The next day, in the library, Peter sits in the same room as Diana and that freaks her out.  So she goes to make sure that Miriam is still watching over her, because I guess now she trusts Miriam for some reason.  Not at all sure when that happened or why, since the vampires haven’t exactly been on the up and up.

“I wish I were larger,” Miriam said with a frown.

Because if you were bigger…???  What would change?  Are you planning to go lay a smack-down on Peter in the middle of the library?  Even if you are, you’re a fucking vampire.

Why is it in a book full of magic and powers, the women are still painted as weak because they don’t have the same physical prowess as men?

(And tiny people can totally lay on a smack-down.)

Matthew comes in, and Diana gets all twitterpated, because I hate this book.  Really, when’s the last time you saw from male perspective?  Men in these sorts of stories are all stoic and calmly in love, while women swoon and clutch at tables and skip heartbeats.

Because women are just such fragile, weak, emotional creatures, don’t’cha know?

Miriam spends the rest of the day ‘protecting’ her, and Matthew gets the credit for it.  Diana thinks he’s uberawesome for it.  I would like to point out, once again, that Diana doesn’t know what he wants with her, why he’s doing any of this, or if he’s trustworthy or not.  It’s like the text just got bored with that red herring and decided Peter and Gillian made for much better villains, but forgot any hint of any sort of transition.  After the end of the work day, they head off to yoga again.

Apparently Peter is some big threat, as Matthew said he’d never have left town if he’d know that guy was trailing her.  Because…???  Diana decides not to follow up on that comment and discover just exactly why Peter is so threatening, so I guess we’re expected to just take that at face value.

I didn’t know much about the world of creatures, but participating in human politics or religion was also forbidden.

WHO IS FORBIDING THIS?  WHY WON’T YOU TELL ME ANYTHING IMPORTANT, BOOK?

Matthew finally admits that he wants to nom/love her, and Diana takes the news with her customary lack of any sort of an emotional response.  They go inside for yoga.  Riveting.

After class, walking back to the car, an owl randomly almost attacks Diana, and she starts to have a full-on anxiety attack from it.  Really, Diana?  Finding out a vampire wants to eat you doesn’t do anything.  Being stalked by creatures merely annoys you.  Being threatened by Gillian can be counter-acted with an invitation to drinks.  But an owl is what pushes you over the edge?

Why is your brain so broken?

She passes it off as that ‘excess of adrenaline’ thing, but that seems like complete bullshit.  What kind of condition gives you random shots of excess, rather than, you know, actually being excessive whenever you have real threats?  This excuse pops up at complete random, doesn’t have any effect on the actual threats in her life, and is used as a cheap plot device instead of anything that has a tangible impact on her life.  Here?  It’s just tossed in there to cut short their conversation, because I guess the author wanted to pad some more.

“The exercise is probably more effective anyway.”

Yes, you are a brilliant scientist, Matthew.  You think an activity which causes a release of adrenaline is a good thing for someone who has problems with too much adrenaline.

Everyone’s brains are broken in this book.  That, or we’ve entered an alternate dimension that has new biology rules.

They talk about the magic book again, and Diana says she’s more afraid of Peter than she is of Matthew, because Peter tried to read her thoughts.  Apparently Diana thinks she can only be afraid of one person at a time, because she’s sure chummy with Matthew now.  Matthew tries to tell her that he’s bad news.  Diana out and out says she wants him to be overpotective of her.

Great, now everyone is endorsing his dickery.

More than that, though.  Matthew says that a relationship with him is tricky because he’s protective and possessive, and Diana says protective is good ‘right now.’  So…are they in a relationship?  Is she using a relationship to get protection?  There’s definitely an implication that protection and romance go hand in hand here.  Does Diana think that if she’s not in a romantic relationship, she won’t get any help with her personal safety?

Do we have, yet again, another relationship that boils down to “date me or die”?

Diana tries to talk more about the magic book, and Matthew tells her “it can wait.”  Uhg, no, stop putting this off!  This is interminable!  I can’t stand how much padding is in this fucking book!  We’ve had yet another chapter in which fuck-all happens, in which we’re teased with the possibility that a plot might happen, but then that chance is snatched away from us by characters simply refusing to talk about anything!

Oh, Diana asks him on a dinner date.  Book, that does not count as a plot.