Shadows and Monsters [Jace Wayland]

12

"It goes both ways. No more secrets." Sam said, not taking her eyes off of Luke, who accepted her words with a nod.

"All right. Magnus told you about the Uprising? About Valentine, who murdered all those people?" Sam and Clary nodded, Luke sighed before continuing.

"The reason he became that man was our fault, mine and Jocelyn's." the werewolf admitted looking down in shame as Sam shook her head, "What did you two could've possibly done? Steal from his cookie jar?" Sam scoffed as she looked at the man she considered a father.

"We betrayed him, Sam. Your mother and I. We fell in love." Luke admitted making the blonde's and the redhead's eyes widen in shock.

"Did you... Wait... Are you our...?" Clary stammered, not knowing what to make of this revelation. Luke frowned, shaking his head vigorously, "No. No, we never..."

"Had sex?" Sam suggested with raised eyebrows staring at Luke meaningfully.

"Yeah. I mean, no! Your parents were married. Valentine was my Parabatai. We both loved him. But as his rhetoric got more violent and he became more combative with the Clave, we started to worry. We tried to help him, tried to temper him, but he just kept pulling away. That just drew us closer together. We knew it was wrong, but we couldn't deny it or hide it."

"Valentine became convinced we were having an affair. He was obsessed with winning Jocelyn's heart back. For love, he was willing to do anything, even compromise his own principles. He became fixated on becoming a better soldier. That led him to do the unthinkable experiment with Downworlder blood. Once he crossed that line... we never got him back again. In the end, our love did more damage to Valentine than anything anybody else could have done. We broke his heart."

"At least now I know he had one before his crazy, distorted world view set in." Clary remarked with a sigh, "What was he like back then? Before he, you know....." Sam wondered, pursing her lips.

Sam wanted to think that her father was a good man before he became that mad man who was set on killing people who had different blood than him; perhaps he was a kind man, that's why Joceyln married him anyway.

"Oh, he was honorable. Idealistic. He was charismatic."

"Just Mom's type. Just like you." Clary said with a small smile, looking up at Luke, who shook his head, "Oh, no. No. I never came close. He was a leader. Devoted to protecting us from dying pointless deaths."

"The demons were winning. We couldn't train our people fast enough to keep up. Val wanted the Clave to use the Mortal Cup to create more Shadowhunters, but that just made them angry."

"But isn't more Shadowhunters a good thing?" Sam questioned with furrowed eyebrows.

"Not the way he was proposing. Ever since the Angel Raziel created the first Shadowhunters with the Cup, it's been forbidden to use the Cup again to rebuild their forces."

"Why would she hide that she's an artist, especially from me?" Clary asked with a deep frown. She had wondered why her mother would keep that a secret from her.

"Because after that night, she locked that part of herself away. She never wanted their lives to affect yours."

"What did our father do?" Sam inquired with disdain, narrowing her eyes at the werewolf. She was starting to understand what Valentine had become.

"Your mother is the only other person I ever told this to. I never wanted it to burden you." Luke revealed, looking at the two sisters. Sam sighed, reaching for Luke's hand, squeezing it in reassurance, "Luke, we need to know."