Shadowsinger

Chapter Sixteen

When Teigen found Alec a half-hour later, he was sitting in Lydia's office, his button-up shirt half off as he struggled to re-bandage his arm. She knocked quietly on the doorframe, walking in with her box of supplies. Will, the shadowhunter Lydia had assigned to her as an escort took up a post outside of the room. 

Setting the box on the desk next to where he was sitting, Teigen moved around him and took the bandage out of his hands, setting it down and taking a damp washcloth, methodically cleaning the fresh blood out of his wound. 

"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier." 

Teigen glanced up from her work. "Don't worry about it. You just had a very tense conversation with two people, one of whom was your parabatai, who don't realize the pressure you are under."

"That doesn't make it okay. You did nothing wrong and I took my frustration out on you." 

Teigen stopped cleaning, staring at his shoulder as she pondered a response. Sighing, she looked up and met his eyes, offering a small smile. "I forgive you." When he gave her a dubious look, her eyes narrowed and she swatted him extremely lightly. "I'm serious. I'm not going to hold a small slip-up against you." 

Reaching for his stele, she frowned when she couldn't find it, picking up the bandage instead. Winding it around his arm, she avoided his intense gaze. "Why are you doing this?" 

Teigen paused, her hands stilling before she shook her head, tying off the bandage. "What do you mean?" 

She met his eyes, shivering a bit as her heart rate sped up, her chest constricting. Her heart pulled painfully as she tried to read his expression. Dropping her gaze, she sighed heavily, a hand dragging over her face. "Did you know it took about three years for Robby, Catherine, and Alex to learn about my mother? It took three years for me to trust them enough to talk about it. It took three years for me to tell the people I'm closest to, yet I told you the first night." 

Alec slipped his arm into his sleeve, buttoning up his shirt as he spoke. "Why?" 

Teigen snorted, moving the box back onto the chair, sitting on the desk next to Alec. "I don't know. It could be that you offered to teach me about an entire world I never knew existed until that point? Maybe it was because you were the first time in a decade who met Clary first but didn't put her needs above everything?" 

Teigen looked down. "I don't know." 

Alec nudged her with his uninjured shoulder. "I bet it's because I raided my secret stash of shortbread cookies." Teigen looked at him in disbelief.

"Really. I find it rather hard to believe that you'd do that for a stranger." 

Alec grinned, slipping his stele that had been laying next to his right thigh into his pocket. "Didn't you notice how impressive of a hiding space they were in?" 

Teigen raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. "Oh, that small but almost obnoxiously colourful box in the really obvious hiding spot next to the fridge is considered 'highly impressive?" 

Alec drew back as if he was stunned, placing a hand over his heart as he gasped in mock offence. "'The really obvious hiding spot'? You wound me?" 

Teigen rolled her eyes. "Stop being a big baby. It was an obvious hiding spot." 

Alec stuck out his bottom lip and pouted. "It was not! I spent an hour searching for that spot after I bought them." 

"Sure." 

"I did!" 

"Okay, okay. I totally believe you." 

"...Fine. I shoved it into the first place I could find." 

Teigen raised her eyebrow and gave him a smirk. 

"Stop smugging at me." 

"I'm not doing anything." 

Alec stuck his bottom lip out even further, widening his eyes as his eyebrows lowered. 

Teigen felt the corner of her mouth twitch as she tried to not give in to the full-face smile that was developing. Alec noticed her struggle and pouted further, widening his eyes as far as they could go into the picture of devastated innocence. 

Teigen gave in, no longer being able to hold her smile in. Alec grinned in victory as she gave up. 

"Shut up." Teigen swatted his shoulder when it was his turn to smirk at her, but her smile didn't even lower in intensity, but somehow managed to grow even larger as he tried to evade her hands. 

Accidentally jabbing him in the ribs, Teigen froze as he yelped and jolted to the side, managing to twist onto his uninjured side and landing on the ground. They both wore startled looks on their faces before Teigen doubled over and started cackling as the tense moment dissolved into a fit of laughter. 

Teigen threw herself down next to him as they both continued laughing for another minute, gasping for breath as they did so. 

After they both sobered with the occasional giggle, they continued laying there on the carpet. 

The door opened and they shot to their feet as Lydia walked in, giving the two an incredulous look as they tried to act innocent. "I wouldn't bother, nearly half of the entire institute heard you two hyenas." 

Glancing at each other, they both had to bite their lips hard and look away to keep from bursting into more laughter. 

Lydia rolled her eyes and smiled, waving away their apologies. "Don't worry about it." Her tone turned stern and she turned to Alec. "The others are almost ready to transport the Seelie. I want you to lead them, understand?" 

Alec's mask of indifference slid into place and he nodded at the order. The perfect soldier. Teigen looked away and murmured her own dismissal, striding out of the office with Alec a step behind her until they departed ways, Will walking a few steps away before taking a post outside of her bedroom door as she slipped inside. She prayed that Jace and Isabelle wouldn't do something that would drag Clary into the crossfire, but it seemed she was too late when Clary's phone went straight to voicemail.