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A calm core of confidence settled inside her, one very different from what I'd observed over the
last couple of years. "I love you, Uncle Victor, but I'm the one who has to deal with that and
decide what to do. Not you. You're making me give up my life for yours. That's not fair.”
"It's a matter of which life means more. I love you too. Very much. But the Moroi are falling
apart. Our numbers are dropping as we let the Strigoi prey upon us. We used to actively seek
them out. Now Tatiana and the other leaders hide away. They keep you and your peers isolated.
In the old days, you were trained to fight alongside your guardians! You were taught to use
magic as a weapon. Not any longer. We wait. We are victims." As he stared off, both Lissa and
I could see how caught up in his passion he was. "I would have changed that if I were king. I
would have brought about a revolution the likes of which neither Moroi nor Strigoi have ever
seen. I should have been Tatiana's heir. She was ready to name me before they discovered the
disease, and then she would not. If I were cured…if I were cured, I could take my rightful
place…”
His words triggered something inside of Lissa, a sudden consideration for the state of the
Moroi. She'd never contemplated what he'd said, about how different it might be if Moroi and
their guardians fought side by side to rid the world of the Strigoi and their evil. It reminded her
of Christian and what he'd said about using magic as a weapon too. But even if she did
appreciate Victor's convictions, neither of us thought it was worth what he wanted her to do.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry for you. But please don't make me do this.”
"I have to.”
She looked him straight in the eye. "I won't do it.”
He inclined his head, and someone stepped forward from the corner. Another Moroi. No one I
knew. Walking around behind Lissa, he untied her hands.
"This is Kenneth." Victor held his hands out toward her free ones. "Please, Vasilisa. Take my
hands. Send the magic through me just as you did with Rose.”
She shook her head. "No.”