richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

There was something dangerous in his tone, something that told me this was an unwelcome
topic. "I—I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something bad….”
"Actually…you probably wouldn't think it's bad," he said after almost a minute had passed. A
tight smile formed on his lips. "You don't know your father, do you?”
I shook my head. "No. All I know is he must have had wicked cool hair.”
Dimitri glanced up, and his eyes swept me. "Yes. He must have." Returning to my hands, he
said carefully, "I knew mine.”
I froze. "Really? Most Moroi guys don't stay—I mean, some do, but you know, usually they
just—”
"Well, he liked my mother." He didn't say "liked" in a nice way. "And he visited her a lot. He's
my sisters' father too. But when he came…well, he didn't treat my mother very well. He did
some horrible things.”
"Like…" I hesitated. This was Dimitri's mother we were talking about. I didn't know how far I
could go. "Blood-whore things?”
"Like beating-her-up kinds of things," he replied flatly.
He'd finished the bandages but was still holding my hands. I don't even know if he noticed. I
certainly did. His were warm and large, with long and graceful fingers. Fingers that might have
played the piano in another life.
"Oh God," I said. How horrible. I tightened my hands in his. He squeezed back. "That's
horrible. And she…she just let it happen?”
"She did." The corner of his mouth turned up into a sly, sad smile. "But I didn't.”
Excitement surged through me. "Tell me, tell me you beat the crap out of him.”
His smile grew. "I did.”
"Wow." I hadn't thought Dimitri could be any cooler, but I was wrong. "You beat up your dad. I
mean, that's really horrible…what happened. But, wow. You really are a god.”