Many Moroi didn't care what the Council said. They made it clear they considered this matter far from over, proving what Victor had said: this was going to rage on for a while, getting worse if she actually passed the tests and made it to the voting stages. For now, the crowd dispersed, seeming relieved--not only because they wanted to escape the yelling but also because they wanted to spread this sensational news.
Lissa continued saying little as she and our friends left. Walking past the gawkers, she remained a model of regality and calmness, like she'd already been declared queen. But when she finally escaped it all and was back in her room with the others, all those locked-up, frozen feelings exploded.
"What the hell were you guys thinking?' she yelled. "What have you done to me?' Along with Adrian, Christian, and Eddie, the rest of the conspirators had shown up: Tasha, Abe, and my mom. All of them were so completely stunned by this reaction from sweet Lissa that none of them could reply now. Lissa took advantage of their silence.
"You set me up! You've put me in the middle of a political nightmare! Do you think I want this? Do you really think I want to be queen?'
Abe recovered first, naturally. "You won't be queen,' he said, voice uncharacteristically soothing. "The people arguing about the other part of the law are right: no one can actually vote for you. You need family for that.'
"Then what's the point?' she exclaimed. She was furious. She had every right to be. But that outrage, that anger ... it was fueled by something worse than this situation alone. Spirit was coming to claim its price and making her even more upset than she would have been.
"The point,' said Tasha, "is everything crazy you just saw in the Council room. For every argument, for every time someone drags out the law books again, we have more time to save Rose and find out who killed Tatiana.'
"Whoever did it must have an interest in the throne,' explained Christian. He rested a hand on Lissa's shoulder, and she jerked away. "Either for themselves or someone they know. The longer we delay their plans, the more time we have to find out who it is.'
Lissa raked her hands through her long hair in frustration. I tried to pull that coil of fury from her, taking it into myself. I succeeded a little, enough that she dropped her hands to her side. But she was still pissed off.
"How am I supposed to look for the murderer when I'm tied up doing all those stupid tests?' she demanded.
"You won't be looking,' said Abe. "We will.'
Her eyes widened. "That was never part of the plan! I'm not going to jump through royal hoops when Rose needs me. I want to help her!'
It was almost comical. Almost. Neither Lissa nor I could handle "sitting around' when we thought the other needed our help. We wanted to be out there, actively doing what we could to fix the situation.
"You are helping her,' said Christian. His hand twitched, but he didn't try to touch her again. "It's in a different way than you expected, but in the end, it's going to help her.'
The same argument everyone kept using on me. It also made her just as angry as it had made me, and I desperately tugged at the wave of instability spirit kept sending through her.
Lissa peered around the room, looking accusingly at each face. "Who in the world thought of this idea?'
More uncomfortable silence followed.
"Rose did,' said Adrian at last.
Lissa spun around and glared at him. "She did not! She wouldn't do this to me!'
"She did,' he said. "I talked to her in a dream. It was her idea, and ... it was a good one.' I didn't really like how that seemed to come as a surprise to him. "Besides, you kind of put her in a bad situation too. She kept going on about how much the town she's in sucks.'
"Okay,' snapped Lissa, ignoring the part about my plight. "Supposing that's true, that Rose passes this "brilliant' idea on to you, then why didn't anyone bother to tell me? Didn't you think a little warning might help?' Again, it was just like me complaining about how my jailbreak had been kept a secret from me.
"Not really,' said Adrian. "We figured you'd react exactly like this and have time to plan a refusal. We kind of gambled that if you were caught on the spot, you'd accept.'
"That was kind of risky,' she said.
"But it worked,' came Tasha's blunt response. "We knew you'd come through for us.' She winked. "And for what it's worth, I think you'd make a great queen.'
Lissa gave her a sharp look, and I made one more attempt to drag away some of the darkness. I concentrated on those churning emotions, imagining them in me instead of her. I didn't pull it all but managed enough to take the fight out of her. Rage suddenly flared in me, blinding me momentarily, but I was able to push it off to a corner of my mind. She suddenly felt exhausted. I kind of did too.
"The first test is tomorrow,' she said quietly. "If I fail it, I'm out. The plan falls apart.'
Christian made another attempt to put his arm around her, and this time, she let him. "You won't.'
Lissa didn't say anything else, and I could see the relief on everyone's faces. No one believed for a second she liked this, but they seemed to think she wasn't going to withdraw her nomination, which was as much as they could hope for.
My mother and Eddie had said nothing this entire time. As was common for guardians, they'd kept to the background, remaining shadows while Moroi business was conducted. With the initial storm passing over, my mother stepped forward. She nodded toward Eddie. "One of us is going to try to stay near you at all times.'
"Why?' asked Lissa, startled.
"Because we know there's someone out there who isn't afraid to kill to get what they want,' said Tasha. She nodded toward Eddie and my mom. "These two and Mikhail are really the only guardians we can trust.'
"Are you sure?' Abe gave Tasha a sly look. "I'm surprised you didn't get your special guardian "friend' on board.'
"What special friend?' demanded Christian, instantly picking up on the insinuation.
Tasha, to my astonishment, flushed. "Just a guy I know.'
"Who follows you with puppy-dog eyes,' continued Abe. "What's his name? Evan?'
"Ethan,' she corrected.
My mother, looking exasperated by such ridiculous talk, promptly put an end to it-- which was just as well since Christian looked like he had a few things to say. "Leave her alone,' she warned Abe. "We don't have time for it. Ethan's a good guy, but the fewer people who know about this, the better. Since Mikhail has a permanent post, Eddie and I will do security.'
I agreed with all of what she'd just said, but it struck me that to get my mother on board, someone--probably Abe--had filled her in on all the illicit activity that had occurred recently. He was either really convincing or she loved me a lot. Grudgingly, I suspected both were true. When Moroi were at Court, their guardians didn't need to accompany them everywhere, meaning my mom would most likely be free of her assignment while Lord Szelsky stayed here. Eddie didn't have an assignment yet, which also gave him flexibility. Lissa started to say something else when a sharp jolt in my own reality snapped me away from her.