Vampire academy

"Do you think I'm pretty?”

He regarded me with utter seriousness, like he always did. "I think you're beautiful.”

"Beautiful?”

"You are so beautiful, it hurts me sometimes.”

"I already know they made it all up, because I didn't do any of it. And if you try to turn me against Lissa one more time, the stories are going to be about you bleeding, because I'll have ripped your throat out!”

"When I saw you fall…”

"You thought, 'Wow, she's a loser.'“

"That's not what I thought.”

"I just don't like being treated like…a girl.”

"You are a girl. And I was just trying to help.”

She gave me a weak smile. "I don't know what's crazier: what you're actually telling me or the fact that you actually read something to find all this out.”

I grinned, relieved that she'd actually mustered a joke. "Hey, I know how to read too.”

"I know you do. I also know it took you a year to read The Da Vinci Code." She laughed.

"That wasn't my fault! And don't try to change the subject.”

"Say one more word about her, and I'll rip your head off.”

"Why? She's just a cheap blood—”

Mason punched him. It didn't rip Miles' head off or even cause anything to break or bleed, but it looked like it hurt.

"Hey, we're going to watch a movie in Erin's room after school. You going to come?" I'd always made jokes about Natalie being boring, but her friend Erin had the personality of dry wall.

"I know you heard what people are saying, that I—”

"I know it's not true," he interrupted.

His immediate, certain answer surprised me, and I stupidly found myself questioning it. "Yeah, but how do you—”

"Because I know you," he replied firmly. "I know your character. I know you're going to be a great guardian.”

His confidence made that warm feeling return. "I'm glad someone does. Everyone else thinks I'm totally irresponsible.”

"With the way you worry more about Lissa than yourself…" He shook his head. "No. You understand your responsibilities better than guardians twice your age. You'll do what you have to do to succeed.”

"Oh God," I said. How horrible. I tightened my hands in his. He squeezed back. "That's horrible. And she…she just let it happen?”

"She did." The corner of his mouth turned up into a sly, sad smile. "But I didn't.”

Excitement surged through me. "Tell me, tell me you beat the crap out of him.”

His smile grew. "I did.”

"Wow." I hadn't thought Dimitri could be any cooler, but I was wrong. "You beat up your dad. I mean, that's really horrible…what happened. But, wow. You really are a god.”

He blinked. "What?”

"Uh, nothing." Hastily, I tried to change the subject.

"This…this life. It destroys them. Their looks, I mean.”

He hesitated for a moment and looked up from my hands. Those warm brown eyes surveyed me, and something tightened in my chest. Damn it. I had to stop feeling this way around him. "It won't happen to you. You're too . . ." He groped for the right word, and I mentally substituted all sorts of possibilities. Goddess-like.Scorchingly sexy. Giving up, he simply said, "It won't happen to you.”