Hey y'all! So I hope you enjoy this week's chapter! I'm hoping that I can continue on a weekly schedule, but from here on out things are going to get kind of crazy for me, so please know that the schedule might be a bit dead from here on out!

Please come let me know your thoughts on the story! This chapter is a bit of a wild ride so don't have too much fun with it! If you have any questions, let me know! Can't wait to hear from y'all!

When Jace had first shown him the letter that Valentine had left for them, Alec had most certainly had reservations about the entire matter. After spending the night with Magnus, Alec hadn't arrived back at home until early morning, but Jace had immediately found him, apparently having been listening for him to get back. It didn't take long for Alec to figure out that Robert held absolutely no reservations about the identity of the letter's sender. He wholeheartedly believed that it was indeed Valentine, but Alec had begun to wonder whether or not this was due to the fact that Robert simply wanted to believe that the Circle was behind the Downworlder disappearances. That would certainly be easier to believe if Valentine was still alive. "Hold on, hold on," Alec said as Robert launched into their plan for the night's meeting with Valentine. "Before we do anything else, I'm going to call Magnus. We need to make sure this is really from Valentine before we make any moves. If it's not from Valentine, that might mean we need to change the plan." Alec tried his hardest to keep from offending his dad, but he knew he had to reign Robert in before they would actually be able to do anything of use.

"What? You miss me already?" Magnus asked when he answered the phone on the second ring. Alec couldn't help but laugh at that, knowing that Magnus certainly hadn't expected to hear from him almost as soon as he'd gotten home. "Alexander, I know last night was amazing," Magnus continued, and Alec looked down at his feet, all but praying that the sound on his phone wasn't up high enough for Jace or his father to hear what Magnus was saying. "But even I, the High Warlock of Brooklyn, as skillful as I may be, yes, even I need a break sometimes." At that, Alec snorted, refusing to meet Jace's eyes as he looked at Alec in utter confusion. Alec knew all too well that he was most likely blushing at the moment. But the most insufferable part was that he knew Magnus knew this too. Alec could very much hear it in the teasing tone of the warlock's voice, and it was enough to drive him crazy. But he forced himself to push that thought to the back of his mind, promising himself that he could revisit it after the ordeal with Valentine or whoever it really was. "I am sure, however, that I could be persuaded to take a break from taking a break if…"

At that, Alec decided he should most likely interject before Magnus could say anything else that would make Robert's eyes wider than they were at that very moment. "Magnus? Will you kindly shut up?" Alec asked, but he could hear the amusement and affection that was drenching his voice even as he said it. To his immense relief, however, Magnus did stop talking, so Alec decided to capitalize on the opportunity that it presented. "If you would really like to continue that conversation, we can do so at a later date. But right now I have a letter that was given to Jace by someone who is claiming to be Valentine Morgenstern, and I need you to track it back to its sender. We have to make sure that it's Valentine before we do anything else." Alec thought it would likely be a better option to tell Magnus that he was mentioned in the letter in person. So he simply hung up after Magnus agreed to meet them there in thirty minutes, hoping to possibly figure a few things out before Magnus ever even set foot in the Institute. "I need to look something up," Alec suddenly said, handing the letter back to Jace and all but sprinting back toward his room.

Ever since Jace had shown him the letter, Alec had been trying to figure out what Valentine might actually want with Magnus. He supposed it made sense that Valentine knew about the two of them. Valentine had clearly been watching the New York Institute for a fair bit of time, and Alec knew that it had to be pretty easy to connect the dots about the nature of his relationship with Magnus. But what didn't make sense was the thought that Valentine could have absolutely any sort of connection to Magnus that would warrant Valentine requesting that Magnus came with them to the meeting. As soon as he got to his room, Alec realized that he was in the wrong place, immediately turning around to head back in the direction he'd just came, this time heading toward the greenhouse. Just a few weeks ago, he'd been doing some reading on the Circle, trying his hardest to find a connection between the Uprising and the current situation in Downworld. But he'd forgotten that he'd left those books in the greenhouse, as that was the place he liked to do his reading. It reminded him so much of Idris that it never failed to relax him no matter what was going on around him at the moment.

After flipping through the books for several minutes, Alec realized that he could simply ask Magnus about the thing that he was searching for, but he figured that since he was already looking for it, he would just continue to search as a way to kill time until Magnus arrived. He remembered reading something about a warlock who had ruined one of Valentine's raids on a werewolf pack, and he'd been wondering if Magnus had anything to do with it, but he'd never gotten around to asking. It hadn't seemed to be that important at the time. But if Valentine and Magnus had interacted in any way, Alec was horrified to realize just how important that interaction might be. Even if Magnus had only stopped the one raid, with the way Valentine's mind seemed to work, that could have been more than enough to place Magnus on the Circle's list of people they needed to eventually take down. And if Valentine had Magnus pegged as someone he needed to get rid of, then that could mean that Magnus was in a great deal of danger if Valentine was now rising to power once more. Sighing, Alec closed the book he'd been looking through. Naturally, it only referred to the warlock as one of "high rank," which Alec knew could refer to a lot of people. He had no idea if Magnus had been the High Warlock at that time or not, but that didn't really matter either way.

Just as Alec was about to get up and return to the library to wait for Magnus, he heard footsteps coming around the path toward him, and he decided to stay right where he was. Mostly because he could already tell by the sound of the footsteps that it was Magnus coming toward him. "Find what you were looking for?" Magnus asked as soon as he came into view, motioning toward the pile of books on the ground beside of Alec. Instead of verbally replying, Alec simply nodded his head, realizing that there seemed to be something more that Magnus wanted to say. So he moved the books out of the way, motioning for Magnus to sit with him. "Alexander," Magnus eventually continued, his voice slow and careful. "That letter can't be from anyone other than Valentine," Magnus admitted, and Alec could hear just how tired he was. "If it was an imposter, they would have placed a block on the letter so that I couldn't see the sender's identity. But I was very clearly able to make out Valentine as the sender." Magnus stopped fairly abruptly, and Alec looked over at him in concern.

Alec wanted to say something, to ask Magnus a million questions, but he kept from it, feeling as though there was more that Magnus needed to get through before he would be comfortable again. "I'm afraid that nothing good is going to come from Valentine requesting that I come with you," Magnus said, the energy draining from his voice as he did so. "I'm not exactly Valentine's favorite person. Especially not since I was one of the only Downworlders powerful enough and brave enough to stand up to him at all costs." Alec took that opportunity to ask Magnus if he had been the one to stop Valentine's raid on the werewolf pack, though he felt he knew the answer already. "Yes, that was me," Magnus admitted, though he did so a bit reluctantly. "That was the last time I ever spoke with him, but he promised me that day that I would one day pay for what I'd done. When word got out that he was dead, I'd never been more relieved. But apparently that was foolish of me." At that, Alec almost absentmindedly reached over to take Magnus's hand, suddenly feeling a wave of apprehension over what the night might bring.

"I don't know much about Valentine," Alec finally said, wishing that he didn't sound as worried as he felt. "But one thing I do know is that I won't let him touch you," he said, trying to erase the fear from his voice. Before he could say anything else, Magnus had already leaned over to kiss him ever so gently. So gently that Alec was almost afraid to kiss Magnus back, worried that doing so might ruin whatever was going on between them at the moment. He could feel so many things between them that he eventually stopped trying to identify them and simply focused on what was in front of him. When they pulled apart, Alec had a hard time anchoring himself to something other than Magnus. Especially when Magnus was the only thing in the world that mattered to him in that moment. Magnus shifted ever so slightly to gently place a kiss on Alec's forehead, something that touched Alec in a way that Magnus never before had. The gesture was so unimaginably gentle that Alec wasn't quite sure how to handle it. In that moment, all Alec wanted was to be with Magnus without all of the fear and worry that was currently hanging over them. "That's a promise, Magnus," he finally said after what felt like years had passed between them. He couldn't help but look at Magnus with concern, however, when he realized that Magnus's heart simply wasn't in his smile at the moment.

"Alexander," Magnus said, his voice softer and lower than Alec ever remembered hearing it. "There's something that I need to tell you," he said. Alec could sense the hesitation and worry within Magnus's voice, so he did his best to look understanding and comforting. "You're going to get mad about it, but please, Alexander, just promise me you'll hear me out completely." All Alec could think to do was nod, not trusting himself to talk, knowing that his words could likely drain Magnus of the courage he was currently drawing on. When Magnus didn't continue right away, Alec simply gave his hand a gentle squeeze, wishing more than anything that he could help Magnus through the anxiety that was currently written in every line of his face. Though Alec couldn't figure out what Magnus would have to be so worried about. He couldn't think of anything that Magnus could tell him that would make him as angry as Magnus seemed to think it would.

Just as Magnus looked as though he was going to continue, however, their moment was crushed as Jace rushed in. "Sorry to interrupt," he immediately said, stumbling over the words ever so slightly as he hurried to tell them whatever it was that he'd come to talk about. "But there's been another death, and Luke is requesting that you be the first one to look at the body," he continued, pointedly talking to Magnus, his sense of urgency only increasing. "He said that this death isn't like the others. They can clearly see the cause of death is the werewolf's slit throat, and it seems as though the murderer left something specifically for you, though Luke won't tell anyone what it is." At that, Magnus sighed and lifted himself from the ground, dusting himself off as best he could before reaching to help Alec up. At first, Alec wanted to ask Jace if they could have a couple more minutes alone. But then he realized that whatever Magnus needed to tell him could wait. Right now, the most important thing was stopping these deaths. They could worry about their love life at a later date.

Magnus was entirely sure that he had never been so relieved to return to the Institute as he was in that very moment. He'd known as soon as he'd seen the body that his father had been behind the murder, though Magnus knew all too well that this didn't mean that they'd been behind the other Downworlder murders. The note that Luke had shown him had only backed up what he already knew. Reluctantly, Magnus had kept the note from everyone else. Its contents were between him and his father, but that hadn't kept him from revealing Asmodeus's involvement with the werewolf's death. After several hours of going back and forth as to why Asmodeus would choose to reveal himself now, Magnus was all too relieved to get back to the Institute so that they could begin focusing on the mission in front of them. As if his father wasn't enough to deal with, now the situation with Valentine was quickly becoming a volatile thing that Magnus couldn't hope to contain in any way. Not to mention the fact that he'd finally worked up the courage to tell Alec about their soulmate situation, but now he could see no chance to actually finish that conversation until after they'd met with Valentine. As soon as they'd gotten back to the Institute, Alec had run off with Jace and Isabelle to get ready for the mission, leaving Magnus in Alec's room with nothing to do other than snoop around or take a nap.

And since Magnus knew that snooping around was the absolute last thing he could do if he ever wanted a healthy relationship with Alec, he resigned himself to attempting to take a nap and hoping for the best. Lately, he'd been feeling a bit better physically, so he was beginning to hope that the side effects of his bond with Alec were letting up, at least for the time being. But Magnus also knew that this was the calm before the storm, and that was a thought that he couldn't seem to get out of his mind as he tried to fall asleep in the strangeness of Alec's room. The problem was that Alec's room was only strange to him in the sense that it was a place that was new to him. But Magnus could almost feel Alec's presence in the room, a presence that made the room unbelievably comfortable to him. And the next thing Magnus knew, Alec was gently shaking him awake, the young Shadowhunter standing over him already dressed in his gear for the mission they had before them. "Did you have a nice nap?" Alec asked, his tone only slightly teasing, as he was clearly too worried about the rest of the night to put much into it.

As Magnus moved to get up, he did so fast enough to catch Alec in a kiss before the Shadowhunter moved away from him. "It would have been much better if you had been here with me," Magnus teased, but he quickly realized that his heart wasn't in it either. Before he could say anything else, Alec threw what looked like a vest at him, and it didn't take long for Magnus to realize that it was a piece of Shadowhunter gear. "Let me guess," he said as he moved to get up from Alec's bed so that he could pull the gear on. "You want me to wear this so I'm better protected against whatever Valentine might try tonight," he said, making it more of a statement than a question; he already knew the truth of the matter. Alec nodded anyways, giving him a look that said he was not to argue about it. So Magnus simply pulled the gear on and followed Alec out of his room, already wishing that they could turn around before they'd even so much as left the Institute. They'd decided to portal to Renwick's, and Magnus made quick work of that task, so before he knew it, he was standing next to Alec and Isabelle, watching as Jace and Clary took the lead as the portal closed behind them.

They'd decided to limit the number of people who met with Valentine, but Magnus still wasn't entirely sure that this had been the best of ideas. They didn't even know what Valentine wanted yet, much less what he had planned for the night. But Magnus followed the Shadowhunters regardless of all of that, knowing that it was the only option he had. He couldn't help but smile as the Shadowhunters "did their thing" before entering Renwick's, securing the perimeter and doing ridiculous things like hiding behind walls until they were sure the area was clear. Before they'd even fully set foot on Roosevelt Island, Magnus had made sure that nothing was amiss as far as any demonic presences or magic traps that might be triggered. It seemed to him as though there were only two people in the entirety of Renwick's at the moment, but Magnus knew all too well that there were ways of covering up people who did not wish to be seen. In the end, he still lead the Shadowhunters to the correct room, too impatient to wait for them to figure things out on their own.

Walking into the room, Magnus immediately knew that something was wrong. At first, he couldn't exactly figure out how he knew this, but then his senses honed in on the fact that Alec was staring at the man in front of them as though he'd seen a ghost, his entire body on high alert. So Magnus followed Alec's gaze, only to find himself all the more confused. The man staring back at them was most certainly Robert Lightwood, but that was absolutely impossible. They had left Robert at the Institute when they'd gone to meet with Luke, and that was when Magnus realized that he hadn't actually seen Robert when they'd gone back. That must have been the moment that Alec realized much the same thing because he was the first one to speak up. "Dad?" he asked, his voice breaking the silence in the eeriest of ways. "Don't tell me that you've been lying to my face this entire time. Tell me anything but that." It was almost as though Alec was pleading with his father, and Magnus wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort him, but he remained where he was, knowing that now was not the time to do anything of the sort.

"What?" Robert said, and it almost seemed as though he was genuinely confused. He looked down at himself for a moment and then some sort of realization flashed across his face. "Oh dear, I'm sure this is very confusing for all of you. I was out on an errand and I forgot to change back; allow me to fix that," he said before reaching for his stele. As soon as Magnus saw the rune that the man was deactivating, he knew that the man before them was not Robert. But what he couldn't figure out was exactly who would have benefited from disguising themselves as Robert of all people. But then the glamour was gone and Magnus knew exactly who he was looking at, but the rest of the pieces simply wouldn't fall into place. "Oh come now," Andrew Lightwood said, directing this more toward Alec than anyone else. "You don't recognize your own grandfather?" The silence that followed this question was deafening as the Shadowhunters tried to come to terms with what they were seeing. Robert had always looked just like his father, and time had done nothing to change that. It was very easy to see that Andrew was telling the truth, even if they had assumed Andrew was dead.

But then again, Magnus took the time to remind himself that they'd also assumed Valentine was dead, and it was becoming increasingly clear that these assumptions were far from correct. "You're the one who's been framing Dad," Alec said, though it was not a question in any way. Clearly the pieces were fitting together for Alec much more quickly than they were for Magnus. "Both you and Valentine faked your own deaths during the Uprising, and you've been working for him since then, gathering strength and power and waiting to make your move once more," Alec continued, his voice ice cold. Magnus wasn't sure that he'd ever seen Alec like this, iced over in a way that made it seem as though he was almost numb to the world at the moment. "You've been glamouring yourself as Dad because getting him on the Clave's radar was a good way to keep yourself off of it." There was no emotion in Alec's voice anymore. "Have I missed anything?" he asked, all but daring Andrew to deny the things that he'd stated.

For a moment, Andrew simply ran his eyes over all of them, something that sent chills down Magnus's spine. His memories of Andrew were not fond ones, but it seemed as though time had only made Andrew much colder and more vicious than he had been the last time Magnus had seen him. "Oh Alexander," Andrew replied, his voice the fake sort of sympathetic that Magnus generally associated with psychopaths. "There is so much that you are missing." At that, Andrew's eyes landed on Magnus, but this time, they stayed there, his gaze more of an accusation than his words had been. That was when Magnus's mind began working in overdrive. It certainly seemed as though Andrew knew that they were soulmates, but even if Magnus believed that Andrew could have somehow found out, how could he possibly know that Magnus knew this fact but Alec didn't? The only people who knew about that were Ragnor, Raphael, James, and Tessa. And he highly doubted that Andrew had had any sort of contact with them that would have lead him to that conclusion.

Magnus began to wonder if Andrew was simply making an assumption based on things that he had learned from watching the Lightwoods, as he had clearly been doing for some time now. But there was so much more to it than that, and Magnus knew that he was missing the key to it all. And that was when Magnus realized that Andrew wasn't accusing him at all. Andrew thought that neither of them were aware that they were soulmates, and he was simply enjoying watching them toy with the idea of it. So when Alec turned to look at him, Mangus simply gave him a look that told him that they couldn't give Andrew the reaction he was looking for. If they pretended to be uninterested by Andrew's insinuations, that would only infuriate him, which was exactly what they wanted to do. "Stop playing with them, Andrew," a voice behind them called out, and Magnus had to restrain himself to keep from hurling the worst spell he could think of at Valentine Morgenstern. "You'll have plenty of time to catch up with your grandchildren at a later date," Valentine continued, his voice all but making Magnus sick. Just as Magnus began to turn to face Valentine, he found Alec standing in front of him, seraph blade drawn and pointed directly at the Shadowhunter before them.

It took a moment for Magnus to right himself. He couldn't remember Alec moving in front of him, but the Shadowhunter must have moved much faster than his mind could keep up with because there he was now, staring at Valentine as though he was daring the other man to try something. Without saying another word, Valentine simply nodded at Andrew, but it was very clear that this was a signal that Andrew was being dismissed. For a moment, Magnus thought that Andrew was going to resist, to continue playing whatever game it was that he was attempting to play with them. But then he seemed to think better of it, to remember that he was dealing with Valentine, and he simply inclined his head and stepped toward the door. "Of course," Andrew said without turning around, his voice full of a chilling sort of mischief. "Wouldn't want to give our darling soulmates the wrong impression, now would we?" he asked, and that was when Magnus felt himself shut down. He closed his eyes for several seconds and allowed himself the time he needed to reset and regroup. From here, he knew that it wouldn't take Alec very much to figure things out. Magnus was very aware of the fact that neither Jace nor Clary had a soulmate, not to mention the fact that Isabelle's soulmate was Simon. That only left himself and Alec. It didn't take a genius to take the next step toward the truth.

When Magnus opened his eyes, he wasn't surprised to see that Valentine was watching him with open curiosity, but he was very thankful to see that Alec's eyes were still trained on Valentine. "What do you want with us?" Jace finally asked, turning the attention away from everything that had just been said. "You said that you have many things that we want, but what I want to know is what you want from us. You've pretended to be dead for years, so if you're showing your hand now, there must be something pretty important that you're trying to get out of us." Magnus had to admit that Jace had a point, but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to hear what Valentine wanted. It was very clear that whatever Valentine wanted had something to do with his bond to Alec, and that was what terrified Magnus more than anything at the moment. He could deal with Alec's anger when he realized that Magnus had known for a while. But what he couldn't deal with was the thought that Valentine's plan might include them and their bond, something he would do absolutely anything to protect. For a moment, Valentine simply looked over them all, and somehow, this was much more chilling than when it had been Andrew doing so. "Fine, if you're not going to respond, then allow me to ask you a question of my own," Jace said, his voice much more demanding than Magnus would have thought possible. "Why did you forge my father's handwriting in the letter you sent me?"

Magnus hadn't been aware of this for himself, but looking at Valentine's expression, it was easy to see that Valentine's plan had been several decades in the making. "Jonathan," Valentine said in the most condescending tone Magnus had ever heard, the sort of tone that Magnus had actually thought Valentine reserved exclusively for Downworlders. "I thought I taught you better than that. Have you not put the puzzle together yet?" If Magnus thought that he had been confused before, he was beyond confused now. Valentine was certainly acting as though he was Jace's father, but everything within Magnus told him that this was wrong. Jocelyn had once confided in him about the nature of her first child: a child with such a demonic nature that she had been relieved to find his bones in the remains of the Fairchild manor after it had burned down. Jace was nothing like the child that Jocelyn had described. All Magnus could do was watch as Valentine took out his own stele and activated the very same rune that Andrew had just deactivated. And suddenly Michael Wayland was standing in front of them, and Magnus slowly began fitting everything together, even before Valentine, wearing Michael Wayland's face, launched into an explanation of his own.

Apparently, Michael had never been Jace's father, and somehow, that seemed fitting to Magnus, but even more so when Valentine explained that Jace was a Herondale. Magnus mentally kicked himself for not seeing it before. He was just like William in almost every way. "After I saved you from your dying mother and faked my own death, I thought that it was fitting that I raise you," Valentine continued, his voice a bit too fatherly for Magnus's liking. "We were two outcasts, after all. But I knew that if something ever happened and we had to be separated, it was better that you didn't know my true identity, so that is why I lead you to believe that you were Michael Wayland's son. It was easier for you that way, Jonathan." Magnus held back a smile when Alec gave a very indignant snort at this. If there was one thing that they all knew, it was certainly that Valentine had never done anything for the good of anyone other than himself. "When you were ten, I sent you to live with the Lightwoods because I knew that you would be safer there. With everything that I'd begun planning, I knew I needed to get you out of harm's way." Alec was shaking his head now, and Magnus didn't need to see the Shadowhunter's face to know that he was likely rolling his eyes at what Valentine was saying. If there was one thing Magnus knew at the moment, it was that Valentine had never cared for Jace's safety, even if he had raised Jace himself; he'd likely sent Jace away because Jace was getting in the way of the things he'd planned.

Valentine went on to talk to Clary then, and Magnus had to admit that he was beginning to space out a bit. He had no idea what was going to come next, and that was the one thing that he could focus on at the moment. He already knew Jocelyn's side of the story, but he wasn't surprised to hear that Valentine was making her out to be the villain. When Jocelyn had discovered that she was pregnant with a second child, Clary, she had run from Valentine, afraid that he would do the same things he had done to their first child, though Magnus had never concretely found out what that had been. Jocelyn had never been sure of Valentine's involvement in her first son's demonic nature, but she had certainly speculated for years. And she had taken the Mortal Cup with her, though that was something that Magnus hadn't known until Valentine very aggressively brought it up, quickly making it clear that the Cup was the entire reason they were standing before him at the moment. "You see, Jocelyn took the Cup from me, and I have had quite the time getting its location out of her seeing as she saw it fit to taking a sleeping potion before I could ever even speak to her. But never fear," Valentine continued, pointedly talking to Clary in a way that made Magnus uneasy. "She entrusted the location to the one person she still trusted, and that, Jonathan, is the answer to your first question."

Magnus suddenly began to feel sick, but he knew that this wasn't the kind of sickness he'd been experiencing lately. This came from the thought of what Valentine might do with the Mortal Instruments. In his letter, he had claimed to already have the Sword, which made sense given the fact that the Clave hadn't used the Sword in their investigations. Getting ahold of the Cup would put him in a position of power so great that Magnus knew it could likely mean the end of the Clave as they knew it. "You see, I have Jocelyn, but I cannot let her go until I am holding the Mortal Cup. But you, Clarissa, you have its location locked inside your mind. The joy, however, is that there's more to it than that," Valentine continued, this time turning back to Alec for the first time since he'd entered. "Though I do not know the Cup's exact location, I have discovered from one of Jocelyn's closest friends that the Cup is protected by a very ancient sort of spell. One that only a pair of soulmates can undo." Magnus felt his heart hit the floor as the puzzle finally began to look like something recognizable. This was the reason Valentine wanted them here. However he had found out about the two of them didn't matter at the moment, not when Alec was turning to look at him with the deepest of confusion in his eyes.

Alec was shaking his head, but that didn't matter because Valentine was already laughing. "When I found out about the two of you, I simply couldn't believe my luck. Jocelyn was always a hopeless romantic, so it makes sense that she would have chosen this particular spell to protect the Cup. I trust you know it well, Bane," Valentine said, but Magnus refused to react in any way. He did, indeed, know the spell that Valentine was referring to. He hadn't seen the spell used on anything in hundreds of years. It was something that only the most powerful of warlocks could place, its power so great that it was hard to control in and of itself. "It requires the blood of a pair of soulmates in order to engage the spell that will release the Cup from wherever it might be," Valentine unnecessarily explained, and Magnus could see just how much he was enjoying this. Alec was looking back and forth between Valentine and Magnus, clearly still trying to figure out exactly what was going on, and Magnus was holding on to the hope that Alec simply didn't believe what Valentine was saying. "I'm sure you can imagine my joy when I found out that a pair of soulmates was helping Clarissa. That will make it all the easier when you find the Cup for me."

Magnus wanted nothing more than to walk away from Valentine in that moment. Of course they weren't going to give him the Cup even if they somehow found and retrieved it. He was the last person they would give it to. The notion that they would ever willingly give him the Cup was utterly ridiculous. But Alec was focused on something else entirely at the moment. "That's impossible," he said, though Magnus could tell from his tone that he was beginning to doubt the impossibility of what Valentine was saying. "We would have figured that out already," he insisted, and that's when his eyes landed on Magnus once more and they remained where they were. For a moment, Magnus thought that Alec was about to launch into an interrogation of his own. He saw the doubt flash through Alec's eyes, and he knew beyond any doubt that Alec was putting things together. "You're lying," he spat at Valentine, whirling on the Shadowhunter once more. It tore at Magnus's heart to see Alec like this. He so badly wanted to keep from believing that Magnus would lie to him that he was denying the one thing that would likely make him the happiest, the one thing that would make the most sense.

"Am I?" Valentine asked, which only made Magnus want to strangle him even more than he had wanted to before. "Or are you simply lying to yourself, Alexander?" As Valentine asked this, Alec had been turning back toward Magnus once more, and when the other Shadowhunter said his name, Magnus saw a flash of anger shoot through Alec so violently that he was almost terrified of Alec himself. It didn't take long for Magnus to understand that Alec was thinking of the conversation they'd had about Magnus's own use of Alec's full name. He turned back to Valentine then, his anger only growing by the second. Magnus reached up to place a hand on Alec's arm, but just as his fingers brushed against Alec's skin, the Shadowhunter pulled away from him in a way that he never had. Alec hadn't said a word, but the message was very clear. "If you don't believe me, then why don't you take that seraph blade and cut your own hand?" Valentine asked, his amusement only growing with every passing second. "If I am lying, then there's no reason that the cut should show up on Magnus as well." Magnus knew this was the most logical thing that Valentine had said all night, but it was also the thing that he feared the most.

Alec looked down at the seraph blade in his hand, wondering if this was really the best thing to do at the moment. He'd seen so much doubt and fear in Magnus's eyes that he'd begun to wonder if the warlock had already known that they were soulmates. Could that have been what Magnus had wanted to tell him earlier that day? But that didn't make any sense. Alec simply couldn't figure out why Magnus would ever hide something like that from him. So he refused to believe it until Magnus admitted it for himself. But the problem was that Valentine was still insisting that Magnus was his soulmate, and the doubt that he was feeling was too overwhelming to do anything about. He knew that Valentine wasn't going to stop until he got what he wanted, and the only way to figure out the truth with utter certainty was for one of them to be injured. Alec hated admitting that to himself, but he knew it was true. So he studied Magnus's face as he lifted the seraph blade, trying to get a sense of whether or not Magnus already knew one way or the other, but Magnus's face was now absolutely blank, and if Alec didn't know any better, he might have said that it was as though Magnus was trying to hide his true feelings.

In the end, Alec knew that there was only one thing to do, one thing that would move them forward and get them away from Valentine as quickly as possible. So he brought the blade to his hand and watched as Magnus winced in pain, the same thin cut appearing on his hand just moments after it was made on Alec's. For several moments, the only thing that Alec could do was stare at Magnus's hand, the blood slowly welling up in much the same way as it was on his own hand. Before that moment, there had been so much running through Alec's mind, but all of that was suddenly silenced when he realized the truth of the situation. Even if Magnus had been hiding things from him, they were still soulmates. Which was the only thing Alec had wanted for weeks. So even if Magnus had been lying for weeks, even if Alec was about to become very angry with his soulmate, he could still choose to focus on the fact that he was getting angry at his soulmate, the one person in the world who had been made for him. Very slowly, Alec sheathed his seraph blade, reaching for his stele, unable to stand the blood on Magnus's hand any longer. Before he could get to his stele, however, Magnus had already grabbed his hand, urging him to wait. "No, here," he said, quickly healing Alec with a flick of his wrist. And it was in that flick of the wrist that Alec saw everything he needed to see. Magnus couldn't hide it, not at a time like this. He had certainly known what would happen before the blade ever came near Alec's hand.

Alec watched in silence as the cut on Magnus's hand disappeared as well. He knew the enormity of the situation simply hadn't sunk in yet. He knew that later on he would likely be angry and hurt. But right now, he was staring back at his soulmate, a fact that hadn't truly registered with him yet, and his soulmate just so happened to be the person he loved most in the world. A person who had likely been lying to him for weeks, yet a person who was in danger at the moment, seeing as he was on the radar of likely the most dangerous person in the world. "Now that that's cleared up," Valentine said, the amusement drained from his voice. Alec had once read that psychopaths became bored easily, and he wondered if that was what was happening to Valentine at the moment. But he also knew that Valentine would always turn the attention back to what he wanted, no matter the cost. "Allow me to clarify for you what is going to happen next." Alec wanted to scream at him that they would never give the Cup to him. He was a madman if he thought they would. But then Alec realized that they were, indeed, dealing with a madman, so he kept his mouth shut and simply held on to Magnus's hand as the warlock began to move away from him. He knew that he was numb to the situation at the moment, but Alec also knew that the last thing he wanted was for Valentine to drive a wedge between the two of them.

"The Clave is just as laughable as they have ever been," Valentine continued, and Alec hated to admit that he agreed with that. "I wasn't surprised to hear that your father was the first person to connect the current Downworld situation to the Circle," he admitted, and Alec's mind began running in overdrive. "But I have to admit that I was disappointed to learn that he believes I am responsible for both the disappearances and the deaths that have recently occurred. Robert should know how it pains me to take lives unnecessarily." At that, it was Magnus's turn to snort, and Alec couldn't blame him for it. That was the most ridiculous lie Alec had ever heard. "These deaths have not been my doing, but I can promise that more disappearances are to follow. But the five of you can do your part to stop them, of that I am sure," he said, and Alec's anger flared up once more. Valentine had been taking innocent children for reasons that were still unclear; he deserved justice, not the Mortal Cup. "These children that I have taken are still alive, but they will not be for much longer. Find and bring me the Mortal Cup, and all of this can quickly come to an end. For every day that the Cup is not in my hands, one of them will die and I will take another in their place." Alec shuddered at the thought, gripping Magnus's hand even tighter than he had before. What if they couldn't figure out how to find the Cup? How many children would Valentine kill before he realized that they were incapable of finding it?

Alec wanted to interject that question: what would he do if they couldn't find it? What would he do if they tried their hardest and came up with nothing? But something kept him from it, something that told him that Valentine would not take well to those kinds of questions. "Refuse to give me the Cup?" Valentine said, phrasing it as a question as though he knew that all of them were thinking it. "And many, many people, Shadowhunters included, will sacrifice their lives because the five of you foolishly refused me. Not to mention that I have given you another incentive to get the Cup to me in a timely manner." Now he was talking exclusively to Clary once more. "I think you will find that your friend Simon wandered into the wrong part of town tonight, Clarissa. And I think that you will find that he is soon to be much different than the Simon you have come to know and love. Get the Cup to me, and then maybe we can talk about getting Simon back to you." With that, Valentine turned to leave the room, and Alec was slightly surprised when none of them made to move after him. It was as though they all knew the seriousness of the situation. Valentine was not someone who could be ignored or challenged, not in a matter like this. They would have to come up with a plan to take Valentine down instead of simply giving him exactly what he wanted. But that would take time, and that was time they didn't have. Not when Valentine would be killing more people every single day. Not when Valentine had Simon.

When Alec seemed sure that no one was going to speak unless he did, he turned back to Magnus, finally letting go of Magnus's hand. "Send them back to the Institute," he said, nodding his head toward his siblings and Clary. He glanced at Isabelle, but he wasn't surprised to find that his sister was just as composed as ever, even with the news of her soulmate's kidnapping bearing down on her. "We need to talk," he finished, and it was then that he could hear the anger seeping back into his voice. He had known it was coming, had known that it would be impossible to stop it once it began, so he simply watched as Magnus made a portal for the others to go through. Eventually it was just the two of them, and Magnus looked as though he wanted to say something, but before he could so much as open his mouth, Alec stepped through the portal and into Magnus's apartment, turning back to watch as Magnus followed him through and closed the portal behind them. "How long have you known?" he asked as soon as Magnus was finished with the magic. When Magnus didn't immediately respond, that only served to spike his anger, so Alec continued. "I know you, Magnus; I could see it in your eyes. You knew what would happen before that blade ever so much as touched my skin. So tell me: how long have you known?"

For several agonizing moments, Magnus simply stared back at him, and Alec began to think that Magnus was going to deny that he had ever known before tonight. "I figured it out the night that Isabelle got hurt," he finally replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "I found out just before your father walked in on us kissing. I was going to tell you, I swear, but then you had so much to deal with and I didn't want to make the matter worse. And then I was going to tell you today, before Jace interrupted us. Alexander, I never meant to hurt you." Alec wanted to believe that more than he wanted anything else at the moment. But he couldn't keep himself from focusing on the fact that Magnus had held onto this secret for weeks. The more he thought about it, the more jumbled his mind became, the deeper the storm within him raged. Alec knew from Magnus's expression that the rage he was feeling was all too evident in his own expression at the moment, but he also knew that there was nothing he could truly do to change that. Not when he was growing angrier with every passing second. Not when Magnus was reaching out to take his hand and he found himself backing away from the warlock for the second time that day.

The pain in Magnus's eyes was all too noticeable, and Alec felt a twinge of guilt at the thought that he was the one causing it. But he kept his hand away from Magnus's regardless, his own pain and anger getting the better of him. "What I don't understand is how you figured it out," he replied, noticing that his voice was much less harsh this time around. "I didn't get hurt that night, so you wouldn't have been hurt either," Alec continued, and for a moment, he thought that Magnus was going to completely shut down. It took Alec a minute to realize that anything had changed, but then he saw what Magnus was trying to show him. Magnus had let down whatever glamour he had been using, and Alec could now see the runes and scars that covered Magnus's skin. Alec knew without a doubt that they were the very same runes and scars that covered his own skin as well. There was no mistaking the pattern, the very pattern that he'd been carving into himself for years. Alec blinked as hard as he could as he felt tears well up when a wave of anger hit him so forcefully that he couldn't quite see the world the same way he had just moments before.

"I didn't really get a good look at your runes until that night," Magnus admitted, not meeting Alec's eyes. Alec began to wonder if this was because his wards were now down, but he didn't dwell on it for too long. That could be addressed at a later date. Before Magnus could continue, Alec voiced the thought that this was why Magnus had kept him from healing himself earlier, the reason Magnus had been so insistent that he not use an iratze. "Yes," Magnus agreed, seemingly growing more tired with every second. "But this time it wasn't about you knowing. It was about Valentine knowing. I'm the only person in recorded history that this has ever happened to. I couldn't exactly give Valentine the leverage of knowing that as well," Magnus explained, and Alec had to admit that this made sense. But the problem was that he didn't want it to make sense. He wanted a reason to be as angry as he was at the moment. He wanted something solid that he could direct his anger at, and Magnus wasn't making it any easier. "Alec, you know I love you, right?" Magnus asked, and Alec had to pause a moment and separate himself from the anger he was feeling to carefully assess that question.

Alec knew in his heart that Magnus hadn't done any of this to hurt him. His heart was screaming at him to simply let things go and reach over to hug Magnus like he truly wanted to, but his mind was screaming at his heart to shut up. "You looked me in the eye and you lied to me, Magnus," Alec said, completely ignoring both Magnus's question and everything his heart was trying to tell him. "Did it not bother you when I asked you what would happen when I found my soulmate? Were you not bothered in the slightest by the fact that I was so scared and upset then?" He waited for a moment, but it was abundantly clear that Magnus wasn't going to respond. "Did it not bother you when you looked at me and lied to me, knowing exactly what you were doing? You had so many chances, Magnus. There were so many times I poured my heart out to you and you remained silent. I just want to know why. Why would you do this? Why would you keep something like that from me for so long?" Alec realized that his voice sounded more like a plea than anything else, but he was past caring. He wanted Magnus to hear the pain in his voice.

When Magnus began shaking his head, that only made Alec's anger that much more apparent. It was as though the anger was eating away at his heart; the pain was the only thing he could focus on at the moment. "At first, I didn't tell you because of everything that you were going through. It didn't seem fair to throw something else at you." Alec wasn't sure if it was remorse or fear he was hearing in Magnus's voice, but he wasn't sure that it mattered anymore. "But with every day that went by, I asked myself the same question. I don't know why, Alexander. I had every opportunity, you're right about that." Alec couldn't help but snort at that. None of this was making sense, not when it came down to it, and all he wanted at the moment was for something to make sense. He just wanted the world to right itself again. He just wanted to feel at home in Magnus's arms once more. But Alec could also see that this wasn't going to be happening any time soon, and that was enough to break his heart in and of itself. "I don't know," Magnus finally concluded, all the energy drained from his voice.

At that, Alec turned back toward the door, unable to take any more of the conversation. "If you honestly don't know why you have spent weeks lying to me, then I don't know what I'm still doing here," he said before exiting the apartment without looking back. He reached to make sure the door didn't slam behind him, and then suddenly he found himself sitting on the stairs that lead to Magnus's apartment, his head in his hands and his world falling down around him. Alec wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back in the apartment and fall into Magnus's arms, but he knew that wasn't an option. Not after everything that had happened that day. So he allowed himself a minute to simply fall apart, not at all surprised when he felt a couple of tears on his hands. But a minute was all he gave himself. There were people who needed him right that moment. Isabelle's soulmate had been taken. There were children who might die soon if they didn't find the Cup. So Alec ignored the tears and pushed himself off the stairs, beginning the walk home, knowing that he only had one option, and that was to keep moving forward no matter how much he wished he could do anything else.