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“End your relationship. Break his heart to save his life.”
The words don’t come as a shock.
Alec was expecting the ultimatum, the cruelty that Magnus described to him time after time. He still doesn’t know everything about what happened in their time together when Magnus was just a young boy, but he can read between the lines. He knows that Asmodeus has never been reasonable, but he also knows that Magnus is his weak spot. The one person he wants so desperately by his side that he’s willing to do anything.
Little does he know how mutual that feeling is.
“No.”
Asmodeus’ cat eyes may match Magnus’, but his glamoured ones certainly do not. They freeze over at the sound of the word, any depth they held completely shielded with fury. His hands grip the edge of the desk, his fingers leaving little divots in the wood. His lips curls in disgust, and Alec has to hold back a laugh at the sight. A few years ago he might have been intimidated by this. In fact, he probably would have accepted the deal without question.
But he’s no longer the blind Shadowhunter his parents raised him to be. He’s the man Magnus Bane believed in before they even really knew each other, the man he believes in now.
“No?” Asmodeus speaks through gritted teeth, clearly unused to being denied. “You’re so selfish that you’re unwilling to let go of him for his own good?”
Alec smiles and shakes his head slowly as words from what seems like forever ago echo through his head.
“I thought I had to choose between you and the Downworld, but I don’t.”
“I won’t lose him,” Alec says, leaning forward in his chair. “Not to you, and not to anyone or anything else. If you don’t help us, I’ll find another way. The only one who has a decision to make here is you.”
He has one foot out the door when Asmodeus calls out, resignation in his voice.
“Wait.”
Resignation saturates Asmodeus’ voice.
Alec turns.