Angels and Warriors // A.L

Chapter 20

I looked up at Alec, but he refused to meet my eyes.

"You're not serious," Jace said.

"You were supposed to tell them no," Isabelle glared, "It's your life to ruin." She stormed away.

Jace shook his head, still in disbelief, "Not sure what to say."

"How about, none of this matters? We have to stop Valentine," Alec responded.

"Finally, something we agree on." Then Jace too, walked away.

I bit my lip and looked between Alec and Lydia. I opened my mouth the say something but I couldn't seem to find any words. I finally managed a strangled, "Congratulations," and Lydia's face softened, while Alec looked at his feet, face screwed up. I didn't wait for a reply and walked away as quickly as I could.

I headed outside the front doors of the Institute, where I was still within the safety of the wards, and sat on the stone steps, sucking in a big breath of the chilly night air. I had known Alec's parents were making him marry, but I didn't realise how quickly they meant, or - out of all the people it could have possibly been - that it would be Lydia.

The door creaked behind me but I didn't bother acknowledging whoever had come out to join me until Jace sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. "I'm sorry, I know what he meant to you," He murmured.

I shook my head and laughed half heartedly, "Its stupid really I've only known him what, less than a month?"

Jace leaned back a little to look at me. "I can assure you, it's not. Remember how I said I would look into what happened with your kindjal? And possibly why Clary's memory demon took a memory of you from Alec?" I nodded, not sure if I wanted to talk about him right now but Jace continued, "Well I looked in the main library and couldn't find anything, so I went to check out the old library on the third floor and I found it. Amortai, that's what you and Alec are."

"I- We- What?" I stammered.

"Amortai bonds are extraordinarily rare and you cannot choose them like with parabatais. I also looked up whether its possible to have both an amortai and a parabatai, and it is. An amortai is similar to a parabatai in some ways, though much more powerful, but the main, most important difference is that while in parabatais, love between the pair is forbidden, in amortais, love is a certainty that cannot be swayed by any kind of magic." Jace looked very proud of himself.

"How are you sure that that's what happened?" I asked, not seeing how it all fit together.

"Because, I was searching through another book about weaponry and I found a whole chapter on your bloody daggers. If your blood calls to them, kindjal daggers will respond to you if and only if: you are using both of them - they are a twin set and can only be used as such; you are using one and your parabatai is using one; or you are using one and your amortai is using one. That's where I first came across the word amortai. It all makes perfect sense Samara, it provides explanations for both the memory demon and the kindjal - and well, it's the only explanation, since you aren't, and cannot be, parabatais," He got more and more enthusiastic as he worked his way through the explanation.

"But theres still Lydia," I sighed, "Just because you love somebody, or you're tied to them, whatever we are, it doesn't mean he'll choose that. He's still going to marry Lydia." Jace frowned as though he hadn't considered that. "But thank you, Jace. I really appreciate you finding all this out for me."

He nodded before trapping me in another side hug. "We should head in yeah? The last thing we need right now is you getting sick from the cold," He suggested, standing and holding out his hand to me. I took it and he helped me up, leading me back inside where we found Isabelle standing in front of a screen in outrage and Alec stationed behind her, arms folded.