I just grinned and slipped on his coat.
We stood in the common area of our dorm, a well-supervised lounge and study area where male and female students could mingle, along with Moroi guests. Being Sunday, it was pretty crowded with those cramming for last-minute assignments due tomorrow. Spying a small, empty table, I grabbed Mason's arm and pulled him toward it.
"Aren't you supposed to go straight to your room?"
I hunkered down in my seat, glancing around warily. "There are so many people here today, it'll take them a while to notice me. God, I'm so sick of being locked away. And it's only been a week."
"I'm sick of it too. We missed you last night. A bunch of us went and shot pool in the rec room. Eddie was on fire."
I groaned. "Don't tell me that. I don't want to hear about your glamorous social life."
"All right." He propped his elbow up on the table and rested his chin in his hand. "Then tell me about Mia. You're just going to turn around and punch her one day, aren't you? I think I remember you doing that at least ten times with people that pissed you off."
"I'm a new, reformed Rose," I said, doing my best impression of demure. Which wasn't very good. He emitted a choking sort of laugh. "Besides, if I do that, I'll have broken my probation with Kirova. Gotta walk the straight and narrow."
"In other words, find some way to get back at Mia that you won't get in trouble for."
I felt a smile tug at the corners of my lips. "You know what I like about you, Mase? You think just like I do."
"Frightening concept," he replied drily. "So tell me what you think of this: I might know something about her, but I probably shouldn't tell you..."
I leaned forward. "Oh, you already tipped me off. You've got to tell me now."
"It'd be wrong," he teased. "How do I know you'd use this knowledge for good instead of evil?"
I batted my eyelashes. "Can you resist this face?"
He took a moment to study me. "No. I can't, actually. Okay, here you go: Mia isn't royal."
I slouched back in my chair. "No kidding. I already knew that. I've known who's royal since I was two."
"Yeah, but there's more than just that. Her parents work for one of the Drozdov lords." I waved my hand impatiently. A lot of Moroi worked out in the human world, but Moroi society had plenty of jobs for its own kind too. Someone had to fill them. "Cleaning stuff. Practically servants. Her dad cuts grass, and her mom's a maid."
I actually had a healthy respect for anyone who pulled a full day's work, regardless of the job. People everywhere had to do crappy stuff to make a living. But, much like with Target, it became another matter altogether when someone was trying to pass herself off as something else. And in the week that I'd been here, I'd picked up on how desperately Mia wanted to fit in with the school elite.
"No one knows," I said thoughtfully.
"And she doesn't want them to. You know how the royals are." He paused. "Well, except for Lissa, of course. They'd give Mia a hard time over it."
"How do you know all this?"
"My uncle's a guardian for the Drozdovs."
"And you've just been sitting on this secret, huh?"
"Until you broke me. So which path will you choose: good or evil?"
"I think I'll give her a grace - "
"Miss Hathaway, you know you aren't supposed to be here."
One of the dorm matrons stood over us, disapproval all over her face.
I hadn't been joking when I said Mason thought like me. He could bullshit as well as I could. "We have a group project to do for our humanities class. How are we supposed to do it if Rose is in isolation?"
The matron narrowed her eyes. "You don't look like you're doing work."
I slid over the priest's book and opened it at random. I'd placed it on the table when we sat down. "We're, um, working on this."
She still looked suspicious. "One hour. I'll give you one more hour down here, and I'd better actually see you working."
"Yes, ma'am," said Mason straight-faced. "Absolutely."
She wandered off, still eyeing us. "My hero," I declared.
He pointed at the book. "What is this?"
"Something the priest gave me. I had a question about the service."
He stared at me, astonished.
"Oh, stop it and look interested." I skimmed the index. "I'm trying to find some woman named Anna."
Mason slid his chair over so that he was sitting right beside me. "All right. Let's 'study.' "