Jace swings his seraph blade once again as I try and dodge it. Sweat is dropping down my back as we train. I aim my weapon at him and he stumbles over his feet and falls down onto the mat. I pin him down, laughing. A triumphant smile crosses my face. »Maybe you should stop pinning at Clary and actually concentrate on our practice, loverboy.«

Grinning he replies: »Well, judging by that nasty looking bruise on your stomach, you lost your oh-so-holy concentration of yours as well. Did Izzy do that in yesterday's training?«

At first I am clueless to what Jace means, but the I follow his gaze and a big blue spot catches my eyes. At first I am confused, because I'm pretty certain that Izzy did not hit me there, but then I remember yesterday evening at Magnus' loft. Blood rushes to my cheeks as I remember the feeling of his mouth on my stomach. I remember him sucking exactly that spot. The bruise is a fucking hickey!

I am not prepared to let Jace know that, though, so I just go with his theory. »Well, we trained pretty hard compared to other people, who were on a date with their girlfriend.«, hoping that he blames shame for my suddenly hot face.

Jace frowns for a few seconds before replying with a triumphant smirk:»Didn't you spend the whole night with Magnus? I saw you leaving last night and you only sneaked back in the morning.«

Yup, I am definitely blushing. Please, dear floor, just swallow me alive! I am not used to talk about my love life with my Parabatai. Hell, I'm not even used to having a love life to start with.

So, instead of answering I just let Jace go, stand up and give him his weapon back, so we can start another round of training. And we do.

»You guys must be hungry, after all that training. I cooked us some lunch.« Izzy pops into the training room right during a intense fight between Jace and me. She's still holding a spoon in one hand.

Jace reacts faster that me as declines the offer and claims the we are going to order Chinese take out after we finished.

Izzy pouts a bit, but quickly gains he confidence back:»Well, your loss then!«

Yup, our loss. We won't get food poisoning. Really unfortunate! I think sarcastically.

» Anyways, we should continue practicing. Jace is getting easier to defeat again.«

Jace holds up his arms in surrender. »Unfortunately, I wasn't able to train with you guys, yesterday. But you must have hit him pretty hard, Izzy. That bruise you gave him looks pretty tough.« Then he points right at it. Or better to say, right at my hickey.

Confusion crosses Izzy's face as she steps closer to get a better look. After a few seconds she is grinning, though.

»That's a hickey, Jace! Not a bruise.«

Really, now would be a great time to just disappear.