Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices, #3)

by Cassandra Clare

“I don’t want any more surprises like the one about your father,” said Consul. “She should never have kept his disease a secret from me.” “She had to,” Gideon said. “It was a condition of the agreement they made—” The Consul’s lips tightened. “Charlotte Branwell has no right to make agreements of such scope without consulting me. I am her superior. She should not and cannot go over my head in that manner. She and that group in the Institute behave as if they are their own country that exists under its own laws. Look what happened with Jessamine Lovelace. She betrayed us all, nearly to our destruction. James Carstairs is a dying drug addict. That Gray girl is a changeling or a warlock and has no place in an Institute, ridiculous engagement be damned. And Will Herondale—Will Herondale is a liar and a spoiled brat who will grow up to be a criminal, if he grows up at all.” The Consul paused, breathing hard. “Charlotte may run that place like a fiefdom, but it is not. It is an Institute and reports to the Consul. And so will you.” “Charlotte has done nothing to deserve such a betrayal from me,” Gideon said. The Consul jabbed a finger toward him. “That is exactly what I speak of. Your loyalty is not to her; it cannot be to her. It is to me. It must be to me. Do you understand that?” “And if I say no?” “Then you lose everything. House, lands, name, lineage, purpose.”