"I have made my choices. I chose to make those sacrifices." Sometimes it hadn't felt like Alec had a choice, but he couldn't blame others for most of the choices he'd made. He could have requested a position at another Institute. That would have given him a different set of choices, but he couldn't leave his siblings. He wanted to explain, but after Clary's rants about how barbaric Shadowhunter society was, he already knew how that would be received.

Most Mundanes didn't understand. They couldn't understand or refused to. They had choices. They weren't born into a specific role. They could do anything they wanted. They didn't pledge themselves to a higher good while they were still children. "Sacrificing ourselves is what Nephilim do."

From the way Adam was glaring at him and the way he seemed ready for a fight, he didn't believe that Alec had made the right decisions and coming out... At least Izzy and Jace were proud of him. "Sure you do." He managed to keep most of the sarcasm out of his voice. Standing he glanced over his shoulder as he headed for the door. Best to retreat than for things to turn ugly and he said something he regretted. It was bad enough that he was still struggling to keep things together with Jace. He shouldn't be fighting with Adam too. "You probably have things to do for tomorrow. If there's anything in the book that you don't understand, Izzy or I can answer your questions."