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The man in front of her is pretty.
And he’s also a warlock, not like that bothers her at all.
He’s dressed in silk and dark, mysterious clothes and is swamped into jewellery. His hair is dark but painted in blue streaks and he has the dangerous looks about him with the dark eyeshadow and carefully blank face. She isn’t sure whether he just hates Nephilim or just her.
So she smiles politely and holds out a hand. “Hi, my name is Alexandra Lightwood, but please call me Lexi. Nice to meet you. You contacted me about the new Accords?”
The man blinked once. Then an unreadable expression take sober his face, being hard and somber all at once. It stumbled Lexi a bit, unsure what she said that makes the pretty man look so devastated.
“Have I don’t something to offend you?” Lexi said. “I’m sorry if I have.”
The man flapped a dismissive hand at her but she can’t rid the face of loss, of sadness out of her head. It was a face she recognised with her mum on some days of the year, on her uncle. On anyone really.
The reminder of loss always hit her family hard.
“It’s fine.” The man said. “You just reminded me of someone, that’s all.”
Oh.
Lexi winced. “You mean my uncle, don’t you? Alec Lightwood?”
The man pursed his lips and looked away from her as they walked the institute toward her office. She wondered how this man had known him, known her uncle who her mum said was the bravest, most loyal man she had met. Lexi had looked at the man as a sort of role model all her life. He was her greatest hero, even if she hadn’t ever met him.
“Come.” She gestured at her office. “We can talk in here.”
She opened the door and quickly settled behind her desk, adjusting the papers there when the warlock paused and looked around it. She had taken time to make the place her own, there are photos of her family everywhere. She even had a photo of uncle Alec on the far wall. He was holding a bow in his hand, not even aware the phot was taken, looking off to the side, smiling at something in the background.
It’s the photo that the warlock is gazing at, with a longing that intrigues Lexi.
“Did you know him well?” She asked when he sat on the chair opposite her with a flourish.
The warlock furrows his brows. “What do you mean?”
Lexi smiled lightly and pointed at the photo of her uncle. “My uncle. Did you know him?”
The man’s lips parted slightly, looking half scared, half confused as he scrutinised her. Lexi shuffled in her chair, unsure whether she was confident enough to meet that weighty gaze.
“You don’t know me?” The man asked instead, almost cautiously.
Lexi flushed and rubbed her neck. “No, sorry. My family don’t really talk about anything about, you know - before.” She gestured vaguely at his picture and the man only stared, blank.
“No, I’m afraid I don’t know.” He said.
Lexi flinched. Oh. Not many people in the Shadow World didn’t know about the story nowadays. It’s what made her family so tragically infamous, what made the Downworlders so reluctantly approving of them. It was what allowed for the revised Accords.
“Oh,” She whispered, looking at him with pitying eyes. “I thought you knew. Most people do.”
She didn’t like the look that passed over the warlock’s face. It was dark, frankly quite scary but tinged in anger. Lexi instinctively reached for her dagger on her hip just in case the man acted out. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Uncle Jace was always a bit unsettled after all.
“Know what?” The man said, frankly, bluntly.
Lexi tried to smile but it fell flat. “My uncle, Alec. You said you knew him?”
The man raised an unamused eyebrow. “Yes.”
“Then you knew he was dating a warlock, right?” She replied, pulling at the ring on her finger to ease herself. “He was the High Warlock of Brooklyn.”
The man said nothing. Instead, he stared at her in an almost disbelieving way, as though he couldn’t quite work out what she was alluding to. Lexi hated telling this story. Hated telling anyone who was too nosy, who didn’t care.
If it were her choice, she would let her family mourn in their own way.
“Well, he lost his magic.” She admitted, sighing as she looked at the photo. “Mum said it was horrible to see. Uncle Alec hated seeing him suffer so much.”
Lexi grinned to herself. “Dad said he’s never seen someone so in love before. Said it was like a fairytale, a proper story of true love.”
The man scowled then. As if what she was saying was irrelevant, as if it was rubbish. His dark eyes glinted, magic sparking within them. She wanted to slap him, or kick him out. Downworlders like him were common, those who refused to see, those who refused to leave the old days behind. She had enough diplomacy to ignore it, though.
“Think what you will.” She scoffed at him. “I know what you think, and it’s rubbish. Uncle Alec loved a Downworlder, it’s not a lie.”
The man had the audacity to roll his eyes. “Sure.”
Lexi glowered. “Fine. But just hear the rest of the story before you start throwing nonsense at my family.”
She leant back and rubbed her forehead. This part wasn’t easy, never really was. She hadn’t met her uncle, but the pain, the agony that always lingered on her family made her wish she did. Loyal, brave Alec Lightwood. The man who sacrificed and never gained from anything.
All he did was love.
And it had killed him.
“My uncle decided to try and bring his warlock’s magic back.” Lexi said, refusing to look at the stubborn man. “So he went and made a deal with Asmodeus, the Prince of Edom.”
She heard a breathy gasp from the man, and turned to see him turn pale, any sign of anger gone. It was as though the life had been sucked from him, as though this very fact was enough to stun him still.
Most she knew had a similar reaction.
She dropped her hand. “Asmodeus agreed. My uncle was to breakup with the warlock in exchange for his magic and immortality.” Lexi laughed in disbelief, looking at the photo in awe. “My stubborn uncle agreed, and he broke up with the warlock that night.”
The man stood up then. He was all willowy strength and power as he leaned over her. “Where is he? Where is Alec?”
Lexi blinked and looked down at the desk in sorrow. “I, um... please sit down.” She looked at the man with pitying eyes, watching as he slumped into the chair with an undignified sigh. “After the deal was struck, everything was fine until the warlock was found dead in his apartment two days later.”
She could barely say the next part. How are you supposed to admit it? How did her family live on amongst the knowledge that their brother, friend, was no longer here? She wouldn’t be able to go on. The grief surrounded her family like a heavy cloak, drowning them - none of them ever truly happy.
She winced and curled her hands around herself. “I’m so sorry, I hate being the one to say this.” Lexi smiled lightly at the man who looked close to passing out. “After my uncle found out, he was distraught. He only agreed to the deal to bring back the happiness of the man he loved. That’s what my mum says, anyways. She said he would of done anything for the warlock.”
Lexi sighed and blinked away tears. “Uncle Jace found Alec a day later.”
She stood and walked over to the photo, staring at the carefree smile, the glint in the hazel eyes she inherited. A man full of potential, full of hope. A man who could of lead the Clave to new heights, with his will, his passion.
“He killed himself, with his own arrow.”
The man let out a chocked noise, and Lexi stepped toward him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He was warm, steady beneath her. The silk of his burgundy shirt steadied her in the present.
“I’m so sorry.” She whispered. “I hate telling this story so much.”
She let out a breathy laugh. “They have a reputation in the Shadow World, you know? Our very own Romeo and Juliet. It’s always AlecandMagnus or MagnusandAlec. People don’t really separate them from one another now.”
Lexi shook her head and covered her mouth. “Sorry. I’m not allowed to say the warlock’s name out loud here. It might set off Uncle Jace again.”
The man seemed to not hear her. He was gazing off in the distance, a sort of shell shocked look about him. He rocked slightly side to side, hands limp in his lap. Lexi recognised the look of mourning well, even if she hadn’t confronted it herself.
“Did you know him well?” She asked, staring down at the pretty warlock. “Did you know either of them?”
The man blinked and looked up at her with a face of pure devastation, mascara dripping down his face. She caught a glimpse of gold in his eyes for a second before it flickered away. Her heart squeezed.
“No.” He whispered. “No I didn’t.”
Lexi knew it was a lie.
—
Magnus Bane stared down at the grave in first of him, decorated by a grand statute of marble.
Alexander was carved gazing up at a man that might have once been him. Their hands were clasped, both curling into each other as if they couldn’t stay away. The other man had cat’s eyes, a towering body with a great coat flared around him even as he stared down at the Nephilim at his feet.
On it was carved a small dedication.
It made his heart break just a slight more.
‘Here lies Alexander Gideon Lightwood and Magnus Bane
The Shadow World’s own Romeo and Juliet
Their legacy lives on’
Magnus smiled and leant down to graze at the words, at the small sign of just how much Alexander had loved.
And he had pretended to be dead all these years, for nothing. And his love had waited for him in the other side, whilst he selfishly lived on just to keep his magic. His magic that his Shadowhunter had already saved for him.
Magnus had made sure Asmodeus would never live again before he came here.
“I love you.” Magnus whispered as he traced Alexander’s name. “I’ll see you soon, my love.”
Magnus didn’t flinch when he pulled out the glass bottle. He didn’t cry when he drank it down, the foul taste burning his throat. He only smiled when he settled by the grave and placed his hand on the cool marble.
His vision blurred. He gasped out a breath as great agony squeezed his lungs, his blood - killing him inside out.
But it didn’t hurt.
Because when Magnus Bane took his final breath, he hoped he would awake to the sight of gentle, loving hazel eyes.