richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

"You're right," she admitted softly, after a moment. "I don't. I'm sorry.”
For the second time in this meeting, Christian looked astonished. Probably no one apologized to
him that often. Hell, no one even talked to him that often. Certainly no one ever listened. Like
usual, he quickly turned into his cocky self.
"Forget it." Abruptly, he stopped pacing and knelt in front of her so they could look each other
in the eye. Feeling him so close made her hold her breath. A dangerous smile curled his lips.
"And really, I don't get why you of all people should act so outraged that I used 'forbidden'
magic.”
"Me 'of all people'? What's that supposed to mean?”
"You can play all innocent if you want—and you do a pretty good job—but I know the truth.”
"What truth is that?" She couldn't hide her uneasiness from me or Christian.
He leaned even closer. "That you use compulsion. All the time.”
"No, I don't," she said immediately.
"Of course you do. I've been lying awake at night, trying to figure out how in the world you two
were able to rent out a place and go to high school without anyone ever wanting to meet your
parents. Then I figured it out. You had to be using compulsion. That's probably how you broke
out of here in the first place.”
"I see. You just figured it out. Without any proof.”
"I've got all the proof I need, just from watching you.”
"You've been watching me—spying on me—to prove I'm using compulsion?”
He shrugged. "No. Actually, I've been watching you just because I like it. The compulsion thing
was a bonus. I saw you use it the other day to get an extension on that math assignment. And
you used it on Ms. Carmack when she wanted to make you go through more testing.”
"So you assume it's compulsion? Maybe I'm just really good at convincing people." There was
a defiant note in her voice: understandable, considering her fear and anger. Only she delivered