- There's something strange happening
with me and Rose.
Remember!
- Don't freak out. - Okay.
That's, um, new.
- I'm actually a Spirit User just like St. Vladimir.
- When I become queen,
we'll know if someone is an incompetent fighter.
- That's a lie.
- Mikhail Tanner betrayed us
by allowing himself to be turned Strigoi.
- Guardians follow orders, Rose,
or the system crumbles.
- The system is broken.
- I have to follow orders.
- I don't.
- So what do you know about Saint Vladimir?
- I can help you, but only if you come back.
Wake up.
- I know you're hurting.
And I'd do anything to make it stop.
- Once there were 13 saints.
Today, their children's children's children
are called Royals.
But they were saints back then,
the best of the Moroi.
And the best of the saints was Vladimir,
the Messenger, the Founder.
It was Vladimir who had the vision:
a world for the Moroi,
secret and isolated from the barbarous humans
with their wars of religion, wars of conquest,
wars of intolerance.
And that vision was embodied in the human treaty,
which gave all Moroi a home and gave all Dhampirs
a purpose in the great, holy Elemental Order.
You know this story.
It's the one they tell children in the academies
and in Feast Day homilies.
It's the first great lie.
The happy lie of St. Vladimir.
- But the truth will come out because the truth always does.
- And woe unto us if we let the lies make us forget
the real dangers out there because they are out there,
and they are very, very real.
- It is time, Your Majesty.
The hope we had for unanimity from the Council
has gone by the wayside.
Yes, because of my daughter's outburst.
But we need to act.
The only way we'll get a clear and decisive mandate
is if you lead us there.
You need to declare for me.
- They are so beautiful after a feed.
I know they say it is the outrush of chemicals
in their brain that our bite releases,
I hate the idea of an Elementalist on the throne,
especially Tatiana Vogel.
Happily, by my count, even after last night's fiasco,
if you bring the three more persuadable
heads of family home--
Abby Batista, Peter Tarus, and Evette Ozera,
you should have a majority.
Six to five-- that is enough for a win.
- Yes, but-- - No, Victor.
I cannot mandate this.
There was a moment in the wake of Andre's death, yes,
but now, all our hatreds and troubles are out in the open.
The only way to hold the throne is to win the crown,
legitimately and without my help.
You have until tonight's closing caucus
to get your votes.
- Gotcha.
- Cheater.
There's no way that you beat me here
and set up an ambush unless you scouted ahead of time.
- Recon is just basic perimeter control.
- You said we were going blind.
- Suddenly, Rose Hathaway is a believer in rules.
- I need a favor.
- The risk of even one more person knowing, Lissa.
- Yeah, after he just walks into my dream
and makes himself at home?
Rose, Adrian Ivashkov and I are in the same boat.
I know of three confirmed Spirit Users.
Vlad went Dark.
I might be losing my mind, and the last one--
- Is a stone drunk, from what I hear.
- A self-medicating drunk
who drinks to keep the Darkness at bay.
But he might have answers, and right now,
I need answers more than I need lectures
about how scary it is.
Because I might end up the same as Adrian
if I don't find another way of keeping the Darkness in check.
And this might be our only shot
to figure out this link you and I have.
- You're going to need Dimitri as well, you know.
And what am I signing up for here?
- That's the part that doesn't *.
- A trip into the human world.
Do you realize the kind of pre-planning
that normally takes?
It's a playground for Strigoi out there.
Route planning, recon, coordination of guards.
We don't have the necessary clearances.
They won't so much as open the provincial gates for us.
- They will for me.
- This is foolhardy.
Go another day, when I know I can keep you safe.
- Wow, you got a real earnest one here.
Are you sure he's cool for what we got to do?
- I trust him implicitly.
This is what I'm doing.
And your job is to make sure I don't die doing it,
so are you in, or are you leaving me
to the human world with only Adrian to protect me?
- I am useless in a fight.
Speaking of which, listen.
You told me that I would have my own Guardian.
- I know, I'm late.
- Well, hello, little Dhampir.
- This is the guy?
I'm driving.
- I am in your hands.
- Have you ever even driven a car before?
- Guess I'm in your hands.
- And they just comply?
Whatever you tell them?
- Most of the time.
- When you tried that with me, I could feel you
knocking at the door of my consciousness.
I'm envious.
- Says the man who can just stroll into my dreams.
About that.
Now, Rose, just so you know, when I start making
inappropriate cameos in your dreams,
just know that's not Spirit Magic, all right?
That's just your intense attraction to me.
Are you a whiskey kind of lady?
- Where did you find this guy?
- So have you ever healed anyone?
- He--heal? You can heal? How?
- Well, it's just like the other power.
It's like this part of me drops inward and pools,
and I get this warm rush, and I can do stuff.
- So maybe I should explain.
- Have you seen the auras yet?
- Auras? No. Not yet. - What the hell is all this?
And where are we going?
- Time to clue us in.
There is a scholar that we think
has some answers that Lissa and I very much need.
- A Moroi scholar in the human world?
- She's written some things about St. Vladimir
that haven't made her very popular with the church.
Or the Queen.
Or anyone, really.
- A heretic?
- An iconoclast
who's been accused of heresy.
- Lissa.
- We need different clothes.
- I understand the fear that St. Jude touched off,
I feel it, but how much of our souls are we willing
to trade away just to feel a little less afraid?
Lady Ozera, these Dhampirs that the others
are talking about elevating aren't just bodies.
They're children,
just like your nephew Christian.
Abby, it's down to you.
Your family has the honor
of hosting the Royal Caucus tonight.
Do me the honor of giving me your vote.
- Victor, spare me the pitch.
I'll do anything to stop that xenophobic monster Tatiana
from taking the throne.
- Sir, are you all right?
- This scholar of yours, she lives around here?
- Approximately.
- You do know where we're going?
- I know where we're going next.
What?
I don't know where she lives,
but I know someone who might. - Might?
- She's not exactly living out here on an official permit.
You know, a heretic and all.
She keeps a low profile.
- For *'s sake.
- Do we look human now?
- Okay.
- All right.
So where's this friend we're meeting?
- Who wants to go clubbing?
- They're down there,
brainstorming questions for their heretic.
It's the nerdiest I've ever seen her.
- Do you ever think about another life?
Being more than just a pawn they can rip from your home
or throw Strigoi at for fun?
A life outside the Dominion.
While we were dancing,
you wanted that freedom too.
But also the fear in the eyes of my mother,
my sisters.
And the fear I felt
of that thing in me.
It's why I need the code of the Guardian life,
to keep that thing in check.
Freedom.
Freedom scares me to death, Rose.
Or it did until--
- Until now?
- Where the hell are we?
- You've had a line on this woman for a while now.
How have you never come to ask these questions before?
- Sometimes you need the right answers to be able
to ask the right questions.
- Clarice Sewani. I'm Adrian--
- I know who you are, and the answer
is the same as it's been for everyone
you've sent to hassle me: * off.
- Adrian, what are you doing?
- What do you think, Lord Ivashkov?
Just gonna force your way in?
- Adrian...
- Gonna set your Guardians on me?
You think you can make me talk?
- No.
She can.
She's not gonna give us what we need if you don't.
- I will.
- You have Compulsion.
You're a Messenger.
- Which means I can make you talk,
if I choose to.
- Are you okay?
- I should be asking you.
I'm fine.
- Here.
You're pushing yourself.
- I'm just--I'm just tired.
But I did it.
I will be king.
I--
I just--I just need to make it through this last night.
The Queen will submit me to caucus,
the votes will formalize it,
and then you and I can both rest.
- But you have to make it through tonight
looking like a king, and you can barely stand.
Do you really think they'll allow it if they see this?
Dad, would the Unionists even support you?
I believe in you.
And I'm better. Look at me.
I slept. I had a feed.
I'm gonna heal you again.
I am. I can handle it.
And after last night,
there isn't much in my life that's come to anything.
But this, I can do.
I can make you king.
Ready?
- A man who raises such daughters
seeks to be the father to our people.
It cannot be.
Your Holiness, it's time you stopped Victor
once and for all.
- Me?
I represent the Elemental Way, my dear.
Not the mortal one.
- That distinction is exactly the problem.
The Strigoi are at the gates.
Our numbers are dwindling, and we are dithering.
We need to think bigger.
You, my dear aunt,
need to think bigger.
You will speak for the Church
and end this humiliation.
- Okay.
I think I need to know what's happening here.
- What do you want to know?
- All of it.
- And then this corner looked like
it was Vladimir healing someone,
which is also something I can do.
- That leaves the center, where Vladimir's eyes are.
- Where he's consumed by Darkness.
His eyes are black in a way I think I've seen in myself.
He was a Spirit User, and it did something to him.
And a long time ago, someone decided
that no one should ever know.
And they gave us some bullshit story about happy Vladimir.
- We want the truth about Vlad.
All of it.
- We want to know how he fought it off,
the Darkness.
He must have, somehow.
- Compulsion,. Dream Walking. Healing.
That's Anna there.
Faithful Anna, the model Dhampir Guardian.
Shadow-Kissed Anna.
But what about the fourth corner?
- It's been worn away.
I've never been able to find that out.
- If early accounts of this altarpiece are to be believed,
the image here originally looked something like this.
It's called a Spirit Bond.
Anna knew his heart like it was her own.
Sometimes his thoughts.
Maybe even saw through his eyes.
This is your answer.
Vladimir's solution to the Darkness, as you call it.
He passed it to her.
- They actually believe all of this.
A Fifth Element?
Secret Magic that Vladimir had and the entire Dominion
has kept a secret for centuries?
- Or they just edited it out of the whole story
after they burned a bunch of people alive.
That's what they do-- lie and kill.
So why not?
- Because...it goes against
the whole holy Elemental Order.
The four-part harmony of the world.
I shouldn't have let this happen.
- *.
They're coming.
- Go.
- Vladimir didn't beat the Darkness.
He just gave it to someone else.
Have I been doing this to Rose?
- She does sort of walk on the Dark side of things.
- No, no.
He was supposed to show me I could be someone good.
When everything's telling me that what I have in me is bad,
he was supposed to be good.
But he's just another parasitic Moroi like all of us,
just using his Guardian like that.
- Strigoi coming. We're going now.
- What?
You children.
You led them right to me.
- Yeah, lady, we did, but we've got the jump on them,
and we're going with or without you.
- Rose, no, she has-- - Lissa, we've got to go.
- They're here.
Inside.
- You'll be safe in here.
- You knew they were coming.
You can sense them in your gut.
Hey, listen, you're assuming that Vladimir
forced his Darkness onto Anna,
but what if she took it?
Isn't that what we learned in Sunday school,
the holy devotion of Shadow-Kissed Anna?
- What is Shadow-Kissed?
I mean, how does any of this even makes sense?
- This is one of the parts of Vladimir's story
the authorities wanted to expunge
because the Spirit Bond
was the fruit of Vladimir's ultimate sin.
Rose! Rose!
Rose!
- Lissa!
- She's just a kid.
What the actual *?
- Never hesitate.
May the succession bring prosperity to the Dominion.
- Very good.
Thank you all.
Is there something else, Irene?
- There is.
Your Majesty...
For decades now, you and I
have maintained a balance between the vagaries
of the political realm and the durable interest of the faith.
- As have all eight of my High Priests
and Priestesses before you.
- Yours? Hmm.
That, Marina, is precisely the problem.
The balance has collapsed.
This ugly chapter with Victor is only
the latest indignity to be forced on the faith
by political interests.
The time has come for the faith to assert itself.
- To muck about where it doesn't belong, you mean?
- To call in the many chits we have
piled up against the crown.
Do not mistake forbearance for weakness.
I am telling you that nominating Victor
would be a very grave error.
- Better your niece.
How much balance would there be
if one family controlled both Church and state?
Unless you're retiring.
- Tatiana is the only candidate for the throne
that the Church will tolerate.
And without the support of the Church,
the new monarch will fail.
The Elementalists will make sure of it.
Iwill make sure of it.
Victor will not rule.
- I saw him.
They followed us here from the club.
- They had a human smorgasbord there.
What would we matter to them?
- My life here is dead.
- No, the Strigoi are dead.
You could clean up, and--
- You're so far out of your depth.
You have no idea how this world works.
It's not the Strigoi I'm worried about.
It's the ones who come after them.
You've burned my world down.
But to make us even, I'm going to give you
what you came here for.
- What the hell is going on?
How can you have possibly lost the Queen?
- What are you talking about, Abby?
The Queen has assured me--
- I have it from Tatiana's own lips.
The Queen won't submit your name to the Council.
Word's already getting out.
You've lost her confidence.
Tarus, the Ozeras, they're all wavering.
You may not have your votes much longer.
No.
Not now.
No.
- Your father sent me.
Are you all right?
- I just need to feed.
Sonya.
Hey, easy.
Sonya.
Slow down, please!
Please! No!
- This is the moment. I have the votes.
You only need to name me, and it's done.
They will do your will.
Marina, please, after all we've given,
I have to have this.
- I'm sorry, Victor.
The Church has forced my hand.
But I have one final card to play.
I want to thank my dear friend Abby Batista
for hosting us on this weighty day.
As we choose our next leader,
I remind you that a good monarch must know when to rule
and when not to.
As there is no clear majority for either the Elementalist
or Unionist candidate tonight,
I am suspending this caucus...
And invoking the ancient rite of Royal Trial,
a ritual steeped in and sanctified
by our religious forebears.
The candidates must face a series of sacred tests.
Whoever wins will rule.
Thus, the Elements will decide our fate,
not your aging Queen.
As of now, the future of our Dominion
is in the hands of the Elements.
- It was just a moment.
We hesitated for one tiny moment.
- There's no room for divided loyalties in this world, Rose.
There can never be a question
of you or them,
me or your charge.
There can be no hesitation.
- Of course not.
It's a * dream.
But you felt it.
Right?
What we could be?
- Every second of it.
But never again.
- For 500 years, we've burrowed down in our provinces
and let ourselves forget that the Strigoi
aren't the only ones with the power to do us harm.
Beyond the wards, they watch and wait,
ready to come down on us with all their fury if we err.
But if history is our guide,
the first wound we suffer will be self-inflicted.
We turn on our own first.
- Thank God you're here. I needed to see you.
- I don't want you to be my Guardian.
Not now, not ever.
It's just--it's too wrong, all of it.
The way we exploit you.
I just can't do it anymore, not to you.
They'll give me someone, and I can't avoid that.
But I just can't have it be you.
You deserve better.
- I deserve?
- I'm trying to do what's best.
- You have no idea what it's like to be us.
None.
And now you're gonna tell me what I deserve?
You're going to make that choice for me,
but I don't get a say?
I have no option but to be a Guardian,
and the only thing that makes all that shit worthwhile
is you.
And now you're gonna take that away
as some kind of a favor to me?
You have no idea what I would give up for you.
I would die for you.
- Yeah, I know you would, because you did.
- The ultimate sin Vladimir committed
was resurrection.
In a faith built on the cycling of Elements,
there is no greater violation...
Than bringing life back to the dead.
That was the source of the bond to Anna,
the Shadow Kiss.
Death left its mark on her...
- Just as it has on your friend.
- You died
saving me in the accident.
I brought you back.
You're Shadow-Kissed.
That's why we have this bond between our spirits.
But now--
now I know how toxic that's been for you.
I've been passing my Darkness off to you.
I'm not gonna do it anymore,
not if I can help it.
- So firing me is going to solve that?
- It's a start.
- Lissa-- - I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
- Lissa.
Lissa!
- Sonya?
Sonya.
Sonya?