"I'm not giving up, I'm being reasonable. Tell me one time that Jane's mother or Persephone or Calla was ever wrong, one time Cabeswater was wrong." He sounds overly patient now, as though he's explaining something terribly obvious. "And you became Cabeswater's magician because you wanted something that was all yours on your own terms. You went off on your own then, too." He shakes his head. "Except everyone knew about me except me."

He sighs, running hands through his hair, mussing it up. Frustration leaks through and his voice rises in volume, if not in pitch or tone. "There are probably ten thousand things you're hiding from me and mostly I can live with that. If anyone knows how to live by selective truths...but this? How would you feel if I kept your death from you? Or Ronan's?"