Surprise flashed on Victor's usually composed face. He certainly hadn't expected this.
"Where did you hear this?" demanded Robert.
"From a couple I met in Russia. Their names are Mark and Oksana."
"Mark and Oksana..." Again, Robert's gaze slipped away for a moment. I had a feeling this happened a lot, that he didn't spend much time in reality. "I didn't know they were still together."
"They are. They're doing really great." I needed him back in the present. "Is it true? Did you do what they said? Is it possible?"
Robert's responses were always preceded by a pause. "Her."
"Huh?"
"It was a woman. I freed her."
I gasped in spite of myself, hardly daring to process his words.
"You're lying." It was Adrian who spoke, his tone harsh.
Robert glanced at him with an expression amused and scornful. "And who are you to say that? How can you tell? You've bruised and abused your powers so much, it's a wonder you can even touch the magic anymore. And all these things you do to yourself... it doesn't truly help, does it? Spirit's punishment still affects you... soon you won't be able to tell reality from dream...."
The words stunned Adrian for a moment, but he kept going. "I don't need any physical signs to see that you're lying. I know you are because what you're describing is impossible. There's no way to save a Strigoi. When they're gone, they're gone. They're dead. Undead. Forever ."
"That which is dead doesn't always stay dead...." Robert's words weren't directed at Adrian. They were spoken to me. I shivered.
"How? How did you do it?"
"With a stake. She was killed with a stake, and in doing so, was brought back to life."
"Okay," I said. "That is a lie. I've killed plenty of Strigoi with stakes, and believe me, they stay dead."
"Not just any stake." Robert's fingers danced along the edge of his glass. "A special stake."
"A stake charmed with spirit," said Lissa suddenly.
He lifted his eyes to her and smiled. It was a creepy smile. "Yes. You are a clever, clever girl. A clever, gentle girl. Gentle and kind. I can see it in your aura."
I stared off at the table, my mind in overdrive. A stake charmed with spirit. Silver stakes were charmed with the four main Moroi elements: earth, air, water, and fire. It was that infusion of life that destroyed the undead force within a Strigoi. With our recent discovery of how to charm objects with spirit, infusing a stake had never even occurred to us. Spirit healed. Spirit had brought me back from the dead. In joining with the other elements within a stake, was it truly possible that the twisted darkness that gripped Strigoi could be obliterated, thus restoring that person to their rightful state?
I was grateful for the food's arrival because my brain was still moving sluggishly. The egg rolls provided a welcome opportunity to think.
"Is it really that easy?" I asked at last.
Robert scoffed. "It's not easy at all."
"But you just said... you just said we need a spirit-charmed stake. And then I kill a Strigoi with it." Or well, not kill. The technicalities were irrelevant.
His smile returned. "Not you. You can't do it."
"Then who..." I stopped, the rest of my words dying on my lips. "No. No."
"The shadow-kissed don't have the gift of life. Only the spirit-blessed," he explained. "The question is: Who's capable of doing it? Gentle Girl or Drunken Sod?" His eyes flicked between Lissa and Adrian. "My wager would be on Gentle Girl."
Those words were what snapped me out of my stunned state. In fact, they were what shattered this whole thing, this far-fetched dream of saving Dimitri.
"No," I repeated. "Even if it was possible--and I'm not sure if I believe you--she can't do it. I won't let her."
And in a turn of events almost as astonishing as Robert's revelation, Lissa spun toward me, anger flooding our bond. "And since when can you tell me what I can or can't do?"