richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

"You attacked someone for me?”
"Sure. He was giving you and Rose a hard time. She was doing an okay job against him, I
guess, but I figured she could use the backup. Besides, this'll shut anyone else up about the
whole fox thing, too.”
"You shouldn't have done that," she repeated, looking away. She didn't know how to feel about
this "generosity." "And don't act like it was all for me. You liked doing it. Part of you wanted
to—just because.”
Christian's smug expression dropped, replaced by one of uncharacteristic surprise. Lissa might
not be psychic, but she had a startling ability to read people.
Seeing him off guard, she continued. "Attacking someone else with magic is forbidden—and
that's exactly why you wanted to do it. You got a thrill out of it.”
"Those rules are stupid. If we used magic as a weapon instead of just for warm and fuzzy shit,
Strigoi wouldn't keep killing so many of us.”
"It's wrong," she said firmly. "Magic is a gift. It's peaceful.”
"Only because they say it is. You're repeating the party line we've been fed our whole lives." He
stood up and paced the small space of the attic. "It wasn't always that way, you know. We used
to fight, right along with the guardians—centuries ago. Then people started getting scared and
stopped. Figured it was safer to just hide. They forgot the attack spells.”
"Then how did you know that one?”
He crooked her a smile. "Not everyone forgot.”
"Like your family? Like your parents?”
The smile disappeared. "You don't know anything about my parents.”
His face darkened, his eyes grew hard. To most people, he might have appeared scary and
intimidating, but as Lissa studied and admired his features, he suddenly seemed very, very
vulnerable.