Pandemonium: Chapter 22
So all the special thanks to CC for creating this stuff, you know.

AN: Last week was a bit slow, so I got to post a lot; this week is actually extremely busy, so this is probably it for the week. Sorry... Happy Mean Girls Day, though!

Magnus scowled with disapproval. She was purposely hiding the boy's eyes from her sight. From all he could tell the boy didn't look much like him at all. His hair was a fair blonde, much like that of Camille's. Upon entering the household the boy, who was still hidden behind his mother, muttered something incomprehensible about "finally finding the right daddy." That confirmed all of Magnus' suspicions; Camille had been to every single person who could possibly have been the father of that boy to extort money or something else in exchange for their silence. She would get no such thing from him.

The boy finally sat down on the couch away from his mother. Magnus, who had a soft spot for children which he never liked to publish, gently kneeled down in front of the boy and got a good look at him. With a sigh of relief, Magnus saw that the boy's face was shaped much differently from his own, that his eyes were wide and round, not almond shaped like his, and most importantly of all they were the same emerald as Camille's, not the gold-flecked forest green that he sported in his own eyes. His demeanor was unlike anything he had ever seen in a child though, he acted with the utmost propriety and silence. In fact the boy seemed more pensive than Magnus himself. He had only seen one other person with such a shy personality, but that person was supposed to be banished from his thoughts.

As if Magnus could ever banish Alec from his thoughts.

Nonetheless, with a victorious smile on his face Magnus looked right at Camille and gleefully pronounced, "He's not mine."

Camille, knowing that this would be the result, seethed in rage. "You have no way of proving that it isn't. You can't deny that you and I participated in the act that created him and nine months after that act he appeared."

Magnus smiled wryly and said, "That may be true, but I can prove that you engaged in that act with a number of other individuals, and so you, again, have no conclusive proof."

Camille bared her teeth in a devilish smile and said, "Too bad I gave him your last name, Maggie dear."

As if on cue, the boy spoke in a chipper little voice and said, "My name is Benedict Bane, are you, sir, my father, Mr. Bane?"

The innocence in those eyes was too much for Magnus. For a moment, he even contemplated taking charge of the child regardless of his parentage. The boy would live a better life with him than with Camille. But he knew that raising a child, regardless of whether or not he was the parent, was a terrible idea; then with a bit of sadness Magnus said, "I am Mr. Bane, but I'm not your father. I'm just an old friend of your mother's."

With his head slumping down towards his knees, the boy simply said, "Yes, sir. Of course, sir."

Of course it wasn't beyond Camille to teach the child that this was his last name for the current moment. He wondered in fact how many last names the boy had donned since learning how to speak. At least seven. That was the number of men that Magnus had as evidence of Camille's infidelity.

Even though Magnus felt pity for the boy, he knew better than to keep him around the household, especially if Carstairs were to show up. Instead he kindly asked Camille what she wanted.

Rolling her eyes, she snarkily said, "He gets to keep your useful last name and you pay me 200 a month for his well being. In exchange for this, I go back to the countryside never to be seen again, and that precious Prince Alexander of yours never finds out about us. I'll send a letter telling him how kissing you was some big mistake because I thought you were willing to accept me after all this time. And I demand 1000 in advance now."

Magnus let out a puff of air. This was a difficult choice; he didn't want to tacitly support the boy and Camille, but the thought of having Camille help him get back in Alec's good graces was too much to pass on. With some reluctance, Magnus left the room and went to get the requisite cash.

When he arrived, he found that Carstairs had entered the room and was talking quietly to the boy. He barely caught word of the conversation before it was cut off, but he could understand two words, "father" and "Bane." Magnus' heart had skipped a beat; what lies had the boy just told Carstairs? They would, no doubt, be directly reported to Alec, who would then never forgive him ever again. To make things worse, Camille simply stood in the corner smiling excitedly as the two interacted.

Magnus angrily shoved the money in her hands, telling her "This changes nothing. The deal is still on." Then he ordered her to leave. Sitting down and pouring himself a glass of cognac, he asked Carstairs, "What lies did the boy tell you?"

Carstairs, with a disappointed look, said, "He seemed rather convinced that you're his father. He even went so far as to say that his last name was Bane, just like yours."

Magnus sighed deeply, and said, "I'm going to explain all of this to you, but please don't tell Alec about it. I want him to hear it from my own mouth."

Carstairs only nodded.

"The boy isn't mine, though I know the mother. And I say 'know' in both senses of the term. Two years ago I dated her, but I ended that when I found out that I wasn't the only one who 'knew' her. There were at least seven others she was in the process of 'knowing' at the same time. Then a few days after I threw her out and told her to never show her face here ever again, she disappeared from the city. I thought she was gone forever. Then the other day she waltzes into my office and tells me that we needed to talk. Before I have a chance to say anything she kissed me. After Alec saw us, she walked out of there. That evening before I was drunk and Clary had to deal with me, she told me that we had a son. I told her I didn't believe a word she said and she would have to prove it to me by bringing him here. That's why she was here today, and she told me that he was mine, though he doesn't look like me. She's extorting me for money; in exchange she disappears again and apologizes to Alec that this was all her fault and to take me back."

He let out an exasperated sigh.

Carstairs said, "This presents an interesting difficulty. She has a lot of leverage over you now, especially since she was able to deduce your relationship with the Prince so easily. Hopefully she'll stay away. This of course is not why I'm here; I'm here to tell you that you will be returning tomorrow, but you will not see Prince Alexander at all. I am to act as your intermediary. Once you've finished your work, you will be required to leave his service."

Magnus, with tears in his eyes, nodded. Then his head peaked up and said, "Just give me one second!"

He ran upstairs to his room and came thundering down with a little piece of paper. He thrust it into Carstairs' hands and said, "Would you please give that to him? I know he probably doesn't want to read it and everything, but it would put me at ease to do this."

Carstairs deftly hid the paper somewhere up his sleeve and said, "I do not know if he will read it, but I will give it to him."

With that he gave Magnus a weak smile and left.

The letter sat on Alec's desk, unopened and begging to be read.

His eyes settled on the tiny little space between the folded pieces that begged to have his finger gently enter and lift upwards. As if under the control of some other being, his right hand slowly moved towards that space. Alec snatched his hand back and rested it precariously on the table, still eyeing the letter. He shouldn't, no he couldn't read it. Whatever Magnus had to say was going to be problematic for him. In all likelihood it would bring him rolling back to the beginning of everything, and that was unacceptable.

The fireplace behind him crackled with warm flames. For a moment, Alec considered throwing the letter into the flames and watching it burn. Like a phoenix he could be reborn from those flames. Out of the ashes a better, less distracted Alec could rise. He considered it for a moment. His left hand, this time under the control of a different being moved towards the letter. He snatched his hand back and placed it awkwardly on the table.

He stared at the letter for another minute. This situation was just so like him, he thought. It resembled all the issues in his life. Two seemingly simple choices with vast implications, and he the future leader of a nation, completely incapable of making a decision. For a moment he considered asking someone else, Izzy maybe, to make the decision for him. But then he remembered what Carstairs had said before leaving the letter in his possession, "Open it or don't open it, that's your choice. Remember though, that you must live with the consequences of this choice, and it is your choice only, not anyone else's."

Deciding to put off the decision till he had a clearer head, Alec picked up the paper and placed it on the shelf behind him. Out of sight and out of mind, Alec thought.

With the situation settled for now, he tried to resume his work.

Of course it failed spectacularly because out of sight did not mean out of mind. In fact, one could argue that out of sight meant even more in mind.

After an hour of failing to actually do work, Alec gave up and picked the letter back up again. His blue eyes settled yet again on the tiny space between the folded pieces. Uncontrollably, his right hand reached for that spot, and slowly began to lift up the paper. He caught sight of Magnus' handwriting, the beautiful calligraphy that spelled out one word on top: Alexander.

Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him; he opened up the letter, and read:

Alexander,
There are many things that ought to be placed in this letter, many things that you need to know about me and my past; however, they cannot all fit into this piece of paper. I will do my best to write something of an explanation here, but I must implore you to know that I cannot explain everything on paper. The only way to do this thoroughly is in person privately. I understand that you may have some reservations about seeing me, but I hope that after reading this the situation is clarified and you would be willing to speak to me.
I was not forthright earlier; Camille is more than just an old friend. Two years ago, she and I were in a relationship. I found out that she had cheated on me with a number of others, and promptly removed her from my life. Three days after that she disappeared from Alicante all together. I thought she was gone forever and closed that chapter on my life. When you saw us in that act, she had unexpectedly entered my offices. There has not been anything between us since I ended our relationship two years ago. There is much more I can tell you about all of this, and I will, but only in person. If you should agree to such a meeting, please tell Carstairs; he will arrange everything.
With love,
Magnus

Alec picked up the letter. His looked a bit wet with tears. The words on the page seemed fuzzy. Somehow, his left hand snatched it out of his right hand and promptly threw it into the raging flames.

Alec watched, with tears falling down his face, as the heartfelt letter charred into ashes. The burning was not a rebirth. Instead, there was a burning sensation in his chest where there should have been lightness. Getting up, he left the room and went to Carstairs' offices.

He opened the door and said, "Tell Magnus that we will have the discussion he wants, but that he is not forgiven, not until I hear everything from him."

Alec walked out and went back to his office. He slumped down on his desk and started to do the work he should have done an hour ago. Unfortunately, he was too distracted to really do anything; his mind focused on the impending meeting with Magnus and the truth that would come out of it. In addition to the pain in his chest, Alec was almost certain that he had made the wrong decision by reading the letter.

Much later that evening, long after Alec had gone to bed and the palace was quiet, a maid entered his office. Her job was to clean the fireplace. Her name was Daisy Mason. When cleaning the ashes, she found two remnants of a piece of paper. One badly burned piece said "Alexander." The other said, "love, Magnus." She knew she wasn't supposed to be reading these things, but curiosity got the better of her. She didn't know the contents of the letter, so it made no sense to her. Rather than sit around and stare at two pieces of paper she put them gently in the front pocket of her apron and continued cleaning.

At the end of her shift she went down to the servants kitchen for a light snack before bed. There she was approached by the crotchety old Miss O'Brien, the Queen's ladies maid. As usual, Miss O'Brien tried to gain information from Daisy about what she found in the offices she cleaned today. As usual, the indicated that there was nothing of importance, placing her hand cautiously on the pocket. Miss O'Brien noticed that gesture, and harped Daisy until she gave up and showed her the two pieces of paper. With a mischievous smile, Miss O'Brien took the papers and told her that she would destroy them since they were of no importance.

After Daisy had gone to bed, Miss O'Brien snuck back up to the main level and left the palace. In an alleyway tucked in the City of Ashes she met with a hooded man.

"M'lord, I think I may have something that will interest you."

The man removed his hood and revealed himself as Baron Valentine von Morgenstern. He smiled devilishly, and handed her two coins.

In exchange Miss O'Brien gave him the two pieces of burnt paper.

They each turned and walked their separate paths, laughing silently the entire way.