The small room behind the throne is the perfect place for my dressing down, in his eyes at least. I would prefer this didn't happen at all. “Against my express orders,” he finishes his stomping, pacing tirade, “stirring who knows what interference from the European High Council. What do you have to say for yourself?” I scowl at him, doing my best to keep my temper. He doesn’t yet know of the full extent of my transgressions and maybe, if I can turn him against Caine sufficiently, I can get the Californian leader banned before he can use Sage against me. Not that such a scenario is likely. There will be more yelling and possible repercussions I haven’t thought of yet when Oleksander finds out about my relationship with a normal. But, for now, I need him to listen to me. It takes all the training I have, my mother's memory, to keep me from lashing out at my grandfather for not seeing the danger right in front of his eyes. “I was protecting the Makosky family,” I say in a cold voice.
