Wild sighed theatrically. “No, dear. I’m simply guiding you toward what’sbestfor you. For all of us.”
There it was.
The truth underneath.
Not about my health.
Not about my safety.
Control.
Always control.
Her smile thinned. “I’m glad you understand.”
“Oh, I understand perfectly,” I said. “You don’t want me choosing the wrong allies.”
“I don’t want you choosing the wrongfuture,” she corrected.
“Same thing.”
“My dear. You have been looking at your time here all wrong. Yes, for some, this place is a prison. It’s true. But for others – Darkmoor is an opportunity. To change. To better yourself. Once you leave us, you will have a much better understanding of what is expected of you in the future. Of what you can do for your father and the council.”
“So magnanimous,” I crossed my arms.
Wild folded her hands, the picture of patient condescension. “You are your father’s daughter. One day, what he has could be yours—”
“I don’t want what he has. And he doesn’t want me either.”
A flick of irritation crossed her face. “Be that as it may, his reputation reflects on you. And your… associations reflect on him.”
“Associations,” I echoed. “You mean friends.”
“Friends,” Wild repeated, as though it were a foreign word. “Miss Quinn, you are not some ordinary girl who can afford to attach herself to trouble. You are different and you and I both know that.”
“My father didn’t care what happened to me for years,” I said. “And now he cares who I eat lunch with?”
Wild’s expression did not change. “Your father entrusted me to keep you on the right path.”
“And that list?” I nodded toward the paper. “That’s the path?”
She didn’t deny it.
Of course she didn’t.
“Oliver Donahue is from a very established line,” she said. “The Donahue’s have produced brilliant healers for generations. Rod Jameson is practically royalty among light-born. And Victor Lightwood—”
“—likes to spit in people’s food and got suspended for beating his roommate with a chair.”
Wild blinked once. “Boys will be boys.”
I stared.
Then I laughed.
Sharp. Cold. Too loud.
Her eyes narrowed.
