Author's note: After a few awkward drabbles, I finally basically throw myself into the Mortal Instruments fanfiction.

I think that this fic needs an explanation of some sort so… It's semi-AU (in which Alec and Aline never actually came out to the whole Shadow world) and based on one of Spun's fics – Avarice.

Any feedback is appreciated, because it's a really weird pairing and lots of difficult characters and I have honestly no idea how it turned out.

P.S.: One last thing – if you couldn't imagine what Aline and Helen's dress/hair/whatever looks like (because I feel like I really screwed the description of the wedding dress and I don't think that Alec or Magnus's clothes need any picture), he closest I could find (excluding the models's faces. I don't imagine them like that at all) are in the info of my profile.

"You look amazing." Aline praised, her eyes scanning Alec. He was dressed in formal clothes – a tux, actually, covered in golden runes, and a black dress shirt underneath. He had combed his hair and that was everything he could and would do about it.

His parents had been here a few hours ago; then Jace, Isabelle and even Clary had visited him. They all complimented him, told him how good he looked. In his parents's case, things ended with this, but when the others had come here, they asked him if he was okay. If he was ready or sure that he really wanted to get married.

He wasn't. But he had no choice.

When Alec and Aline had announced their engagement to their families, both his and her parents had been delighted and everyone said that they were a lovely couple. When he was holding Aline's hand, smiling to his mother, Alec had seen the relief in Maryse's eyes. Marriage was a topic that his parents brought up more and more often ever since he had turned 20.

The engagement – more like an arrangement, actually – he had with Aline, though, involved anything but actual love.

It had all started about two years ago, when they had been in Alicante. They had confessed some things to each other and had came up with the brilliant idea that they were putting into action today – back then, they had decided that, if things went as bad for both of them as they feared that they would – they two would get together just so they could both be free without actually letting anyone know the truth behind it all.

Truth was that marriage was – for both of them – one last, desperate attempt to have some kind of freedom. They had vowed to each other that, once they were married, they'd make their families happy and that then they would let each other do whatever they want.

It wasn't exactly Alec's idea of perfect life, but it was something.

Then the preparations for the wedding had started and he had spent the last six hours or so sitting in this room and supposedly getting ready for the ceremony. He had tried to turn his feelings off and just smile to everyone.

Isabelle had come to visit him at some point. He could barely remember a moment when she'd been crying, but today, she did. She had stayed and talked to him, restlessly assuring him that this wasn't necessary and that their parents would understand and would love him, no matter who he had chosen to love.

Then it was Jace, and that experience was even worse than Izzy's tears. His parabatai didn't seem sad, just really angry and he had hardly uttered a word to Alec. He wasn't even sure if Jace was angry at him for being such a coward, or at everyone else for scaring him off in the first place. Alec didn't ask. He just assured him friend that he was all right.

Then, much to Alec's surprise, Clary had visited him as well. Strangely enough, she was the only one of all three who had said something that actually made him feel a bit better.

"You can always come to us, you know." She had said calmly, as if it was obvious. "We all understand. I'm pretty sure Aline does, too. She feels the same, after all. You'll be fine."

The words had been completely ordinary, but pretty much what Alec actually needed and that was why they were so relaxing. She knew that he was far from being fine at the moment, and she didn't try to convince him that he was, in fact, alright. She just spoke the truth, exactly as it was.

"Still there?" Aline asked gently and Alec realised that he'd been spacing out again.

"Sure." He smiled. She had saved him just before his train of thought could reach its 'Magnus' station. Alec didn't want that right now. It would be too much.

He finally took a good look on his soon-to-be bride.

"You're very beautiful." He said awkwardly, not sure if she needed to be reassured – she seemed pretty confident most of the time. But he wasn't lying. She was beautiful.

Aline's dress was – as was customary for the Shadowhunters – golden and one of the most pretentious things he had ever seen – not in a bad way, though. It had a corset with only one strap, a bit under her right shoulder. The whole corset was covered with small, almost unnoticeable ornaments. There was a golden rose right on her waist and a lot more of them, falling down the skirt made of golden satin. Just between the two trails of roses, the dress was made of something else. Silk? Probably. Alec couldn't identify it for sure.

Aline's dark hair was left hanging loose down her shoulders' her head crowned with a wreath of the same roses that he could see on the dress.

"It's really pretty." She agreed, playing absent-mindedly with one of the bracelets on her wrist. A sad, bitter smile curled her lips. "That was what Helen told me when she saw it, anyway." Aline's black eyes searched for his blue ones and Alec was rather surprised to see an actual concern in the look she gave him. "Do you know if Magnus will come over before the wedding?" she asked softly.

Lately, Alec had gotten used to the way she rapidly jumped on one topic to another. He usually expected it, but this question had taken him by surprise. He nearly flinched.

"I don't know." Alec admitted quietly, looking down. He hated that; he hated not knowing if the only person he actually loved would come to visit him right before his wedding. It was almost as absurd as the whole wedding itself. "He didn't say anything… but I suppose he will. He's not mad at mi for getting married. He knows it's not… well…"

"For real." Aline finished his sentence instead of him. She said it without menace; Alec knew that she actually liked him quite a lot. Just not in the way everyone thought she did.

"Yeah." He said. "Do you have to get going already?" he asked, seeing that she was already standing by the door. Aline nodded.

"Yeah. There are a lot of things I still have to do, and we have less than an hour. Mother wanted a proper goodbye since, you know, I'm moving in New York and all." Suddenly she approached Alec and pulled him into a tight embrace. "See you at the ceremony." She whispered and gently kissed his cheek, leaving him alone in the empty room.

It was one of the guest rooms in the Institute. He was supposed to live here with Aline and eventually take the control over the place from his father after some years – he was almost certain that the Clave wouldn't take it away from him.

His mother had told him to stay out of his room in the day of the wedding, because he was about to start a new life. Something about symbols and stuff like that. It was one of Maryse's rare displays of those strange beliefs they had in the Trueblood family, so he hadn't protested much after she assured him that nobody is going to take over his room once he was married. The ceremony was supposed to take place in the gardens of the Institute; it was the middle of July, after all.

There was a soft knock on the door and Alec put on a smile, not sure how long would he have to just stay here and assure people that he was as happy as he could get.

"Come in." he called to whoever was outside.

The man who entered the room was the only one that Alec wanted to see in a day like this one. Actually, in some other life, he would probably be the only person the Shadowhunter would want to get married to at all.

Magnus didn't ask him if he was okay, or if he was sure and ready for what he was about to do. He knew that Alec wasn't. The Warlock just sat next to him, a soft and yet sad smile playing on his lips.

"I've never thought that I'd have an affair with a married man." He said and Alec tried to smile, for Magnus's sake, but he was pretty sure that he had failed. He took the Warlock's hand in his own, looking at the elegant ringed fingers.

"Set me as a seal upon thine heart,

As a seal upon thine arm,

For love is strong as death." He murmured. He knew that he would never be able to place runes on Magnus's skin; runes that spoke to the Shadowhunter of love and loyalty, of affection and an oath that he would never break.

"What was that?" Magnus frowned.

"Surely you've heard it." Alec replied and repeated his words. "It's what Shadowhunters say on their wedding ceremonies. One rune is placed here" he touched the place just above Magnus's heart; "and the other one is here." He touched his arms.

"Love is strong as death." His boyfriend echoed. "It doesn't sound very encouraging."

"It's not." Alec agreed. "I think it means that the only was to be parted from the one you love is to die, because death isn't stronger than your love for them. But it's just as strong so… I suppose it's kind of a promise. That if your beloved dies, you wouldn't able to bring them back, but you'll never forget. Because love is strong as death." Alec's voice died. He was slightly ashamed; he never talked much and there was a reason for that. He could rarely say anything that was worth hearing.

"I think you're right." Magnus said quietly after a few moments of silence. There was something in the Warlock's voce that made Alec look up and when he did, he saw that those green-gold eyes he loved so much were suspiciously glistening.

"Are you crying?" Alec asked, terrified that he had said something terribly wrong.

"Who doesn't cry on weddings?" Magnus said and, despite the smile he managed, that shaken look in his eyes did not disappear. He glanced at the clock on the wall. "You most likely have to go already." He said, suddenly in a hurry. "You've got to be there in about ten minutes."

Alec's heart sank. How long was it when Aline had told him that they had an hour more? Wasn't it about five minutes ago? He couldn't believe that time had passed so quickly exactly when he would really like it to stop and never start again.

Without saying anything else, he wrapped his arms around Magnus, pulling him closer. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips against the Warlock's, successfully forgetting the whole world for about ten seconds.

"I love you." He whispered and left the room, not waiting for a response. He probably wouldn't be able to bear the sight of Magnus's eyes that followed him when he closed the door behind his back.

~X~

"Look at them," Aline murmured while they were waiting for their already slightly neurotic parents to find seats for the guests.

But she wasn't looking at said parents. Alec followed her gaze and saw the strangest couple in the world.

Helen Blackthorn was sitting in the front row (Aline and Alec had at least got to decide who sits where). She was wearing a dark green dress that seemed pretty simple, excluding the small crystals that were thrown around the dress in seemingly random places. Somewhere in the back of his mind Alec thought that Helen's dress weirdly matched Aline's – they were pretty much alike, if he didn't pay attention the color. A few blonde curls, artistically slipping out of her coiffure, were surrounding her pale face while she smiled encouragingly at them both. Next to her, Magnus had already taken his place and he was smiling too as he answered some question the girl next to him had posed.

Since his parents were not around yet and he had nothing to fear, Alec left himself shamelessly stare at the Warlock for a while.

Magnus was wearing a black tux, pretty similar to Alec's, but the Shadowhunter noticed that Magnus definitely looked better in it than him. Unlike his own black shirt, though, his boyfriend's was a color Alec couldn't really put a name on – it seemed to be something like dark green, the same shade as Helen's dress, but whenever the Warlock turned around, Alec could catch some golden shine if he looked from the right angle. He suspected magic behind it – he hadn't seen shirt that could change its color, and it resembled Magnus's eyes too much to be a coincidence.

The Warlock's eyes were something that, as always, took his breath away. Sometimes Alec felt like he could get lost in those eyes for hours and even then, there would be yet some unfamiliar shade, some new gleam to discover the next time he looked at them. The make up he had put around them tonight was less than usual, but, just as the shirt, it made his eyes stand out in a way that always had Alec absolutely stunned.

"Alexander!" Robert's sharp voice invaded Alec's mind mercilessly and for an instant, the younger Shadowhunter felt overwhelming anger rise inside him before he could help it. Then he tried to pull himself together. He was about to waste his life just so he could keep his reputation unstained. It would be ridiculous if he left himself being caught now, after everything that had happened.

"What is it?" he asked, trying not to snap, as he met his father's gaze. The man seemed just as annoyed as him. As if he had a reason to be.

"The ceremony will start any minute now," Robert said. "Can you please pull yourself together?"

His father's words echoed his own thoughts in a way that worried him deeply. As much as he respected Robert, he certainly didn't want to be anything like him. The idea that they were even thinking in ways that were similar to each other was a bit frightening.

"Sure. Of course." Let's just get this over with.

The rest of the whole thing – family speeches and all – was a bit of a fog for Alec. He successfully turned off everything that surrounded him – the people, their words, their faces, everything. In his mind, he was someone else entirely and nothing of here and now actually mattered to him at all.

"Alec!" Aline hissed. He looked at her in surprise, and as soon as her realised that her face was burning, he felt his own cheeks flush too. They both hadn't realised that the time to place the runes on each other had come. By the Angel. Couldn't he do one thing right? Even his own damn wedding?

He hastily pulled his stele out of his pocket and got closer to his bride. He started drawing the first rune right above her heart, where the corset of her dress ended.

"Set me as a seal upon thine heart,

As a seal upon thine arm,

For love is strong as death."

He said it as quietly as he could, feeling bad that his heart wasn't into the thing he was saying, as she stretched her arm out and he drew the second rune there. The stele didn't seem to be responding to his touch as easy as it usually did and suddenly a strange thought occurred to him – what if the Angel knew if you were honest or not and that was why he couldn't draw the complex Marriage runes properly? Or was it only his guilty conscience and his slightly shaking hands combined to torture him?

Before he could even get rid of these thoughts, he heard Aline repeating the same words and felt the pleasant burning trace of the stele as she undid one or two buttons of his shirt, glaring at him for not having though of that, in order to place the rune where it was supposed to be.

When she was done, her eyes locked with his. There was no love in the look they shared; only silent, mutual understanding.

Alec leaned in to kiss her as they both closed their eyes and imagined someone entirely different was there with them.