Hi all! Sorry that this is so late, but I guess it's better late than never! I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep up with my schedule of posting every week, but I'm not making any promises as we're only getting closer to the start of next semester and the death of my social life and free time!

BUT I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's a little different than the chapters before have been, as you'll see in just a bit, but I really enjoyed writing it. Let's just say that I hope you enjoy the calm before the storm. Things are going to change for our boys very, very soon, so I hope you're ready for where this is headed.

Thanks to everyone for all the support on this! Feel free to let me know your thoughts; I love hearing what you have to say!

Enjoy!

Alec was a bundle of nerves and he knew that nothing was really going to help that at the moment. He'd been a bundle of nerves for the past two weeks, and he hated to admit that it was something he was getting entirely too used to. He'd spent the past two weeks in Idris, by his father's side as they'd gone in and out of meetings with the Clave. After yet another two Downworlders had died, the Clave had called them in immediately, an investigation of a new kind underway as soon as they'd arrived in Alicante. Alec understood that the Clave simply wanted to make sure that they were doing their jobs, but that didn't make the investigation any easier. The worst part was that the Clave wouldn't even begin to admit that it was an investigation. They insisted that it was simply a series of meetings designed so that they could catch up on the New York Institute's investigation. But Alec knew that that was far from the truth. The Clave actually wanted to make sure that they were competent enough to continue the investigation while also ensuring that none of them were involved in the Downworlder situation for themselves.

So here he was at yet another Clave meeting, trying his hardest to keep his mind focused but knowing that wasn't going to happen. Not when this was the last day in Idris before they would finally be allowed to go home. Not when this was the last day before he got to see Magnus. He'd called Magnus as soon as they'd been called into Alicante, afraid of going away without making Magnus aware of the situation. After he'd stormed out of Magnus's apartment, the last thing he wanted was for Magnus to think that he was so mad or that he cared so little that he'd left for two weeks without so much as a word between them. After that, he'd sent Magnus at least one fire message a day, and he'd been pleasantly surprised when Magnus had responded to every single one. He'd been worried that their argument, if you could really call it that, would have changed things between them. But Magnus's messages hadn't been out of the ordinary, so Alec had allowed himself to relax over that, at least until he got home. He had many other things to worry about, so he had allowed himself a break from that particular area of worrying.

In their messages, Alec had tried to keep Magnus as updated as possible. He'd learned a fair bit of new information from the Clave, and he knew that Magnus could use it in the ongoing investigation. But what Alec hadn't mentioned was the fear he was experiencing day in and day out. Every night he'd gone to bed wondering if tomorrow would be the day. He knew it was just a matter of time before the Clave submitted both him and his father to a trial by the Mortal Sword. If the Clave had reason to investigate them, then they certainly had reason to pull the truth out of them via the Sword. And though Alec wasn't exactly scared of the Sword itself, he was most certainly scared of what the Sword might compel him to tell. Magnus had been so heavily involved in the investigation, and he knew that in a trial by the Sword, it would only be a matter of time before he spilled the nature of his relationship with Magnus to the entire Clave.

And if Alec thought that their current standing with the Clave was bad, he knew that his relationship with Magnus would only serve to make things worse than he could ever imagine. So he had spent his days in silent anticipation, worried that the next meeting might condemn him even further, might endanger Magnus even more. But so far, the Clave hadn't even come close to suggesting that they be subjected to a trial by the Sword. As the past two weeks had worn on, as he'd gone over evidence time and time again with so many different Clave members that he couldn't even begin to keep their names straight, Alec had began to wonder more and more why they hadn't brought the Sword into play. Here they were, on the last day they planned to hold Robert and Alec in Idris, and they still hadn't used the Sword. And Alec couldn't keep himself from wondering if the Clave really trusted them that much or if there was something deeper going on behind the scenes.

"But then there's the matter of the person at the crime scene who our witness says fits your description," someone who Alec thought was named Aldertree was saying to Robert. This didn't exactly surprise Alec as it wasn't the first time that the witness' description had been brought up. The first couple of times it had been brought up, it had given Alec some anxiety to think about what the Clave might do if they thought his father was involved in any way. But after hours of going back and forth about it, Alec realized that there was so little evidence one way or another that there wasn't much they needed to worry about. The sad fact of the matter was that, had the witness been a Shadowhunter, things might be different. But since the witness was a warlock, the Clave felt less than compelled to act on the description, taking it with a grain of salt as they did everything that came from the mouth of a Downworlder. Not to mention that Alec had quickly realized that the Clave simply liked to talk in circles when they didn't fully understand what was going on, as they were doing at that very moment.

Alec looked down at his feet to hide his smile when Robert sighed, not for the first time that day. "We've been over that as well," Robert said, making no effort to hide the exasperation in his voice. "I don't know any more about what that particular witness had to say than anyone else here does because I wasn't there. Try me by the Sword if you'd like." At that, Alec's smile only widened. He could hear the defiance in his father's voice. He knew that most other people would likely write it off as annoyance and exhaustion, but Alec knew better than that. Robert was so stubbly daring the Clave to test him. He was so stubbly standing his ground that none of them realized it, and that made it all the better to Alec. "I know that none of you want to hear this, but I am still very much of the belief that the Circle was behind that particular attack at the very least, if not all the rest of the attacks on Downworld." At that, the room erupted, and Alec couldn't help but look to his father in pure surprise.

This was the first time that Alec was hearing anything about the Circle, at least in any concrete sort of way. With Valentine dead, it seemed to be understood that the remaining members of the Circle were too afraid to do anything on their own. But based on the number of people speaking over one another at the moment, this clearly wasn't the first time that Robert had brought up his suspicions. Alec couldn't help but smile once again when his father simply shrugged as if to say that sometimes things like this simply couldn't be avoided. Eventually, the Clave's new Inquisitor got the room under control. Alec wasn't generally fond of Inquisitor Herondale himself, but he had decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was a warm person when she wasn't working. "Robert," she finally said, her voice so cold that Alec could feel it from where he was sitting. "We will discuss this at a later date." With that, it was very clear that the morning meetings were over, and no one was prepared to argue with Inquisitor Herondale.

So Alec simply followed his father back to the Lightwood's Alicante house as he had every other day at lunchtime. He so desperately wanted to ask for his father's permission to return home early, but he knew that he couldn't leave his father in the middle of a mess like this, so he pushed thoughts of Magnus aside for the time being. Alec had expected that their lunch would be the same as it had every other day for the past two weeks. Robert had spread out his personal copies of their evidence all over the floor of the library. And each day during lunch, he'd gotten his food and disappeared into the library, studying the evidence over and over again, his silence only broken when he wanted to clarify something with Alec. Today, however, Robert didn't enter the library once he'd fixed his lunch, and Alec found himself sitting across the table from his father for the first time since they'd arrived in Idris. "Do you really believe that the Circle could have something to do with this?" Alec asked, deciding to take advantage of the change in routine.

For a moment, Robert seemed to think over the question, though Alec knew he was simply giving himself time to chew his food. His display in the Clave meeting told Alec that he knew exactly how he felt about the Circle's involvement. "Yes, Alexander, I do," he replied, his words careful, as though he was attempting to decide where to head next in the conversation. "Frankly, I don't see any other way around it, but the Clave seems very adamant that this situation is the fault of anyone but the Circle." Robert sighed yet again, and Alec began wishing that he could help his father in whatever way would be possible, but the problem was that he didn't know how to help. "I understand that the Clave doesn't want to admit that the Circle is back in action. That would be altogether terrifying in and of itself, but what's more terrifying to me is the thought that the Clave might be making the mistake of ignoring the Circle yet again." Alec had to admit that his father had a wonderful point. If the Clave had taken the Circle seriously to begin with, hundreds of people might have been saved.

The last thing Alec wanted was to find out that his father was right, but the more he thought about it, the more pieces began falling into place. "There's someone out there who's disguising themselves as you using runes," Alec suddenly said, more to himself than anything else. "And if they have the forethought to disguise themselves as you of all people, that most likely means they've known you for a while now. They probably want to ruin your name, which means they were probably in the Circle themselves and they're angry that you left." For a moment, Alec couldn't read Robert's expression, but then he realized that his father was slowly beginning to show the pride that he felt, clearly not having expected Alec to figure things out on his own. Yet in that moment, Alec was just happy that they had finally restored their relationship to everything that it had been before, something that Alec had been worried about from the moment he'd come out to his father, from the moment he'd gotten so angry with Robert over his history with the Circle.

"Try convincing the Clave of that," Robert replied, though Alec was happy to hear that the anger and annoyance was gone from his voice. From the soft chuckle that Robert gave, Alec knew that he was mostly just amusedly annoyed with the situation at hand, as he most often was when the Clave was involved. Before Alec could respond in any way, Robert finally got up from the table and motioned for Alec to follow him. "Before we have to go back to that little version of hell," Robert continued, only serving to make Alec smile wider. "There's something I'd like for you to have." He was slightly surprised by that comment, but not as surprised as he was when he entered the library to find that his father had completely cleaned up everything about the cases that he'd left spread out for the past two weeks. If there was one thing Alec knew about his father, it was that he'd carefully catalogued and organized the evidence as he'd put it all away in preparation for going back to New York.

The only thing Alec knew to do was to sit down, watching as Robert moved around a bit nervously. "The day Michael and I became parabatai, my father gave me the Lightwood ring and told me it was because I was becoming a man," Robert finally said, something that confused Alec at first. It was such an abrupt change in the conversation, or at least it was for someone who was outside of Robert's mind. But he decided to hear his father out; he could hear the emotion that had built up already. "But even then I could tell that he meant nothing by it. He was simply giving me the ring because he felt it was something that he had to do. The duty of a Lightwood." Alec thought he knew where this was going, but he also didn't want to assume things too far in advance. He'd made too much of a habit of that lately. "That day I promised myself that I would never do the same to any children of mine. That I would make it matter or I wouldn't do it at all." Alec reached to take the ring from his father as Robert took it off of his own hand and held it out toward him. This was something he'd always wanted and wished for, but he couldn't help but wonder why Robert was giving him the ring now of all times.

"I've never been more proud of anyone than I have been of you over the past few months," Robert continued, his voice a mixture of emotions that Alec couldn't even begin to individually separate. "The way you've fought for the things that you're passionate about continues to amaze me. It's been months, and you still haven't given up on solving the Downworld cases. Not because you feel you have any stake it them, but because you feel justice needs to be served, that someone should be advocating for the people that are suffering. And that is a rare thing to see among Shadowhunters these days." At that admission, Robert sounded a bit tired, as though this was something that exhausted him in and of itself. "The way you've fought for yourself and for love, the way you've fought to love yourself, it's all been astounding to me. I've been wanting to do something to show you just how proud I am, and every time I thought of it, this was all I could think to do." Alec waited in the silence while his father paused and finally sat down beside of him. This was the last thing that he'd expected from Robert, and it had rendered him speechless to say the least.

"I've never thought that a Shadowhunter's family name should carry any weight as to how they are perceived by the world," Robert finally continued after seemingly figuring out exactly where he wanted the conversation to go. "Generations and individuals should have to reshape their family name just as the last generation had, they should have to prove themselves and the person they are." Alec looked down at the ring in his hands at that, wondering what Robert believed the Lightwood name meant now. "The man you've proven to be, son, is the most caring and brave person I know. I wish I was better with words so that you would know exactly what I'm feeling right now, but that's why I wanted to give you this today. So that you might always remember to shape your name the way you have thus far, to fight for what you know is right and to never give up on what and who you love." For several moments, they sat in silence once more, Alec completely at a loss as to how to respond.

Eventually, he moved to slip the Lightwood ring on his finger, reveling in the satisfying way in which the ring, enchanted with an ancient sort of magic, changed its size so that it fit Alec's finger perfectly. To say that he was touched by his father's words would have been a gross understatement, and Alec was still trying to figure out how to respond when Robert continued speaking once more. "One last thing," he said, his words slowing as though he wasn't quite sure of the right way to phrase the next thing he wanted to say. "There's honestly no reason for you to go to this next meeting," Robert admitted, his tone hinting at the amusement he felt as he thought of how the Clave was getting nowhere in the same way they usually got nowhere even in the most important of matters. "The Clave is just going to keep talking in circles like they have for the past two weeks. Why don't you go ahead and go home to Magnus? I know you have to be missing him, so I already arranged for a portal to be made." At that, Alec finally moved to hug his father in the way he'd been wanting to all evening. He muttered a few thank yous before running off to grab the things he'd packed the night before, the thought of seeing Magnus already making him tingle with anticipation.

When there was a knock on the door, the first thing Magnus did was throw up a few extra wards. He wasn't expecting Alec to be home until much later that day as it was currently morning in New York, which meant it was early evening in Idris and the day's meetings weren't over yet. And Magnus knew that if Ragnor or James and Tessa were going to come by that day, they would have texted him at the very least to make him aware of that fact. So he made his way toward the door as quietly as possible, moving to look through the peephole just in case. After the ordeal with his father being inside his apartment, he knew he couldn't be too careful anymore. Yet when he saw Alec staring back at him through the peephole, he began to wonder if he was being tricked into opening the door. "It's really me, Magnus, my dad let me come home early because the Clave is going in very useless circles as usual." Magnus only hesitated a moment more. No one could pull off being Alec in that way; something told him that he would know if they tried to.

As soon as Magnus opened the door, he found himself wrapped up in Alec's arms, and he had to admit that it was the only thing he'd actually wanted. After spending two weeks away from Alec, it was all he could do to keep himself from holding onto Alec for the next two weeks. Magnus hadn't realized just how much he'd missed Alec until Alec was finally standing in front of him. Fire messages simply weren't the same as hearing Alec's voice and feeling Alec's arms around him. "I'm glad you're home," Magnus finally whispered into Alec's ear as he moved to shut the door before wrapping his arms around Alec as well. Before Alec could seem to respond in any way, their lips somehow found each other, and Magnus was suddenly lost in a world entirely his own. He was happy to see that all the tension between them had seemingly disappeared somewhere in the two weeks they'd spent apart. He was happy to see that the little bit of an argument they'd had seemed to be firmly in the past.

"Me too," Alec said between kisses, something that made Magnus smile against Alec's lips. Eventually, they pulled apart, and Magnus couldn't help but smile even more when he realized just how heavily both of them were breathing. "After spending two weeks in Clave meetings, I am convinced that a bunch of monkeys would have more efficiently wasted my time," Alec admitted, his annoyance hidden in no way. "All I could think about was how much I wanted to do this," Alec said before leaning back in to kiss Magnus once more, this time being far more urgent than he had first been. Magnus made no effort to resist the things that Alec was wanting, mostly because he'd spent the past two weeks wanting them as well. "I'm sorry for storming out on you," Alec said in one ragged breath when they paused for just a couple of seconds. Instead of responding with words right away, Magnus simply responded by moving in to kiss Alec once more, this time, making sure he was gentle enough that Alec knew exactly how he was feeling.

Eventually, Magnus decided that, no matter how much he wished otherwise, they likely needed to spend some time talking instead of simply making out all day. So he moved to pull Alec towards the couch, hoping that they could keep themselves apart long enough to actually hold a conversation. "We need to slow down, Alexander," Magnus said, though he regretted saying it, wishing that they could do just the opposite. "We've got all the time in the world." But even as Magnus said that, he could feel the weight of those words. Technically, they only had until Alec's eighteenth birthday. But Magnus didn't voice that. That was a thought better saved for later. At that, Alec playfully stuck his tongue out at Magnus in defiance, but they finally stayed apart long enough for Magnus to ask him how Idris had been. Magnus couldn't help but move in as close to Alec as he could get as the Shadowhunter began to recap the past couple of weeks for him. All Alec could seem to talk about was just how useless all of the meetings had really been. They'd come up with no new leads, no new information of any sort save a few pieces of information about the victims that they hadn't known before. All they'd really done was prove their competence to the Clave.

"I just can't figure out why they never tried us by the Sword," Alec said, his voice becoming distant for a moment as he began to try to figure out exactly what the Clave was up to. "If they truly questioned our loyalty or our competence, then why not just use the Sword to ensure that we couldn't lie to them? That would have made a lot more sense than spending two weeks talking in circles for no logical reason." Alec paused when Chairman Meow jumped into his lap, clearly happy to see that Alec was finally home. "But my dad thinks that all of this has something to do with the Circle," Alec continued, launching into an explanation of how there must be someone from Robert's past who wanted to frame him. When Alec was finished, they slipped into a comfortable silence, and Magnus couldn't keep himself from reaching out to take one of Alec's hands in his. He'd almost forgotten just how much Alec anchored him down and held him into place. "Do you know a werewolf named Luke Garroway?" Alec suddenly asked, his thoughts clearly leading him in an entirely different direction than their conversation had been going.

Magnus nodded, wondering why that name had crossed Alec's path. "He's the leader of the New York pack," Magnus said, quickly realizing exactly why Luke might be getting involved in Alec's life. "When he was a Shadowhunter, his name was Lucian Graymark." At that, Alec finally clarified things, telling Magnus of how Jace and Clary had met with Luke just a couple of days ago. "Makes sense," Magnus admitted, wondering why it had taken Luke so long to contact Clary after Jocelyn's disappearance. "He always was in love with Jocelyn even before she married Valentine. I'm not surprised that he's stayed in her life, even if he has seemed to lay low in Downworld until recently." Alec nodded almost reluctantly, and Magnus could see that something else was on his mind, but he was almost weary of pressing too much. The last thing he wanted was to open up into something that was bothering Alec only to make things worse when he had to admit that he couldn't help Alec with it in any way.

Before Magnus could figure out how to continue, Alec spoke up once more, the tension in his voice very apparent. "I really don't want you getting mixed up in all of this with Clary," Alec admitted, looking down at his hand in Magnus's out of embarrassment. Magnus couldn't help but laugh, knowing all too well that he was already all kinds of mixed up in the situation with Clary and Jocelyn. "It's not funny Magnus," Alec said, only causing Magnus to smile a little wider. "The more I think about it, the more I think my dad's right about the Circle being behind this. I mean, with Jocelyn being taken and someone trying to frame my dad, there's really only one logical explanation." Alec absentmindedly squeezed Magnus's hand in a way that almost seemed as though he was trying to remind himself that the warlock was sitting right beside of him. "And you and I both know that the High Warlock of Brooklyn would most certainly be one of the first on the Circle's radar if they were to make a comeback." Alec leaned into Magnus then, as if to say that he wanted to close the space between them, but whether it was more out of fear or out of love, Magnus couldn't say. "Just please be careful," Alec said, his voice more of a plea than anything else. All Magnus could think to do was move to gently kiss Alec's temple in response, hoping that the Shadowhunter would understand just how careful he had been lately.

After several moments of thought, Magnus nervously reached up to run his hand through his hair, suddenly realizing that he hadn't styled his hair or put on any makeup because he hadn't expected Alec to be home until much later that day. "If I'd known you were coming back this early, I would have put my face on and made myself look presentable," Magnus admitted, watching in anticipation as Alec turned so that they properly faced one another. He was suddenly worried about what Alec would think in an overwhelming sort of way, and he wasn't entirely sure how to deal with that at the moment. But then Alec reached up to gently move the hair out of Magnus's eyes, hair that was usually spiked up with gel or magic, whichever Magnus was feeling that day. It was then that Magnus recognized the emotion in Alec's eyes, none of which was negative in any way.

Magnus was too touched by what he saw in Alec's expression that he couldn't think of anything else to say, so he simply waited on Alec, the silence between them still a comfortable one, as it normally was. "I'm actually glad I get to see you like this for once," Alec finally said, his voice much lighter than it had been the last time he'd spoken. "I love you just as much without makeup as I do when you wear it, Magnus." At that, Magnus tried and failed to hide his smile, almost wishing that Alec didn't have this sort of power over him. "I think you sometimes forget just how gorgeous I really think you are, no matter how much makeup you're wearing," Alec continued, earning a kiss from Magnus. It was the kind of kiss that Magnus all but lived for, the kind where they both seemed to be explaining their love for one another without saying anything at all. "I like seeing you for who you really are; it's like I get my own little piece of you that the rest of the world never gets to see."

At that, Magnus felt the wave of guilt he normally felt since he'd begun hiding the whole soulmate situation from Alec, but this time, Magnus felt that there was more to it. Something was missing, but he couldn't quite pin down exactly what it was. At least, not until Alec spoke up once more. "I have a question for you that I've been thinking about for a few weeks," Alec said, and all Magnus could do was nod, slightly nervous by what Alec might ask him next. "I heard Ragnor say something about how someone with a Greater Demon as a parent would have a warlock's mark that was more subtle and less flashy in a way." Magnus knew where this was going, but he simply waited for Alec to ask his question anyways, knowing that it was inevitable. "I know that you keep it glamored all the time, but I was just wondering what your warlock's mark is." At first, Magnus had thought that he would immediately tell Alec that he wasn't comfortable with showing him his warlock's mark yet. But there was something so unbelievably gentle about Alec's voice, something so impossibly loving about him that relaxed Magnus more than he would have thought possible. And that was when Magnus realized that Alec wasn't demanding to find out as most people in Magnus's past had.

Alec was simply giving Magnus permission to share a part of him that he rarely shared with the rest of the world. He was simply giving Magnus the opportunity to do something he likely sensed that Magnus had been wanting to do for a while now. Which was the truth that Magnus didn't want to admit. He'd wanted to share that part of himself with Alec for so long that he'd simply begun to ignore it, his fear of Alec's reaction getting in the way of what he really wanted. But now that he was sitting in front of Alec, the Shadowhunters love on display in a way that rendered him speechless, Magnus felt his glamor slipping into oblivion. For centuries, Magnus had kept the glamor on his eyes so constantly that it felt more natural to have the glamor on than to take it off. But he did so anyways, revealing his yellow-green cat's eyes to Alec without the hesitation that he'd been feeling for weeks. He wasn't entirely sure just how Alec made him feel this way, as it was something that no one had ever done before, but he wasn't going to go about questioning it right in that moment.

That was mostly because he suddenly found Alec's lips pressing against his once more, more of an urgency in Alec's movements than there ever had been since they'd gotten together. As always, Magnus felt himself all but melt into Alec, his entire body tingling at the sensation of being with Alec in this way. But this time, there was so much more than that wrapped up within it that Magnus hardly knew how to respond. Thankfully, however, Magnus's body knew how to respond, and he quickly found himself becoming tangled up with Alec, unable to figure out exactly where he stopped and Alec began. Not that he really minded that feeling. There was so much he had wanted to say to Alec, so much that he had wanted to explain about his past. He'd wanted to tell Alec that the reason he'd taken to wearing the glamor was because the first person he'd ever truly loved had told him that his eyes were freakish. He'd wanted to explain to Alec just how much he hated his warlock's mark. But all of that seemed to have faded away as soon as their lips had met.

Suddenly, Magnus found himself hating his eyes a little less. Suddenly, Magnus found himself almost comfortable with that part of himself. And he knew that it was all because of Alec. He could feel the way the Shadowhunter loved him with each and every touch of Alec's. It was as though Alec was trying to write him a love letter through his body, and Magnus was hopelessly hanging onto every word. If Alec loved him like this, then why should he not learn to love himself in much the same way? Never before had Magnus felt so comfortable with his warlock's mark and what it defined him to be, but with Alec kissing him in this way, it was something that he simply couldn't help. Eventually, however, they pulled apart yet again. Though Magnus had to admit that this time it was much harder to keep himself from chasing after Alec. "You have the single most beautiful eyes I have ever seen," Alec eventually said, his voice ragged in a way that was beginning to drive Magnus absolutely insane. "Thank you, Magnus," was all he said after that, but Magnus could hear the emotion packed into it along with all the things that Alec wasn't saying.

Instead of responding, Magnus simply stood up, reaching out to help Alec up, immediately realizing that he should have seen where that decision was going to lead as he found Alec in his arms once again. Yet Magnus did nothing to fight this, as it was the only thing he wanted at the moment. Eventually, Magnus moved away from Alec ever so slightly, smiling as the Shadowhunter groaned as he tried to resist the separation. But Magnus firmly kept enough distance between them to lead Alec back to the bedroom, his heart rate inexplicably speeding up as he did so. It wasn't as though this would be anywhere near his first time if he and Alec ended up sleeping together that night. So Magnus couldn't figure out exactly why he was suddenly becoming so nervous. But then Alec reached around him to slam the bedroom door shut and then moved to pull Magnus toward the bed, and all of that fell apart around him. The only thing that mattered in that moment was Alec, and Magnus knew that he wouldn't care if Alec was the only thing that ever mattered to him for the rest of his immortal life.

Jace knew that something was wrong as soon as he entered his room, but he had no idea of what it was that was exactly out of place. Nothing in his room seemed to be out of place, and he would have known because of just how meticulously organized he always kept his room. But he could sense that someone had been there. Yet the only person who ever dared come in his room when he wasn't there was Alec. And Alec had been in Idris for the past two weeks, and he had only been home long enough to drop his things off before he had headed to Magnus's. Jace knew that Isabelle never would have come in without his permission, and he slowly began to wonder whether or not Simon or Clary had come in his room. But Jace couldn't come up with a reason as to why they might have needed in his room for anything at all, so he stopped in the middle of his room, his mind running through the possibilities as fast as he could make it run.

That was when Jace noticed the letter sitting neatly on his bed, folded in such a way that it proclaimed his name in a scrawling script that Jace knew he would have recognized anywhere. But he also knew that it was impossible for that letter to be there if it had been written by the person who had always written in that manner. Jace began reminding himself that his father had died when he was ten. There was no way that his father could have left him a letter, even if the handwriting did look like his in every way. There had to be some other logical explanation. He carefully opened the letter, almost expecting it to disintegrate into a hallucination at any moment. Jonathan, it read on the inside, only making things all the more confusing for Jace. The only person who'd called him by his full name in years was his father, but he knew that this couldn't be his father's work. He'd watched his father die.

He looked back down at the letter, wondering if he was going insane. I am sure you have a lot of questions already, and I am sure that you would like to speak with me on the matter. I have a couple of things that you would like, including the Mortal Sword, Jocelyn, and a plethora of answers for you regarding many different matters. Meet me at Renwick's on Roosevelt Island tomorrow at midnight and be sure to bring your parabatai and his warlock boyfriend. I am certain that I can clear up several matters for them as well. Until then, Valentine M. Almost absentmindedly, Jace reached for his phone, dialing Alec's number without so much as looking at what he was doing. This was impossible in every single way. Not only was Jace's father dead, but so was Valentine Morgenstern. So there had to be someone out there who was playing tricks with his mind, and he wanted nothing more than for Magnus to use magic to help him figure that out. But before Alec's phone could actually ring, Jace had already hung up. Alec had just spent two weeks away from Magnus, and there was no way that Jace could justify bothering him with this at that very moment. Not when they had more than twentyfour hours to figure out what was going on. For now, Jace knew he would have to be content with what he could do on his own, so he took the letter with him to the library, determined to find every single resource the Institute had on Valentine. There was only one thing that Jace knew for certain at the moment: if Valentine Morgenstern was indeed alive, then he would stop at nothing to ensure that Valentine died as swiftly, though as painfully, as possible. Valentine had been the one to have his father killed, and Jace planned to deal out the justice that had yet to be served to Valentine.