“No,” I snarled, shaking not with fear but with rage. “I refuse to drop out!”
Dane’s calm, almost bored eyes swept over me as he sighed.
“Miss Vane, I’m not asking you. I’m telling you,” he said in a voice that held none of the previous softness. “You lack ability, and clearly, you didn’t bother to study enough. People can’t simply take what they want because they wish it. Power doesn’t answer to desire alone.”
I clenched my fists, fury boiling in my chest until it nearly choked me.
“I said I’m not dropping out! I can do this, I’ve been doing this for weeks! Something is just wrong right now, and I can’t…”
Dane’s expression hardened, and in the blink of an eye, he was standing beside me and clutching my elbow. His grip was firm, commanding, but there was something more than sheer stre
