"This is a fight of sorts,' he mused. "Just not a physical one. Two weeks is still two weeks. Is it bad? Yes. But it's better than one week. And nothing's impossible. Maybe new evidence will turn up. You simply have to wait and see.'
"I hate waiting. This room ... it's so small. I can't breathe. It'll kill me before any executioner does.'
"I highly doubt it.' Abe's expression was still cool, with no sign of sympathy. Tough love. "You've fearlessly fought groups of Strigoi, yet you can't handle a small room?'
"It's more than that! Now I have to wait each day in this hole, knowing there's a clock ticking down to my death and almost no way to stop it.'
"Sometimes the greatest tests of our strength are situations that don't seem so obviously dangerous. Sometimes surviving is the hardest thing of all.' "Oh. No. No.' I stalked away, pacing in small circles. "Do not start with all that noble crap. You sound like Dimitri when he used to give me his deep life lessons.'
"He survived this very situation. He's surviving other things too.'
Dimitri.
I took a deep breath, calming myself before I answered. Until this murder mess, Dimitri had been the biggest complication in my life. A year ago--though it seemed like eternity--he'd been my instructor in high school, training me to be one of the dhampir guardians who protect Moroi. He'd accomplished that--and a lot more. We'd fallen in love, something that wasn't allowed. We'd managed it as best we could, even finally coming up with a way for us to be together. That hope had disappeared when he'd been bitten and turned Strigoi. It had been a living nightmare for me. Then, through a miracle no one had believed possible, Lissa had used spirit to transform him back to a dhampir. But things unfortunately hadn't quite returned to how they'd been before the Strigoi attack.
I glared at Abe. "Dimitri survived this, but he was horribly depressed about it! He still is. About everything.'
The full weight of the atrocities he'd committed as a Strigoi haunted Dimitri. He couldn't forgive himself and swore he could never love anyone now. The fact that I had begun dating Adrian didn't help matters. After a number of futile efforts, I'd accepted that Dimitri and I were through. I'd moved on, hoping I could have something real with Adrian now.
"Right,' Abe said dryly. "He's depressed, but you're the picture of happiness and joy.'
I sighed. "Sometimes talking to you is like talking to myself: pretty damned annoying. Is there any other reason you're here? Other than to deliver the terrible news? I would have been happier living in ignorance.'
I'm not supposed to die this way. I'm not supposed to see it coming. My death is not some appointment penciled in on a calendar.
He shrugged. "I just wanted to see you. And your arrangements.'
Yes, he had indeed, I realized. Abe's eyes had always come back to me as we spoke; there'd been no question I held his attention. There was nothing in our banter to concern my guards. But every so often, I'd see Abe's gaze flick around, taking in the hall, my cell, and whatever other details he found interesting. Abe had not earned his reputation as zmey--the serpent--for nothing. He was always calculating, always looking for an advantage. It seemed my tendency toward crazy plots ran in the family.
"I also wanted to help you pass the time.' He smiled and from under his arm, he handed me a couple of magazines and a book through the bars. "Maybe this will improve things.'
I doubted any entertainment was going to make my two-week death countdown more manageable. The magazines were fashion and hair oriented. The book was The Count of Monte Cristo. I held it up, needing to make a joke, needing to do anything to make this less real.
"I saw the movie. Your subtle symbolism isn't really all that subtle. Unless you've hidden a file inside it.'
"The book's always better than the movie.' He started to turn away. "Maybe we'll have a literary discussion next time.' "Wait.' I tossed the reading material onto the bed. "Before you go ... in this whole mess, no one's ever brought up who actually did kill her.' When Abe didn't answer right away, I gave him a sharp look. "You do believe I didn't do it, right?' For all I knew, he did think I was guilty and was just trying to help anyway. It wouldn't have been out of character.
"I believe my sweet daughter is capable of murder,' he said at last. "But not this one.'
"Then who did it?'
"That,' he said before walking away, "is something I'm working on.'
"But you just said we're running out of time! Abe!' I didn't want him to leave. I didn't want to be alone with my fear. "There's no way to fix this!'
"Just remember what I said in the courtroom,' he called back.
He left my sight, and I sat back on the bed, thinking back to that day in court. At the end of the hearing, he'd told me--quite adamantly--that I wouldn't be executed. Or even go to trial. Abe Mazur wasn't one to make idle promises, but I was starting to think that even he had limits, especially since our timetable had just been adjusted.
I again took out the crumpled piece of paper and opened it. It too had come from the courtroom, covertly handed to me by Ambrose--Tatiana's servant and boy-toy.
Rose,
If you're reading this, then something terrible has happened. You probably hate me, and I don't blame you. I can only ask that you trust that what I did with the age decree was better for your people than what others had planned. There are some Moroi who want to force all dhampirs into service, whether they want it or not, by using compulsion. The age decree has slowed that faction down.
However, I write to you with a secret you must put right, and it is a secret you must share with as few as possible. Vasilisa needs her spot on the Council, and it can be done. She is not the last Dragomir. Another lives, the illegitimate child of Eric Dragomir. I know nothing else, but if you can find this son or daughter, you will give Vasilisa the power she deserves. No matter your faults and dangerous temperament, you are the only one I feel can take on this task. Waste no time in fulfilling it.