The only person who was in the Institute was Max. Max, who had no doubt tried to wait up for whoever would be the one to first walk through the door in return, but had fallen asleep on the foyer couch instead.
Jace bent down and plucked Max's glasses off his face and carefully placed them on the end table. Isabelle hung her dark green coat on the hook by the door, warning Jace not to dirty up Max's things. She announced that she was going to take a good, hot shower and pranced out of the room.
The air in the foyer immediately went stale. Clary was staring hard at Max's sleeping figure, Jace had trained his eyes on the door.
"I'm going to my room." The words were thick in her throat. Jace's head snapped up and his eyes landed on her. "I need to call Magnus. And shower."
The corner of his mouth twitched. "What if they converted your room?" He asked her. "It could be anything now. An extra library, a new apothecary, the possibilities are endless."
She thought about responding, entertaining his ridiculous notions. She promptly deciding against it. She didn't particularly feel like speaking to him. "I'll make sure to ask Magnus when you need to be back." She turned her attention to Clary. "If you need to borrow something to wear, I left a few changes of clothes here."
Clary nodded, saying thank you quietly. She watched as Jace opened his mouth, surely to say something that would make everything much more awkward than it already was. Then, he just said nothing at all, clamping his mouth shut.
At that, she turned away and began walking down the hallway. Unsurprisingly, her room was still where it had always been. Her heart fluttered as she opened the door.
Still the same.
The large bed was still right across from the door, the black duvet was still perfectly made up. The vanity and the other dresser were by the bathroom door.
Someone knocked on her door. She frowned. If it was Clary, she'd have to let her shower first. That was the nice, sisterly thing to do, right?
She opened the door, half-surprised to see Jace. He didn't say anything, just pushing past her into the room. She let the door close.
"I was just about to shower." She told him.
He licked his lips. "I don't believe you."
"You think I'm lying about getting in the shower? Why would I lie about showering?" She asked.
He paced the room, tip of his thumb in his mouth as he chewed on his nail. His other hand rested on the back of his neck. "You didn't ruin us, Liz. I know you think that, but you didn't."
She wanted to talk, but she didn't know the words to say. They couldn't have that conversation, no matter how badly she wanted it. Because of all the lies she had told, because of Declan. "We can't do this. Please leave."
He stopped pacing, just in front of her bathroom door. He stared back at her, eyes wide. "You want me to leave?" She said yes. "Because of the kiss?" She managed to say no. "Then why?"
Her tongue felt a little too big for her mouth. There were words stuck in her throat and her legs were stiff. "I don't want to talk to you, Jace. What about that don't you understand?"
He flinched. "I saw your face. After I kissed her."
She raised her eyebrows. "Her being our sister. After you kissed our sister." His cheeks flared red. He reminded her that he had to in order to make sure she didn't stay in the Seelie Court. "I saw his face, Simon's. When you kissed his girlfriend. Whatever you saw on my face, it was for Simon. Will you leave now?"
"Liz, please." He sighed. He ran his hands through his hair.
She bit down on her lip. "What do you want me to say, Jace?" She asked him. "I don't think I can tell you what you want to hear. I'm sorry."
When would she be able to breathe again? Would there ever come a day when she would be able to open her mouth and tell the truth? One that wasn't scattered in lies. She was sure that was what drowning felt like. Drowning in lies and drowning in water perhaps were not so different. Either way, you lost yourself.
"Because of Declan?" What the hell did Declan have to do with anything? Declan wasn't the problem, why wouldn't he see that?
Valentine was the problem. He had always been the problem. Without her father, everything would have been fine. If he had stayed away, if she really would have been able to keep the Cup from him, they would have been happy. But instead, Valentine had succeeded. He had gotten the Cup, and the Sword, and forced her to ravel more lies for him.
She knew if she didn't keep up the lie he had spun, someone would get hurt. It could be anyone. Izzy, Alec, Max, Clary, Simon, Magnus, Declan. Jace. He would hurt Jace, because he knew she loved him the most of anyone. Maybe he wouldn't hurt him physically, but he would spin webs of lies to entangle him and make him believe anything he said, and he would take him away and make him his.
He would ruin Jace far more than she ever had.
"Because I don't feel for you what you've felt for me. I never have. I told you. I lied. I'm sorry that I hurt you but everything I've done and everything I will do is to protect the people I care about. I need you to understand that and to get on with your life."
His jaw tightened and his hands fell to his sides. After a moment, his face went slack. The bright of his eyes darkened. "I love you, Liz. I know you feel the same way. I feel it."
Her heart clenched. There was something holding it, squeezing it and trying to crush it. "You can't." She told him quietly. "Please, Jace. You can't say things like that anymore."
He stepped closer to her, standing right in front of her. So close she could feel his breath on her face. His hands found her neck, thumbs resting on her jawline. Her eyes closed and she let out a sigh. "Lizzie." He breathed.
She felt his face draw closer, close enough that if she just moved a little bit, their lips would be touching. "I never thought I would love someone the way I love you." He said.
Her eyes fluttered open and their gazes met. He was staring at her with that look, hooded eyes and mouth slightly open. He leaned down just a little, his lips barely brushing against hers. She wanted to fall into it, to let herself feel it for just a moment.
Only a moment.
Little dove? Are you alive?
She snapped back, stumbling backwards away from him. Her eyes shot open and she stared back at Jace. His eyes were wide. "Liz?"
She licked her bottom lip. "You have to go. This…This shouldn't…I'm sorry."
He blinked a few times and then locked his jaw. He didn't say anything as he brushed past her, his shoulder knocking against hers. The door shut quietly, and she heard him walking down the hall.
For the second time that night, Eliza cried.
The tolling of the Institute's doorbell woke her from her uneven sleep. She rose from her bed, pulling back the duvet so it looked mostly kept up. She slipped her boots back on and adjusted her skewed clothes.
She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Three in the morning? Who the hell was asking to get into the Institute at three in the morning?
Leaving her room, she saw Isabelle standing in the hallway, enveloped in a warm looking bathrobe. Jace and Clary were standing on the other side of Isabelle. Clary was wearing one of Jace's shirts.
Refraining from a biting remark, Eliza shut her door. "What's going on?" She asked.
Clary shrugged. "Someone is interrupting my beauty sleep." Isabelle told her, adjusting the sleep mask on her forehead.
"It's not a Shadowhunter." Jace reminded them. "It's…someone else."
"Simon!" Clary exclaimed. "It has to be Simon!" Izzy yawned and they started to walk toward the foyer. Max was no longer on the couch. Izzy went over to the wall and adjusted the elevator switch, announcing that the elevator would be up any moment.
Clary wrapped her arms around herself and Eliza heard her teeth chatter. Izzy took a coat off the hook and handed it to her. Clary put the coat on. Just then, the elevator arrived, and Clary immediately got inside.
"Clary?" Izzy asked. "What are you doing?"
"Simon's downstairs…?"
Jace got in the elevator. "You guys can go back to sleep." He was staring at Eliza.
She rolled her eyes and stepped into the elevator. She grabbed Izzy by the wrist and pulled the other girl into the elevator.
The doors slid open once they reached the cathedral. Clary practically ran out of the elevator and ran down the walkway between the pews of the nave.
"Clary! Wait!" Eliza shouted for her. Clary didn't listen, rather, she ran faster. The bell tolled again.
Clary jolted to a stop at the double-doors, trying to slide back the bolts that kept the door locked. Jace reached and pulled the doors open for her. Cool night air gusted into the room, blowing out whatever light the candles had provided.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and saw him standing there on the steps. His dark black curls blew softly in the wind and his white shirt bright in the night. She was just about to tell him to get the hell off of their property when she saw what he held in his hands.
Well, who he held in his hands.
Limp, dangling limbs. Bloodied throat. Her heart contracted and she moved to shield Clary. She stepped in front of her sister and Jace pulled Clary backwards. She heard Clary fall to her knees.
"What have you done?" She hissed. "What the hell have you done?"
Someone else stepped out of the shadows. Declan, in all his glory. His hands were wrung together in front of him. Izzy launched a candelabra at Raphael.
"Eliza, my love, it was not him." Declan said.
"He is not dead." Raphael told her. "I promise you." He carefully laid Simon's body down on a step, not breaking eye contact with her.
She looked down at Simon's body. Clary had taken her claim over him, pulling his head into her lap. She was whispering his name, asking for him to wake up.
Eliza knelt down and put two gentle fingers on his throat. Barely there was his pulse. Slow, and slowing still. "Clary." She whispered to her sister. "He's dying. He will die if we don't help him."
"No longer than ten minutes." Raphael piped up.
Eliza shot him an icy glare. Clary's hand jerked out and she grabbed Eliza's wrist. "Call Magnus. Get him here now. He can help him. He can save him like he saved Alec."
Her heart sank. Even if Magnus could help him, he would never get there in time. He would never make it. Slowly, she licked her lips and looked back at Raphael and Declan.
"What happened?" Jace asked them. "Tell us or I'll cut out your heart, like I should have the last time we met."
Raphael gave him a shark's grin. "You took an oath. You and your…sister." He glanced at Eliza. Jace mentioned that they never finished the oath. Izzy said she never took one to start with. "I brought him here to you because you broke into my domain to search for him that night. He broke in tonight, as you had done not so long ago. Yet, I did not let the others drink him."
Clary's head jerked up. "What do you mean he broke in? Simon wouldn't be so stupid."
Ah, yes, he would. He was a mundane. He was in love. He was hurt. Singularly, all were already bad enough. But, put together…a deadly combination. People did unnaturally crazy things when they were hurt and in love. Especially when hurt by the ones they loved.
"He was afraid." Declan told them. "Afraid of becoming like us." Raphael agreed with him, telling them that Simon wanted to know if the process could be reversed. "Raphael said he bit him. When he was a rat."
Eliza felt sick to her stomach. She had never thought anything of it, never giving it a second thought at all really. Simon had merely bitten Raphael to get away, to provide a distraction. She had never thought that he may have ingested some of the vampire's blood.
A vampire bite was nothing. It would do nothing but cause bleeding. But, biting a vampire and ingesting their blood…That was another thing entirely. Ingesting vampire blood began the transition.
"Oh, God." Clary mumbled.
Raphael nodded. "My blood in him would have passed over time. He would have been fine, but…"
Eliza didn't let him finish the sentence. She grabbed Clary's bloodied hands and made her sister look at her. "Clary, Simon is going to die." She told her firmly. Clary's eyes widened and her throat bobbed with another sob. "Listen very carefully to me, please." She continued. "Simon's going to die. But, he'll wake up. He'll become a vampire."
"Liz, don't believe him." Jace warned her. "Remember who he is. What he did to you."
She lifted her hand, fingers carefully touching the burning scar on her throat. She bit the inside of her jaw and took Clary's hand back. "It's true, Jace." She said. "You know how this works. He consumed the blood. He died. He rises as a vampire."
Tears ran down Clary's cheeks and the girl closed her eyes. She removed her hands from Eliza's grip and went back to grasping Simon's bloody shirt front. "This means, also, that Simon belongs to me now." Raphael told them. His voice was as dead as she wanted him to be. Izzy asked if anything could be done to fix it. Raphael said the only way to fix it might be to throw his dismembered body in a fire.
Jace looked down at Clary. "What would he want?" He asked her. "What would Simon want to do?" He held a candelabra in his hand absently.
"Get away!" She screamed at him. "Get away from us!"
Eliza jumped to her feet and grabbed Jace, pulling him away from Clary. The blood on her hands stained his forearms. Just then, Simon lurched forward, eyes wide. She breathed in sharply. Clary was whispering to him words of love and kindness when he took his last breath.
Isabelle was shouting at Raphael. Jace had dropped the candelabra to the ground, staring down at Clary. Clary's eyes had not left Simon. Declan was staring at her and Raphael was staring at them.
"What do we do?" She asked. "What do we do now?" Raphael opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "I was talking to Declan." She snapped. "I don't want to hear another word from you."
Declan gave her a kind, but worried smile. "You must bury him. He has to dig his way out of the grave to be reborn." He told her.
She swallowed. She didn't want to think about poor Simon having to dig his way out of the earth. Instead, she thought of Declan. How confused he must have been to have died and then to claw his way out of the ground and be reborn as a vampire, something that needed blood to survive on. She found it hard to picture proper Declan Kensley, head of the London clan, digging his way out of the ground centuries ago.
"I'm not putting him in the ground." Clary shouted at them. "I won't!"
"He will never wake, then." Declan spoke with a smoothness and a politeness that was comforting and unnerving at the same time. "The longer we wait and argue about his fate, the more we are choosing for him. You have to bury him soon or he may not come out at all."
Eliza knelt down in front of her sister. "Clary, I know this isn't easy, especially to be the one to decide this so quickly. But, if you don't want to lose him forever, this must be done."
Clary blinked away tears rapidly and nodded. "In a Jewish cemetery. And I want to be there when he comes out."
Eliza gave her a small smile. "Of course. We'll stay with you." She told her.
"Clary, when he comes out, you may not want to see it." Declan warned her. "It will not be pleasant."
She heard Clary swallow. "Well, nothing ever is anymore." Clary said quietly. Declan offered to carry Simon and she let him. He bent down and picked his limp body up, cradling it close by. Clary walked beside him, never taking her eyes off of Simon.
"You shouldn't give her hope like that. That he'll be the same Simon when he wakes up." Jace whispered in her ear. "You know better."
She said no, she didn't. Not all vampires were Raphael. There were those like Declan, who had retained their old selves and not let the disease consume them. She only hoped that Simon would be one of them. For Clary's sake.
Clary led the way to the cemetery, just outside of Queens. Once they found an open and secluded spot, Raphael began digging into the earth. The spot Clary had picked was on top of a low hill, trees separating them from the line of sight of the road.
"Was he in pain?" Clary asked Raphael as he dug. "Did he suffer at all?" In a soft voice, he told her no, he only felt like he was drifting off to sleep. Jace grabbed Clary gently by the hand and walked her a few feet away.
Simon's body was lying on the ground, Isabelle standing guard over it. Her whip was in her hand. With it, she looked ready to kick any sort of ass that needed kicked.
Eliza let her hand slip into Declan's and she rested her head on his chest. "You were there, weren't you?" She murmured.
He said yes. "I was just leaving. Magnus had given me the allowance to stay for however long I wanted. He knows how much I detest both Raphael and Camille." Magnus was allowing him to stay at the apartment? Without asking her first? "I told Simon to leave when he walked into the doors. He would die if he stayed, but he did not listen. I told Raphael that he was not to be injured."
She glanced at Simon's body. "That didn't help." She told him. "Declan, what happened to you?" She asked, looking up at him. "I mean, how did you become a vampire?"
He rested his hand on the back of her head, running his fingers through her hair. "It is not a happy tale, my love." She said that nothing ever was. "I was returning from a ball with my sister and her husband. That night, my sister had said something to upset him greatly and he lashed out, biting her in the carriage. I was overcome, I did not know what to do or say. He told me this spinning tale of how, while away on business just a few weeks prior, he had come across an odd sort of man. The two of them made a gamble and agreed that if my brother in law won, the man would grant him immortality. When my brother in law won, as he was privy to do, the man gave him a cup and told him to drink. Edward did not know that the drink was the man's blood. He did not recall the next few days, only returning home to my sister and thirsting for something most unnatural."
"Declan…" She said. She didn't want him to finish the story. She didn't want to know if he had become a vampire of his own accord.
"I laughed at him, I could not help myself. I found his story so ridiculous. That was when he cut himself and forced his blood into my mouth. I awoke several hours later, buried under the ground. I clawed my way out and there Edward was, waiting for me. He had my sister with him. There was still blood on her gown. I-I could not stop myself from…"
He tore away from her, turning around so as not to face her any longer. Her hands fell to her sides. He didn't have to finish his sentence for her to understand what he had done. Blood to a newly born vampire was often too tempting to resist.
She hadn't even known he had a sister. "What was her name?" She asked. "Your sister."
He turned back around, his eyes dark. "Adelaide. Her name was Adelaide. My baby sister." His voice was quiet, just barely heard over the breeze of the wind. "I promised our mother that I would always take care of her."
She knew his mother had died when he was young. He had never said how, and she had never asked. "It wasn't your fault." She told him. "Edward was a dick."
The faintest of smiles painted itself on his lips. He embraced her again, hugging her in his tightly gentle way. "Eliza Morgenstern, you are the great brightness in my life. Brighter even than the moon in all her glory."
She bit down on her lip, forcing away a smile. "Declan, the sun is brighter than the moon." She reminded him.
He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "Yes, but I have not seen the sun in many, many years. Until you, the moon was the brightest thing I had to look at."
His words fluttered in her chest and she rested her head against him, allowing herself to finally feel content.
Someone shouted Jace's name and she jerked back from Declan, spinning away from him. Alec was sprinting towards them, Magnus walking lazily behind him. Alec held something in his hand.
Eliza watched him approach Jace and Clary at the bottom of the hill. He handed Jace a bag and Jace peered into it. The group of them began walking back up the hill.
"It's blood." Declan told her in a quiet voice. "Animal blood, I think."
She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about the fact that he could sniff blood from that far away. When she looked away, she noticed that Raphael had already buried Simon into the hole he had dug. Izzy was sitting next to the freshly pact ground, arms wrapped around herself.
Declan offered her his coat and she accepted it silently. "It feels like winter out here." Clary mumbled, pulling the velvet coat closer to her body.
"We are lucky it isn't." Raphael told her. "The ground freezes so hard in the winter, it is near impossible to dig through. Some fledglings must wait until the spring to be reborn."
Clary choked on a sob. "You are not helping." Declan told Raphael. He turned to Magnus. "Good to see you again, Magnus."
Magnus reached out and they shook hands. "I've never seen one of your kind be reborn before." He shot a pointed look at Eliza. "Plus, my little dove never answered me earlier. I was beginning to think you had died in the Seelie Court. But then I remembered that had we been so misfortunate in that case, the whole city would have been burned down." He gave Jace a sly look.
Eliza frowned at him, her cheeks feeling warm. "I'm sorry." She told him. "We've been…busy."
Izzy grabbed at Clary's elbow and Clary asked her what was wrong. Izzy was flushed a pale white, even her lips colorless. "Maybe we should have just let him go…" Izzy murmured.
Clary tore away from her. "Die, you mean." She snapped at Izzy. "I'm not surprised. You of all people would think that anyone who wasn't like you would be better off dead anyways."
Izzy's colorless face fell, shattered like a beautiful portrait. Eliza was sure that wasn't what Isabelle had meant by her words.
Under them, just near their feet, the ground moved. It sounded like a drum, or a heartbeat, thumping underneath them. Eliza stumbled back and Declan grabbed on to her arms to steady her. She looked up at him and he nodded once. "He is rising." He whispered softly in her ear.
Just beside Clary, the ground shifted, and she fell down, landing hard on her knees. Eliza moved to help her up, but Declan held her back. The ground burst open, dirt flying in the air. Pale fingers clawed through the ground and she heard Clary shout Simon's name.
Raphael grabbed her and held her back to keep her from trying to help Simon out of his grave. Clary freed herself from him and rushed forward, only to be knocked back by the force of the ground moving again.
Simon crawled out of the ground, body coated in dried blood and dirt. He collapsed on the ground just beside the grave. Clary ran towards him and stumbled, falling next to him. She reached out for him, calling his name. Just as she grabbed onto his shoulder, Eliza yanked out of Declan's grasp and grabbed Clary by the shoulders.
Simon's head whipped around to look at Clary. And then, he sprang at her.
Eliza yanked Clary backwards as Clary screamed. Clary fell back onto the ground and Simon loomed over her, hissing, fangs glistening in the moonlight. He leapt on her, hands gripping her shoulders and forcing her on the ground.
Without even thinking, Eliza reached out. She wrapped her arm around his neck and yanked him off Clary. He kicked and flailed back at her and tried to thrash his head around, but she only held him tighter.
"Liz!" Jace shouted.
She wrapped her other arm around his waist, pinning his arms down. She looked over at everyone. "No one else was moving fast enough." She told them. "Someone help Clary up, please."
Declan carefully lifted Clary to her feet and helped her brush the dirt off her clothes. He inspected her for any injuries and told everyone she was fine.
"He doesn't even remember me." Clary cried. "I'm his best friend and he doesn't remember me."
Declan put his arm around her and held her close. "He remembers you. I know he does." He assured her.
"He simply does not care." Raphael interjected. "He's starving. Blood is the only thing that matters to him right now." Declan reminded him that he wasn't being helpful.
Jace handed Raphael the bag that Alec had given him upon arriving. Raphael dumped the contents on the ground. Several packets of blood thudded against the ground. Eliza's nose wrinkled in disgust. Raphael tore open one of the packets. Simon squirmed in her arms.
"Eliza is going to let you go. You must stay calm or I will not give you the blood." Raphael told him. Simon gave a nod, the best he could do in his current position. Raphael nodded at her and Eliza released him and took several slow steps back. Raphael handed the blood to Simon. Simon practically snatched it away from him, his hands caked in blood and dirt and the fingernails torn apart.
He went through two packets of blood before Raphael slowed him down. Blood had run down his mouth and chin, eyes closed in content.
Eliza watched as Clary staggered away from the horrendous scene, hands clutching at her stomach. Jace moved to go after her but she reached out and held him in place. "Don't. She needs to be alone."
Jace looked over at her. "Do you think she'll be okay?" He asked.
She shrugged, looking at Simon and then back to Jace. "She's stronger than we think."
Declan had left with Raphael and Simon, promising to watch out for Simon and to help him as best he could. Magnus promised to take Clary back to Luke's. Izzy and Alec returned to the Institute. Jace and Eliza went back to Magnus'.
She had showered for a while, exactly how long, she wasn't sure. She had scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed until she couldn't even imagine her hands having been covered in Simon's blood at all. She spent unimaginable time washing her hair, scraping out any dirt or grime that could have been present.
By the time she got out, she was exhausted. It was early in the day, just after daybreak. A few hours of sleep would do her good, she knew that much.
Crawling into bed, Chairman Meow joined her, curling up on her spare pillow. With his tail brushing her cheek every so often, she fell asleep.
She was sitting in a carriage. The whole of it shook every time it bounced over a rock or even a little pebble or mound of dirt. It jostled them each time and she found herself grabbing onto the velvet side so as not to move so much.
The stays of her corset were much too tight, and she felt as if she couldn't breathe at all. The green and gold gown was beautiful, no doubt, but comfort was apparently unaccounted for in fashion. Across from her were two men, talking intimately to each other in hushed tones.
"It is very rude to have a secretive conversation when in the presence of another. Especially when it is me." She told them, whacking one of them with her fan.
The two of them looked up immediately and she felt herself grow cold. Jace was staring at her adoringly, his golden eyes molten with affection. His curls looped on his forehead like overgrown vines and he smiled at her graciously.
"My apologies, little sister." The other one drawled.
She looked at her brother, her stomach churning. His black eyes, void of anything but malice, bore into her. The smile he gave her was nothing like Jace's. It was cold and hateful, much like him.
Fangs.
They protruded from his mouth in place of his canines, pointed just over his bottom lip. "Little sister, you look scared. Are you scared of me?" Like Jace, his white hair was slightly curled on the bottom. Father had never let his hair grow so long before.
"No. Never." She told him.
He grinned back at her. "You should be." He turned back to Jace and slit open his own wrist, forcing the cut onto Jace's lips. She screamed and shouted for the driver to stop the carriage immediately. It kept going.
"No. No, please don't." She urged him.
Without a word, he snapped Jace's neck.
The scene shifted and they were in a field. The night air was cold, and he had not allowed her to get her wrap from the carriage before dragging her out. He had buried Jace in a shallow grave. They waited in silence for him to rise, Jonathan holding her against his person tightly.
The ground heaved and tore apart as Jace rose from his freshly dug grave.
"My brother." Jonathan breathed. "I have a gift for you." He pushed her forward, closer to Jace, holding her in place with his hand at the small of her back. "Isn't she perfect?" He crooned.
Jace breathed a yes as he grabbed onto her, hands firm on her upper arms. "Jace. Please." She begged. "Do not."
He leaned forward, his nose brushing against her neck. She felt his teeth sink into her throat and she found herself unable to scream.
Someone was holding onto her shoulders, shaking her gently. "Liz. Lizzie, wake up." His voice was soft and careful.
Her eyes flashed open. Jace was kneeling beside her, Chairman Meow hissing at him from his spot on the pillow. "Jace? It's you? You aren't a vampire?"
He laughed, shaking his head. "No. I'm not. You were screaming. Bad dream?"
The worst, she thought, hands covering her throat. "I'm fine." She mumbled. "Sorry if I woke you up."
He shrugged, moving to sit down next to her. "Do you want me to stay?" His voice was quiet, almost inaudible. She looked over at him. He wasn't staring at her, instead plucking feathers from a hole in the duvet.
"Will you?" She responded just as quietly.
He didn't answer. Instead, he moved to the other side of the bed. He displaced Chairman Meow and the little kitten curled himself at the foot of the bed. Jace got under the duvet and moved around until he was comfortable.
Eliza adjusted her head, so she was on her side, facing him. "I'm sorry about earlier." She told him. "I never meant to hurt you, Jace."
He reached out and ran a finger down her cheek. "I know. Just go to sleep, Liz. We'll talk later."
She rolled back over and got comfortable. She felt Chairman Meow move so that he was curled around her head on her pillow. Slowly, she drifted off.