Blood Promise Page 0,162

you, he'll tell you. End of story, Rose. Besides, you certainly keep your share of secrets too. You two have a lot in common."

"Are you kidding? He's arrogant, sarcastic, likes to intimidate people, and-oh." Okay. Maybe she had a point.

A small half-smile played upon her lips. "I never really expected you to meet this way. I never expected you to meet, period. We both thought it'd be best if he wasn't in your life."

A new thought occurred to me. "It was you, wasn't it? You hired him to find me."

"What? I contacted him when you went missing... but I certainly didn't hire him."

"Then who did?" I wondered. "He said he was working for someone."

Her lovestruck, reminiscent smile turned wry. "Rose, Ibrahim Mazur doesn't work for anyone. He's not the kind of person you can hire."

"But he said... wait. Why was he following me? Are you saying he was lying?"

"Well," she admitted, "it wouldn't be the first time. If he was following you, it wasn't because anyone was making him or paying him. He did it because he wanted to. He wanted to find you and make sure you were okay. He made sure all his contacts knew to look out for you."

I replayed my brief history with Abe. Shadowy, taunting, infuriating. But he'd driven out into the night to get me when I'd been attacked, been adamant in his goal to get me back to school and safety, and had apparently gifted me with an heirloom because he thought I'd get cold on my way home. He's a wonderful man, my mother had said.

I supposed there were worse fathers to have.

"Rose, there you are. What's taking so long?" My mom and I turned as Lissa entered the lobby, her face lighting up when she saw me. "Come on both of you. The food's going to get cold. And you won't believe what Adrian got."

My mom and I exchanged a quick look, neither of us needing to speak. We had a long conversation ahead of us, but it would have to wait.

I have no idea how Adrian had arranged it, but when we got to the lounge, there was Chinese food set up. The Academy almost never served it, and even then, it just never tasted... right. But this was the good stuff. Bowls and bowls of sweet-and-sour chicken and egg foo young. In a corner garbage can, I saw some restaurant takeout cartons with an address in Missoula printed on the side.

"How the hell did you get that here?" I demanded. Not only that, it was still warm.

"Don't question these things, Rose," said Adrian, loading up his plate with pork fried rice. He seemed very pleased with himself. "Just roll with it.

Once Alberta gets your paperwork settled, we'll eat like this every day."

I stopped mid-bite. "How do you know about that?"

He merely winked. "When you have nothing to do but hang out on campus all the time, you kind of pick things up."

Lissa glanced between the two of us. She'd been in class all day, and we hadn't had much time to talk. "What's this?"

"Alberta wants me to enroll again and graduate," I explained.

Lissa nearly dropped her plate. "Then do it!"

My mother looked equally startled. "She'll let you?"

"That's what she told me," I said.

"Then do it!" my mother exclaimed.

"You know," mused Adrian, "I kind of liked the idea of us going on the road together."

"Whatever," I shot back. "You probably wouldn't let me drive."

"Stop this." My mother was firmly back to her old self, no grief over her daughter's departure or wistfulness for a lost lover. "You need to take this seriously. Your future's at stake." She nodded toward Lissa. "Her future's at stake. Finishing your education here and going on to be a guardian is the-"

"Yes," I said.

"Yes?" she asked, puzzled.

I smiled. "Yes, I agree."

"You agree... with me?" I don't think my mom could ever recall that happening. Neither could I, for that matter.

"Yup. I'll take the trials, graduate, and become as respectable a member of society as I can. Not that it sounds like much fun," I teased. I kept my tone light, but inside, I knew I needed this. I needed to be back with people who loved me. I needed a new purpose, or else I would never get over Dimitri. I would never stop seeing his face or hearing his voice.

Beside me, Lissa gasped and clasped her hands together. Her joy flooded into me. Adrian didn't wear his emotions as openly, but I could see