Monster or Angel - Alec Lightwood

26 - A Nice Apology

"Yeah, I was just telling Raj that he shouldn't be upset because he had no control, and that it was the demon-" I start, stopping only when Raj shoves my back to force me forward.

"Enough, get moving," Raj says, his voice gruff.

"And here I thought the tin man gained a heart," I huff.

"Shut the hell up," he sighs pushing me along. He forces me to walk and I feel myself grow anxious about being away from them. My Parabatai is hurt and Jace is there. I want to be with them, I need to be.

"Wait, hang on, I want to stay here," I say as I try to move back to my family, but Raj grips my elbow and ushers me along again.

"Aldertree is waiting." He tugs me away and I look back to my family over my shoulder feeling suddenly frantic.

"Wait, just- Jace, are you okay?" I shout to him. I never hear the answer as Raj drags me around the corner and into the ops centre. The noise of Shadowhunter's talking drown out any response Jace might have given and I curse them all with the most colourful choice of words in my mind.

"You're an utter arse. You couldn't even give me a minute to speak with them?" I say in anger. He shrugs, finally letting me go so that I can walk myself.

"Not when you decide to chat crap about me being upset," he says defensively. I raise a brow to him as we walk out of the ops centre and into the corridor to Aldertree's office.

"But you were upset."

Raj glares at me but says nothing as we continue walking, and it isn't long before we reach Aldertree's office door. He knocks and instantly we are being summoned in. Aldertree sits behind his desk, palms pressed together, elbows on the desk and fingers against his lips. He doesn't move when he sees us, he just lowers his eyes to the chair opposite, telling me to take a seat. So I do just that.

"How are you feeling?" Aldertree asks, his head nodding to my chest. An unnecessary action if you ask me.

"Fine. Raj said you needed to speak with me."

"Yes." He clears his throat. "After listening to Raj's report and assessing you these past days, I have decided that you are in fact suitable for service. And so I shall be reinstating you as a working Shadowhunter."

"Thank you for finally seeing that I'm not working for a psychopath," I mutter sarcastically. His reasons are bull and I know it. He dangled that sword over Jace's head and got proof that I'm not compromised.

"Watch it, Maelys. For all I care, you are still Valentine's daughter. You might be off the bench, but I will always be keeping a close eye."

"What? I'm not allowed to feel pissed that after everything I've done for the Clave and for this Institute, you still had the audacity to label me compromised and threaten my runes." I scoff.

Aldertree's brow raises, yet he doesn't move as he says, "not when it was your very suggestion to have your runes removed."

"How else were you going to take me seriously or even consider me a Shadowhunter? You did not care about whether or not I proved myself and you weren't going to even give me the option. You got Raj to keep me to my room and stop me from interacting with my Parabatai. You wouldn't have made any changes if I hadn't suggested my runes."

"That was a lot of assumptions," Aldertree muses. He leans back in his chair, removing his elbows from the desk but keeping his fingers pressed against his lips. His eyes flicker to Raj and he nods to him. "You may leave us."

I don't turn to watch Raj leave, rather I keep a firm glare stuck to the man in front of me. I don't know why I'm saying all of this, but I can't help myself. Maybe all of the pent up anger is finally breaking free. Though I am sure this is only going to bite me in the ass.