Broken Pasts (The Mortal Instruments Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: Brother and Sister?

Rose had caught the first flight back to New York when she got the phone call. When she reached the airport in New York she skipped the taxi line and jumped in the back of the yellow cab, ignoring the protests of the people behind her. The cab stopped outside the institute, Rose threw a few notes at the driver before hurling herself out the car onto the wet pavement. In front of her stood an old cathedral, with its broken-in windows and doors sealed with yellow police tape. In a matter of seconds the institute began to appear, the soaring spires of the cathedral and the dull gleam of the leaded windows. She was home again.

Steadily Rose pushed the dark wood and steel door making her way into the silent foyer. Her hand trailed down to her dagger tucked into boot. Something was wrong. The institute was never this quiet. At least when she was here it had never been quiet, there was always the sound of someone or something, but tonight there was simply reticence.

She made her way up the winding set of stone stairs, each one carved with a glyph. She was drained, the flight from England hadn’t exactly been easy and she was still feeling jet lagged. Gripping the dagger she listened for any sign of people, and one person in particular. Jace. Rose was not as prepared as she would normally be, she wasn’t strong enough to fight off a hoard of demons due to the fact she hadn’t trained in over a week and was half asleep. But of course she was safe in the institute.

Her feet began to make their way to the library, where Hodge was…or usually was.  Wandering down the dark corridors she finally reached the institute library doors; with one hand outstretched she slowly edged to door open. Suddenly the sound of voices filled her ears; she quickly cruched down behind the door and listen through the small gap.

“That’s enough, Clary!” It was Jace.

Her heart fluttered but she dared not move.

“Don’t talk to my father like that.”

“He’s not your father!” another voice shouted. Rose furrowed her eyebrows, Clary she thought, who else would be with Jace.

 “Why are you so determined not to believe us?”

Just as Rose was about to walk in and make a grand entrance as she was known to a voice boomed above theirs.

“Because she loves you,”

Rose felt the blood drain out of her face. She took a deep breath. It was him. No it couldn’t be.  Her heart raced, she had to run. But where? If Valentine was here surely he would have secured the place or at least used his minions to patrol it.

“What?” echoed Jace’s voice.

“You are in love but yet you share the same mother. Jocelyn is your mother, Jonathan. And Clary—Clary is your sister.”

Rose fought the urge to throw up. Surely Jace hadn’t fallen in love with Clary in the few weeks she had been gone, but that was the least of her problems now.

 “That’s not true,” Jace stuttered. “There’s been a mistake. It couldn’t possibly be true.”

From the sound of Jace’s voice Rosaline knew that he had fallen for Clary, if she could cry she would. But there was no time for that.

“A cause for rejoicing,” Valentine said in a low, contemplative voice, “I would have thought. Yesterday you were an orphan, Jonathan. And now a father, a mother, a sister, you never knew you had.”

Clary Jace's sister? She could not be hearing this right. There was no way, however much she wanted to believe it, somewhere in her she knew it was a lie.

“No,” Clary shot back. “You’re telling lies with a little bit of the truth mixed in, is all.”

Valentine sighed, “It is simple, really. The story you heard was true in some of its parts, but not in others—lies mixed in with a little truth, as you said. The fact is that Michael Wayland is not and has never been Jace’s father. Wayland was killed during the Uprising. I assumed Michael’s name and place when I fled the Glass City with my son. It was easy enough; Wayland had no real relations, and his closest friends, the Lightwoods, were in exile. He himself would have been in disgrace for his part in the Uprising, so I lived that disgraced life, quietly enough, alone with Jace on the Waylands’ estate. I read my books. I raised my son. And I bided my time.”

Rose couldn’t believe what she was hearing; Jace couldn’t possibly be handling it well. He may look strong but inside he was broken. As she was.

“Ten years on, I received a letter. The writer of the letter indicated that he knew my true identity, and if I were not prepared to take certain steps, he would reveal it. I did not know who the letter was from, but it did not matter. I was not prepared to give the writer of it what he wanted. Besides, I knew my safety was compromised, and would be unless he thought me dead, beyond his reach. I staged my death a second time, with the help of Blackwell and Pangborn, and for Jace’s own safety made sure that my son would be sent here, to the protection of the Lightwoods.”

“So you let Jace think you were dead? You just let him think you were dead, all these years? That’s despicable.” A furious Clary said.

He began to stroll around the library, “I may have not been with him but I ensured he would be safe. I intended to reclaim him when he reached his 18th year; I had a girl for him to marry so that they could start the strongest line of shadowhunters.”

“A girl?” Jace questioned.

Valentine sighed, “Yes a girl, I knew her mother and father they were allies of mine and agreed the marriage. However when the girl reached the age of 6 she began to show potential. So her parents cancelled the betrothal and hid from me, even so I managed to find them. But the girl got away.”  

“What do you mean she got away?”

“I killed the girl’s parents as they betrayed me. But the girl was hiding when we arrived and managed to escape. Even so I seem to have everything I want in front of me now. Even the girl.”

Rose didn’t even have time to register what was happening until the library door swung open to reveal a man with silvery close-cropped hair gleaming like a polished steel helmet and his mouth was hard. He wore a waist sheath on his thick belt and the hilt of a long sword protruded from the top of it. His eyes were black and stared down at her. “So,” he said, resting a hand on the hilt as he spoke, “have you gathered your things? You may need to add a wedding dress, Miss Lovelace.” 

~

Authors Note: 

Sooo what do you think? 

If you have any suggestions or thoughts just comment I would really like to know what you think of it, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger and ill try to have the next chapter uploaded by this weekend :)