Magnus's hand slipped from Alec's grip and it was like a piece of him broke off, a piece of his heart that would forever remain in this instant before Magnus's hand slipped away. Alec noticed the hole it left as his parents flocked to him, fussing over his health and state of mind.

"I'm fine, dad," Alec said in monotone, though he was anything but fine. He didn't fancy explaining to them exactly why he would never be fine again and they seemed perfectly satisfied with his simple reply. The King and Queen instantly started talking about what they've been up to all week. Alec didn't really listen until the word wife was brought up.

"Your wife, Alec," Maryse explained when Alec inquired what she meant. "We didn't want the news of you living with a warlock no matter the reason to cause scandal and lead to you marrying beneath yourself, so we contacted the noble families of our allies. There are after all so few unattached shadowhunters living here. It's best if you marry a princess from elsewhere, for the bloodline and to strengthen our alliances."

"We have invited all eligible ladies to join us for a grand party where you can meet them," Robert explained.

"I don't want to marry. Can't I rule without an heir?" Alec whined. "When I'm old and grey I'll just choose a successor."

"There are precious few nephilim left," Maryse said. "If we stop having children there will be no one left to defend against demon attacks."

"There are the warlocks," Alec argued. Both his parents stood frozen for a second, before exchanging a knowing look.

"I was afraid of this," Robert sighed. "I knew that fowl man just wanted to warp your mind. You are home and safe now, Alec, please don't pay any mind to anything he said."

Alec jerked out of his father's grip before yelling, "You have no idea why Magnus asked for me." Then he bolted, before his parents could see the tears on his face. Alec ran until he found himself alone in his suddenly depressing bedroom. Alec blocked the door with his dresser before either of his parents caught up with him. He could hear them knocking a few moments later, but he didn't open it. He sobbed until his eyes ran dry, then he just lay there in his cold empty bed and let the misery have him until, exhausted he drifted off to sleep alone.

The next morning, when he woke Alec saw breakfast sitting on his bedside table and the sun streaming in through the open windows. He knew they'd managed to get past his blockage during the night, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Hungry, Alec ate the meal, then resigned himself to the worst, got up and faced the day.

His parents were apologetic saying they shouldn't have cornered him like that. They admitted they knew he hadn't wanted to marry long before his time with the warlock. Either of them made anything of Alec's words during his outburst and didn't ask why Magnus had chosen Alec. In fact, neither of his parents used Magnus's name once and Alec hated it. They reassured Alec that once he was settled with his wife and a child on the way, Alec would be free to seek any other companionship he craved. The idea made Alec feel sick to his stomach.

What kind of woman would want to enter into such an agreement? To bear his children, yet receive no love or loyalty in return?

"We won't tell her, of course," Robert said, his mother nodding her head behind her husband. "With political marriages people expect this sort of thing, but no one talks about it, so you are not to worry either." Not once in Alec's life had he seen love in the eyes of his parents for each other. He knew they'd both had affairs and were both aware of the others. The whole idea made Alec sick to his stomach. Why was a child born of love, but not wedlock considered illegitimate while a child born within nothing but a political partnership valued so highly?

Alec didn't say any of this however. He felt so helpless as he tried to do what they wanted. He agree to attend his parents party, agreed to meet all his prospective brides, but his heart wasn't in it. He met with them all individually during the events of the evening. Alec spoke with women that were funny, beautiful, intelligent, yet he felt nothing for them. He wasn't attracted to their beauty. He was too heartbroken to appreciate their humor and he thought the smarter ones would have made better advisers than wives. Lydia in particular had leadership qualities that made Alec think she had the ability to run a country by herself. Glenda was all smiles with no personality while Betty seemed determined to make Alec interesting in her cleavage. Alec had to resist the urge to explain to her that they'd both die of old age before that happened.

"You are unlike any prince my father has ever made me meet," she said. Her name was Elizabeth and she was the tenth or twelfth princess he'd met so far. At this point Alec had quite lost count. Elizabeth was calmer than the rest, with long blonde hair, blue eyes just like his and a kind face.

"And you are the first princess to make so accurate an observation," Alec replied.

"Let me see if I can figure it out," she said grinning. "What makes Alexander Lightwood different from the rest." She was looking at him so intently, but Alec didn't know what she was looking for. He kept his gaze locked on her eyes as she leaned closer, probably trying to get a closer look at him.

"Oh," she stated knowingly. "I can see why your parents are having a hard time marrying you off." She chuckled.

"Whatever you think you know," Alec said. "I promise you are wrong."

"Oh, really,?" she smirked. "So just now when I puffed out my chest and emphasises the neckline of this very low cut dress your eyes didn't remain fixed on my face?"

"I am a gentleman," Alec said, trying to cover his mistake.

"Oh no, I've met gentlemen before," Elizabeth replied. "I can tell the difference between wanting to look but resisting and not even caring."

"That is quite a statement," Alec said. "The difference is subtle."

"Not really," she smiled leaning back and taking a moment to fix her dress.

"What makes you so certain?" Alec asked, curious.

"Because," Elizabeth said firmly before looking up at him. "I have just as little interests in what lies under your clothes as you do in what's beneath mine."

Alec was floored. This was not something he had expected. All the other women had tried to play their looks up, make Alec interested in their feminine wiles. There was a distinct lack of feminine wiles to Elizabeth despite her long flowing dress and tidy hair done up in ringlets.

"I believe," Alec said slowly after a moment's silence. "What we have here is the perfect recipe for a political marriage."

"My thoughts exactly," she smiled at him.

"I am told you are not to know," Alec started. "But I can't stomach lies. If we are to do this I want us to always be honest with each other."

"Agreed," Elizabeth nodded.

"With that in mind I must tell you that I am in love with someone I can never have," Alec just managed to say the words without choking on them. "There is room in my heart to be your friend, but nothing more."

"I like you, Alec," Elizabeth stated. "Even if I were in danger of falling in love with you, I value the fact that you did not lie. I, too, love another out of my reach. She is far away now, in my home town. I will likely never see her again."

"Would you like to bring her here?" Alec offered kindly. "Is she of noble blood?"

"She is a commoner," Elizabeth replied. "A mundane, though there is nothing mundane about the way she smiles."

"We could give her a job in the Palace," Alec suggested. "You have that option."

"I sense you do not," Elizabeth said reaching to touch his arm. It was a pleasant sensation, one of friendship.

"He's a warlock," Alec explained. "He can't live in the Palace."

"I see," Elizabeth said sadly. Alec shook his head to try and bring his mind back to the woman in front of him rather than the man with cat's eyes filling his mind.

"Do we have a deal?" Alec asked.

"Yes," Elizabeth replied immediately. She beamed at him and Alec took some comfort in the idea of being able to help her be with her lover even if he could do nothing for his own happiness.

Excusing himself briefly Alec informed his parents that he didn't need to meet any of the others, that he'd made a choice. His parents were thrilled and started preparations at once. There was to be an announcement and the wedding was set for just after Clary and Jace's wedding but before Izzy and Simon's wedding.

An image of his life for the next forty years played in Alec's head. Lying with Elizabeth, a chore for both of them, thinking of Magnus the whole time. Meeting his children, teaching them to fight. Hours spent in the mission room organizing soldiers and coordinating defensive plans against demons. Dealing with the daily problems of running a country: facts, figures complaints, and infrastructure. Sleeping alone at night knowing that Elizabeth was in the arms of someone she loved. It wasn't such a bad life, really. He was glad at least he'd met someone like Elizabeth. The only thing worse than being jealous of her happiness would have been being the cause of her unhappiness. Before he'd met Magnus, this had been Alec's main objection to marriage. To have his wife be in love with him but being unable to love her in return went against Alec's values, his moral core. His very self. Elizabeth solved his dilemma. Thanks to her, Alec could do right by his country and his morals. Even if Alec couldn't do right by his heart, this was the best scenario possible, was it not?

For a moment Alec wondered what would have happened if he'd fallen for a human, like Elizabeth. He could have given himself the same compromised happy ending that he'd given her. Alec would have taken this man into the Palace as his royal companion. Oh, how Alec wished that man could be Magnus, but a warlock couldn't live in the Palace. Not even Tessa had managed it. Alec had to confess he'd wondered if it was possible when he'd heard Tessa's story, but learning she'd spent all those years hiding as a mundane had burst his fantasy. Everyone knew Magnus was a warlock. They would never allow it.

Alec sat up, suddenly alert. How did he know they wouldn't allow it? Alec hadn't even asked. He hadn't told them anything. He'd been so focused on his own misery that he hadn't realized he could try something else. What's the worse that could happen really? They'd disown him? Keep him from the Throne? Alec knew exactly where he'd go if that was the case. Alec had nothing to lose by trying. Seized with hope Alec tore down the halls until he reached his parents in the mission room.

"Alexander," his mother cried. "Are you alright?" He was panting from running down the halls, and likely looked a little mad.

"I need to talk to you," Alec told them. "In private." The King asked everyone but his wife to leave the room and Alec sat down across from his parents.

"I know you won't want to hear this," Alec said. "But I need to ask you something and I can't ask until you understand."

"What on earth is going on?" Maryse exclaimed, clearly confused so Alec told them. He told them everything, the real reason he'd gone to see Magnus, how that week had been the best of his life. Alec pleaded with them to understand how little they knew about warlocks.

"I love Magnus," Alec stated. "I want to invite him to live in the Palace."

"Oh, Alexander," Robert groaned, placing his head in his hands. "I know we said you could invite a man, but not a warlock."

"He's put some kind of spell on you," Maryse gasped holding her hand to her throat in surprise.

"I promise you he hasn't," Alec exclaimed. "I was in pain, dying when I first saw Magnus, but I could see something in his eyes that pulled me in. It's true I went to thank him, but the day you caught me was my second time visiting him. Since I first laid eyes on that man, since before I knew his name, I have been drawn to him. I kept going back to see him, always saying before I left that I wished we had more time. I gave him the idea to call in his debt by asking for me. Please believe me when I tell you I am not being manipulated or coerced in anyway. I love him of my own free will."

Alec could see the sudden clarity in his parents faces. He had heard the passion in his own voice and knew he'd never spoke with such emotion before.

"I will marry Elizabeth," Alec continued. "I will do my job, but give me this. Give me this one thing please. I am begging you."

"A warlock has never lived in the Palace before," Robert stated, clearly still stunned by the energy in Alec's voice.

"Actually, one has," Alec smiled. "Tessa Grey, mistress to William Herondale over fifty years ago. She was a warlock, though she didn't tell anyone. Look it up if you don't believe me."

"They can't get through the shield," Maryse said next.

"We can lower it," Alec exclaimed. "Like Will did for Tessa."

"What will Elizabeth think?" Robert added.

"She knows all this already," Alec dismissed his mother's argument. "She is like me, that is why I choose her. We will be political allies, friends and parents, but we will never be in love."

"She'll be lonely," Maryse argued.

"No ,she won't," Alec said, beaming. He could sense his parents excuses crumbling. This was going to work. "She is in love with a mundane. I have asked Elizabeth to bring her lover here to live in the Palace as well."

"This is highly unusual," Robert huffed. "Alexander I just- I mean- It isn't done."

"Maybe it's time it was," Alec said energetically. "I am going to fight for my happiness. Are you with me or against me?"

"With you, of course," Maryse sighed after what felt like the longest moment of silence in Alec's life.

"The council won't like it," Robert added. Alec jumped to his feet, knowing his father well enough to know that was a yes. He pulled both his parents into a hug, before the King called his council back and proposed this slight alteration to their world view. Robert had someone look up Tessa Grey and it was proved that a warlock had indeed lived within the Palace's shield before.

"I still don't like this," Valentine argued.

"Too bad," Robert replied calmly as he stood up. "I know this isn't the way things are done, but it isn't so impossible either."

"That warlock has twisted his mind," Valentine spat, glancing to Alec. "It just wants us to lower the shield so it can attack." Alec's hands formed into fists at his side as he listen to Valentine call Magnus an it.

"Why would he do that?" Maryse asked quietly.

"Revenge," Valentine answered quickly. "For the banishment of that blue warlock for failing to save Prince Max." Alec had explained everything to his parents in his long winded confession, including what he now knew about the circumstances of his little brother's death. Though Maryse was still slightly unsure of where she stood, it seemed Alec's father had believed him.

"This warlock in particular," Robert spoke clearly and firmly. "Has done nothing to earn my distrust. For the sake of my son's happiness we are going to try this."

And that was that. The king's word was law. It wasn't a perfect solution, but Alec still had joy in his heart as he left the meeting headed stepped to the shimmering purple portal to tell the one he loved that they could be together.


Woot! I has no self control! Couldn't wait to update so here you go. Another chapter less than 24 hours since the last one. :) Not sure what else to say here except for PLEASE REVIEW! This is my most plot driver story yet and I am super excited to hear what you think!


Sneak Peek Chapter 10

Magnus was watching his son sleep having just put him down, when he heard someone banging desperately on his door. Quickly casting his child monitoring spell, Magnus got up to prevent the noise from waking Max. Tessa and Catarina knew to just walk in without making such a ruckus that could wake the baby.

Magnus opened his front door, and what he saw nearly stopped his heart. Alexander was standing there in the rain, beaming at him like a crazy person. Those beautiful blue eyes alit with joy and relief, his face bright and rosy.

"Magnus," Alec gasped, before flinging himself into the warlock's arms, and pressing his lips to Magnus's. Magnus kissed him back, unable to do anything else. Just seeing Alec again was a joy he hadn't expect, though there was a little voice in the back of his mind, warning him that something was wrong.