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Izzy didn’t know how long it had been since she last ate. Her brothers were worried about her, she knew, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care.
Clary had been gone for a week. A week of pitying glances from her fellow shadowhunters as they tried to convince her the woman she loved was dead. A week of nightmares filled with guilt and anguish and red hair brighter than the sun. A week without Clary, without the love of her life.
The one person who had shown Izzy she was worth something, lost. Unlike everyone else, Izzy knew her angel was still out there, waiting to be found. She didn’t care what Alec and Jace said, there was no way Clary had left this earth. She would have felt it. If Clary had vanished for good, Izzy would have known.
“Izzy.” Alec sounded so worried. For a moment, she felt ashamed of herself. She hadn’t left her room all week except to try tracking Clary over and over again. “Izzy, we think we have a lead.”
Her gaze snapped up, fixing itself on Alec. Her brother looked frantic, hopeful, and determined all at once. She thought he had given up. She thought he agreed with the rest of them. But of course he hadn’t; he knew what it felt like to love someone so much you could barely breathe when they were around. Of course he had believed her when she had insisted Clary was still alive.
“ Hermana ,” Alec murmured, stroking her hair soothingly. “You love her. If you say she’s alive, then she is. Now come on, we have a little girl to save.”
Izzy choked on a laugh at the nickname, but it came out as more of a sob. They had a lead. She was going to get her angel back. Alec believed her, and he was going to take her to Clary.
She didn’t know what she would do if the mission didn’t end with Clary back where she belonged, in Izzy’s arms. She didn’t know if she could deal with so much hope followed by so much suffering. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep on living without Clary at her side.
She hadn’t even known Clary meant so much to her until she lost the redhead. She hadn’t even told her… A tear slipped out of her eyes and streamed down her cheek. Alec wiped it away gently, staring at her knowingly. The love she saw in his gaze was enough to keep Izzy going for a while longer.
It was only a matter of minutes now, she thought.
Time had never passed so slowly. After a week that had felt like a blur, the hour it took them to get ready and portal to whatever destination their lead had indicated felt like torture. When she stepped out of the dizzying swirl of magic, Izzy almost laughed hysterically.
Paris, the City of Love. Of course that was where Clary was. She should have looked there from the very beginning. After all, the redhead held every single piece of Izzy’s heart in her hands. It made sense that she had been keeping them safe in the only city that would handle the amount of love Izzy felt for her angel.
“Just a while longer,” Izzy murmured to herself, hoping Clary could hear her, wherever she was.
They had barely been walking for a minute when Izzy felt the change in the air. No one else noticed it, but the brunette was so attuned to Clary, she would have recognised her anywhere. She twisted around immediately, tears flooding her eyes at the glorious sight that greeted her.
Standing there, a sword in hand and a smile on her face, stood her angel. She was framed in sunlight and Izzy had never seen anything as beautiful as her. Her legs trembled as she ran towards Clary and her hands trembled as they reached out to touch the redhead. When her fingers met Clary’s, Izzy’s knees gave out.
“You’re here,” she whispered. Her words came out sounding like a prayer, like an echo of her broken soul, finally whole again. “You’re here, angel, you’re really here.”
Clary was staring at her as fondly as ever, her eyes warm and caring and so familiar. Izzy wanted to drown in them, wanted to drown in her and never come back out again. After a week of torture, her heart had finally come back to her.
“Of course I’m here,” Clary murmured right back, lifting a hand to caress Izzy’s cheek. The single touch made Izzy feel like she was being worshipped. Worshipped by an angel who lit up her soul with every brush of her fingers. “Oh, mon amour , did you really think I would leave you like that?”
The endearment slipped past the redhead’s lips so easily. Clary had obviously picked up more than just a sword during her time in the City of Love. Izzy hadn’t thought she could adore her any more than she already did, but Clary loved proving her wrong.
“Angel.” Her voice broke. She probably looked as wrecked as she sounded, but Clary still looked at her like she held all the answers to the universe. The things this girl did to her without even trying. She had never felt as worthy as she did when the redhead gazed at her like that, lovingly and unconditionally. “Angel, I love you. I love you so much. I can’t live without you, my angel. Please don’t leave me again. I love you too much to lose you.”
Clary’s smile turned radiant, and Izzy forgot why she had ever been sad. With an angel like that in front of her, how could she possibly feel anything other than euphoric? As long as Clary lived, Izzy would never feel anything other than impossibly lucky. Because for some reason, the angels had gifted Clary to her. The heavens had seen her and they had given her the most beautiful person in the world to cherish and protect and care for.
An angel to love.
“You’ll never lose me again, mon amour ,” the redhead smiled, leaning in closer and whispering her next words against Izzy’s lips. “How could I possibly leave this earth knowing you’re still here, waiting for me? Why would I ever give up on the woman who saved me from myself? You may think me an angel, Isabelle Lightwood, but I’m the one who’s been blessed with your love.”
She kissed her angel gently. She kissed her like she was made not of glass, but of diamonds. She kissed her slowly, like she was afraid time would be stolen away from them if they broke apart. She kissed her until they were both breathless, panting against each other helplessly.
She hadn’t even noticed she had started crying again until Clary’s warm hands cupped her cheeks softly and wiped the tears away.
“Don’t cry, Isabelle,” she whispered. “Don’t cry for me, mon amour , I’m here now.”
“I know,” Izzy breathed out, choking on the words. “It’s why I’m crying, angel. I can’t believe you’re finally here, loving me. I can’t believe I’m finally here, loving you.”
“My foolish love,” Clary shook her head, laughing prettily. Izzy’s heart stuttered at the sound and sped up even more when her angel took her hand and rested it over the redhead’s heartbeat. “You were always here, weren’t you? I could feel you, just as you could feel me. You were here all along.”
Izzy had never loved anyone as much as she did Clary right then. Of course her angel had known, just as she had.
“Of course I was here,” Isabelle smiled. “My heart belongs to you, angel.”