Jace looked up at the warlock quickly and Magnus could see the surprise flicker in his eyes. It was clear that Jace had been expecting to be disappointed. Magnus felt a fool for not truly grasping what it must feel like to have Valentine Morgenstern as a father. To say that it must be unsatisfying was a gross understatement.
"Really? You're going to help me?" Magnus shrugged apathetically.
"Like I said earlier, I'm bored." Jace looked at him with more wisdom in his stare than Magnus had thought him capable of, and even though he was sure that the blonde saw the traces of empathy in his eyes, he didn't comment on it. But when Jace didn't stop staring at him, Magnus cocked his head to the side and flashed his cat eyes at him like a flare in the dark. "You fancy I should reconsider?" Jace dropped his eyes.
"No." Magnus smiled.
"Well good. Just making sure we're all on the same page." he said as he walked past Jace over to the desk against the far wall.
Magnus settled himself behind it before beckoning the two Shadowhunter boys over with a careless curl of his finger. As they took their seats in front of the large desk, Magnus folded his hands in front of him and felt himself slip into what he liked to refer to as his 'business persona'.
"So let's see this rune."
Jace held out his left arm to him and Magnus took his hand lightly while snapping the fingers of his other hand once.
A haze of bright light suddenly formed over them like a mist and then Magnus leaned forward, his face forming a studious mask as his eyes ran over the black markings burned into Jace's wrist. He turned Jace's hand over, following the harsh lines of the rune all the way around to where they met over his pounding pulse. Jace looked up at Magnus as the warlock frowned.
"What is it?"
Magnus ran his eyes over the markings a few seconds more, noticing that in every way they gave the suggestion of imprisonment. No, 'suggestion' was too weak a word.
The severe lines did not suggest, they told, they promised. Even the design of the lines spoke of captivity for they encircled Jace's dominant wrist like a heavy black manacle.
And sensing what he had from Jace, Magnus knew that being bound to anyone against his will was something he was not prepared to tolerate. Sadness permeated Magnus' chest as he realized that Valentine would know this fact about his son better than anyone…which was why he had chosen to go to such extreme measures to bind the boy to him.
"So what can you tell us?" Alec asked finally. Magnus glanced up at him, still holding Jace's wrist.
"Well this isn't a rune from the Gray Book. I'm fairly certain that it isn't actually a rune at all." Jace frowned at him.
"What do you mean it isn't a rune? It looks like a rune." They all looked down at it again, and Magnus prepared himself to destroy the boy in front of him with the knowledge that he had sought to find.
"It's actually a spell. In a…demon language that I'm not too familiar with." Jace's face stilled so much that he resembled a statue of some golden, avenging archangel. It was Alec who answered.
"What do you mean, demon language?" he asked, his blue eyes burning. Magnus' eyes followed the dark lines again, still getting the overwhelming feeling of insidious intent from them.
"Well, I can't be positive…" he looked up and met Jace's eyes. "Did your father say anything about it when he applied it?"
"Just that it was a binding rune and that it bound me to him." Jace's eyes hardened with anger. "But he lied didn't he? Since its not even a rune…"
Magnus swallowed against the sudden dryness in his mouth. Wishing that he hadn't gotten out of bed this morning, Magnus clenched his teeth before saying,
"Jace, would you say your father is very pro demon?" Jace stared back at him with out blinking.
"Meaning what?" his voice had unintentionally come out sounding low and laced with threat. Alec twisted his fingers together.
"Meaning…is he on good terms with any?" Jace scoffed.
"He's a Shadowhunter-"
"And you're saying that he's your average, Law abiding Shadowhunter?" Jace glanced away.
"That's what I thought." Magnus paused, his voice becoming very serious.
"Jace, you wanted my professional opinion. And I can't be one hundred percent because I don't speak this language…but it seems to me that what this is…" and as he looked back up at Jace, at the boy's detached expression that was so carefully controlled, like he couldn't ever afford to show he was hurting, for the first time in a long time, Magnus wished his instincts were wrong…
"Is a binding spell, used to bind a person to a demon who is controlled by another person."
The room was so silent, Isabelle and Clary could be heard laughing from the other end of the house. Alec's eyes flickered with horror and his chest rose with a barely suppressed gasp as he brought his hand to his mouth in shock.
Magnus looked to Jace, who had not shown any reaction to what he had said. His face remained blank, his eyes like stone.
But Magnus could feel Jace's hammering pulse against his fingertips and knew that he was screaming inside.
"How can I get it off me?" Jace said with forced apathy.
Magnus released his hand before conjuring up three glasses and a bottle of brandy. They watched him pour two fingers of liquid into two glasses before he pushed one towards Alec and kept the other for himself.
Then he poured Jace's glass with three fingers full before sliding it over to him without meeting his eyes.
Jace stared at him so hard he was surprised that the warlock didn't catch fire.
Finally, when Magnus would not answer him, Jace reached out and downed his drink like it would stop the devastation that was wreaking silent havoc inside him. Magnus met his eyes when he set the glass back down on the desk.
"There. Now tell me whatever it is you think I can't handle." Magnus seemed to sag with regret and exhaustion, even though his rigid posture hadn't lessened.
"I don't know if I can get it off you." he said quietly.
Jace's eyes slipped down and fixed on the millimeter of brown liquor still in the bottom of his glass. Beside him, Alec downed his drink without so much as a cringe, his eyes looking washed out and dead.
"There isn't anything you can do, Magnus?" Alec asked in a low voice.
"Well if I had the book he got the spell from maybe I could figure out how to reverse it-" Jace glanced up again, his eyes bright.
"If I could find it and get it to you…" his voice hardened with determination and Magnus felt his faith being restored just in hearing it, "Do you think you could figure out how to reverse it?"
Magnus watched him, this golden warrior who had spent his life fighting enemies who should have been allies. Family members that have abused him, made him dependent on himself and untrusting of everyone.
Magnus was sure that just about anyone else would become a hateful, shell of a human being with a father like Valentine, and yet…sitting in front of him was proof that what doesn't kill you simply makes you all the more likely to be able to convince others to risk their lives in effort to help you.
The flamboyant Downworlder laughed and lifted his glass in a toast to Jace, an arrogant smirk lifting the corner of his mouth.
"Did you forget whom you're speaking to, love?" his smirk broke into a smile, cat eyes glittering with confidence.
"I'm Magnus Bane."
