ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴʟʏ ꜰɪʀᴇ ~ ᴛᴍɪ

Chapter 20 - Heir Restored

"She'll convince Imogen," Luke said. "If Imogen trusts anyone, it's definitely her granddaughter," 

Jace nodded and turned to Luke and demanded, with surprising abruptness, "Was the Inquisitor's son's death the reason she hates Valentine with pure hatred?" 

Luke sighed and thrust his hands into the pockets of his coat. "How did you figure that out?"

"The way she reacts when someone says his name. It's the only time I've ever seen her show any human feelings. Allison as well. She always winces when his name is said aloud. And why she hates me."

"She does not hate you, Jace." Luke corrected. "She was the one who was willing to trust your statement against her grandmother's."

"That makes me feel slightly honored."

"We were talking about Stephen?" Clary interrupted.

Luke expelled a breath. "Her son was her whole world before Allison. I'm pretty sure Imogen is not a literal block of ice because of her granddaughter, a little humanity still exists. Stephen was her golden boy. In fact, he was everyone's ... everyone who knew him. He was one of those people who were good at everything, unfailingly nice without being boring, handsome without everyone hating him. Well, maybe we hated him a little."

"He went to school with you?" Clary said. "And my mother—and Valentine? Is that how you knew him?"

"The Herondales were in charge of running the London Institute, and Stephen went to school there. I saw him more after we all graduated when he moved back to Alicante. And there was a time when I saw him very often indeed." Luke's eyes had gone distant, the same blue-grey as the river. "After he was married my sister, Amatis."

"So he was in the Circle?"

"Not then," Luke said. "He joined the Circle after I—well, after what happened to me. Valentine needed a new second in command and he wanted Stephen. Imogen, who was utterly loyal to the Clave, was hysterical—she begged Stephen to reconsider—but he cut her off. Wouldn't speak to her, or his father. He was absolutely in thrall to Valentine. Went everywhere trailing after him like a shadow." Luke paused. "The thing is, Valentine didn't think Stephen's wife was suitable for him. Not for someone who was going to be second in command of the Circle. She had undesirable family connections. Valentine forced Stephen to divorce Amatis and remarry. 

"Remarry?" Jace looked utterly surprised. "Is that why Allison is bitter about him?"

"That's why she talked with distaste about her father," Clary remarked. "So she's his first wife's daughter."

Luke nodded distractedly. "His second wife was a very young girl, only eighteen years old, named Celine. She, too, was utterly under Valentine's influence and did everything he told her to, no matter how bizarre. Then Stephen was killed in a Circle raid on a vampire nest. Celine killed herself when she found out. She was eight months pregnant at the time. And Stephen's father died, too, of heartbreak. So that was Imogen's whole family for a while, all gone. They couldn't even bury her daughter-in-law and grandchild's ashes in the Bone City, because Celine was a suicide. She was buried at a crossroads outside Alicante. Imogen survived, but she turned to ice. When the Inquisitor was killed in the Uprising, Imogen was offered his job. She returned from London to Idris—but never, as far as I heard, spoke about Stephen again. "

"I don't understand," Jace said in doubt. "Where does Allison come in the picture?"

"I didn't even know she was born until a few days ago," Luke reminded him. "I was with Amatis for a few weeks after turning into a werewolf. She'd just got divorced from her husband and wasn't exactly thrilled to have me. After that...I didn't bother to check on her."