richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

She glanced back up at me. "It's going to happen again, isn't it?" she whispered. Her hand, still
clutching the tree, began to tremble.
"Not if you don't let it." I tried to look at her wrists without being too obvious. "You
haven't?…”
"No." She shook her head and blinked back tears. "I haven't wanted to. I was upset after the fox,
but it's been okay. I like the coasting thing. I miss seeing you, but everything's been all right. I
like…" She paused.
I could hear the word forming in her mind.
"Christian.”
"I wish you couldn't do that. Or wouldn't.”
"Sorry. Do I need to give you the Christian's-a-psychopathic-loser talk again?”
"I think I've got it memorized after the last ten times," she muttered.
I started to launch into number eleven when I heard the sound of laughter and the clatter of high
heels on stone. Mia walked toward us with a few friends in tow but no Aaron. Immediately my
defenses snapped on.
Internally, Lissa was still shaken over the queen's comments. Sorrow and humiliation were
swirling inside of her. She felt embarrassed over what others must think of her now and kept
thinking about how her family would have hated her for running away. I didn't believe that, but
it felt real to her, and her dark emotions churned and churned. She was not okay, no matter how
casual she'd just tried to act, and I was worried she might do something reckless. Mia was the
last person she needed to see right now.
"What do you want?" I demanded.
Mia smiled haughtily at Lissa and ignored me, taking a few steps forward. "Just wanted to
know what it's like to be so important and so royal. You must be so excited that the queen
talked to you." Giggles surfaced from the gathering group.