Vampire Academy: The Ultimate Guide by Richelle Mead, Michelle Rowen Page A

gives Rose a congratulatory hug in public (one that will lead the queen to want to chat with her later). But first, Tatiana wants to see Lissa and offer the last Dragomir a chance to come to live at Court after graduation and attend the nearby Lehigh University. Lissa graciously accepts the generous offer.
    Then it’s Rose’s turn. She expects that she’ll be told, as Lissa’s future guardian, that she’ll have to be extra careful of the princess at the university, but that’s not the subject at hand. The queen wants Rose to stop the affair she’s having with Adrian.
    Say what?
    “Um, Your Majesty . . . there’s some kind of mistake. There’s nothing going on between Adrian and me.”
    “Do you think I’m an idiot?” she asked.
    Wow. That was an opening.
    “No, Your Majesty.”
    —page 207
     
     
    The queen assumes Rose is a “cheap dhampir girl” looking to run off with a rich Moroi lord. And Rose’s former party-girl reputation doesn’t exactly help matters. Tatiana even brings up Rose’s mother, Janine, who was once involved with a Moroi named Ibrahim—but even she learned that Moroi men don’t marry dhampir girls. They just play with them. That’s when the queen unleashes the greatest threat in her arsenal: if Rose doesn’t end things with Adrian, Tatiana will ensure that she isn’t assigned as Lissa’s guardian after graduation.
    The queen’s plans are very clear. She wants Adrian and Lissa to have an arranged marriage that will help further the Dragomir line. The princess’s current relationship with Christian is unacceptable. Thanks to his parents’ decision to become Strigoi, his being a royal is irrelevant.
    Wow. This is info Rose definitely isn’t ready to share with the others, not until she has time to process it herself.

A GLIMPSE AT THE FUTURE
     
    While they’re waiting for the flight back to St. Vlad’s, Lissa takes Rose to the spa. Since Rose uses her hands so much to punch things, a manicure sounds like total luxury. While there, Rose meets Ambrose, a to-die-for hot guy who sure isn’t like any other dhampir she’s ever met—by the bite marks on his neck, it’s obvious he’s a male blood whore. That is so not normal. But Ambrose is very happy with his choices—and they are choices, unlike Rose, who really never had a say in what she’s become and where her future will lead.
    Speaking of the future, Ambrose, who’s also rumored to be the queen’s secret lover, takes the girls to see his fortune-telling aunt, Rhonda, so they can get a tarot-card reading.
    Lissa’s told her life is about to change in ways that, while difficult, will “ultimately illuminate the world.” Sounds pretty cool.
    Rose is told that she will “destroy that which is undead.”
    Lame. She already knows that. She’s training to be a guardian, after all. What a stupid fortune!
    When Dimitri comes to retrieve the girls for the flight, he too is given a little insight on his future. He’s told: “You will lose what you value most, so treasure it while you can.”
    It’s an ominous reading, and one that will prove true all too soon . . .

DESCENDING DARKNESS
     
    On the flight back to the Academy, Rose is again plagued by a headache and shadowy forms. Due to inclement weather, the plane is diverted to a nearby airport. When they land, Rose’s world explodes. The pain in her head becomes so intense, it feels like her skull is being ripped open.
    She sees ghostly faces—many of whom she recognizes as victims of Strigoi massacres—and they’re reaching out to her with pale, shining hands. They want something from her. They’re trying to tell her what it is, but they can’t speak. There’s a growing patch of blackness, and Rose instinctively knows it’s the entrance to the world of death—she died in the car crash, but Lissa brought her back. She shouldn’t be alive. This— this is where she’s supposed to go.
    She starts screaming and screaming. Mason appears, and she begs him to make