richellemead-vampireacademy01-vampireacademy-110824015328-phpapp02

"Is that your subtle way of calling me a slut?”
"I hear the stories you guys tell. I've heard stories about you.”
Ouch. I wanted to yell back that it was none of his business what I did with my body, but
something about the anger and disappointment on his face made me falter. I didn't know what it
was. "Disappointing" someone like Kirova was a non-event, but Dimitri?…I remembered how
proud I'd felt when he praised me the last few times in our practices. Seeing that disappear from
him…well, it suddenly made me feel as cheap as he'd implied I was.
Something broke inside of me. Blinking back tears, I said, "Why is it wrong to…I don't know,
have fun? I'm seventeen, you know. I should be able to enjoy it.”
"You're seventeen, and in less than a year, someone's life and death will be in your hands." His
voice still sounded firm, but there was a gentleness there too. "If you were human or Moroi,
you could have fun. You could do things other girls could.”
"But you're saying I can't.”
He glanced away, and his dark eyes went unfocused. He was thinking about something far
away from here. "When I was seventeen, I met Ivan Zeklos. We weren't like you and Lissa, but
we became friends, and he requested me as his guardian when I graduated. I was the top student
in my school. I paid attention to everything in my classes, but in the end, it wasn't enough.
That's how it is in this life. One slip, one distraction…" He sighed. "And it's too late.”
A lump formed in my throat as I thought about one slip or one distraction costing Lissa her life.
"Jesse's a Zeklos," I said, suddenly realizing Dimitri had just thrown around a relative of his
former friend and charge.
"I know.”
"Does it bother you? Does he remind you of Ivan?”
"It doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter how any of us feel.”