"Princess? … Princess!" Queen Celine called her daughter in law impatiently; Amatis wanted to die in that second so badly. The Queen hated being ignored but Clary couldn't know that, she was more worried about her own thoughts and feelings than in any thing her mother in law could say. She felt weird, but she couldn't say if it was in the good or bad way, after that day when Jace had opened himself a bit with her she couldn't stop thinking about him! What secrets could he have? What things did he hate? What things did he like? What was his life like? Did he really dislike her so much? It wasn't fair that she had so many doubts about him! She didn't want to have them! She didn't want to care about him! Celine finally got angry and made a strong sound when her hand impacted with the desk.

"Oh, God. Sorry!" said Clary shaking in fright. Celine had a death glare reflected in her face, but then her eyes turned to meet Amatis.

"Well taught I believe you said?" she scolded her, but still her voice had the same soft tone as always.

"Her highness has a little lack of attention, but I'm sure it's because of her rich imagination" Amatis defended them both.

"I hope you use those wonderful thoughts of yours to focus on your country …" She sighed angrily and closed her agenda. "This meeting will continue when the princess is correctly prepared… and the next time, Lady Amatis, bring her to me when she's ready for sure, I don't want another of your precious little experiments, this is real work" the Queen could be very frightening when she needed and wanted to.

"Yes, majesty. I'm very sorry" Clary felt bad for causing troubles to Amatis, but she was more than relieved to be out of the Queen's chambers.

"I'm so sorry, majesty. I won't cause you no more trouble, excuse me…" she stood up and made a bow, then she turned to the door and left. She was thinking about going to her room and calling Simon to catch up, or maybe going to Alec's room and beg him to show some pictures of her childhood to her, but all her plans stopped when she heard the soft melody coming from the music room, she didn't visit that section of the palace often but she felt swept out to it when the delicate musical notes reached her ears. She poked her head through the open door, and was not surprised to see that it really was her own husband who reproduced those wonderful sounds. 'Really? What about the tireless work you always say you do for your people? Does this apply to that case?' she thought furiously but still decided to enter.

"What are you doing, Rapunzel?" she sat next to him. Suddenly he stopped playing the piano and scowled at her

"Great, you've cut my inspiration into pieces and those pieces into more pieces… Rapunzel, you said? Wasn't it Goldilocks?" arranged the sheets again without giving importance to his guest.

"Yeah, it became boring when everyone started to use it. I had to look for another one" she realized how close she was to him, so she got a bit apart from him.

"Well, Rapunzel doesn't make much sense to me…" he analyzed the music sheet carefully, he had been using his free time to practice that single song, and he couldn't manage to make it sound as beautiful as it was supposed to.

"You don't make much sense to me… so it's perfect!" said Clary with a sarcastic smile.

"If you came here to importune me as you always do, you can take your little behind out of here by yourself before I do it" he didn't say that as a threaten, so Clary didn't get sacred or mad about it.

"Not really. It's kind of a project for class, you see? I want to see how jerks behave in their natural environment…" she hit his arm softly.

" One sentence, two words: Get lost" he said with not much of the excitement he had when he bothered her. Clary had to admit it, she was worried about that.

"Oh, who could've said it? The foolish Crown Prince can actually count!" she laughed about that but Jace was still a bit uncomfortable, she decided to make it easier "Hey, you're pretty good… I just wanted to hear some more" Jace immediately turned to see her eye to eye and both of their hearts began to rush.

"Y-You really think so?" that was strange, Jace never hesitated to speak.

"Yes, I won't say a word if you don't want to… I just want to listen to it… Prove me that you do have talent for this, ok? Leave me speechless!" she said encouraging him, it would be not so difficult if he took it as a challenge, or just something to make Clary feel embarrassed.

"Of course I will! I could kill you with astonishment from just blinking" he stretched his back taking a deep breath and started playing again. It was a simple melody with gentle sound and safe, but it was beautiful. It was fantastic to the point of making the heart of Clary felt warm and happy to be there, at that very moment with Jace. More natural it felt, it felt good to hear that Jace could play such sweet and adorable notes, you could tell he loved playing, he did it slowly and delicately, was further evidence that he had something very pure and beautiful hidden behind the apparent arrogance and pride. Jace seemed so normal at that moment, she knew that this was the time when he could stop thinking and start feeling, replacing his tortured mind for his heart. Clary had that ability to know when someone adored doing something.

The music stopped and just for a second their eyes met sending a strong shock through their bodies, it was paralyzing and they stopped breathing. His hands began to sweet and Clary felt like chocking with the air trapped in her lungs, but she didn't give in, she didn't want to stop looking at his eyes, she wanted to get forever lost in them, and Jace did so. He started wondering what would happen if he made a move, what if his skin met hers once again. Would he feel again that connection he felt when he kissed her cheek for the first time? Would it be the same like all those other times that they had touched each other without wanting to? He just wanted to try.

"That was great…" but she stopped it, those emotions and that so tense but still lovely atmosphere. She decided to put an end to it before the situation changed into something she didn't want.

"Thank you… but I still have to practice a bit more…" he passed a hand trough his unusually messy hair.

"Well, I can tell for sure that you're going the right way" she said with a gentle smile, he smiled too.

"Not really. I'm actually so wrong right now, you wouldn't believe it…" but he didn't refer to music that time. It was something much stronger; it was that sensation building up inside him.

"You're going where? Have you gone out of your mind, Aline Penhallow?" But it looked like the one who was going crazy was Jia; she started to scream just when Aline told her she planned to go to London for a few days.

"I already told you, mama. It's a trip for rehearsing; all my mates are going to England too! You can talk to Madame Dorothea if you want to!" she wouldn't beg for sure, her mother didn't deserve to see her begging, no one did.

"You just came back from Beijing and now you want to leave again? Hell no, miss! You're staying here to do your pretty little rehearsals with or without Dorothea! You think I don't know how distracted you get when you go to unknown places? There's no way you're going there!" Jia was pretty unfair with her daughter, but Aline had discovered just another way to convince people: Fear and embarrassment.

"You know what, mother? If I was you, I wouldn't be so uneasy with this kind of stuff… considering that you failed with every single dream that you ever had… you never got to be as successful and recognized as you wanted, you know why? Because you were a fool, you were weak and you were a coward, but that's not me… I'll fight for what I truly want and I'll do it with or without your help, you get that? So… you rather burn with guilt because your daughter disappeared and you know why but you can't tell? Or you rather let her go do what she has to and live calm and peacefully?" her tone was threatening and scary, Jia was shocked.

"Is this a menace?" she asked indignant.

"It depends on how you take it, mommy… I just remind you that father will go crazy if he knows that you messed things up with his baby daughter…" Aline decided to use the love that Patrick had for her as something dangerous for her mother.

"You'll regret this, Aline…" Jia said with a broken voice, and that way she know she agreed to let her go.

"I don't think so…" she winked at her mother and left to her room. Things for her would be much easier that way.

"Unbelievable!" Helen was more than shocked when she came back to her department with Maia after their short vacation.

"Can't you stop this, please? It's not that big of a deal!" Maia complained, she thought they had a great time and now Helen was doing such a fuss over nothing.

"Oh, you're right! But just remember this… It's a big deal, actually! I'm the one who said: Hey Maia! What if we take a little trip to relax a bit? I was the one who was supposed to go ruin other girl's lives with my flirts! And in the end it's you who spent two entire days locked in someone else's room? It's not fair!" Helen finished her tantrum dropping on the couch next to Maia; her cheeks were burning with anger.

"Exactly! You're always the one who plays with people's love interests and then goes away, it was my turn now…" Maia just said anything to calm her friend down, she was making her head hurt with all those screams.

"Like you haven't done it before, little bitch!" Helen was obviously jealous of Maia's abilities with the opposite sex.

"Yes, I admit that I've done it before and it works for me just as fine as it works for you!" she tried to comfort her.

"Oh, bite me! You know how hard it is to get a girl who likes you?" was she really asking that?

"I have to live flirting with dudes who think with a part from them which they should be proud of and not their brains! It's much easier when we're talking about girls!" Maia reminded her.

"Not true! You know how picky we are with who we want to hang out with! I'm in disadvantage…" she crossed her arms furiously.

"Ok, fine! Anyways, stop yelling so much, ok? You know what the meaning of a one night thing is, right? It's over! A met a guy, I liked him, he liked me, I slept wrapped in his sheets and that's it! I'm pretty sure I won't even see him anymore" Maia assured her.

"Yeah, the problem here is that when you say a one night thing, it actually means that it lasted only one night! But you stayed with him two freaking complete days!" Helen was scre4aming again.

"Give me a break!" Maia was tired and she only though of locking herself in her own room alone and not coming out in another two days.

"This was absolutely wrong! No more vacations with you, missy! You ruined everything!" Helen thought of spending most of their vacation with her amorous conquest, but as Maia already did that, she had to stay in the room of the hotel she} had already paid for.

"Whatever! You're acting like I've done a mistake that will last forever! Just keep this in your tortured and crazy little mind ok?" Maia talked to her ear "I'm not going to see him again!" she screamed the way Helen had been doing since they got in the plane back home.

"Ok, fine, I got it!" She finally surrendered, or that's what Maia thought "But still you're such a man eater!" then she jus sighed annoyed.

"So, are you feeling better, highness?" Asked Queen Imogen to Maryse as gentle as always. Grandma (the way that Clary decided to call her) thought it would be nice to have a family dinner before Jace had to fly to England the next day, so they were all sitting in the dining room talking to each other as a true and normal family.

"I'm getting better, majesty, thanks for asking" Maryse said with a kind smile, she had been a little sick for the past few days and they were all worried about her, all of them except from her own husband who was a bit busier with God knows who and with God knows what.

"It might be because of the stress of the palace, you should take it easy, highness" Celine was a bit cold when it came to her daughter in law, but talking about her own family in law, she was the cutest thing ever!

"Thanks for the advice, majesty. And yes, I'm trying to take better care of myself, it's really necessary…" Clary wondered what could that mean, she wasn't as old as Grandma and it was just a little nausea, what could go so wrong?

"Have you talked to your sister, prince?" said Imogen to Alec, who seemed to be too worried about his own thoughts than with the conversation.

"Excuse me?" he woke up from his day dreaming, Clary recognized that gleam in his eyes, and he was thinking about someone, she smiled to herself.

"She asked if you've talked with Isabelle. Answer to your grandmother, Alexander" said Robert sounding mad, the man had troubles.

"Yes, father. Sorry, majesty, yes I have actually…. She says that she's coming back soon and that she misses you all…" he assured them.

"Oh, but she hasn't meet our new princess yet! I'm sure you'll get along well, my little Isabelle is such an angel" said Imogen thinking about her granddaughter and how much she missed her.

"I'm sure she is; your majesty" answered Clary still showing a smile, not because of Isabelle, but because of Alec's bright expression.

"You see? Even your cousin who gets distracted easily answers more quickly than you did, what's going through your head lately, Alexander?" Robert continued with the scolding, Clary thought that he seemed tired of everything and everyone; he looked like wanting to escape from the entire world he knew.

"If you only knew, father…" said Alec sounding happy. Clary giggled a bit showing excitement for him.

"What's so funny, crazy carrot? Don't laugh for nothing!" said Jace sounding annoyed.

"You see? That's what I mean! You're so freaking blind! Don't you see that Alec is totally in to someone?" Clary pointed at the dreamy Alec.

"No, I don't see anything… he seems to be feeling a little funny…. But I guess that's it…" Clary was disappointed, but still she had the hope to make an improvement with their relationship.

"Child of the angel? Yeah sure, he has a heart and a head made of pure and heavy stone!" she scowled, then the servants brought the main course and as she had nothing more to say to him she just started eating and tried to stay focus on the conversation.

" … I'm also very pleased with the news of my daughter; I'm waiting for her because I want to tell everyone a little something…" Maryse was glowing with joy that day, very suspicious, but in the good way, Robert was the opposite way.

"Why to wait for her?" Stephen joked, this was the first time he said something.

"Because it's important and I want all the family to be there when I announce it…" she answered with a big smile.

"Yes, I think we all are waiting for some good news… as you remember that the first night ceremony will take place soon" said Imogen excited with a chuckle.

"Mother!" Stephen said ashamed.

"What? You think that the princess doesn't know what her future task will be? Of course not, dear! I'm pretty sure that Lady Amatis explained to her that she's going to become the mother of our next heir…" both Clary and Jace froze with Imogen's comment. But Clary was apparently more affected by it; she started coughing… or rather choking with her food.

"Is she ok?" Celine asked not so worried, but then Clary's expression turned into agony. Jace shivered next to her.

"By Raziel, her cheeks are getting huge!" said Maryse concerned.

"Is it allergies?" Stephen asked, everyone tried to help but no one actually did something.

"Does that chicken have pepper?" Jace asked looking at his scared and sick wife.

"Yes, it does highness! The prince asked for it to be done like that…." Said one servant looking at Robert who wasn't paying attention to Clary.

"She's allergic to pepper!" Jace yelled taking Clary in his arms to carry her.

"Oh, dear! Somebody call the doctor!" screamed Queen Imogen, they all followed them to the nursery but they could hardly follow Jace as he was so fast. He left Clary on the stretcher; she was breathing heavily and felt the dress more tightened as her throat contracted and beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. She tried to say something; she tried to tell Jace to help her, but he didn't understand what she was saying; she scratched his arm with her large nails in desperation.

"Calm down, the doctors coming, ok?" he put his hand on her cheek so she would calm down "It's alright… stay with me, Clary, you understand?" But it was in vain, within seconds, she was out cold.

Aline was already packing her stuff completely thrilled about her trip to England, but she was more thrilled about the thousand things she imagined Jace and her could do. It would be a complete week full of romance, and she couldn't wait to get her man back. So she decided to give him a little clue.

'I'm dying to see you next to the English Queen, honey. I'll be waiting for you.' She typed the message and sent it to Jace, she didn't really expect him to answer but still she was pleased with the idea of what would've been his expression when he read the message.

It was all carefully calculated, she was lucky and she was smart. Who could've thought that one day Prince Robert himself would help her to get Jace back?

"Highness! Is the princess okay?" asked Magnus running to meet Alec who was outside of the nursery wondering if Jace would come out everyone had gone right after the doctor checked her. Alec froze the moment his eyes met Magnus's, those cat like eyes were absolutely captivating, they were like no other. 'Well, that's because Magnus is not like any other guy you've met… C'mon now, Alexander, stop sweating! Act cool'.

"She is stable, the doctor said she would be fine after he gave her the medicine but she's still unconscious, I'm sure she'll get better…" Alec assured him, Magnus took a deep and relieved breath, they were very close, and of course he was going to be worried about her!

"That's good to hear… I can't believe that something like this could've happened" Magnus seem disappointed for some reason that Alec couldn't finish understanding, he was a sea of emotions and surprises, Alec wondered how on earth could he manage to understand him.

"Accidents happen all the time, Magnus. It's not something that we could've stopped from happening, but it has a solution…" Alec touched his arm, they both felt weird and tried to get separated, but still it was… a very strong sensation for them to control.

"Well, thank you for the information, highness. I'm sorry that you had to waste your time answering to my stupid questions, of course she's ok…" Magnus released a regretful chuckle that made Alec smile.

"Actually, that's the best thing I've done in the entire day, at least there's someone else in here that really cares about Clary, I'm glad that you support her so much" he was saying the truth, but that wasn't all that he wanted to say.

"What can I say? Every bird needs its nest to grow up and feel protected, she doesn't like being a loner and I myself don't like leaving her alone either, but she's a strong girl all the way… and maybe his highness needed someone like her…." Magnus insinuated.

"You really think so?" asked Alec shocked.

"Of course, the prince needs someone who could dig his feet on the ground; he needs to know how the people of his country are to rule them… I think that your late grandfather made a great choice" said Magnus sounding happy and pleased.

"It wasn't his choice for real… he just made a promise with a friend. They have their troubles of course but I don't think they'll last much… when it comes to love, nobody chooses…" Alec winked at him. But he meant that actually just for them, he wasn't thinking about Jace or Clary anymore.

Jace heard the sound of a text message, but he wouldn't just stand up to answer. He was sitting next to his unconscious wife wondering what the heck had been Robert thinking when he asked for that specific dish, it was crazy! He was terrified to his bones although the doctor said that Clary would be fine when she could wake up, and that only made him get more nervous. What if she didn't wake up? He knew that sometimes allergies were very dangerous, what if she couldn't breathe anymore? He got closer to her to make sure that she still had air in her lungs; he also heard his calm heartbeat. Anyone could know what was happening to her, anyone could guess how she was feeling… but no one else but him heard the soft sound of her beats; the world was upside down at the moment but her heart was the same. That thought made Jace feel a little sad, if her heart or thought didn't change at all, how will he open himself to her? How could he tell her that he starting to feel something? What if she didn't feel the same way? What if she felt something for someone else? What if she never saw the other part of him, the one that was crazy about her?

He needed to try something, he needed a sing. He gathered the courage he had left as he approached her till their lips were at a second of touching. He began to shake at the warmth that spread through their bodies, although Clary was awake, she was still herself, the small and moody and terribly adorable Clary. She hadn't changed at all, but Jace… Jace didn't feel like he was the same anymore, he had never felt so scared of trying to make a move with someone. And then he realized that it was no use trying if she couldn't be conscious to give him and answer, so he got away again. He stood form the stretcher and began to walk in circles all over the room till he felt dizzy, but he didn't care, he had so much things going through his mind. And those were all questions about his wife.

"What the heck happened?" Clary asked making a great effort to open her eyes. Jace felt a shiver down his spine and turned around to confirm that he wasn't hearing things.

"By the angel, Clarissa! You almost killed me! It has been like two or three hours, what took you so much to wake up, uh?" to Clary he surely sounded cruel but he was absolutely concerned about her, for a moment he felt like it was himself who couldn't breathe.

"I don't know… maybe the fact that I almost die? And why on earth would you care about…?" Clary thought something strange. "How long have you been in here?"

"Since they brought you, duh! You think I would leave you alone being like this?" Jace wasn't careful with expressing his feelings anymore, and that made Clary feel unsure.

"Why?" was the only thing she could say.

"Because you're my wife, woman! …" then he decided that it was time to get a bit calmed "I could not stand being widowed at 18, you know how bad that could have been? What image of us would we have given if you died like that?" Jace run a hand over his hair, he was shaking terribly and his pulse was racing with just hearing her voice.

"It wouldn't have been so terrible for me…" she sat and left that her initial thought go away, it was no use in asking him if he had tried to do something to her, he only thought in himself anyways. "Oh, wait! Do I look like a tomato?" she asked almost screaming, that made Jace laugh.

"If it makes you feel better, you always look like a tomato…" he said with a smile "you know… because of your tantrums and everything".

"Jerk" she whispered.

"I wanted to ask you something…" he had decided not to ask it in the first place but know considering that she was still feeling sick.

"If I did it on purpose? Not actually, Jonathan… If I would've wanted to kill myself our misery would be over already" she said annoyed.

"No… it was something more like… what you are going to do when I'm gone?" it was awfully difficult to pronounce those words.

"You think I can't live without you or what?" she asked indignant. He sighed.

"No, I mean that if you haven't noticed… there's nobody else in this room" he said, Clary chuckled a bit.

"That's probably because you're in here …" that bright smile would've been enough for Jace to melt, but he chose to stand still.

"Anyways, I don't want this to happen ever again and I need to be sure that someone will be taking good care of you when I'm gone…" was that for real? Did Jace care about her?

"Why do you care?"

"How many times do I have to repeat it to you? It would be horrible if something bad happened to you when we haven't been married for even a month yet…" but what he was really thinking was: because I'll go mad if something happened to you, by the angel, I need you!

"Ok, I get it…. But if you haven't noticed, this is the palace and I'm the crown princess… Of course everyone will be at the edge of my bed making sure that I'm still breathing!" well, that was kind of ironic,

"But still, a mistake like this can't be done ever again… just…. Do me a favor, can you?" he asked, Clary scowled in confusion.

"What is it?" it depended on what he asked, if it was something stupid she would just punch him in the face.

"If something goes wrong, if anything happens with you… tell me as soon as you can, ok?" he said that lowering his voice tone and looking at the ground.

"I don't understand why, but ok…" she raised her arms agreeing.

"Because only God know what would I do without you…" he whispered.