richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

Looking out through Lissa's eyes, I could see that he still cared about her and still wanted her.
His pride had been hurt, however, and he wasn't about to show weakness.
"Yeah?" he said in a low, cruel voice. "I thought that was the way all royals were supposed to
act. You certainly seem to be doing a good job with it. Or maybe you're just using compulsion
on me to make me think you're a two-faced bitch. Maybe you really aren't. But I doubt it.”
Lissa flushed at the word compulsion—and cast another worried look around—but decided not
to give him the satisfaction of arguing anymore. She simply gave him one last glare before
storming off to join a group of royals huddled over an assignment Returning to myself, I stared
blankly around the classroom, processing what I'd seen. Some tiny, tiny part of me was starting
to feel sorry for Christian. It was only a tiny part, though, and very easy to ignore.
At the beginning of the next day, I headed out to meet Dimitri. These practices were my
favorite part of the day now, partly because of my stupid crush on him and partly because I
didn't have to be around the others.
He and I started with running as usual, and he ran with me, quiet and almost gentle in his
instructions, probably worried about causing some sort of breakdown. He knew about the
rumors somehow, but he never mentioned them.
When we finished, he led me through an offensive exercise where I could use any makeshift
weapons I could find to attack him. To my surprise, I managed to land a few blows on him,
although they seemed to do me more damage than him. The impacts always made me stagger
back, but he never budged. It still didn't stop me from attacking and attacking, fighting with an
almost blind rage. I didn't know who I really fought in those moments: Mia or Jesse or Ralf.
Maybe all of them.
Dimitri finally called a break. We carried the equipment we'd used on the field and returned
everything to the supply room. While putting it away, he glanced at me and did a double take.