Arriving back at the Institute, I was immediately met with Alec. I left the others to take my mother safely inside and turned to him.
"Please tell me you have the cup?" He asked quietly. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused, but nodded. "You know I would never ask something like this of you unless it was the last resort, but it's Izzy-"
"Alec what's going on? What do you need? I'll help Isabelle, just tell me what you need," I cut him off.
He looked a little hesitant, "I need you to give the Mortal Cup to the Clave."
I agreed, not missing a beat, "Of course. May I ask why though?"
"Izzy was arrested in the name of high treason for Meliorn's rescue mission, the Clave has demanded she be stripped of her runes and exiled," He explained in a hushed voice, "The Mortal Cup is the only bargaining chip that might allow her freedom and they have made it clear that unless they receive it-"
Without a second thought, I marched right up to Lydia, who I'd seen coming down the stairs to the training room, retrieving the instrument from the card, and held up the Cup. She looked understandably startled at my sudden appearance, but more so at my demeanour. I stood tall and glared down at her, "If I give you this, Isabelle is cleared of all charges. Am I understood?" I demanded, leaving no room for arguments. Lydia looked a little too shocked to speak, "Do I make myself clear?" I pressed.
"Crystal," Lydia squeaked, "You have my word."
Satisfied, I handed her the Cup and turned back to Alec. "That was frightening," He remarked. I didn't reply and instead walked around him, heading for the office where I had a feeling Isabelle was being held. Alec followed, knowing exactly where I was going, taking a few strides in front and stopping me. "Please, let me tell her."
I looked at the ground but gestured my hand for him to proceed ahead of me into the room. "Jace, Clary and Samara are back," I heard him say. I leaned against the doorframe, listening. "Samara gave the Cup to Lydia. You're free to go."
Isabelle's face lit up and she threw her arms around Alec. "You were right, they came back," She exclaimed, "You knew!"
"Oh, I didn't actually," Alec replied.
"Yes, incase you hadn't noticed already, he has very little faith in us," I commented from the doorway. Isabelle let go of her brother and nearly bowled me over as she wrapped me in a tight hug. "Of course we came back," I said to her. I made eye contact with Alec over her shoulder but I looked away before he could say anything.
"Well, my work is done here," Magnus announced from the corner, looking to Alec he said, "I believe we have some business to settle."
Alec nodded and led Magnus from the office, looking down at me as he passed. I sighed once he left and Isabelle let go of me. I rubbed my hands over my face in pure frustration.
"You should go and talk to Alec," Isabelle rested a hand on my arm, "You have to work this out." I went to shake my head but she held up her hand, "Go. I'll be fine."
I hugged her again and left, finding Alec and Magnus in the training room, but remaining undetected in the doorway. Alec pulled out his bow and quiver and sighed, "As promised - payment in full for defending my sister in court. Thank you."
Magnus looked at the weaponry in his hands then back up to Alec, "I just want you to know Lydia was wonderful in court. I like her, but you don't have to marry her."
"Yes, I do, Magnus," Alec's voice cracked.
"You'll be lonely all your life, and so will she. Neither of you deserve it," Magnus pointed out, then he added, "And Samara doesn't either." Alec's head snapped up and looked Magnus in the eye, who only offered a smile, knowing he'd struck a chord. He held the bow and quiver back out to Alec, "I don't know what to do with these. You keep them for me - maybe teach Samara how to use one properly."
With that, Magnus walked away, winking at me as he saw me and passed. Alec looked at me briefly before putting his beloved bow back on the rack. He turned to me, "Samara, about Lydia-"
I cut him off, "Look, I understand why you're doing it, and I can't hold that against you, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," I finished quietly. "Can you just do one thing for me?"
Alec replied without hesitation, "Anything."
"Please make things right with Jace," He went to say no but I didn't let him, "Alec, he just found out his father is Valentine too - he thought he'd been reunited with his dead father only for him to transform into my father and have him tell us that he's all of our fathers and that we're all one big messed up family. Alec, he needs you, and at a time like this, you need him too." He looked unsure so I said, "Please, just think about it," and walked away.
As I wandered back through the Institute, I heard Isabelle giving out orders and my stomach tightened into a knot. They were orders for the wedding. "Bring the flowers out to the wedding tent. Put the lilies up on the dais, and lay the rose petals at the entrance."
A woman I'd never seen before approached her, "Isabelle, which color do you like better? It's for the curtains adorning the wedding tent."
"The cobalt blue. It's elegant, masculine - very Alec."
I couldn't be around all that right now, so I made my way to the infirmary, where my mother lay motionless, still trapped by the awful green presence. I sat down next to her and took her hand. I stayed like that, silent and peaceful for almost half an hour before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Luke sporting a small smile.
"She's gonna be fine. I'm sorry, Samara, we should have told you everything before this got-" I shook my head, stopping his apology.
"We can figure all that out when we wake Mom up. The important thing now is that we have her back."
I heard footsteps on the stairs, " Uh, I'm looking for Lydia?" Alec said rather awkwardly, "Have you seen her? I don't mean to interrupt your..." He trailed off, waving his hand around at us.
"It's okay," I shrugged, "I haven't seen Lydia, sorry."
"I gotta get back to the station, call me if anything changes?" Luke said before departing.
Alec approached me slowly, "So, how is she?"
"The same, I guess," I replied, somewhat bitterly. Not towards Alec but at the fact that we had her back, and couldn't wake her up. He seemed to understand that and rested a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry about Isabelle," He finally murmured, referring to the wedding plans.
"I don't want to talk about it," I dismissed quietly. He sighed, giving my shoulder a little squeeze, and left. I rested my head on my arm, finally feeling some kind of solace, and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
My serenity was short lived when I was awoken by bright sunlight blazing through the room. I groaned as I rolled my stiff neck, realising I'd slept through the whole night by my mother's side. Making my way back up to my bedroom, I changed into clean clothes and dragged myself back down to the main level.
"Morning," I yawned, finding Jace and Magnus sitting at one of the tables.
"Samara," Magnus acknowledged.
"Hey Sam," Jace gave me a smile, but I could tell it was forced. I only hoped Alec would listen to me and talk to him soon.
Clary wandered down not long after me - and the tension in the air was palpable and suffocating.
"You just come from training?" Jace asked.
"Yeah. Uh-huh, I'm, uh, working on my right hook," Clary replied a little too quickly.
"Good," He nodded, "That's a good punch."
"Yeah. I'm, uh, I'm working on it." I cringed at the awkwardness radiating from them and shared a look with Magnus who interrupted them on behalf of the both of us.
"While this conversation is no doubt scintillating, remind me why we couldn't do this at my place? At least there we'd have cocktails," He pointed out. A cocktail or three would have really helped this situation appear less painful.
"It's 9:00 in the morning," Clary said incredulously.
"It's happy hour somewhere," I muttered, earning a chuckle from Magnus.
"We invited you here, Magnus, because Hodge can't leave the Institute and he's an important part of this mission," Jace answered Magnus' previous question.
"Well, then, where is our tardy little tutor?" The warlock pretended to look around.
Just then, Hodge appeared, "Pardon the delay, Magnus. I was following up on a lead." He walked to the screen in front of us and picked up a remote. "Now, we've narrowed down our list of warlocks more powerful than you to these three."
Three pictures popped up and Magnus scoffed. "Uh why is Ragnor Fell up there? He's not more powerful than I am."
"Well, some would disagree," Hodge smirked, "He is older than you."
"Certainly not wiser," Magnus shot back.
"Who is Ragnor Fell?" Clary interrupted them.
"The former High Warlock of London," Jace answered, not looking at her.
"And one of my oldest friends," Magnus added, "Very prickly, likes to keep to himself."
Hodge held up his hand, "Okay, look. We just need to figure out which one of these warlocks had enough access to Jocelyn that they could create the potion for her without anyone discovering what they'd done."
Magnus sat up a little straighter, "By the early '90s, Ragnor was a professor at the Shadowhunter Academy in Idris."
"Isn't that when our mother lived there? Could he have made the potion for her?" I asked.
Magnus clicked his fingers in realisation, "The little bugger! That's why he hasn't responded to my fire message. Ever since Valentine began hunting warlocks, Ragnor's been holed up in his secret country house just outside of London," He explained, "For all I know, Ragnor suspected my fire message was a ploy by Valentine to lure him out of hiding - we'll have to confront him face to face."
Hodge furrowed his eyebrows, "You're going on this mission?"
"Of course! I'm the only one Ragnor trusts," Magnus rolled his eyes. We stood and I turned, only to come face to face with Lydia and Alec.
"Samara, I didn't know you were here," Lydia said with a smile.
"That was the point," I muttered.
"Well what are you doing here?" She asked brightly. I looked around at Magnus who returned my look of is she serious?
"I live here," I replied bluntly.
"We're just on our way to greet a few representatives of the Clave who arrived early for tomorrow's wedding," She continued, even though nobody asked.
"What's going on here?" Alec frowned, "Nobody told me about a meeting."
"Magnus figured out that Ragnor Fell is the warlock who can wake my mom," Clary explained, "We're just bringing him back to the Institute."
"How can I help?" Alec stepped forwards.
Jace folded his arms and with a hard tone answered, "We're just recovering a warlock, Alec. We got this covered."
"Besides, you have emissaries from the Clave to meet," I added.
"You don't want to tarnish your family's perfectly-crafted image now, do you?" Magnus finished, a small bite to his tone that I knew was there on my behalf.
Lydia inhaled, "Well, lovely seeing you, Magnus." Then she and Alec walked away.
Jace turned to us, "Get ready - we leave in an hour."
-
Sam and Magnus are my brotp tbh. Keep voting my beautiful readers!!
NOS x