"Excuse me," said Eddie. "Can we have a few minutes alone here with her before she goes upstairs? I'd like to talk to her."
Mrs. Weathers hesitated, apparently wanting Jill's punishment immediately enforced. Then she gave Eddie a double take. The look on his face was hard and angry, and I think Mrs. Weathers knew there was punishment of a different sort coming from Jill's big brother.
"Five minutes," said Mrs. Weathers, tapping her watch. "Then up you go."
"Don't," said Jill, the instant we were alone. Her face was a mixture of fear and defiance. "I know what I did was wrong. I don't need a lecture from you guys."
"Don't you?" I asked. "Because if you knew it was wrong, you wouldn't have done it!"
Jill crossed her arms over her chest. "I had to get out of here. On my own terms. And not with you guys."
The comment rolled right off of me. It sounded young and petty. But to my surprise, Eddie actually looked hurt.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.
"It means that I just wanted to be away from this place without you always telling me what I'm doing wrong." That was directed to me. "And you jumping at every shadow." That, of course, was to Eddie.
"I just want to protect you," he said, looking hurt. "I'm not trying to smother you, but I can't have anything happen to you. Not again."
"I'm in more danger from Laurel than any assassins!" Jill exclaimed. "Do you know what she did today? We were working in the computer lab, and she 'accidentally' tripped over my power cord. I lost half my work and didn't finish in time, so now I'm going to get a lower grade."
A lesson on backing up work probably wouldn't be useful just then. "Look, that's really terrible," I said. "But it's not in the same category as getting yourself killed. Not by a long shot. Where exactly did you go?"
For a moment, she looked as though she wasn't going to give up the info. Finally, she said, "Lee took me to Salton Sea." Seeing our blank looks, she added, "It's a lake outside of town. It was wonderful." An almost-dreamy expression crossed her features. "I haven't been around that much water in so long. Then we went downtown and just walked around, shopping and eating ice cream. He took me to that boutique, with the designer who's looking for models and - "
"Jill," I interrupted. "I don't care how awesome your day was. You scared us. Don't you get that?"

• • •

“I feel like Micah’s fallen for her too much already." I eyed Eddie carefully. "Among other people."
Eddie was still watching Micah and Jill, so it took him a moment to pick up on my meaning. He jerked his gaze back to me. “Huh?”
“Eddie, I’m not going to claim to be any expert in romance, but even I can tell that you’re crazy about Jill.”
He promptly looked away, though his flush betrayed him. “That’s not true.”
“I’ve seen it all along, but it wasn’t until that night at Keith’s that I really understood what I was seeing. I saw how you looked at her. I know how you feel about her. So, what I want to know is: how come we have to keep worrying about Micah at all? Why aren’t you just asking her out and saving us all a lot of trouble?”
“Because she’s my sister,” he said wryly.
“Eddie! I’m serious.”
He made a face, took a deep breath, and then turned back toward me. “Because she can do better than me. You want to talk about social rules? Well, where we come from, Moroi and dhampirs don’t have serious relationships.”
“Yeah, but that’s like a class thing,” I said. “It’s not quite the same as humans and vampires.”
“Maybe not, but with her, it might as well be. She’s not just any Moroi. She’s royal. A princess. And you’ve seen how she is! Smart and strong and beautiful. She’s destined for great things, and one of them isn’t being involved with a controversial guardian like me. Her bloodline’s regal. Hell, I don’t even know who my dad is. Dating her is not even possible. My job is to protect her. To keep her safe. That’s where all my attention needs to be.”

• • •

“And so, you’re going to let yourself suffer as a result? Because you’re so in love with Jill and convinced that she deserves some prince that you aren’t? And because you feel it’s your duty to support all the Masons in the world?" I shook my head. "Eddie, that’s crazy. Even you have to see that."
“Maybe,” he admitted. “But I feel like it’s the right thing to do.”
“Right? It’s the masochistic thing to do! You’re encouraging the girl you want to be with one of your best friends.”
“I want her to be happy. It’s worth sacrificing myself.”
“It makes no sense.”
Eddie gave me a small smile and a gentle pat on the arm before turning toward an approaching shuttle bus. “Remember when you said you were no expert in romance? Well, you were right.”

• • •

"Do me a favor,” I told him. “Go back to Jill.”
“Of course,” he said. “I will as soon as everyone’s safe. She’s my duty.”
“I don’t mean go back to her because of your assignment. Go back to her because you love her.”

• • •

“You have no right being here!" exclaimed Eddie, coming to halt on front of her. It was one of the few times I’d ever seen him angry. I’d certainly never seen him angry at her. He case a glare back at Angeline before returning to Jill. "They shouldn’t have brought you."
"I have every right to be here," she retorted. "When Angeline finally convinced us, I knew we had to help. And we did."
Eddie was undaunted. “I don’t care what they do. If they want to endanger their lives, so be it. But a princess of her people has no business putting herself in danger.”
"A princess of her people has no business sitting off to the side while said people are in danger," Jill returned.
"Do you have any idea what could have happened if—"
"Oh, shut up," she said, reaching for him. He flinched in surprise, but once she started kissing him, the tension left his body.

• • •

“You can take one dhampir,” said Jill calmly. “I’ll be okay with two, especially if I just stay on campus the whole time. Take Eddie.”

He turned to her in surprise. “You don’t . . . want me to guard you?”

The smile she gave him was very queenly, almost a mirror of something I’d seen Lissa do. “Of course I do. There’s no one I trust more than you. But you need to do this. And you know he’s one of the best, Adrian.”

I doubt any of them, not even Eddie, realized the magnitude of what Jill was offering. I couldn’t read her mind, but I knew her well enough to understand she very much wanted to be a part of any mission to free Sydney. I also knew that she realized no one was going to let that happen. Rather than fight it, she was sinking her energy into getting me to accept Eddie . . . not just because he was an asset but because her words were absolutely true: He needed to do this. I’d observed him since Sydney’s capture and seen how it had eaten him up in a way different from what I suffered. My feelings over her loss were all about loneliness and feeling helpless to find her. His were about guilt—he still felt responsible for her being taken in the first place. She’d tricked him, sacrificing herself to save him, and he couldn’t get over that. Jill, always wiser than anyone gave her credit for, understood that—and understood that saving Sydney might very well be the only thing that would let Eddie feel redeemed. Jill understood it because she was observant and wise.

Also because she loved him.

Eddie didn’t realize this, though, and mostly felt conflicted. “I’d be breaking my orders . . . my promise to protect you.”
“I’m freeing you from them,” she said. “And I have that right, both because those promises are to me and because I’m part of the ruling family. As crown princess, I’m asking you to go and rescue Sydney. And then come back to me.”

I’d never heard Jill invoke her royal status, let alone her title as crown princess. That was the whole point of the family law. If something happened to the ruling monarch and an emergency ensued that the Moroi Council couldn’t handle, one of the former monarch’s family members could be made interim ruler until a new one was elected. That law hadn’t been invoked when Aunt Tatiana had died. The Council had managed things, but to keep the government running smoothly, the old laws still required one living family member, just in case.

Eddie gazed at her in adoration as she spoke, not fully grasping that she was speaking to him as someone who loved him and not actually as a commanding princess. But it worked. “I will,” he told her. “I’ll get her back. And then I’ll come back to protect you, I swear it.”