Chapter Twenty-four
Aiden:
The institute feels fifty times stuffier than it did last I was here but it wouldn't take a genius to know mamma Lightwood has been raining her special sort of terror. I don't know her, but I know enough to make my own assumptions. I went to the weapons room and pocketed a stele then went straight to my room. I didn't feel like mingling tonight plus I was about to do something I don't want others to see.
I shut the door and twisted the bolt with an echoing click. Leaning against the door, I focused on finding Alec and the others. He was with Clary and... Luke. Huh.
Jace and Izzy are already at the institute doors but I kept my focus on them still. He was looking for her.
Jace was looking for Clary and after he found out she wasn't here yet he started ordering people around. It's a shame my gift doesn't allow me to hear what exactly they're saying. I have to draw context clues from everything. That's something I need to work on. If all these supernatural shows taught me anything, it would be that I could do the impossible if I tried hard enough.
I stood there for a while, watching Jace worry all over the place about Clary's whereabouts when she and Alec entered the room. That's my cue. I snapped back to reality and made my way to the control room. I walked with a purpose and almost tripped over my own feet when I got there.
Clary was kissing Jace.
Jace was kissing Clary.
I wasn't too surprised because it was a long time coming but I just didn't expect it right now. I looked in Alec's direction and frowned. Izzy was here too, and she had sorry written all over her face. I ignored her and met Alec's eyes. He subtly nodded to the door and walked away. Izzy looked between the both of us and I followed.
"Alright Lightwood." I sighed and crossed my arms after I closed the giant oak doors. "What is it that everyone else seems to know except for me?" My voice was nothing short of accusing. He couldn't meet my eyes and that in itself was a red flag. I narrowed mine at him.
"My..." he cleared his throat. "There's no other way of telling you apart from saying it straight out." He let out a shaky breath and I took a step back to brace myself for the news. Whatever it was, would either make me mad or scared. "I'm engaged."
And just like that, my stomach fell through my body and into the burning pits of hell. I could feel my body burning from the inside out and my eyes pricked with fresh tears. "What do you mean you're engaged?" Disbelief and barely contained rage coated my words.
"My parents said the Clave is losing trust in our abilities to uphold our positions and duties so they arranged a marriage between me and Lydia Branwell." He said this with no emotion at all. Like he shut down on me. That only made my heart break more. I could feel the shattered pieces pushing against my ribcage, making it hard to breathe.
I drew in a shaky breath. "So this is all true then?" He nodded like we were simply talking about what to eat for dinner instead of the end of our relationship. "You don't plan to go against your parents." It wasn't a question. Just a slow realization, yet he still gave me that stupid nod. "And you planned to tell me when, exactly?" I threw my arms out in exasperation.
No comment.
"Oh, so that's how it is?" My voice bordered on homicidal. "You didn't deem me worthy- important enough, to tell me that you're fucking engaged?!" I huffed and looked to the heavens and whispered. "Angels give me strength." The minutes stretched by in silence and when I finally lowered my head to look at him, he was still wearing that stoic expression.
"Alec... why?" I let all the emotions pour into those two words and finally, a kink in his armor. His brows furrowed slightly and pain flashed across his eyes for a millisecond, but that was enough. Enough to give me hope. Enough to make me beg. "Alec... please." It was only a whisper and the tears that blurred my vision finally fell. There was no use holding them back, they had a mind of their own, so I let them fall. Let him see the pain he's allowing.
He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry." He walked past me and went back into the control room. That was it. No 'I wish it was different'. No 'I'll cancel it'. No further explanation. No more us.
And that was that.
The click of the doors echoed in my brain like a judge slamming their gavel down, declaring the final verdict. I refused to break down here. Refused to let anyone see just how much it affected me just yet... so I walked. Walked like a madwoman on a hunt until I got back to my room.
By the time I got there and shut the door, I no longer had the urge to cry and possibly rip my heart out.
I was just... tired, oh so tired. I didn't want to think or feel. Feeling anything right now hurts too much. So I gathered the tempest of emotions that pelted my consciousness and threw them under the still lake in my mind.
So quiet. So peaceful. I wanted it to stay that way, so no matter how much the emotions tried to break the calm surface, I kept them on lockdown and drowned them with every fibre in my body. It wasn't until then that I finally looked around my room. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and sighed. A hot mess was what I was.
Suddenly, my skin felt so dirty that I just wanted to crawl out of it and throw it away. I kicked off my shoes, peeled off the stockings and flung off my jacket but paused when I heard a muted thud.
I looked to the ground and my eyes caught the pen-sized wand laying on the carpet. I slowly walked toward the stele and picked it up. The slight weight grounded me once more and the sudden bout of insanity left me in an instant. I stared at the thing and an idea came to my head. The library, I need to go to the library, but that could wait. I already started undressing, might as well finish and take that shower.
Magnus sent me here for a reason and one reason alone. I loved and respected that man too much to walk back into his apartment bare-skinned... and because of that, I'd been sitting in the institute library for longer than I've been counting. Time didn't matter to me right now, only doing as Magnus said did.
I didn't dare to think about anything other than memorizing the Gray Book. Of course its spine was thicker than my hand but that only made me more determined to complete this task. Soon, just memorizing wasn't enough, I grabbed a stack of plain paper off an old oak desk, then began sketching the runes that interested me.
For the oddest reason unknown to me, flexibility and persuade kept catching my eyes. I looked at the slowly growing stack of papers and shuffled through. At least half of them had persuade on them.
"Alright Angel. I hear your cry." I whispered into the library. I blew the fallen strand of hair out of my face and smoothly removed the stele from my sweatpants.
"Deep breaths. Clearly you've had tons of practice drawing this. The only difference is that this time... it's on skin... and with a wand that fucking burns." This was supposed to be a little pep talk but the more I said, the less I wanted to do it...
But I couldn't go back to my Bonded empty-handed, so a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I cautiously pulled the stele to the inside of my left arm and huffed out a breath of pain. I can do this, I had to do this. With trembling hands, yet very smooth lines, I completed the Persuade rune and let the stele fall to the carpeted ground. The pain only lasted until the rune was completed.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. It was so quiet in here, that even thinking felt too loud. I slowly peeled my lids open and glanced down at my handiwork. The rune wasn't activated at the moment but the deep blue of it made me smile.
I did that. I drew this and I was proud of myself... but where and what would I even use this for? I huffed and rested my head on the table. There was a quiet thud and a fluttering of pages. I looked down with dreary eyes and scrambled to take up the centuries old book when I realised what had fallen. A page had fallen out and glided under a side table that had a vase of white roses on it and was standing right next to a shelf. A string of obscenities escaped me in quick succession. I crouched down and stretched for the yellowed page. Bonk!
"Shit!" I hissed and rubbed at the sore spot on my head. There was a new pile of fallen books that I had to figure out where they belonged. I drew back my handed and examined my palm carefully. "Good. No blood." Deliberately ignoring the throbbing that would soon become a wicked headache, I looked down at my other hand and furrowed my brows.
Now that I had a closer look at the paper, it was all wrong. I just flipped through the entire Gray Book and there weren't anything close to loose pages. It most have been preserved with some sort of magic, but that's besides the point. I flipped over the paper and examined it, this time with suspicion.
In the smack centre, there was a very faded picture of what I assumed to be a crest with... was that a bird? two birds? It was definitely something with wings. Below it in bold and ink smudged around the edges, was one word.
Herondale
And just like that, the clearest of bells dinged in my head as if I'd gotten something right. I frowned. What does this mean? Is it a place? A thing? A name?
Another ding.
So it was a name, But the name of who? I sat back on my heels and stared through the paper as I thought. To be on a paper this old and of this quality, then it must have been written decades ago. And that means if its in the Institute library then this name must have something to do with Shadowhunters.
I got up and stacked the books in a pile on my currently occupied desk. The hairs on my arm stood up in an eerie 'what the fuck' at what I saw. Right there. The very last book I picked up was sprawled open and of course, the first word on that page was Herondale.
I marked the page and flipped to the cover. 'Influential Shadowhunter Family Heritage'. I went back to the bookmarked page and blew a strand out of my face. Who ever the Herondales are... they must be important. I went back to my seat and began reading. The same symbol on the old paper was here too so its safe to assume it a family crest.
It wasn't too interesting. They fought several wars, can speak to ghosts and the men in the family have star-shaped birthmarks and heightened abilities because of an angel.
"Huh. Maybe I'm related to them or something." I mumbled jokingly. I paused, awareness prickling my scalp. "Maybe I am related to them." My head began to swim with a million and one questions and I abruptly stood up to pack everything away. So much was making sense but it all still seemed like foolishness.
"I guess I gotta make it make sense then." I hissed and I pushed the last book into place. The library doors swept open with a 'whoosh', alerting me of newcomers. I glanced at the table and walked over quietly. I quickly pocketed my stele and stared at the yellowed page that made me start this wild goose chase. Hurried footsteps echoed down the isles and I panicked and shuffled all my papers together, effectively hiding the questionable one. Something told me I might need this later. As I picked up the papers the person speed-walked past my isle then turned back.
My jaw ticked. Izzy. I stood up straight and glared at her expectantly. She heaved a sigh when she saw me.
"Aiden, thank the Angel I found you." She rushed out in one breath. Something was wrong, the look on her face said it all. I stepped forward and alarm swept through me at her next words. "It's Simon."