Magnus's Point of View

I looked at her with disbelief.

How could she even know about that?

I was dumb struck, and for her to even suggest it was ludicrous. A vow on my name is one thing. It's binding so that if I were to break the promise I was bound to, the magic used in the vow would require me to give my full name to the opposing party in the promise. But to vow on my magic is another walk in the park completely, a park at night full of muggers and rapist, me being the young cute blonde.

I sucked in a breath at the thought. If I gave a pledge on my name and on my magic then I would not only have to give that person my name –which could be binding to a certain degree– but I would give them a percentage of my power as well, and not a small cut either. To swear on those terms is a big deal.

Magic can make your life suck when you go against it, it can make you regret what you have done and it can take away your will to live with its intensity, but there is one thing it can't take away, from anyone or thing. And that is choice. It can make it damn hard to choose, but it can never take that control from you. You can choose to do the wrong thing, either intentionally or accidentally it's still up to you. I just wish it would give you warning sometimes.

"Mayrse-"I started, trying to give her an incredulous glare through my shocked expression.

"Don't Mayrse me. I want you to swear on it." She interrupted haughtily. In that moment I knew she was clueless to what she was asking, from her high tone and snarky expression I could tell that she had no idea what she was asking me to do.

"Mayrse," I held up my hand when she tried to interrupt. "Do you even know what you're asking of me?"

"I'm asking you to obey the rules I have laid out." She replied slowly in confusion to my grave voice. I shook my head at her ignorant answer. She must have gotten mad at my condescending actions, because her retort was acidicly biting. "Fine, then what is it that I'm asking of you?"

"I'll explain it like this, with a contract like this one, it's sort of like a box," With that I took my finger and drew a square on the table made of blue light. "And let's say this is me bound by this promises parameters." I took my finger pointer and middle finger and placed it nose down in the center of the box, making a little hand man it. "Now this is your promise." As I said it the blue square vanished. "See your promise doesn't have any seeable boundaries that I know can't cross. So if I pass out of your invisible box," To illustrate my idea I walked my fingers to the right, after a certain point of my finger walk, the box reappeared this time red. "I'm dead." I said in mock sweetness. With my visual presentation over I waved away the red box and looked at Mayrse directly in the eyes. "So what you are asking of me is to make a life bonding promise to a flimsy and time constrained set of rules that could and most like will kill me if I step one toe out of line. Your rules apply to the now, but what about five years from now when Alec has moved out and I am still constrained to that promise. Hell let's say thirty years from now, I'm still bound to your bidding. No deal Mayrse." The last three words came out more as a growl than I had intended, Alec hand constricted on me. With that said, she looked down. I didn't know what she was doing until I saw that her cheeks had turned a light, but noticeable red.

Huh, well now I know where Alec got that trait.

"I'm sorry," I looked at Mayrse in shock, but she continued. "I'm embarrassed. I didn't know that the contract was so . . . obligatory. I had read about it, but that–what you demonstrated wasn't mentioned. I'm sorry I asked that of you. Your word will be fine as long as you keep by it." My mouth was gaping and my eyes must have been comically wide because she gave me a disapproving glare, but a smile twitched on her lips. "You'll catch flies in there." Was her one line comment and I laughed, the tension between us breaking. If she could say sorry twice and crack a joke in the end I knew we could coexist without trying to murder each other . . . most of the time.

Isabelle and Robert joined in and Mayrse's shadow of a smile turned into a barely restrained grin. Alec just rolled his eyes, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter. As the laughter died down into content smiles I looked at Mayrse, my eyes serious.

"Mayrse Elizabeth Lightwood, I, Magnus Bane do so swear that I will abide by the rules you have set to the best of my abilities. I can promise no more than that." I held out my hand for her to shake, she took it this time without hesitation.

"Thank you." Was all she said in reply. I looked around at the table, my eyes passing to each individual, Robert smiled and nodded his assent to the exchange. He may be the head of the family, but Mayrse made the decisions and he knew so. It wasn't until I got to the end of my rounds that I noticed I had conjured an extra seat. I began to wonder why, but the answer side wiped me and I mentally chocked. I had barely known the boy. Mayrse eyes followed mine and smiled sadly, her eyes turning cloudy.

Before the gloom could soak into my thoughts I stood, everyone else following suit. When everyone had vacated their chairs I snapped my fingers, teleporting the table back to the Rooms–To–Go I had got it from. Alec and I said our goodbyes, Alec hugging his family as I stood a respectful ways away. After disentangling himself from his family's arms he joined me, our hands intertwining. We turned from the column we came in from, back into the buzzing of the Hall of Accords.

"Well that went better than I expected." A exclaimed a wry smile on my lips. And to my immense enjoyment Alec laughed, a rich thick sound that I couldn't help but join in on. After we had both calmed down I posed the question I wanted to ask earlier, but didn't get the chance because of our mad dash to get to his parents.

"So how are you, when it comes to all of this? You were very quiet in there so I couldn't really get a feel of how you felt about it." I stopped before I could ramble on any more.

"Happy. I didn't expect to feel this way for . . . awhile. With all that's happened." He gave a small smile to me as we continued to walk back to me excluded spot on the other side of the hall. I glanced up to see Clary and her mother, with Luke on the dais. I couldn't make out the other figure, they were blurred. An apparition perhaps? Alec jarred me from my musing with a tug on my hand, looking at me in a curious manner. I could see the gears turning behind his eyes as he formulated and speculated . . . something. I could never really guess what he was thinking at times. But, I knew he would ask me – and shit was he talking this entire time. I zoned in, in enough time to get the last part.

"I get the over protectiveness, but why does mom hate you so much?" Alec asked airily, as we walked back into the shadows of another arch.

"I know why." My mouth retorted before my brain could tell it to shut up. I was silent hopping he would take the statement at face value and move on. But, instead he looked at me expectantly, I sighed and elaborated. "Your mom. The first night, the first night she was under my custody for trial. She tried to run, and I had to . . . subdue her."

Alec stopped suddenly. I had to turn around to look at him, since I had kept walking. "What do you mean by subdue?" he asked looking at me with uneasiness.

"I had to . . . use a binding on her arms and legs. To stop her." I said in a purposely vague way. This conversation would not end well if it continued.

"What kind?" He asked in an aggressive tone, his eyes darkening.

"Alec you have to under–" I pleaded, before he interrupted, taking a step toward me.

"What kind of binding Magnus?" He was getting mad now. I had to tell him, no matter how much I didn't want to.

"It's called a Corinthian binding. It's like a slim rope made of magic that ties around the wrists and ankles." I said, purposefully omitting the worst, hoping that he would drop it.

"That doesn't sound so bad." He had no idea what it was, I could tell that much from his naïve comment. I had to tell him, if he didn't hear it from me first he would just be angrier later.

"That's not all it does," he looked at me with a glare. I raised my hands in a surrendering fashion to show I would explain. "She came at me with a knife Alec, and not just any ordinary one. It was a soul eater, so I used the rope in defense." Putting special emphasis on the last word, he had to understand why I had done it.

"So what does it do?" he asked quietly looking at me with apprehension, the anger was gone though. I knew that he knew what a soul knife was, how it could strip a warlock of their powers and with it their life. I sighed hanging my head.

"When used on a human it gives a signal to the brain that tells the body its experiencing pain even if the body is unharmed. It's only supposed to be used in life threatening situations," His eyes widened dramatically, I let my arms down, my shoulders sagging. "I didn't know what else to do. I was new to the whole High Warlock thing, and I wasn't kidding when I said your mom was scary, is scary, and I do regret what I did that day . . . but she didn't really give me a choice." I let out the last of my justification in a whisper. Alec was silent for a while and then he sighed, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. His face came down to stare at mine. His eyes settled on whatever decision he had decided on.

"It was a different time, it's past," His mouth curved oh so slightly as he walked to my side. "Let it be past." I smiled at him, once again catching his hand in mine.

Oh my Lord and Lady this was a breeze. I was able to get this all done in one day! Can you believe it? I know I can't. So Anways. Mayrse was bitchy in the beginning, but she mellowed out in the end. I was going to right more, my goal was 2,500. But, this seemed like a good drop of point and I don't want to get to out of order thought wise. Also I really want to get back to Alec's Point of View. So this is the last you will see of Magnus for three or four chapters . . . . unless I change my mind. Anyways Mayrse is acting like a total bitch – I know this, but I can't seem to write her any other way. Her and Magnus have history -A rather ansty and painful one- so it only makes sense that she would not like him. And as always remember Reviews are Love. (:

XOXO,
Eli Jones

P.S. If you could tell me of any out of characterness or spelling errors, or whatever it would be greatly appreciated. Please and Thank you ~ Love