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to tell you the truth, and here it is: Andre's dead. You're the heir now, and you're going to deal
with it however you can. But for now, that means staying away from the other royals. We'll just
lie low. Coast through the middle. Get involved in that stuff again, Liss, and you'll drive
yourself…”
"Crazy?" she supplied when I didn't finish.
Now I looked away. "I didn't mean…”
"It's okay" she said, after a moment. She sighed and touched my arm. "Fine. We'll stay and
we'll keep out of all that stuff. We'll 'coast through the middle' like you want. Hang out with
Natalie, I guess.”
To be perfectly honest, I didn't want any of that. I wanted to go to all the royal parties and wild
drunken festivities like we'd done before. We'd kept out of that life for years until Lissa's
parents and brother died. Andre should have been the one to inherit her family's title, and he'd
certainly acted like it. Handsome and outgoing, he'd charmed everyone he knew and had been a
leader in all the royal cliques and clubs that existed on campus. After his death, Lissa had felt it
was her family duty to take his place.
I'd gotten to join that world with her. It was easy for me, because I didn't really have to deal
with the politics of it. I was a pretty dhampir, one who didn't mind getting into trouble and
pulling crazy stunts. I became a novelty; they liked having me around for the fun of it.
Lissa had to deal with other matters. The Dragomirs were one of the twelve ruling families.
She'd have a very powerful place in Moroi society, and the other young royals wanted to get in
good with her. Fake friends tried to schmooze her and get her to team up against other people.
The royals could bribe and backstab in the same breath—and that was just with each other. To
dhampirs and non-royals, they were completely unpredictable.
That cruel culture had eventually taken its toll on Lissa. She had an open, kind nature, one that I
loved, and I hated to see her upset and stressed by royal games. She'd grown fragile since the
accident, and all the parties in the world weren't worth seeing her hurt.
"All right then," I said finally. "We'll see how this goes. If anything goes wrong—anything at
all—we leave. No arguments.”