Free Blood Promise by Richelle Mead Page A

amazing.” The sad expression was replaced by one of wonder—she looked nearly as enamored as she’d been of the car. I understood then why she’d liked the train station. “The ingenuity it took for some of that . . . well, it’s just unreal. If the Alchemists won’t send me back to the U.S. after this, I’m hoping I’ll get assigned to Greece or Italy.”
    “That would be cool.”
    “Yeah.” Her smile faded. “But there are no guarantees you’ll get what you want with this job.”
    She fell silent after that, and I decided that coaxing her into this small conversation had been victory enough. I left her to her own thoughts of classic cars and architecture while my mind wandered to topics of my own. Strigoi. Duty. Dimitri. Always Dimitri . . .
    Well, Dimitri and Lissa. It was always a toss-up over who would cause me more pain. Today, as the car lulled me into a daze, it was Lissa I went to, thanks largely to Adrian’s recent visit in my dream.
    Early evening in Russia meant early morning in Montana. Of course, since the school ran on a nocturnal schedule, it was technically night for them too in spite of the sunshine. It was nearly curfew, and everyone would have to return to their own dorms soon.
    Lissa was with Adrian, over in his room in guest housing. Adrian, like Avery, had graduated, but as the only other known spirit user, he’d come to stay indefinitely at the school and work with Lissa. They’d just spent a long, exhausting evening working on dream walking and sat on the floor facing each other. With a sigh, Lissa collapsed back and lay down, stretching her arms over her head.
    “This is useless,” she groaned. “I’m never going to learn it.”
    “Never took you for a quitter, cousin.” Adrian’s voice was as flippant as usual, but I could tell he was weary too. They weren’t really cousins; that was just a term royals sometimes used with each other.
    “I just don’t understand how you do it.”
    “I don’t know how to explain it. I just think about it, and . . . well, it happens.” He shrugged and pulled out the cigarettes he always carried. “Do you mind?”
    “Yes,” she said. To my surprise, he put them away. What the hell? He’d never asked me if I minded if he smoked—which I did. In fact, half the time, I swore he did it to annoy me, which made no sense. Adrian was way past the age when guys tried to attract girls they liked by picking on them.
    He tried to explain the process. “I just think about who I want and sort of . . . I don’t know. Expand my mind toward them.”
    Lissa sat up and crossed her legs. “Sounds a lot like how Rose described reading me.”
    “Probably the same principle. Look, it took you a while to learn auras. This is no different. And you’re not the only one with a learning curve. I’m only now finally moving past healing scratches, and you can bring back the dead, which—call me crazy—is kind of hard-core.” He paused. “Of course, some would argue that I am actually crazy.”
    At the mention of auras, she studied him and summoned the ability to see the field of light that shone around every living thing. His aura came into focus, surrounding him in a golden glow. According to Adrian, her aura was the same. No other Moroi had that kind of pure gold. Lissa and Adrian figured it was unique to spirit users.
    He smiled, guessing what she was doing. “How’s it look?”
    “The same.”
    “See how good you are at it now? Just be patient with the dreams.”
    Lissa wanted so badly to walk dreams the same way he could. Despite her disappointment, I was glad she couldn’t. Adrian’s dream visits were hard enough on me. Seeing her would . . . well, I wasn’t entirely sure, but it would make this cool, hard attitude I was trying to maintain in Russia a lot harder.
    “I just want to know how she is,” said Lissa in a small voice. “I can’t stand not knowing.” It was the conversation with Christian all over again.
    “I saw her the other