Chapter 8

Magnus woke unexpectedly early that morning and, looking back on it later, he couldn't say just why he felt so unsettled. The warlock could remember no bad dream, no unresolved issue with Alec, or a client to account for it, but after several minutes of trying to calm himself by watching his lover sleep peacefully beside him, he gave up, and decided to put some coffee on. If he couldn't take advantage of a quiet, restful morning himself, he would make sure that Alec had some extra sleep and a fresh coffee to wake up to.

The kitchen was still dark and quiet when Magnus entered. He snapped his fingers to turn the lights on and start a cheerful fire blazing on the hearth. Chairman Meow circled his legs, brushing up against the warlock and purring loudly. Magnus laughed. "I know what you want!" He declared taking the cat food and a bowl from the cupboard. It only took a few minutes for Magnus to address the cat's basic needs. He never used magic for this, unless it was an emergency, Chairman Meow was skittish about magic, and Magnus respected his prejudices.

Once the cat was dealt with, Magnus set about making coffee, again he did not use magic, knowing that at any minute the housekeeper could come bustling in, and she was nonplussed by displays of that sort. Once the coffee was ready he prepared two cups, one for himself with all the fixings, and a black with sugar for Alec. Smiling to himself as he walked back to their private quarters, Magnus thought about his strong, quiet husband and wondered, not for the first time, how he'd gotten so lucky. Magnus had been in love before, but with Alec it was all different and new somehow. He felt secure in this relationship, and that was a blessing he would never take for granted.

Entering the bedroom, Magnus placed both cups on the bedside table before bending down to kiss Alec gently on the lips. "Wake up sleepy head;" He said gently as Alec's beautiful blue eyes fluttered open.

Alec slowly pushed himself up so he could drink the coffee Magnus had brought. "I could get used to you spoiling me like this;" Alec said as he took his first sip of the hot beverage. "What are your plans for the day?"

"I don't have any clients until this afternoon; "Magnus replied with a soft smile; "So I promised to make portals with Aiden in the work room."

"Portals!" Alec said with a look of mild concern.

"Nothing more dangerous than large pieces of paper, finger paints, and imaginary destinations, I promise;" Magnus chuckled seeing his husband's face relax into a soft smile. "You'd better get moving before Jace starts pounding on the door because you're late for training."

Alec pulled Magnus into his arms and kissed him soundly. "Jace can wait, this can't;" He replied capturing Magnus lips again in an even more passionate kiss. It was Aiden calling for them that finally broke the two apart, and Magnus went to get his son ready for the day, as Alec headed off to have a shower.

Several hours, and one training session later, Alec went to his office, there was paperwork to be done. Although he tried to stay on top of it, the administrative work of running the Institute had a nasty habit of piling up. The phone on his desk began to ring just as Alec entered the room, and he knew, even before answering, that it would be Jia Penhallow. The Consul seemed as familiar with his schedule as Alec was himself, he thought ruefully as he picked up the call.

"Alec, glad I caught you;" Jia said briskly. "There are some issues I think we should discuss in person, could you come to Idris this afternoon?"

"Ahh... y-yes that shouldn't be a problem. I'll ask Magnus to open a portal and be there in a couple of hours, if that would suit;" Alec responded a look of concern flashing across his face.

"That's fine, I'll talk to you then;" Jia said ringing off before Alec had a chance to ask her anything at all about the subject of their meeting.

Alec heaved a sigh and prayed that it was nothing to do with Aiden. Magnus and he had done everything they could to hide the true origins of their precious child, telling the Clave that the boy was an orphaned warlock child they'd adopted. There was only one other record of a child being born of a warlock and marked shadowhunter and it was a cautionary tale. The warlock had been hunted down and killed, the shadowhunter stripped of her marks, and worst of all, the baby was said to be an abomination. Alec assumed the child had also been killed and his heart ceased at the thought.

Alec knew his sweet Aiden was not an abomination, but the last thing he wanted to do was trust that the Clave had progressed beyond such narrow minded, bigoted behaviour. All he could do for now, was pray his secret was still safe, and that Jia wanted to speak with him about something else entirely, but what? That question brought his mind to Josh and Ian. Alec had suspected for some time the two had romantic feelings for each other, but he chose not to confront them, perhaps because there had been a time, before Magnus, when he'd believed he was in love with Jace.

The Clave's rules were strict regarding parabatai forming romantic attachments with each other. He knew Josh and Ian were aware of that, and hoped they'd been discreet while in Idris for their training. The boys were family and he did not want that kind of grief for them. Alec shook his head slightly, trying to clear away all these concerns, there was no point in borrowing trouble, until he knew what it was Jia wanted to discuss. With a last look at the paperwork on his desk, Alec left the office in search of Magnus. He wished he could take Aiden's paper portal, with its swirling design in all the colours of the rainbow, to an child's imaginary place, rather than Magnus swirling blue portal to Idris.

~~~~~ ! ~~~~~

Ian McRae stood off to the side of the training room with his parabatai, Josh Cameron. They had been in Idris for a week now, and he was counting the hours until they could head back home. He wondered idly when he'd first started to think of the New York Institute as home? Both he and Josh had looked forward to this training course with great excitement, and now it couldn't end too soon for his liking.

Just then, the Instructor, Isaiah Blackwell, entered the room and cast a critical eye over all the trainees, especially Josh, who he seemed to take great pleasure in disparaging. It made Ian's blood boil, and several times over the last few days, Josh had had to stop Ian from losing his cool. On one memorable occasion, Blackwell's caustic comments pushed Josh into a reckless, unnecessarily risky manoeuvre. It had taken all Ian's strength to prevent a nasty accident, and he'd turned on Blackwell, face dark with fury. Several of the other trainees restrained Ian, but whatever Blackwell had seen in the boy's eyes, caused the Instructor to smile, though he refrained from bating Josh any further that day.

This morning, they were barely into their first exercise when the harassment began again. Nothing Josh did was good enough, and though most in the room couldn't see any flaws in his technique, they were heartily glad not to be the focus of the Blackwell's ire themselves. Josh maintained his quiet, stoic demeanor, but Ian could tell that the constant criticism was beginning to get to him. Ian wondered what the instructor hoped to achieve with his constant abuse of Josh? Was he trying to break him? Surely this wasn't what they had come all the way to Idris for?

Ian and Josh were about to begin the latest paired manoeuvre when Jia Penhallow entered the room and called Blackwell to her. A few moments of whispered conversation followed after which Blackwell dismissed the trainees for the day, and followed the Consul out of the room.

Grinning from ear-to-ear, Ian clapped Josh on the back; "Don't have to tell me twice to get out of here, come on let's go to one of the cafes in Angel Square!" Josh nodded, a small smile playing on his lips, although Ian noticed sadly it did not reach his eyes.