Smoke and Mirrors ▹ Alec Lightwood [1]

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER NINE
RELIEF

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     Alec woke up in the middle of the night, when Adrian was in the shower. Isabelle had been with him at the time. She had to contact the Silent Brothers first—apparently Hodge had disappeared, and no one knew where he, Clary, or Jace were—but as soon as they had arrived, she went to retrieve Adrian, who had fallen multiple times in his room in his hurry to get dressed and go downstairs. The Silent Brothers were still inside the infirmary, making sure Alec was going to be alright. Adrian could have gone inside if he had wanted to, but the Silent Brothers made his skin crawl, so he decided to wait in the hallway with Isabelle.

When fifteen minutes passed, and the Silent Brothers were still in the infirmary with Alec, Adrian ran a hand through his damp hair and went to the phone at the end of the hall. It was pretty ancient, the kind of phone where he had to put his finger through each separate little hole and pull the circle around. He had known the name of it once, but it ran away from him now, and he hardly cared to chase it. By the time he had finally managed to put in the number that was on the little card, his wrist hurt, and he was more annoyed than anxious.

"Who is this and what do you want?" The voice was slurred, like Adrian had woken him up. He probably had.

"This is the second time you have greeted me with rudeness," Adrian drawled, hearing Magnus huff on the other end of the line. Adrian twisted the card Magnus had given him around his fingers, watching as it started glittering in the light. "I'm starting to think you don't like me."

"Hello, Adrian," Magnus sighed, still sounding annoyed. Adrian smiled anyway. "Look, you're pretty, but I don't appreciate you calling on me late in the night when I'm supposed to be sleeping." Adrian arched an eyebrow.

"You think I'm pretty?"

"From a certain angle."

"That's three times, and now I'm starting to feel hurt." Magnus hummed on the other end of the line, making Adrian's smile grow wider. He shifted on his feet, leaning his shoulder against the wall.

"Well, that is unfortunate." Sarcasm dripped from Magnus's voice. "What can I do for you, Mr. Dieudonne?" Adrian immediately grimaced at the way Magnus addressed him. That sounded a little too much like his father for comfort, but he didn't say anything about it, acting like Magnus hadn't called him that at all.

"I just wanted to let you know that Alec is awake," he said, deciding that he would let Magnus get back to sleep as soon as possible. "The Silent Brothers are with him now."

"That's good news," Magnus said, sounding a bit happier than before. It made Adrian smile again.

"Very good news." The amount of relief Adrian could feel was staggering. He ducked his head, smile growing wider. "Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that you saved a life today. And to say thank you, again." Magnus only hummed to acknowledge the last bit.

"Did anything else happen last night?" Magnus drawled. Adrian could hear the smile in his voice. "Like a certain love confession I advised you to give." Heat started to gather in Adrian's cheeks. He coughed, shifting on his feet and wondering if he should really tell the warlock or not.

"Is that really any of your business?" he chose to ask, frowning to himself.

"I'm involving myself. You're welcome."

"I...Okay, yes, I told him, but he was really out of it, so I doubt he remembers anything," Adrian said in a rush, glancing over his shoulder. Isabelle was glaring at the doors of the infirmary, tapping her foot to show her impatience. He didn't know why he was so paranoid. No one was close enough to hear what he was saying.