."<br />
I didn't have to see Dimitri's face to know compassion was filling it. "Oh, Roza. No. You made<br />
some bad decisions…you should have told others when you knew he was gone…but you can't<br />
blame yourself. You didn't kill him."<br />
Tears brimmed in my eyes as I looked back up. "I might as well have. The whole reason he<br />
went there—it was my fault. We had a fight…and I told him about the Spokane thing, even<br />
though you asked me not to…."<br />
One tear leaked out of the corner of my eye. Really, I needed to learn to stop that. Just as my<br />
mother had, Dimitri delicately wiped the tear off my cheek.<br />
"You can't blame yourself for that," he told me. "You can regret your decisions and wish you'd<br />
done things differently, but in the end, Mason made his decisions too. That was what he chose<br />
to do. It was his decision in the end, no matter your original role." When Mason had come back<br />
for me, I realized, he'd let his feelings for me get in the way. It was what Dimitri had always<br />
feared, that if he and I had any sort of relationship, it would put us—and any Moroi we<br />
protected—in danger.<br />
"I just wish I'd been able to … I don't know, do anything…"<br />
Swallowing back further tears, I pulled my hands from Dimitri's and stood up before I could<br />
say something stupid.<br />
"I should go," I said thickly. "Let me know when you want to start practice again. And thanks<br />
for … talking."<br />
I started to turn; then I heard him say abruptly, "No."
Change language