A moment later, the tension in Serena faded a tiny bit, and she opened the door. Grant stood there with Christian beside him.
"He's here to see you," Grant said, like it wasn't obvious.
Lissa nodded. "Um, yeah. Come on in."
Christian stepped inside when Grant backed away. Christian gave Lissa a meaningful look as he did, making a small head nod toward Serena.
"Hey, um, would you mind giving us some privacy?" As soon as the words were out of Lissa's mouth, she turned bright pink. "I mean... we just... we just need to talk about some things, that's all."
Serena kept her face almost neutral, but it was clear she thought they were going to do more than talk. Average teen dating wasn't usually hot gossip in the Moroi world, but Lissa, with her notoriety, attracted a bit more attention with her romantic affairs. Serena would have known Christian and Lissa had gone out and broken up. For all she knew, they were back together now. Lissa inviting him on this trip certainly suggested it.
Serena glanced around warily. The balance of protection and privacy was always difficult with Moroi and guardians, and hotel rooms like this made it even harder. If they were on a vampiric schedule, with everyone sleeping during daylight hours, I didn't doubt Serena would have stepped into the hall with Grant. But it was dark outside, and even a fifth-floor window could be a Strigoi liability. Serena wasn't keen on leaving her new charge alone.
Lissa's hotel suite had an expansive living room and work area, with an adjacent bedroom accessible through frosted-glass French doors. Serena nodded toward them. "How about I just go in there?" A smart idea. Provided privacy but kept her close by. Then, Serena realized the implications, and she blushed. "I mean... unless you guys want to go in there and I'll--"
"No," exclaimed Lissa, growing more and more embarrassed. "This is fine. We'll stay in here. We're just talking."
I wasn't sure whose benefit that was for, Serena's or Christian's. Serena nodded and disappeared into the bedroom with a book, which reminded me eerily of Dimitri. She shut the door. Lissa wasn't sure how well noise traveled, so she turned the TV on.
"God, that was miserable," she groaned.
Christian seemed totally at ease as he leaned against the wall. He wasn't the formal type by any means, but he'd put on dress clothes for dinner earlier and still wore them. They looked good on him, no matter how much he always complained. "Why?"
"Because she thinks we're--she thinks we're--well, you know."
"So? What's the big deal?"
Lissa rolled her eyes. "You're a guy. Of course it doesn't matter to you."
"Hey, it's not like we haven't. Besides, better for her to think that than to know the truth."
The reference to their past sex life inspired a mix of emotions--embarrassment, anger, and longing--but she refused to let that show. "Fine. Let's just get this over with. We've got a big day, and our sleep's going to be all screwy as it is. Where do we start? Do you want me to get the stake?"
"No need yet. We should just practice some basic defensive moves." He straightened up and moved toward the center of the room, dragging a table out of the way.
I swear, if not for the context, watching the two of them attempt combat training on their own would have been hilarious.
"Okay," he said. "So you already know how to punch."
"What? I do not!"
He frowned. "You knocked out Reed Lazar. Rose mentioned it, like, a hundred times. I've never heard her so proud about something."
"I punched one person once in my life," she pointed out. "And Rose was coaching me. I don't know if I could do it again."
Christian nodded, looking disappointed--not in her skills but because he had an impatient nature and wanted to jump right into the really hard-core fighting stuff. Nonetheless, he proved a surprisingly patient teacher as he went over the fine art of punching and hitting. A lot of his moves were actually things he'd picked up from me.
He'd been a decent student. Was he at guardian levels? No. Not by a long shot. And Lissa? She was smart and competent, but she wasn't wired for combat, no matter how badly she wanted to help with this. Punching Reed Lazar had been a beautiful thing, but it didn't appear to be anything that would ever become natural for her. Fortunately, Christian started with simple dodging and watching one's opponent. Lissa was just a beginner at it but showed a lot of promise. Christian seemed to chalk it up to his instructive skills, but I'd always thought spirit users had a kind of preternatural instinct about what others might do next. I doubted it would work on Strigoi, though.
After a little of that, Christian finally returned to offense, and that's when things went bad.
Lissa's gentle, healing nature didn't mesh with that, and she refused to really strike out with her full force, for fear of hurting him. When he realized what was happening, his snarky temper started to rise.
"Come on! Don't hold back."
"I'm not," she protested, delivering a punch to his chest that didn't come close to budging him.
He raked a hand irritably through his hair. "You are too! I've seen you knock on a door harder than you're hitting me."
"That's a ridiculous metaphor."
"And," he added, "you aren't aiming for my face."
"I don't want to leave a mark!"
"Well, at the rate we're going, there's no danger of that," he muttered. "Besides, you can heal it away."
I was amused at their bickering but didn't like his casual encouragement of spirit use. I still hadn't shaken my guilt over the long-term damage that the prison break could have caused.
Reaching forward, Christian grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her toward him. He balled her fingers with his other hand and then slowly demonstrated how to swing a punch upward by pulling her fist toward his face. He was more interested in showing the technique and motion, so it only brushed against him.
"See? Arc upward. Make the impact right there. Don't worry about hurting me."
"It's not that simple...."
Her protest died off, and suddenly, they both seemed to notice the situation they were in. There was barely any space between them, and his fingers were still wrapped around her wrist. They felt warm against Lissa's skin and were sending electricity through the rest of her body. The air between them seemed thick and heavy, like it might just wrap them up and pull them together. From the widening of Christian's eyes and sudden intake of breath, I was willing to bet he was having a similar reaction at being so close to her body.