In the summer of 1988, I had a very strange and vivid dream. I knew it wasn't normal—there were people in that dream I'd never met, places I'd never been to, scenarios and conversations I'd never been part of. I would hear a voice speaking to me all throughout, a voice I haven't heard in a very long time, narrating the events unfolding in my dream as if I were some invisible apparition in them.
Ithuriel sent me that dream as a distress call. There was no one else he could turn to, and frankly, I don't blame him. You might call us old acquaintances. Do you remember that clockwork angel that's in the library of the New York Institute? It used to be mine—Ithuriel had been trapped in there for centuries and I released him. I'm also a distant relative of the Starkweathers through my mother's side, so it would make sense he'd turn to me for help.
To this day, that dream replays in my mind as if I was there experiencing it firsthand. I saw Hodge and Marigold's wedding—a beautiful wedding. I saw them living happily for the first month or two of their marriage. They were happy.
And then I saw Valentine summon Ithuriel and bind him to earth with runes and spells I didn't know were possible for a Shadowhunter to use. Angels grow weak in our realm the longer they are here. Their glow dims, and they become frail and helpless. Valentine took full advantage of that and used the strongest binds to chain him down, torturing him, scooping out Ithuriel's eyes with spoons and cutting him up, collecting his golden ichor, questioning him about the Mortal Instruments and unanswered secrets only God's messengers would know. The angel did not speak, and he endured Valentine's wrath over and over. Angels cannot die, so all he could do was endure for years.
I then saw Marigold arrive at the Fairchild manor one autumn day. Valentine answered the door and Marigold asked for Jocelyn.
"She said Adele was making blueberry scones and asked me to bring Hodge's English tea blends." Marigold held up the tin. "Am I early?"
"Jocelyn and Adele will be back in a few minutes," Valentine said and urged her inside. "My wife is a perfectionist; they went into the city to purchase some last minute ingredients for the baking."
Valentine led her inside, asking about Hodge and charming her, putting her at ease as he offered her coffee he'd just brewed for himself.
"I'm a scholar like your husband, you see," he said. "Hodge's passion for literature and history has rubbed off on me—but I, unfortunately, do not have his talent for making tisanes so I must resort to coffee."
What Marigold drank that afternoon was not coffee. To this day, I haven't figured out exactly what it was, but I have an idea thanks to the archives in the Spiral Labyrinth. A demonic potion brewed with the blood of the person you desire, boiled enough to make it look black as death. You lust after the person whose blood you consumed; you go mad if you're kept away from that individual, and you're capable of inflicting harm upon yourself if bound or held back or locked away.
Valentine had given Marigold Ithuriel's blood in that demonic brew, and had to hold her back with runes as he took her own blood, brewed it into that same black drink, and forced Ithuriel to drink it. Ithuriel could not leave the circle binding him to earth, and I'm certain that what he ingested would have made the cellar he was in burst into flames had Marigold not met him halfway.
You were conceived that same night. It's called immaculate conception for a reason and Valentine knew it—"When angels shoot, they don't miss," as Catarina says. The effects wore off quickly afterward, and Marigold began to recall what occurred; she was horrified. She apologized profusely to Ithuriel, who I'm sure she still didn't believe was in front of her, looking just as guilty even without any eyes to show his grief.
Valentine blackmailed her.
"You've laid with an angel, Marigold. That's sacrilege—you'll face Heaven's wrath upon your death most likely. And even if you do tell your husband of the child you carry, which I can tell you with certainty you do, he will never believe you. Me, his loyal friend, capable of summoning an all-powerful angel and trapping him on earth? Me, capable of drugging his wife? Not to mention telling him the child inside you is an angel's and not his, as if you were Mary of Nazareth carrying the son of God. You're better off telling him you cheated on him, if you're going to tell him, that is."
Valentine tried to bring Marigold into the Circle after she married Hodge. He thought she'd be easily swayed—a mundane who'd recently Ascended and knew nothing of how the Shadow World operated was an easy target. But he was wrong, and Marigold saw him for what he was but chose to say nothing and kill him with kindness, to simply lie to Hodge and tell him that she didn't mind he was part of the Circle, refusing to join every time Valentine asked her to, or when he'd send Hodge to do his begging.
Valentine couldn't have her loyalty as a member of the Circle, so he achieved it through blackmail. And that blackmail was you, Evangeline.
After my dream, I searched the entirety of the Labyrinth looking for some record of an angel conceiving a child with a mortal woman. I found nothing and turned to Brother Zachariah, whom I trust with my life, and told him everything. He was willing to help at all costs, but he did not have access to such confidential archives in the Silent City. However, his superior, Brother Enoch, did. Thankfully, Enoch understood the necessity to keep this a secret and produced the archives we were looking for.
There has only ever been one account of an angel producing a child with a mortal woman, and I found it quite ironic Valentine mentioned it without knowing the weight of his words. All the stories are true, except this one.
Mary of Nazareth did not carry the son of God; she carried the son of the Archangel Gabriel. The archives Enoch pulled were written by David the Silent himself, straight from the mouth of Raziel as he gave Jonathan Shadowhunter the Mortal Instruments and the Gray Book. Raziel spoke this tale to Jonathan and his companions, explaining why angels refuse to manifest on earth and why they've grown indifferent to the qualms of man.
Heaven once wished to bridge the gap between their realm and the mortal realm. It takes considerable strength and rank to maintain a corporal form on earth and an angel in all its glory can kill a mortal with a single glance. They needed someone of both worlds—not entirely mortal, but not entirely divine. Archangel Gabriel was handpicked by God, and he was sent down to Mary of Nazareth which Heaven agreed was a woman of good heart and soul. They conceived a son named Jesus, and he grew into a man knowing what he was and his purpose. But Jesus' gospel was taken as blasphemy and lies, and he was executed upon a cross as a criminal and a deviant. Upon his death, he Ascended to Heaven, and one can assume he spoke of what had been done to him. Heaven was outraged and God forbid any interaction between angels and man.
Now, why Raziel was allowed to appear before Jonathan Shadowhunter, I have no idea. It isn't stated in any archive, so we can all assume he chose to omit it for a reason. The Nephilim were created since that day, but angels are still unattached to this world.
The reason I didn't find this archive in the Labyrinth was because it was filed under legends and myths. It's considered a very obscure retelling of the origins of Jesus and not considered truth. After he Ascended, his apostles began spreading the word that he was the son of God, rather than of the Archangel Gabriel; the story became altered through the centuries and written and rewritten until no one knew what really occurred except those involved. The Silent City has a copy because it was told to David the Silent by Raziel, and the Spiral Labyrinth has it because a warlock heard the story many centuries ago and decided to transcribe and archive it.
I can only assume Valentine wished to use you as some kind of weapon. A child of a Nephilim and an angel could very well have extraordinary powers and could even claim a place in Heaven through their blood, and all Valentine wanted was control and power. He was no doubt going to use his influence over Hodge and his blackmail over Marigold to lay claim over you and influence you in every way he could. I could not let this happen.
I traveled to Idris and met Marigold at the Starkweather manor. She still wasn't showing signs of a pregnant belly, and she looked dreadful. She looked like she barely ate, barely slept, and was in a terrible mood. I explained who I was and I told her I knew everything, and she cried on my lap.
"He thinks it's his child, and he tells everyone with such joy. I know he's ecstatic, but all I see is that son of a bitch looking pleased with himself that he's gotten away with it—that he has control over me."
I convinced her to tell Hodge, that I would protect her in the event he turned on her. When Hodge returned from a Circle meeting that evening, Marigold and I told him everything. Hodge was livid that Valentine would do such a thing and vowed to take revenge on what he'd done to his wife, to his family. I'd say Hodge was the first person in the Circle to see Valentine for the monster he was.
He came up with this conspiracy, as you call it. He didn't want you anywhere near Valentine's influence, so he suggested we fake some sort of catastrophe, something only an angel was capable of, to fool him and discourage him from attempting something like this ever again.
I brought in Brother Enoch and Brother Zachariah once again, and I brought in Catarina who is my close confidant and an expert in the medical field. Only we knew of what was to occur, and I placed an oath of silence upon everyone—no one was to speak of what we were planning and who you really were or how you came to be. It was the only way to protect your secret if we one day fell into the wrong hands.
Hodge suggested Catarina and I summon heavenly fire as the catastrophe. It can be done, but heavenly fire is dangerous and only angels can control it with precision. We decided we were going to summon an angel to ask for advice on the matter. We couldn't summon Ithuriel since we doubted Valentine would let him go so easily, so we decided to summon the only angel who would understand: the Archangel Gabriel.
I'm lucky to say I've seen two angels in my life when it is rare on its own to say you've seen one. Gabriel was glorious, to the point where you want to cry and fall on your knees from how insignificant you feel in his presence. Thankfully, he didn't kill us on sight for his summons and let us explain everything. He was appalled and told us he'd carry this message back to Heaven and that they would be watching. He then gave us a vase infused with heavenly fire, instructing us that when shattered, the wrath of Heaven would burst from it.
The months went by, and eventually, Catarina performed a C-section on the 40th week of Marigold's pregnancy. Brother Enoch and Brother Zachariah recorded the birth of a baby boy named James Johann Starkweather in the official Nephilim archives, and Zachariah and Sister Emilia performed your protection ritual. She is an acquaintance of Zachariah's, and he knew she would ask no questions.
The next phase of the plan was for you to be taken away and placed as an orphaned Nephilim somewhere in the world. Zachariah decided he would bear this burden and tell none of us, as it would protect everyone.
The plan was to set the Starkweather manor ablaze with heavenly fire and have Hodge and Marigold narrowly make it out alive, say that they must've left something on, and fool Valentine. But Marigold died in that fire and judging by how distressed Hodge was, this was not planned. He never told us what really occurred, and even though the Silent Brothers and the Clave investigated the scene, no one really knows what happened.
A few years went by and the Uprising occurred. Hodge was arrested but given leniency along with the Lightwoods. They were punished by having to run the New York Institute, while he was cursed to never step foot outside for the rest of his life. The moment they all arrived to live out their exile, the New York conclave informed them of an orphan that lived there. She was about three years old and was found by the Silent Brothers on the steps of the New York City Marble Cemetery entrance.
All Hodge had to do was take a glance at you to realize it was you. He contacted us immediately and Zachariah confirmed it. He'd chosen New York specifically because Church lived there—yes, Church is his cat, or was. Unfortunately, the Silent City doesn't accommodate pets.
Since then, Brother Zachariah and Brother Enoch have been exclusively assigned to tend to your needs. I'm sure you've noticed they're the only Silent Brothers that ever seem to answer a summons from New York. Enoch gave you your first runes and performed your parabatai ceremony. We didn't know how your angel blood would react to runes, or how you would develop, but thankfully, all you seemed to have inherited was the ability to speak the Language of Thoughts without having to go through the painful methods of the Brotherhood, and name your seraph blade Raziel without bursting into flames. Catarina moved to New York and began working at Beth Israel Hospital to be nearby. and I usually spent my time in the Spiral Labyrinth, but I was always a call away.
All I can say is I'm sorry for keeping this from you for so long. Hodge insisted that you were better off not knowing, and while he always knew Valentine wasn't dead—he faked his death by burning the Fairchild manor; Hodge always did say Valentine was anything but original—and that it was beneficial to keep you close. When his curse was broken and he disappeared, everyone wanted me to tell you the truth. I wanted to believe Valentine would be dealt with, but you came too close to being seen that night on the ship over the East River. If he saw you, he'd know instantly what really occurred. He'll know Hodge fooled him, the Hodge he believed—still believes—is a blind and loyal follower.
You look exactly like Marigold, except for the eyes—you inherited your father's golden eyes. It seems angel genes aren't as strong as one might think.
