o_18vdqvms01tdp1ck54q91frg17mg2d.pdf

"Me too," said Lissa.
"Maybe we could sneak along…." I gave Dimitri a hopeful look.
"No," he said immediately. I gave a sigh of my own.
Tasha yawned again. "I'll have to grab some coffee, so I don't sleep on the drive in."
"Can't one of your guardians drive for you?"
She shook her head. "I don't have any."
"Don't have any …" I frowned, parsing her words. "You don't have any guardians?"
"Nope."
I shot up. "But that's not possible! You're royal. You should have at least one. Two, really."
Guardians were distributed among Moroi in a cryptic, micromanaged way by the Guardian
Council. It was kind of an unfair system, considering the ratio of guardians to Moroi. Nonroyals
tended to get them by a lottery system. Royals always got them. High-ranking royals
often got more than one, but even the lowest-ranking member of royalty wouldn't have been
without one.
"The Ozeras aren't exactly first in line when guardians get assigned," said Christian bitterly.
"Ever since…my parents died…there's kind of been a shortage."
My anger flared up. "But that's not fair. They can't punish you for what your parents did."
"It's not punishment, Rose." Tasha didn't seem nearly as enraged as she should have been, in
my opinion. "It's just…a rearranging of priorities."
"They're leaving you defenseless. You can't go out there by yourself!"
"I'm not defenseless, Rose. I've told you that. And if I really wanted a guardian, I could make a
nuisance of myself, but it's a lot of hassle. I'm fine for now."
Dimitri glanced over at her. "You want me to go with you?"