"Blackmail's an ugly word."
"There's no way you're going to see her - at least outside of the courtroom. She's never going to heal you. I told you: You're going to get sick again, and you're going to die. You're going to be the one sending me postcards from the other side."
"You think that's what this is about? You think my needs are that petty?" The mockery was gone, replaced by a feverish and almost fanatical look in his green eyes. The tight set of his mouth stretched the skin of his face a little, and I noticed he'd lost weight since our last encounter. Maybe prison had been harder on him than I'd thought. "You've forgotten everything, why I did what I did. You've been so caught up in your own shortsightedness that you missed the big picture I was looking at."
I racked my brain, thinking back to that time last fall. He was right. My focus had been on the wrongs he'd committed against Lissa and me personally. I'd forgotten other conversations, his insane explanations of his grand scheme.
"You wanted to stage a revolution - still want to. That's crazy. It's not going to happen," I said.
"It's already happening. Do you think I don't know what's going on out in the world? I still have contacts. People can be bought off - how do you think I was able to send you that message? I know about the unrest - I know about Natasha Ozera's movement to get Moroi to fight with guardians. You stand by her and vilify me, Rosemarie, but I pushed for the very same thing last fall. Yet, somehow, you don't seem to regard her in the same way."
"Tasha Ozera is working on her cause a bit differently than you did," noted Dimitri.
"And that's why she's getting nowhere," Victor retorted. "Tatiana and her council are being held back by centuries of archaic traditions. So long as that sort of power rules us, nothing will change. We will never learn to fight. Non-royal Moroi will never have a voice. Dhampirs like you will continually be sent out to battle."
"It's what we dedicate our lives to," said Dimitri. I could sense the tension building in him. He might show better self-control than me, but I knew he was getting just as frustrated here.
"And it's what you lose your lives for. You're all but enslaved and don't even realize it. And for what? Why do you protect us?"
"Because ... we need you," I faltered. "For our race to survive."
"You don't need to throw yourselves into battle for that. Making children isn't really that difficult."
I ignored his quip. "And because the Moroi... the Moroi and their magic are important. They can do amazing things."
Victor threw his hands up in exasperation. "We used to do amazing things. Humans used to revere us as gods, but over time, we grew lazy. The advent of technology made our magic more and more obsolete. Now, all we do is parlor tricks."
"If you have so many ideas," said Dimitri, with a dangerous glint in his dark eyes, "then do something useful in prison and write a manifesto."
"And what's this have to do with Lissa anyway?" I asked.
"Because Vasilisa is a vehicle for change."
I stared incredulously. "You think she's going to lead your revolution?"
"Well, I'd prefer that I lead it - someday. But, regardless, I think that she's going to be part of it. I've heard about her too. She's a rising star - still young, certainly, but people are taking notice. All royals aren't created equal, you know. The Dragomir symbol is a dragon, the king of the beasts. Likewise, the Dragomir blood has always been powerful - that's why the Strigoi have targeted them so consistently. A Dragomir returning to power is no small thing - particularly one such as her. My impression from the reports is that she must have mastered her magic. If that's so - with her gifts - there's no telling what she could do. People are drawn to her with almost no effort on her part. And when she actually tries to influence them...well, they'll do anything she wants." His eyes were wide as he spoke, wonder and happiness on his face as he imagined Lissa living out his dreams.
"Unbelievable," I said. "First you wanted to hide her away to keep you alive. Now you actually want her out in the world to use her compulsion for your own psycho plans."
"I told you, she's a force for change. And like you being shadow-kissed, she's the only one of her kind that we know about. That makes her dangerous - and very valuable."
Well, that was something. Victor wasn't all-knowing after all. He didn't know about Adrian's spirit use.
"Lissa will never do it," I said. "She's not going to abuse her powers."
"And Victor's not going to say anything about us," said Dimitri, tugging my arm. "He's achieved his goal. He brought you here because he wanted to know about Lissa."
"He didn't find out much," I said.