Angel Blessed

6. Just Orphans

Chapter Five

Aiden:

We went down numerous steps before we hit a landing. The place was lit by only torches and statues and skeletons decorated it. Bats took a clear liking to down here. Jace slowed down and took a deep breath. Clary did the same thing. I stepped beside her and began rubbing comforting circles on her back, lending her some of my strength. He began walking again, and Clary looked at me gratefully before following his lead once more.

Take away the light and it would be a seemingly normal cave. Water trickling, bats squealing and stone surrounding us completely.

Jace took a palm sized rock from his jacket and we watched as it started glowing. "What's that?" Clary leaned over, examining the rock.

"It's a witchlight. We carry it to remind us that light can be found in even the darkest of places. And it's cooler than a flashlight" she chuckled and I huffed.

"Stop trying to be even cooler than you already are Jace." He smirked at me. "You're making the rest of us look bad" he burst out in laughter and side hugged me.

"Please. You're the one making me look bad with all this badass shit you're doing. You're supposed to be the scared newbie." I snorted at that.

Scared? No. Confused? Yes.

"Here" he handed the witchlight to Clary and watched her take the lead. He still had his arm around me. It was the first physical contact we've had for more than five seconds... and it felt right. I looked up at his face. I felt so close to him... like, we could be best friends if I let it happen. We stopped in front of a cloaked statue, cup in hand, sword in the other.

"Is that meant to be the Mortal Cup?" She held up the light and examined it.

"Yeah." I felt him tense a little at the mention of the cup, but it only lasted a second.

"What's that say?" I pointed to the foreign language on the sword.

He glanced at it before looking down at me. "It's the Shadowhunter creed. Looking better in black than the widows of our enemies."

"My Latin's pretty rusty, but I'm almost positive that's not what it says." Clary chuckled at his words then stared at the thing like it had the English in fine print.

Jace took a deep breath and unintentionally tucked me closer to him. "For Shadowhunters, the descent into hell is easy." I blinked at that.

"That should be a postcard." Clary huffed in her attempt to make the statement seem lighter.

"Yeah it should. For the stamp, we should definitely use the face of the circle member up there." I pointed to the ceiling, gesturing to the body-less head on the ground above. Clary giggled and Jace smiled. He used his unoccupied hand to grab Clary's and pointed us to the right.

"It's this way."

Just around the corner, torches lit the area but a spotlight concentrated on the center of the room. Jace let go of me and took the witchlight from Clary before replacing it in his jacket. I won't lie. I did feel a bit cold when he removed his arm, but I wasn't going to reach for him again. We took a few steps into the room when Clary stopped us.

"I'm sorry... about what I said before about your mom. I didn't know." The fuck is she talking about?

Jace looked well amused. "It's cute. You assume I have feelings." The way he said it took me by so much surprise that I had to cough to cover up my laugh. It was futile though. "I don't. Save the apologies for the mundanes. Everyone has a sad song. My mother died when I was a baby. My father died when I was ten." I sobered up at that. We were all orphans.