My Love

The Arrival

Alec POV

I awoke when I felt a dip in bed. Magnus stared at me sleepily, his cat eyes on full display.

Manus had been working so much lately, between being High Warlock and controlling the Court, he has barely gotten any rest. Most nights I stayed up with him until we were both about to pass out from exhaustion but tonight he had told me to get some sleep after my Hunt, that he would be staying up way longer than usual.

"Hey love" I said, my voice husky from sleep.

"Hey" he responded, sounding completely spent.

"We need to get away Magnus. Get some time to ourselves. You are working way too hard. The Downworld won't fall apart if you leave for a day or two. I think we need this. You definitely need this" I told him.

"Alec, Alexander. That is a wonderful idea. Can we talk about it more in the morning? I think I'm about to..." Magnus replied. Magnus fell back onto the bed, I caught him before his head hit the wall.

"Of course baby, just rest well" I told my sleeping boyfriend.

Jocelyn POV

"Valentine are you going to let me go?" I asked, my voice on the edge of begging.

"Probably not, maybe if I feel like it, sometime later on" he replied, looking bored.

"Please" I begged. "Clary doesn't know any of them, you know as well as I do that she will never survive with them. Do you want them putting lies in her mind? About me? About you?" I asked, using his pride as leverage.

"Of course not. I will let you go under circumstances. You'll do whatever I want in the ShadowWorld" he commanded.

"Please, just don't make me kill anyone. I don't care if they are Downworlder or not. Please,that's the only thing I ask" I replied.

"Fine, no killing", I breathed a sigh of relief. "I will give you your first instruction when you reach the New Your Institute. And don't even think about telling anyone you are taking orders from me"

"Anything else?" I asked, holding my breath.

"Yes. I'm going to give you a dose of this," he said, showing me a vial with a bright red substance in it. "It's angel and warlock blood, a bonded pair. It will give you slight discomfort for the first few days and then a weight you will feel in your blood. It will be a reminder that you are under my control. There are some other things it does, but those aren't important".

I rolled up my sleeve and presented my arm to Valentine. He grinned wickedly and stuck the needle in my arm. The pain was immense. I saw red, then stars, and then, black.

Maryse POV

"Is something wrong dear?" Robert asked, looking concerned. Or faking concern

"No, I'm just feeling a bit under the weather" I replied with a forced smile. Everything is wrong, Robert

"An amazing job Alec's been doing with the Institute, huh?" Robert asked.

"He's been doing great but I think it's too much for him at this age. He always has dark circles under his eyes and looks like he hasn't slept in a week" I replied.

"Ah. I looked like that too when I first took over. He'll get used to it, Alec is strong, like his father and mother. And it might not be solely the Institute, his boyfriend could be keeping him up too" Robert responded. He is nothing like his father, and I hope he is stronger and wiser than his mother

"I've talked to Magnus recently and he is swamped with work too. Maybe we should take some responsibilities off of Alec" I suggested.

"No, the kid needs to get used to it. Alec will be fine" Robert replied.