Alec leaned against the wall rubbing his arm and watching Jace. He'd felt the Iratze Jace had drawn earlier and his skin burned where the Iratze was fading into Jace's skin. Jace sat on the floor in the hallway with a stubborn look on his face staring at Clary's door. He'd offered him a chair but Jace had blown him off grumbling about not being an invalid. Jace's fingers were idly tracing the marriage rune on his wrist. Alec didn't think he realized he was doing it. He'd sat with Jace as he'd practiced the rune over and over again so that he could draw it and make it look just right because he wanted Clary's to be perfect. By the time the night before the wedding came he was able to draw it with his eyes closed perfectly.
He looked up and saw Isabelle coming down the hall with a tray of mugs. There were four mugs on the tray for the four people that waited outside Clary's door. They'd sent a message to the Clave meeting for Luke and Jocelyn, but they wouldn't receive it till the meeting ended.
"Tea?" Isabelle said offering the tray to Jace. He shook his head. Looking hurt she came over and offered it to Alec. "Tea?" Alec smiled at her and took one of the mugs off the tray. Isabelle looked at Jace sadly then down at one of the mugs. "I made it just the way he likes it." She said sounding disappointed.
"Let me try." Alec offered picking up the second mug. She smiled at him and walked over to the window where Simon was sitting on the ledge staring through the Adamas.
Alec slid down beside Jace careful not to spill either mug. "Jace," Alec said offering him the mug. Jace shook his head. "Jace, take it." Alec ordered. Jace looked up at him and did as he asked. He watched as Jace sipped the dark liquid and smiled. "She made it special for you."
"Thanks Iz," Jace said smiling at her. Isabelle brightened and smiled back at him then returned to persuading Simon to take the coffee she had made him.
"How are you feeling?" Alec asked. Jace was still very pale and he looked as if he had a fever, it was making him nervous.
"All right I guess." Jace sighed. "I wish everyone would stop asking."
Alec grinned at him. "Well generally that's what people do when you get hurt."
"I know," Jace agreed. "But it only serves to remind me that I still can't walk."
"I know, it's a slow process." Alec said. "But, you're getting there. I saw Izzy helping you and you looked a lot more stable on your feet."
"I still can't feel anything." Jace murmured balling his hand into a fist and hitting his leg. "It's taking too long."
"And you want to find the Faeries who did this." Alec finished. "You know revenge is overrated."
"I don't want to have Clary worrying that there's a Faerie out there who's going to go after our children because of what we did to Sebastian. She's been terrified of it, she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming about it. Is it too much to ask to let us live our lives in peace. I mean we did save the Shadow World and the Mundane World not too long ago."
"We're Shadowhunters, we keep the peace." Alec pointed out. "Unfortunately we don't get the peace we fight so hard for."
"And why shouldn't we?" Jace said bitterly. "How many times have we saved the world?"
Alec frowned. "Careful, you're starting to sound likeā¦."
Jace looked stung. "Valentine, I know." Jace sighed. "Maybe some of his ideas were right."
"Maybe," Alec agreed. "The right ideas executed the wrong way."
"When I run the Institute we can work for peace." Jace said reaching for Alec's hand.
Alec took it and grasped it tightly. "It's a nice idea, but there's a lot of old hatreds to change in one lifetime."
"We're a new generation. Why can't we change things? I'm so angry about what the Clave did to Helen and Aline. They fought side by side with us to protect Idris. They're both Shadowhunters no matter what mix of blood either of them are."
