After All This Time

Chapter 44

Elizabeth's POV

I open the portal to the institute and turn to Alec.

"Surprise." I say nervous about what he will say. He just stares at it, I turn to Magnus. "He's not saying anything what do I do?" I ask, but just as I say that Alec walks up to the portal and touches it.

"By the angel." He says under his breath.

"Alec?" I say truing to get him to say something. "Say something. Please." He turns to me with a huge smile on his face on his face.

"This is amazing!" He says picking me us and spinning me around. I smile and laugh at what he's doing. "I can't believe you did that. How?" He says holding my arms after he stops spinning

"I don't know. I've been able to draw new runes ever since I moved in with Clary. I never told anyone but Magnus, I never knew what they meant, and I was scared so I kept it to myself." I tell him.

"Well it's incredible." He says and kisses me.

"I hate to break this up, but we need to go." Magnus says, we pull apart.

"Right." I say. "To the institute." I smile and pull Magnus and Alec through the portal into the hall where the wedding was. Once we land I let go of their hands.

"El! You found him." Izzy says running up to us and into me.

"Woah!" I say catching my balance and her.

"So? How is everything between you two?" Clary asks when Izzy let me go.

"Uh, I'll tell you later." I say hiding the Lightwood family ring on my finger. "We're here because Magnus found something that will help us wake mom." I say telling them.

"Sure. Let's go to the meeting room." Jace says.

"I'll see you guys later. I'm going to go talk to mom." Izzy says walking the other way. We nod saying goodbye and Jace starts walking past us to lead the way with Magnus. We walk up the stairs and I watch Magnus flick his fingers and Ragnor's stuff shows up on the table.

"Wow." I say under my breath, still in awe of what he can do.

"I pulled every item of magical importance from Ragnor's belongings." He says stopping at the end of the table as Jace and Clary go to the right side me and Alec on the left. "But I can't determine which will lead to the book of the white." Everyone grabs something from off the table, but my eyes are focused on the half of a bookmark sitting in the middle. I grab it and just look at it. Alec and Jace notice I'm zoning out.

"Elizabeth?" They say together snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Hmmm?" I ask still studying the bookmark.

"Is everything okay?" Alec asks putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yah, it's just this bookmark." I start.

"We've seen it before." Clary say pointing to it. "In the alternate Dimension."

"Of course. That's where I saw it. I knew it looked familiar." I say, realizing we saw it at AD Magnus' loft.

"The Magnus in that dimension showed us a book of spells, and this was in it." Clary says, taking the bookmark from me.

"That must have been the book of the white." Jace says.

"If that's the case..." Alec starts. "We can use the bookmark to track the owner of the book." Jace shrugs.

"Okay." He says reaching to get the bookmark, but I get it before him.

"No offence, but even my tracking rune is more powerful than yours and Alec's. But this is a job for Magnus." I say handing it to him. Jace rolls his eyes and I smirk.

"Thank you, Muffin." He says before taking a breath to focus, closing his eyes he starts tracking the bookmark. "Uh!" He gasps opening his eyes.

"Magnus! You okay?" I ask grabbing his arm.

"Yah. Well there's good news and bad news." He says looking at me. "The good news is I know the owner. The bad..." He pauses, and I slowly realize what he means.

"Bad news is you know the owner." I say.

"It's Camille." He says.

"Camille." Clary says shocked.

"Looks like Raphael has her locked up in the basement of the Hotel DuMort." He says explaining what he saw.

"Well after I punched her, there's no way she'll help." Clary says, looking to the table.

"She won't have a choice." I say pissed, Camille is a bitch. Always has ever since I met her and Raphael. "Trust me." I walk to the door, but Alec stops me and everyone else leaves.

"Elizabeth. You're not coming." He says.

"Okay, Look." I say, taking my arm out of his grip and turning to him. "We may be engaged and all, but you know better than to tell me what I can and can't do. I am coming on this mission and you can't tell me otherwise. Got it?" I strictly. He lets out a breath.

"You're not coming on this mission." He looks at me. When I don't say anything, he sighs and grabs my hand with the ring. "I know you want to help, but I would actually like to marry you eventually. Not just have this ring sitting on your pretty finger." I smile at what he said but am still going on this mission whether he likes it or not. I'm about to pull him in for a hug but Maryse and Robert walk in.

"Fuck!" I whisper and stand behind Alec.

"What have you done, Alec?" Maryse says, "To us? This Family"

"This isn't about you." Alec says back.

"Of course, it is. You are either being selfish or naïve. This wedding was your plan from the start, and now you have humiliated us in front of the most respected members of the Clave." She says angry. "I don't even recognize you anymore."

"I'm the same person I've always been. Now everything is just out in the open." Alec fires back, defending himself finally. Maryse's eyes land on me.

"And all for some girl." My heart drops. I knew Robert never liked me, but I though me and Maryse had some kind of bond.

"Some girl?" Alec says getting angry. "This amazing person lived with us for a year. You brought her in. You loved her like she was your own. So, what? Now you regret taking her in?" Maryse lets out a breath.

"Yes." Is all she says before turning and walking out.

"Just give her time." Robert says surprisingly calm.

"And you?" Alec asks his father.

"I don't really understand what happened. But I suppose we should have seen it coming. We all know Elizabeth was thrown into our lives but you two had a bond like no one else." He says looking at Alec than me.

"So, your okay with us together?" I ask Robert coming out from behind Alec.

"I don't know yet." Is all he says before walking out.

"Well, that went better than I thought." Alec jokes but I don't laugh. "Hey, she didn't mean it. She's just upset that I didn't go through with the wedding. She doesn't regret taking you in. and I am so glad she did bring you home, because if she didn't, I would have never meat the gorgeous women standing in front of me in a stunning red dress." He says kissing my forehead.

"I love you." I whisper.

"I love you too." He whispers back.

"Now time to get ready for the mission." I say walking away from Alec and to my room. As soon as I make it to my door Jace calls me worried from the end of the hall.

"Elizabeth!" I walk up to him with a scared look on my face. "Lydia's been attacked. Hodge is missing and so is the cup. We have to get to the front." He says. I nod, and we start running to Izzy, Alec and Clary. I may not have been close with her, but she is a Shadowhunter. If she is hurt it is my job to find out why.