𝑶𝑭 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑹𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑳

ᎽᎧU ᏘRᏋ ᏁᎧT ᎽᎧUR ᎧᏊᏁ

"Thank you, Miss Morgenstern. Your willingness to put your own comfort aside for the greater good is to be commended." Imogen said, then turned to Jace. "You would do well to follow her example."

"I'm not a follower." Jace replied sarcastically.

"I'll do the testing on my own. When do we start?" Clary said. Alyssa rolled her eyes at Clary's eagerness.

"Clary, you don't know the Clave like I do. First they'll just want you to do circus tricks. The next thing you know, you'll be monitored 24/7." Jace warned..

"I'll do whatever it takes. Look, it's okay if you don't want to do this, Jace. But drawing those runes...for the first time, I felt like there was a reason I became a Shadowhunter. I need to get them back." Clary said. Jace sighed and turned back to Imogen.

"I guess it's your lucky day." He said. Imogen ignored him and turned her attention to Alyssa, who had remained quiet the entire time.

"As for you, Miss Fairchild, I believe you know why I called you here."

"With you, there could be a number of reasons, so I believe you're going to have to be specific, Inquisitor." Alyssa said.

"I'm referring to the unsanctioned portal you took to Alicante yesterday and this morning," Imogen revealed. Both Jace and Clary looked at Alyssa in surprise, this being the first they'd heard of it.

"I needed to speak to Maryse. She wasn't available yesterday, so I tried this morning." Alyssa said with a shrug.

"And why did you need to speak with Maryse Lightwood?"

"Forgive me, Inquisitor, but I don't think that's any of your business."

"It becomes my business when I have to answer to the Clave as to why one of the Shadowhunters under my authority here took an unauthorized portal to the capital to see someone they aren't known to be close to."

"I needed to talk to Maryse about some issues I am dealing with. That's all you need to know." Alyssa said.

"I need to know the content of the conversation you had, Miss Fairchild. Unless you'd rather I have you arrested so that you can answer to the Clave yourself."

"Whoa, wait, what?"

"You can't do that?" Jace and Clary voiced out.

"Why is it so important you know what Maryse and I discussed? Are you afraid we're plotting something to usurp the Clave or start another uprising?"

"With your blood and what you are, as well as your general behavior towards authority figures, we can't be certain that is not a possibility."

"You can't be serious." Jace said.

"Yeah, Alyssa's nothing like that." Clary said.

"And how would you know that, Miss Morgenstern? With her demon side, we have to assume that she is capable of such things."

"So in other words, I can't be trusted. Well, that works for me because I don't trust either you or the Clave. I don't trust any of you to do right by anyone but yourselves." Alyssa said coolly.

"Since you so badly want to know why I went to see Maryse, you should know that because of the psycho you have locked up in the basement, I lost my unborn child and almost died saving Clary from a poisoned dagger he threw at her the night we arrested him.

And then yesterday, to satisfy his sick urge to ruin people's lives, he revealed a secret that my father has kept from me since I was born.

That was what I went to discuss with Maryse Lightwood. I needed to talk to someone about how I was feeling, a mother, and she's been more of a mother to me than the one whom I thought was my mother ever was to me.