The Indigo Spell Read Online Free PDF Page B

me.”
    He remained firm. “It’s my time to waste.”
    “But it’s crazy! Why would you do that?”
    “Because I can’t help doing it,” he said with a shrug. “And hey, if I keep loving
     you, maybe you’ll eventually crack and love me too. Hell, I’m pretty sure you’re already
     half in love with me.”
    “I am not! And everything you just said is ridiculous. That’s terrible logic.”
    Adrian returned to his crossword puzzle. “Well, you can think what you want, so long
     as you remember—no matter how ordinary things seem between us—I’m still here, still
     in love with you, and care about you more than any other guy, evil or otherwise, ever
     will.”
    “I don’t think you’re evil.”
    “See? Things are already looking promising.” He tapped the magazine with his pen again.
     “‘Romantic Victorian poetess.’ Eight letters.”
    I didn’t answer. I had been rendered speechless. Adrian never mentioned that dangerous
     topic again for the rest of the flight. Most of the time, he kept to himself, and
     when he did speak, it was about perfectly safe topics, like our dinner and the upcoming
     wedding. Anyone sitting with us would never have known there was anything weird between
     us.
    But
I
knew.
    That knowledge ate me up. It was all-consuming. And as the flight progressed, and
     eventually landed, I could no longer look at Adrian the same way. Each time we made
     eye contact, I just kept thinking of his words:
I’m still here, still in love with you, and care about you more than any other guy
     ever will.
Part of me felt offended. How dare he? How dare he love me whether I wanted him to
     or not? I had told him not to! He had no right to.
    And the rest of me? The rest of me was scared.
    If I keep loving you, maybe you’ll eventually crack and love me too.
    It was ludicrous. You couldn’t make someone love you just by loving them. It didn’t
     matter how charming he was, how good looking, or how funny. An Alchemist and a Moroi
     could never be together. It was impossible.
    I’m pretty sure you’re already half in love with me.
    Very
impossible.

CHAPTER 3
    TRUE TO HIS WORD, Adrian made no other mention of the relationship—or lack thereof—between us. Every
     once in a while, though, I could swear I saw something in his eyes, something that
     brought back an echo of his proclamation about continuing to love me. Or maybe it
     was just his typical impertinence.
    A connecting flight and an hour-long car ride later, it was night by the time we finally
     reached the small resort town in the Pocono Mountains. Getting out of the car was
     a shock. December in Pennsylvania was very, very different from December in Palm Springs.
     Crisp, frigid air hit me, the kind that freezes your mouth and nose. A layer of fresh
     snow covered everything, glittering in the light of the same full moon that Ms. Terwilliger
     and I had worked magic by. The stars were out here in just as much force as the stark
     desert, though the cold air made them glitter in a sharper way.
    Adrian stayed in our hired car but leaned out as the driver handed me my small suitcase.
     “Need any help with that?” Adrian asked. His breath made a frosty cloud in the air.
    It was an uncharacteristic offer from him. “I’ll be fine. Thanks, though. I take it
     you aren’t staying here?” I nodded toward the bed-and-breakfast the car had stopped
     at.
    Adrian pointed down the road, toward a large, lit-up hotel perched on a hill. “Up
     there. That’s where all the parties will be, if you’re interested. They’re probably
     just getting started.”
    I shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold. Moroi normally ran on a nocturnal
     schedule, starting their days around sunset. Those living among humans—like Adrian—had
     to adapt to a daytime schedule. But here, in a small town that must be bursting with
     Moroi guests, he’d have the chance to return to what was for him a more natural schedule.
    “Noted,” I said. A