Chain of Thorns

Chapter Eighteen

Tessa Herondale stood in the ballroom of the London Institute feeling grateful to be back at her home. Although she was only here for the night, she could at least pretend as if everything in her life was alright. Charlotte had allowed Tessa to come to London to attend the annual Spring Ball and she had jumped at the chance to see her children and her friends. Will had been ecstatic when she had told him that was able to come back for the night. Tessa sought him out from across the ballroom; he was speaking to Gideon, grinning about something. Tessa swore that his grin had never changed after all of this time - he still looked like that wild seventeen year old boy that had saved her from the Dark Sisters.

Tessa then looked for her children. She spotted James on the dance floor, dancing with Cordelia, and she smiled. Although she knew that her son's marriage was not real, she still admired his and Cordelia's connection. Tessa suspected that one day they would realize their feelings for one another. Until then, Tessa could only hope. Lucie was laughing with the new girl that had arrived at the Institute - Aurora Montclaire. Lucie's laugh had always reminded Tessa of Will and she felt happy that their daughter had inherited her husband's contagious laugh. Sometimes it shocked Tessa that her children were so grown; they no longer needed her as much as they once did.

Tessa looked around and spotted someone wearing a hood over their head in the corner of the room. Her heart jumped a little as she recognized who it was and immediately moved toward them. Tessa reached Jem in a matter of seconds. She knew that she ought to call him Brother Zachariah but that was not who he was to her. To Tessa, he would always be Jem. Her Jem. She had invited him to the ball as she had not seen him quite sometime and was delighted to see that he had come.

"Jem." Tessa smiled at him. "You came."

"I did not wish to ignore your invite." His voice echoed in her mind. "How have you been?"

"I have been as well as I can be, I suppose." Tessa sighed. "I only worry for the children. It cannot be easy for them to be running the Institute while Will and I are in Alicante. I've told Will to return to them but he will not leave me."

"When has Will ever listened to anyone?" There was fondness in Jem's tone.

Tessa could not help but smile. "That is quite true. I recall how he used to storm the halls of this Institute when we had been seventeen. He refused to listen to you or Charlotte."

"It seems as if Jamie has inherited that same quality." Jem replied back to her. "I remember the time when Magnus Bane had to bring him back after a night of drinking."

Tessa sighed and shook her head. "I am afraid both of our children have ended up like Will. I am yet to understand if this is a good or bad thing."

If Jem could laugh, Tessa knew that he would have. A stab of pain went through her as she remembered that she would never hear Jem's laugh ever again. It was as if she had kept Jem but had lost him as well. She looked up at him - at the man she almost married. Tessa found that she could not regret not marrying Jem because otherwise she not have had James or Lucie. Her heart had always been in an odd place over that and she could never decipher it. Fate had taken its course - that was what she believed. What was meant to be would always be.

"Will is still the same wild boy he always was. He came and spoke to me earlier and it made me miss being his Parbatai." Jem's voice spoke in her mind.

Tessa frowned, her heart feeling heavy. "There is not a day that goes by where Will does not speak of you. He misses you very dearly - we both do. We are both grateful that we at least still are able to see you."

"As am I." He replied. "I am grateful that I am able to be apart of your children's lives and to see you and Will love one another. It has always brought me happiness to see you two together."