Isabelle POV

"Maybe you should sit down", I suggest to Alec, who has been training for six hours.

"Maybe YOU should sit down." He points to Jace. "Again." Jace rolls his eyes.

"Kendo sticks?", Jace asks.

"Good by me", Alec responds.

Jace takes two body-length sticks, handing one to Alec. "First to get the other flat on his back wins", Alec says.

"Wins? We're training. Together. We're a team. Where is this aggression coming from?", Jace asks.

"Maybe it's who I really am. A warrior omega. Maybe that's why I'm alone." Jace and I look at each other.

He and Alec fight, but Jace was always better hand to hand, not to mention, my brother keeps backing off every time he has the chance to corner Jace. I didn't notice these little things until recently. He'd learned to hide his choices, cover them up, come up with good excuses why he was always on defense, never offense. Now we know why.

Thankfully the dinner bell is rung before it gets too intense.

That night, Jace and I look in on him, sound asleep in his bed clutching Magnus's blanket, tear streaks down his face. "At least he's sleeping now", Jace whispers.

"I had a little something to do with that", I confess. "I'm going to kill that fucking warlock if I ever see him again. You know mom wants to portal him directly into the Gard at Idris so he can be executed."

Jace chuckles. "I believe she'd do it. But it really hasn't been that long, Isabelle, it just seems long because we're watching him suffer through every day."

I take up my bed in the corner of my brother's room. He doesn't like it, but keeping him safe isn't optional. And I made a promise, whether Magnus honors his or not.

"You think he's coming back?", I ask.

"I know it. I know what it's like to be an alpha in love, and that was Magnus", he says.

"And you can't love Clary the way Magnus can love Alec, that alpha/omega bond. It's so strange, but so intense."

He glares at me. "I love Clary plenty, thanks."

"His heat is in one more week. The question is what to do. Mom wants him put on suppressants ASAP. It's now or never. But if Magnus does come back and expects to find a mate about to go into heat..."

"Don't do it. I'll take the blame if it goes wrong", he says.

"Jace...where is he?"

Magnus POV

In my apartment, I light 5 black candles, draw a pentagram, and put one at each tip of the star.

"Edom", I whisper, picturing it my head and feel myself fall through my floor and fall and fall and fall until it's so hot and dusty, it's hard to breathe.

I open my eyes to a desert landscape in front of my father's door.

"Father?", I call, knocking on the door.

He opens it. "My favorite child. I knew you were coming, it's taken longer than I thought", he comments.

"So you know I found someone?", I ask. He puts an arm around me and ushers me into the house.

"I do."

"Do you hate the idea?", I ask. I'm not asking for his permission. But he IS my father and he just so HAPPENS to be a Prince of Hell.

"Why would I hate the idea? You corrupted a Shadowhunter. Humans are too easy these days, they're practically born corrupt, there's no sport in it anymore. But Shadowhunters? That's an accomplishment, son. The only thing better would be to break his heart in the end", he smiles.

"That's not my intention with Alexander", I remind him, shaking my head. "Besides, I may have already done that."

"So what brings you here?", he asks. He's going to make me beg for it. Of course he is.

With a flick of his wrist, two chairs pull up to the ancient wooden table in the middle of the room. A 500-year-old teapot from China fills with boiling water and lands in the middle of the table, pouring into two cups.

"Gunpowder okay?", he asks.

"Sure", I answer sitting down as the tightly rolled Chinese green tea appears in our cups.

"What can I do for you?", he asks as I take a sip.

"I need immortality for Alexander. I can't lose him", I say.

He rolls his eyes. "Son, you've known him two weeks, please. You and "love." I swear. Why you want to deal with that awful emotion, I have no idea. Move here with me and you'll lose your humanity fast, I promise", he says.

"And you consider that to be a reason in its favor?"

"Son, you know there are only two ways to be immortal. I can't make him a warlock; he would have to be born of one demon parent, you know that. The only way an immortal could be made is through a vampire, a possibility but maybe not the best look on the man you love", he concludes with humor.

"He's my soul mate, baba", I insist and get up from the table.

"You're certain?"

"Yes, I'm certain", I answer.

"You haven't called me that since you were 12. You must want this awfully badly."

I don't respond.

"I'll keep an eye out for him. That's all I can do for now. You're leaving now, I presume?", he asks.

"I want to stay a bit if it's okay with you."

"Really?!", he responds. I've shocked him twice today. "Of course. You know all about this place, it's whatever you want it to be", he says. With a flourish, I send purple sparks in every direction and the small hut with a dirt floor becomes a copy of my penthouse in Brooklyn.

"If you want to be there, why aren't you?", he asks.

"You know why", I say. "I think I'll go check out that house I bought when I was last here with Ragnor, the time I'd had 17 watermelon margaritas." As I'm leaving, he calls out.

"You know, you almost never pray to me. You never offer me any sacrifices...nothing from my favorite son in a century", he fusses.

I knew this was coming and I have a believable, or at least semi-believable, excuse handy. "I thought Lucifer might get jealous. Take it out on you."

"Hmmm." He shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe. You know if you brought him to Edom, you'd both be here."

"I didn't ask you to kill him, Fuquin, I asked you to make him immortal", I respond.

"Oh. Yeah. Right. Okay, will you be home for dinner?"

"Only if you're not going to force me to eat raw black Narcissus again", I say, shuddering.

"People have been eating goat for thousands of years, son", he points out.

"And they're all dead for a reason. At least cook the thing. Blech. Don't you have a Chipotle around here or something?"

"No goat", he promises.

"Thank you." I'm too angry to sit in the same room with him right now. I know he could do more, he just...won't. But that doesn't mean I can't manipulate the ultimate manipulator. It just means I have to proceed cautiously.

"Son, just remember nothing is free", he adds.