Alec covered the grounds that stretched away behind Morgenstern Manor with long strides that ate up the distance quickly. He had delayed as long as he had dared, but he couldn't put this meeting off any longer if he was going to have any hope of succeeding in making the next move in his delicate plan. It would do little good to continue to guess and predict possible outcomes if he lost his opportunity to make good on them.

The first boughs of the overgrown apple orchard that was badly in need of care rose over a gentle hill that sloped down into the forest of fruit trees. He spied a table set for two standing just at the edge of the tree line, lightly shaded from the morning sun and laden with a breakfast fit for a...

...Queen.

Arynessa perched straight-backed in the west-facing chair, clad in what looked like one of Isabelle's more demur dresses, a rippling, airy flow of white fabric that Alec immediately decided not to tell her was a mourning gown. Maybe she already knew. He felt his palms grow slightly clammy as he anticipated the negotiation ahead. So much depended on the outcome.

At least it looked like Simon had done as Alec had asked, arranging a suitably vegetarian breakfast for the Queen in the privacy of the grounds. Not surprisingly, with Morgenstern Manor nearly bursting with house-guests, it was difficult to find somewhere to conduct a private conversation. The hurried debriefing from Jace about what had happened at the Scholomance the previous night had been held in muted whispers in the pantry. Hearing that the curse of the Hunt could be spread, could be weaponized, only further convinced Alec of the need for haste. They no longer had the luxury of time.

The Seelie Queen's violet eyes locked on to him when she heard his approach, drawing her attention away from the birds flitting around in the orchard to pull at the worms feasting on the rotting apples that had fallen from the trees. She did not look amused to have been kept waiting, but Jace had insisted that Alec needed to hear about the Scholomance before going out to meet her.

"I apologize for the delay, your Highness. Things have been, understandably, unsettled with the Clave as of late."

She narrowed her gaze haughtily. "Yes, I'm sure the destruction of the Seelie Court must be quite an inconvenience to you," she replied in a voice that dripped with false sweetness.

Alec matched her stare evenly with one of his own and sharpened his tone more than he intended. "No more so than the razing of Alicante." Careful, he cautioned himself. He inhaled slowly, trying to relax. "We must both set aside this animosity if we are to work together."

In response, the Queen held their eye contact for a few moments longer and then looked down to select a ripe strawberry from the succulent fruit platter before her. "As you wish," she answered lightly as she took a bite. "Why have you requested an audience with me?"

As if you don't already know. Alec fortified himself with some of his legendary patience. She obviously did not want to be reminded that she had come to them for help, but if she wanted to try to maintain the pretense that she held the advantage this morning, he would allow it, but only just. He took the chair opposite of her, squinting into the sun for a moment, as she had no doubt intended when she had taken her own position. He wondered uncharitably if she had deliberately moved the seats to achieve the desired effect.

"When my parabatai came to tell me that you had come to Morgenstern Manor to seek refuge from what had happened in the Seelie Court, he said that you had intimated that now that both of our peoples are being forced to start over in the ashes of our homes, the time has come to mend past wounds." Alec helped himself to a waffle and lifted his knife to start cutting it. "Today we will discuss how we might begin that process and heal the division between our races."

The Queen shook her head as she picked at the rind on a slice of orange. "You and I both know that there is only one way to end the strife between the Nephilim and Fey. You must dissolve the Cold Treaty once and for all."

Well, at least we can agree on that, Alec sighed internally with relief. But he would need to stay on his toes if he was going to successfully negotiate the terms with a Queen of Faerie. He needed to somehow do the impossible and at least break even, if not come out on top of the deal.

"Breaking down the terms of the Cold Treaty will not be something that the Clave does lightly," Alec warned. "It was voted in to exact retribution for a grievous wrong done by the Seelie."

"And by one of your own," she hissed back. "Sebastian Morgenstern had as much to do with that as my mother did, if not more, and yet I see no sanctions served against your people."

Memories of Zara, the Cohort, and the failed Downworlder registration initiative swam across his mind. It had been his own work, and ultimately the success of the New York Compact, that had finally put an end to the riotous hatred that had flared up in the wake of the Cold Peace. Without that piece of legislation, he likely never would have later won the office of the Consul, and would not have put himself in the position he was now to undo the last bit of damage caused by the Endarkened-Fey alliance.

"We suffered our own trials," he answered quietly. "And do not doubt that we have paid for Sebastian's mistakes in blood and tears every day since then." He tried not to think of all the orphans who had been left behind after the fighting. But Rafe had been one of them. The bit of waffle he was absently chewing was tasteless, but he couldn't tell if it was because he was relieving the misery of those dark years again or because Simon had swiped some of Izzy's cooking from home in addition to pilfering her wardrobe for the Queen.

He swallowed. "If you want the Clave to consider dismantling the Cold Treaty, you will need to be prepared to shut down the Rift as a sign of good faith." She started to open her mouth, no doubt to deny its existence, but he waved her off with his fork. "Don't pretend that I don't know about it." Jace had spent the better part of the last decade trying to get into the Rift, always returning to Alicante a little redder than he had left. "If even half of the stories are true about what goes on there, you wouldn't even think about trying to sway me on this. If the Fey are going to be accepted back under the Accords, there is absolutely no way that the Rift can continue to operate. Every last one of its dealings are illegal under Clave law, and I will not entertain any motion that calls for clemency should you rejoin the other Downworlders under our protection. They are expected to abide by the Accords, and so will you."

Arynessa concealed her growing concern behind a cool mask that betrayed nothing. Destroy the Rift! She felt guilt roll through her stomach as she thought about what that would do to Sol. What it would do to their relationship. She needed time to think.

"The Rift shelters my people from many threats," she deflected carefully. "If you deprive them of their refuge, would you then allow them to come here? To find safety within your borders from my brother and the Unseelie who seek to destroy us? The Rift is the closest thing we have to a home while the Seelie Court remains buried under my brother's treachery. It may take years for us to excavate and repair the tunnels to their former glory."

Alec poured himself a second cup of black coffee without remembering when he had even had time to finish the first. She's trying to stay ahead. He could tell that something about closing the Rift had struck a nerve, and he admired her deft manoeuvring to get herself out of that corner while still trying for another concession. He decided to counter with one of his own.

"I'm sure that a safe place could be set aside for any of the Seelie who were willing to seek refuge within our borders, but I think they would be far more comfortable in the long run if they were back on familiar ground." He decided to toss her a poisoned apple of sorts and see how she liked the taste. "Blights have recently appeared in many of the old Fey territories, and the curses laid down by your people prevent my Nephilim from investigating the source. If you were to find the source of the sickness and work to cure it, I'm sure there would be little objection to the Seelie reclaiming what was once theirs and making it their home once more until the Court can be restored." And if you don't fix it, have fun living there.

"Those territories are just as accessible to the Unseelie," the Queen protested hotly. "You would send us to our deaths if they were to discover that we had returned."

He gently sprinkled a helping of granola over a small bowl of blueberry yogurt and tried not to grin. Unless he was very much mistaken, he was certain that he was gaining the upper hand.

"You forget, your Highness, that everything we are discussing is contingent on the dissolution of the Cold Treaty. If it were no longer in effect, you would, of course, have the full protection of the Clave while you cleansed the old territories, and Centurions would be tasked with guarding whatever temporary settlements you cared to inhabit within Idris while you worked."

"So that you could cage us like animals?" Her voice had taken on a wary edge. He could see that she knew she was losing ground.

"So that we could shield you from any attacks, domestic or foreign. Not all will be pleased to see the Fey return to the fold."

The Seelie Queen snorted and pushed away her untouched waffle. "This is impossible."

"No," Alec said firmly, unwilling to lose her now. "If you had seen what I had seen in the last few weeks, you would believe that anything is possible." He set down his spoon. "Our world is in a great state of flux right now - it's up to us to take advantage of the upheaval and use it to do something good." He ran his hand back through his dark hair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Someone has to take the first step if we're ever going to fix what our predecessors broke." His voice wavered with the intensity of his need. "Help me do this. Save your people. Please."

Sunlight sparkled off the Seelie crown as the Queen tilted her head to one side curiously to regard the man who sat across from her with all the strength of the Nephilim behind him, yet who could beg so humbly for a resolution to a problem that was not of his own making. A man who had come to her without the trappings of his office, without the arrogance that so often marked his kind.

"You are... a very unusual Shadowhunter, Alexander Lightwood," she admitted hesitantly.

He allowed himself a tiny grin, and he heard the dryness in his voice when he answered, "That's what I keep hearing." He sipped from his coffee mug and set it back down. "Can you work with an unusual Shadowhunter, your Highness? Can we fix what should never have been broken?"

Fear warred with hope within her. What price would she pay for her decisions here? She took a deep breath. I'm sorry, my love.

"An end to the Cold Peace?"

"And the closure of the Rift," Alec affirmed.

The faint bob of her throat was all that betrayed her trepidation about what that would mean between herself and Solarius. Whatever the cost to her personally, she would have to pay it for all those whom she had failed when the Court had been destroyed. "A safe haven for the Seelie who will come, and protection for those who will work to clear the old territories."

He nodded in response. "And your best spellcasters to work on healing the damage caused by these blights."

The Queen lifted her right hand to her mouth and kissed her first two fingers before leaning forward to press them lightly to Alec's lips. "It is agreed." He showed no sign of surprise at the unfamiliar gesture, and simply extended his hand to her to seal the deal in human fashion as well. Her grip was firm as they shook once, her violet eyes steady. Some of the tension between them dissipated when she sat back and cradled a cup of tea in her hands.

"What of my brother? He will not be held back by paper shields. It is only a matter of time before he learns that I have escaped from his trap, and he will make certain that his next attempt to capture or kill me does not fail."

Alec smiled. "I'm glad you asked." He set two fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle that carried into the orchard. Far out among the trees, well out of regular earshot even for rune-enhanced hearing, two figures emerged and started making their way toward the table.

The Seelie Queen gave him a sideways look. "You are full of surprises."

"I have to be."

Aspen's golden hair shone in the morning light as she wove through the trees, stepping lightly to avoid squashing any more of the putrefying apples under her boots than was strictly necessary. Hunter seemed intent on making his own brand of applesauce as he followed along behind her. Both teenagers were armed with matching short swords, braces of throwing knives, and twin quarter-staffs. Hunter had his favourite bow and a full quiver slung across his back, a gift from his father on his fourteenth birthday. A leather satchel dangled carelessly from his left hand, balancing and partially disguised by the cloth sack in his parabatai's right hand. Both wore full Shadowhunting gear, which for Hunter now meant donning the specially modified jacket that protected the Fortitude rune running down his back.

Aspen gave the Faerie her most dazzling Herondale smile as Hunter casually dropped the satchel next to Alec's chair.

The Queen arched her eyebrow in response. "What is this?"

Her host swept out his hand in response and indicated the two young Nephilim. "Your personal guard."

If there had been any way to squawk in a dignified manner, she would have done so. She settled for scoffing instead.

"They are children."

"And those who hunt you will believe the same, your Highness, until it's much too late. Will you permit them to provide a brief demonstration of their competency? If you are unsatisfied by what you see, you are more than welcome to dismiss them from your service and we will find alternate arrangements for your protection."

Black runes covered the parabatai, courtesy of Aspen, and both stood ready to show the Queen what they were capable of together. Aspen had been thoroughly warned to hold her tongue when the Queen inevitably insulted them for their age and apparent inexperience, and Alec was proud to see that his niece had actually managed to do so.

The Seelie Queen was too mature to openly roll her eyes at the absurdity of allowing children to defend her against whatever dark warriors and sorcerers Baelerithon chose to throw at her next, or in the absolute worst case scenario, from the Unseelie King himself if he chose to come and deal with her personally. But her tone betrayed her scepticism.

"Carry on."

Hunter grinned at Aspen. "Ladies first."

"Pfft," she shot back. "Age before beauty." She reached into the sack of apples and started stuffing half a dozen of them under her left arm. "You go first."

He reached over his shoulder to pull free his bow and checked the tension once before nodding to her. She waited until he had notched one of the black-fletched arrows before spinning around abruptly and throwing the first apple as hard as she could. Given that she had an unusually powerful Strength rune emblazoned across her bicep, it soared back toward the orchard in an impressive arc. Hunter's eyes followed its path and he made the swift calculations needed to intercept its course.

The arrow twanged away and found its mark cleanly, shearing through the fruit with ease. Aspen launched three more apples in rapid succession, and her parabatai continued to make fruit salad in mid-air. The last two apples flew in opposite directions, and Hunter waited until the sixth was barely ten feet from the ground before sending his final shot winging away to pin the last target to a gnarled trunk very close to where they had waited for Alec's signal.

Both teenagers turned back to where the Queen stood with her arms crossed. She didn't look impressed.

"Carnival tricks," she pronounced in a bored tone.

"Well, step right up here, don't be shy," Aspen muttered under her breath as she unsheathed her short-sword. "Win a prize for the pretty lady." Hunter had just enough time to drop his bow before Aspen launched herself at him.

He caught her wrist and side-stepped from the attack, whipping around in a blur to buy himself a second to draw his own weapon, the twin to hers.

Steel shivered and clanged as the blades met in a clash, the strokes almost too fast to follow with each Shadowhunter runed up as heavily and strongly as they were. Aspen had spared no effort in applying their Marks earlier; Alec had made it very clear that they needed to give their full effort. This was the first time either of them had really felt important, like they were part of the team, and they didn't want to let him down.

Back and forth, the pair darted and lunged in a stunningly beautiful dance, but the Queen barely deigned to watch. She picked up a slice of honey dew melon and nibbled at the corner of it. Alec winced inwardly and stole a glance down at the satchel at his feet. He needed her to watch...

Sensing that she was losing her audience, Aspen executed a flawless back-handspring and whirled around with her hands set firmly on her hips, sword extending behind her. Alec privately marvelled at just how much she could manage to look exactly like Clary and Jace at the same time.

Aspen's nostrils flared a little in annoyance. "Are you not entertained?"

"Perhaps you are not aware that I watched over Rayce as he was trained by Ezekiel to perform in precisely the same fashion for our mother. I have seen Shadowhunters fight before, little girl."

Alec cut in before Aspen could dig them into a hole. "And was it not a Shadowhunter who carved a path for you to the Seelie throne? You put your faith in Nephilim blood before, your Highness, and it did not fail you. No one could stop your brother when he led the Hunt into your mother's Court."

She faltered for a moment, caught by simple logic, but then a knowing smile crept across her heart-shaped mouth. "No warrior could stop my brother that day. Baelerithon will not strike with blade nor bow if he comes."

"You told us that he sent a one of the Hunters and an Unseelie warrior last time; surely if he had spellcasters at his disposal he would have used them while he still held the element of surprise."

She shook her head. "He may have been over-confident in his allies, but I can assure you that he will not make the same mistake twice. He will know that I only escaped because of the magic I command as my birthright, strengthened by the Seelie crown. Rayce," she looked at the somewhat crestfallen Shadowhunters where they stood with their arms at their sides, weapons hanging," and these children, may be well-trained in hand-to-hand combat, but how will they fare against the greatest of my kind?"

Memories of the crackling, dark power that had surrounded Malchezed as he had begun to take control of Rayce in the Seelie throne room sent a shiver running down her back. Imagining her brother leashed and mastered by Malchezed to use as he saw fit was a terrifying notion. Only her own intervention had prevented it. Suddenly decided, she reached up and lifted the Seelie crown from her head to set it down on the table next to a pitcher of orange juice that had a fine sheen of condensation across the glass.

"I will test them myself."

Aspen and Hunter exchanged a look of surprise and then shrugged at each other.

"Fine," they answered in unison.

Twin jets of flame shot outward from The Queen in response, prompting both teenagers to dive wildly to either side to avoid becoming the only roasted meat available at the clandestine breakfast.

Raziel! I'm glad uncle Alec told me to use pyr runes! Holy crap! Aspen tumbled end over end, only managing to turn it into some semblance of a roll after the first few bounces.

She rolled to her knees and hollered at the Faerie woman, not caring at all about formality or respect, "What the hell was that for?"

The Seelie Queen's laughter was low and clear as she turned slowly to her left, tracking the girl, whom she had marked as the more dangerous of the pair. "My brother's assassins will not wait for you to say that you are ready," she called out delightedly, pleased to have caught them off-guard. Fire danced across her fingers and flared ominously.

"Aww, come on! That's not fair!" Hunter yelled from further off to the right. He had left his bow in the grass near the table, much to his chagrin. "I think we'll get in trouble if we hurt you, but you don't seem too concerned about hurting us."

The Faerie took a few quick steps away from the table to stand guard over the bow where it lay. Excitement gleamed in her eyes as she kept watch for their next move. "My people are often called the Fair Folk, but please allow me to assure you that the appellation has much to do with our appearance and very little to do with our regard for the rules of engagement."

Aspen ripped open one of the Velcro-sealed cargo pockets on her pants and pulled out her stele. "Yeah, well, we know how to cheat, too," she huffed. She sketched a quick mendelin and vanished. A moment later, Hunter followed her lead and winked out of sight as well. The Queen's smile widened.

A rustle of grass whispered in the quiet of the morning, and the Queen gestured imperiously, sending another bolt of fire arcing toward the disturbance. More trails rippled through the grass, and she moved with them, targeting each one with deadly precision.

The faint smell of charred apple wafted through the air.

The Queen narrowed her eyes and held her attack when she spotted the next trace of movement, studying it.

Apples. She's rolling them as a diversion.

"Clever girl," the Queen called out appreciatively. "You're learning!"

Aspen pitched her voice to carry away from where she was circling around the Queen. "Yeah, learning that Faeries talk too much when they fight."

The Queen continued to pivot on her back foot. She grudgingly admitted to herself that she had lost track of the male. She shot a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure his bow was still in the grass behind her.

It wasn't.

She whirled in surprise, her borrowed dress fanning out around her in a spill of white. How fast are they? She was certainly accustomed to Rayce's shifting, but neither of these two appeared to have any sort of innate ability like his. Enough playing.

A six-foot tall ring of fire roared to life around her and she pushed it out in a widening circle to clear the immediate area. As a courtesy, she dropped a gap in the wall as it blew past the table were Alec was very carefully staying out of the fight. It was apparently his turn to ignore the demonstration, but she didn't have time to see what he was smoothing out across the tablecloth.

The sharp snap of a bowstring was all the warning she had before a black shaft whistled past her, narrowly missing her leg and plunging into the ground instead, piercing the lovely white dress. She twisted around in surprise. How dare he! A second shot twanged out from a different vector, and she whirled around to confront the invisible archer with a snarl on her face.

However, she failed to account for the part of her dress that had been pinned by the first arrow. It tugged awkwardly as she tried to turn, and she stumbled. Her right hand shot out to brace herself as she fell, and a third snap of that damnable bow signalled the flight of another shaft that buried itself in the ground within the tangle of her dress. She honestly thought she could feel the mocking tone of the fourth arrow as it threaded into the impossibly narrow gap between her knees, pinning her embarrassingly half-twisted on her side with her hands braced under her body.

An unseen weight suddenly barrelled into her, and the Queen screamed with a mixture of rage, humiliation, and pain as she felt strong hands grip her wrists and pull them behind her back savagely to be bound with cold iron manacles. She felt her power sputter and flicker out as she suffered the indignity of being... sat upon... like some common stool.

"That's enough," Alec said firmly.

Aspen immediately freed the Queen from the icy burning of the manacles and dispelled her mendelin rune. She rose in one smooth motion and jerked the black-fletched shafts out of the ground in rapid succession. Hunter appeared farther out in the orchard as his own rune was cancelled, and he happily accepted the arrows from his parabatai when he rejoined her. He offered the Queen his hand to help her up, and was surprised when she reluctantly accepted it.

"No hard feelings, right?" He gave her the endearing grin he had inherited from his father, and promptly wilted under the blazing glare he received in return.

The Queen rose with a flush burning in her cheeks, and she turned away from the... children... who had thoroughly humiliated her. Alec stood waiting patiently for her next to the table. The plates and bowls had been pushed to one side to make room for a large sheaf of parchment that had been unfolded and spread across the tablecloth, and she approached him warily.

Deep blue eyes swept downward for a moment in place of a bow, and he lightly touched the document that was covered in rows and rows of looping cursive. "All it requires now is your signature, your Highness," he murmured. The curling flame emblem of the Lightwood family was stamped into a circle of red wax next to the four interlaced Cs embossed in black wax at the bottom.

Signed and sealed by the grace of the Angel, in my own hand, Consul Alexander Gideon Lightwood.

The Queen looked down at the agreement and quickly picked out key words. Cold Peace. Rift. Protection. Restoration. Fey territories. It was all here, everything they had agreed upon. But how?

Resting innocuously against the legs of the Consul's chair, the satchel Hunter had so casually dropped caught her eye again. It was open now, and there appeared to be at least another dozen similarly-folded charters within. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she darted a quick glance between the attaché and the table.

How many possible outcomes was he prepared for, she wondered belatedly. How much more could I have bargained for? She sighed internally and conceded that she had most definitely been outmanoeuvred by the impressively cunning Consul. So neatly done, arranging for the boy to only drop off the possible agreements after the negotiations were complete to avoid tipping his hand, and then rifling through them to find the one that matched what they had discussed while she was distracted with the 'demonstration'.

The Queen of the Seelie Court looked at the leader of the Nephilim who stood so calmly before her and saw him in a new light. She gave him a grudging nod. "You... would have done well among my kind, Consul."

Alec noted her use of his title and understood it as the mark of respect it was intended to be. "I still intend to," he assured her, making it clear that this would not be the last time he would have dealings with the Fey.

While she poured over the agreement to ensure that everything was properly in order before signing, Alec pulled Aspen and Hunter aside to give her some privacy.

"I'm very proud of you both right now," he told them quietly. Aspen felt a thrill of pride shoot through her and she exchanged a lazy smirk with Hunter. He gave her a silent thumbs-up as Alec continued, "But this is only just the beginning. I was quite serious when I said I was trusting you with the fate of both our races."

The teenagers sobered up at the sharpness Consul's tone. There was an underlying current of desperation that they didn't fail to notice. "You must protect the Queen at any cost. If she is captured or killed, we will lose everything I've spent the last decade working toward. I don't care what you have to do - You. Must. Not. Fail."

"We won't," Aspen swore, and Hunter echoed her fervently.

Alec gave them both a wry smile. "Good." He shot a glance back over his shoulder. "I hope there's still some real breakfast left when we get back to the manor."

"If that's the last piece of bacon, I'd suggest you drop it and back away, boy," Zeke growled at Jace across the counter in the kitchen of Morgenstern Manor. He crossed his sinewy arms over his scarred chest threateningly and leaned back against the black marble slab near the coffeemaker, completely unconcerned that he was still wearing little more than boxer-briefs in company.

Jace gaped at him and froze with his left hand still hovering over the empty plate that was left with nothing more than a grease-spotted paper towel. "Boy? Not that I like to say this out loud, but I'm 42 years old."

"Exactly." Zeke had been even more surly than usual after Cassius' abrupt departure that morning, and his patience was growing thin. He didn't like the feeling he had gotten from his mate about going to meet with this Jiahao guy. He had a sneaking suspicion that Sera knew something, but she was keeping quiet on it. So he was left to stew in his foul mood.

Daringly, Jace gestured at Zeke with the crispy strip of bacon in question. "You know, when the Clave sentenced you to Stripping, I don't think they meant it literally. Do you ever get dressed?"

Zeke bared his teeth at Alicante's golden boy in the approximation of a smile. "Jealous? I'm nearly thirty years older than you and I still don't look a day older than Rayce."

Rayce stayed well-clear of being dragged into their budding snipe-fest. He couldn't stop worrying about Sera. He didn't like the dark circles under her eyes, and he wished he knew what to do to help her. His jaw ached where she had accidentally punched him earlier in her blind terror, but he'd gladly take another hundred blows if it meant she could be safe. After Cassius had vanished and Zeke had slouched back to the east wing to brood, she had told him what had happened in the dream world with Bael. His blood had run cold, and he had begged her to promise not to go hunting through her dreams for any more clues.

Simon poked Clary, interrupting her idle sketching, and muttered under his breath, "Is Zeke immortal, or something?"

"I doubt it," she whispered back. She shaded in a bit more of her drawing, passing the time while they all waited for Alec and the kids to get back from his meeting with the Seelie Queen. Her first reaction to Alec's suggestion that Aspen and Hunter be assigned as shadows to protect the Queen was to put her foot down and flatly refuse. There was no doubt in her mind that the private vendetta between the new King of the Unseelie Court and his sister would continue until one or the other was dead, and she didn't want her daughter anywhere near the Queen. That was when she had caught herself falling into the same trap that her own mother had fallen into.

I can't just lock her up and pretend the world can't touch her, Clary had admitted to herself. She was proud of the daughter she had raised with Jace, and as much as it had hurt to do so, she had let Aspen make her own decision about whether or not she wanted the dangerous assignment. Of course she had taken it; there too much of her father in her to hope that she would leave it to someone older and more experienced, but it was just something that Clary would have to live with. She didn't want to repeat Jocelyn's mistakes.

Thinking about it drew her thoughts back to Cristina and her daughters, still closeted away upstairs. The retired Shadowhunter-turned-cop hadn't let them out of her sight since arriving, and she kept a fiercely protective watch over them on the rare occasions that they joined the other guests. Lucas was sneaking out with Aspen, and Clary had already noticed the growing connection between the pair. History repeats itself, she mused. She made a mental note to try to talk to Cristina later and see if she could provide a bit of insight into how futile it could be to try keeping your kid away from the Shadow World.

Simon fretted quietly next to her. "What if they don't like my waffles? Do you think I sent enough fruit? Do Faeries drink orange juice?" He gasped. "Isn't there something about citrus being bad for Faeries? Is that for our Faeries, or just something I read in some book series about the fictional kind of Faeries?" He covered his face with his hands. "Did I just accidentally kill the Queen of the Seelie Court with Tropicana?" When his best friend failed to respond, he shook her arm. "Clary!"

"The Fey have no quarrel with citrus," Mark assured him from the table. As if to make his point, he lifted his glass of orange juice and sipped from it.

"Oh, thank God," Simon sighed with relief.

Mark had been fairly withdrawn from the others, although not impolitely so. He responded pleasantly enough when engaged in conversation, but often spent time alone on the grounds of the manor. It was strange to be back among the Nephilim, but he was grateful to have somewhere safe to shelter his family from any more Hunters who might come looking to settle old scores. The Queen seemed unnaturally interested in him, but had so far refrained from summoning him to a private audience. Miach, she had called him out of hearing of the others. The name brought back bitter memories.

Across the kitchen, the last of Zeke's fraying patience had finally been worn away by Jace, and he slammed his hand down on the counter, startling everyone into silence. His stormy grey eyes locked on to Sera in an accusatory stare.

"Why was he so bothered by going to see that Faerie, Sera?" Small shifts of discomfort rippled around the room; they all knew which 'he' Zeke meant.

Sera couldn't quite meet his eyes, settling on the twisted rune scar along the side of his neck instead. Guilt tore at her. "Zeke..." she started hesitantly, "I can't... It's not for me to say."

"But you knew." The betrayal in his voice made her shrink inside. He jabbed a finger at her. "You knew, and you still told him he had to go."

Rayce lifted his hand to interrupt his tutor. "Zeke, please..."

Selfish, a voice whispered in Sera's mind.

I know, she answered silently.

Before the confrontation could go any further, the doorbell rang and seven heads turned toward the front hall in identical, mystified confusion. Alec and the Seelie Queen would surely return through the veranda doors that led in to the kitchen from the back of the manor, and they certainly weren't expecting anyone else to arrive.

"I'm going to disconnect that goddamn doorbell," Sera swore under her breath as she stalked along the hallway to the front entry, although she was inwardly grateful for a reason to break the awkward tension. She scrubbed the back of her hand across her eyes tiredly. When she and Rayce had accepted the deed to Morgenstern Manor as a wedding gift from Alec, they had kind of thought they were going to be settling into a quiet life in the countryside. I guess the problem with owning a legacy estate is that everyone knows where it is.

An oddly familiar, scrawny leg wearing denim cut-offs was visible through one of the narrow windows that framed the double doors, and Sera felt her eyebrow lift in disbelief. No way.

She yanked the door open and gawked incredulously.

"Steven?"

Her friend threw his hands out wide and grinned from ear to ear. "Sera!" He tripped on the slightly raised threshold and fell head-first into her waiting arms.

She helped him get his feet back under himself and held him by his shoulders. "How did you even get here?"

He jerked his thumb behind him. "I hitched a ride."

Sera gasped when she saw Jem waiting quietly at the edge of the porch. He wore loose, white trousers and a matching shirt that was cut in a distinctly Asian fashion, each piece carefully stitched with red mourning runes. The streak of silver through his dark hair seemed even brighter than it had on Wrangel Island, but Sera noted sadly that it was the only thing that seemed brighter. The Shadowhunter's face was carefully composed into a neutral expression that masked the grief he was no doubt suffering, and his eyes no longer twinkled with the same spark she had seen when she had watched him study Hunter's Fortitude rune with such fascination.

"Jem," she breathed. Her golden eyes flicked back and forth between the two for a minute, still not comprehending how this was possible, or why the unlikely pair was even together.

Steven squeezed her hand where it rested on his shoulder. "You're probably too distracted by trying to figure out how we got here to remember to invite us in, but let's assume you did, okay? Jem has a loaner horse from the Silent Brothers for a while, so we left him chilling in your stable with the white one, okay?"

"We don't have a horse," she answered absently. She turned around mechanically and led the way back to the kitchen. Trying to process hearing Steven say 'Silent Brothers' so casually was stalling out her brain. "And how do you know about the Brotherhood?"

"Oh, my God, Sera," he gushed. "Jem's been teaching me to do their Jedi mind-trick so I can see better. Apparently, all of my freaky-ness might be an extension of having a bit of Sight!"

She threw a look over her shoulder. "Surely not all of it. And if you could see better, you either would have stopped wearing denim shorts or stopped skipping leg day."

They crossed into the kitchen and all of the quiet conversation came to an abrupt halt when Jem brought up the rear. A hushed chorus of assorted 'Jem's floated across the room, and Sera saw the former Silent Brother tense up in response.

Steven either sensed the shift in moods or saw it with his new-found Sight, and he worked quickly to divert attention away from his friend.

"Seriously, Sera. I'm telling you, I can see way better now. Try it! Throw something at me and I'll catch it!"

She lifted her eyebrow in response, and briefly wondered if the 'trip' over the front entry threshold was as accidental as it had appeared. She looked down at the counter and scooped up a grapefruit from the bowl, weighing it consideringly. All eyes had turned from Jem to her, and she caught the faint shake of his head that might have meant, Pick something lighter. The possibility of an intentional groping remained firmly in her mind, and she stuck with her original decision.

Steven was psyching himself up, muttering under his breath, "I am one with the Force, the Force is with me. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me..." He rubbed his hands together eagerly. Everyone else seemed to lean forward slightly in anticipation.

Sera lobbed the grapefruit at him.

The grapefruit squelched against his white T-shirt.

A collective sigh rippled across the room.

"Aww. It works at home."

Simon clapped him on the shoulder. "Next time, my young Padawan. I feel like we need to be introduced." He extended his hand obliviously. "I'm Simon. Simon L-"

He was cut off by Cassius teleporting back into the kitchen, not expecting to find it quite so full, and the tip of the great wing caught Steven a glancing blow as the Faerie unfurled it from around himself.

The grapefruit hit the floor again.

"Holy shit! Sera!" His milky-white eyes widened in excitement. Jem had speculated that the mostly-Mundane's Sight worked better when there was more to see from the supernatural world. Seeing Sera had always been easy; it was no wonder, with as much angelic blood as she had running through her veins. A grapefruit was, regrettably, only a super food, not supernatural, and it didn't register as well on his budding radar. One of the Greater Fey, though...

"This is the best!"

Simon patted his arm. "It gets better, actually. Trust me."

Cassius did not seem to notice that he had clipped the Mundane with his wing, and nor did he pay any attention to the surprisingly full kitchen. He only had eyes for Zeke, and in a rare expression of public affection, he took the Shadowhunter's scarred hand in his own. They did not exchange any words, but the line of Zeke's shoulder's relaxed and the intensity of the look they shared made the others turn their eyes elsewhere to give the couple some privacy.

"Hey now, here we go," Jace said excitedly as he caught sight of Alec striding up the back lawn with the Seelie Queen on his arm. Hunter and Aspen brought up the rear, both of them moving with the careful grace of a watchful patrol on duty. From the moment the Queen had accepted them into her service, they could no longer afford the luxury of assuming safety simply because they were on familiar ground. They would need to stay alert until the Unseelie threat was neutralized.

Alec held the glass veranda door open for the Queen and she swept into the kitchen in a swirl of white fabric that had been slashed through by Hunter's arrows.

"Cassius," she exclaimed curiously.

"And just about everyone else I could imagine," Alec said under his before he caught sight of Steven slouched next to Simon and Jem hovering at the very back of the crowd. He blinked once to see if he was mistaken, and then just mentally banged his head against the wall when the mostly-Mundane didn't vanish. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted now. It would just have to keep.

He fished out the signed and sealed agreement he had negotiated with the Seelie Queen and laid it down on the kitchen table, well away from the ring of condensation left by Mark's glass of orange juice. "This is it. The beginning of the end of the Cold Peace."

"Woah," Simon whispered.

Cassius stared openly at the signatures of both Consul and Queen at the bottom and felt a wave of warm appreciation for the leader of the Nephilim. Whatever sacrifices he had had to make with Jiahao would be worth it if it meant reuniting the races. And whatever sacrifices are yet to come, he thought grimly.

Alec set his hands on the table and leaned forward. "But if we want to have any hope of convincing the Clave to accept this, we need to discover the cause of whatever is happening with the blights, and the Unseelie must be stopped." He paused and winced for a moment. "And we must put an end to the threat posed by the Unbound Hunters."

"What I have learned this day may provide insight to that end," Cassius offered stiffly.

Sera shivered at the memory of Baelerithon's touch in the dream world. "And I have a pretty good idea of who's causing the blights, if not how or why." She gave them a watered-down version of her dream, telling them about how she had discovered the new Unseelie King kneeling at the epicentre of a blight circle that was no doubt reflected in the waking world. She related his strange words, how he had regretted not being able to feed on her in the dreamscape, and how drained the land had looked and felt.

The Greater Faerie listened to her in silence with the others, nodding occasionally, but confusion still creased his angular features when she finished. "I do not yet understand how Baelerithon could possibly wreak so much damage on the land, but I am certain that it is tied to his connection to the Eternal Forest. I have much to tell."

He carefully outlined what he had learned from Jiahao's memories about the initial corruption of the Forest centuries earlier, and the reasons behind the inception of the Hunt. He finished by sharing the terms of the old Queen's deal with the exiled Faerie Lord, earning himself a withering stare from Arynessa.

"You would presume to make promises in my name?"

"And in my own, my Queen." He had held back his own vow to serve as collateral if she would not honour her mother's agreement, not wishing to endure the shame it would bring him. He could not bear to have Zeke know that part of his past.

"Then we had best hope that his research yields results. Show us what he has devised."

Without further comment, he produced two pages of carefully-preserved parchment. The first showed the list of material components required to create the potion, and the other detailed the brewing process.

The Queen's brow raised when she neared the bottom of the first page. "Pure angel blood?"

"No doubt to balance the strength of the demonic presence that now inhabits the Forest, my Queen," Cassius answered.

"And where, exactly, do you propose we acquire that?"

Sera shrugged and held out her wrist gamely. "I mean, I don't mind making a donation to the cause..."

"No." Cassius shook his head. "However angelic your heritage may be, you still have your Shadowhunter side. You are still Mortal."

Simon looked a little nervous as he raised his hands. "I am not summoning Raziel again. One-two-three, not It."

"Don't you guys keep like, a stash of this stuff somewhere?" Steven's expression was hopeful. "Like, an 'In case of demonic emergency, break glass' kind of thing?" He received a quiet low-five from Simon in response.

Jace ran his fingers though the wave of his hair in annoyance. "You don't get it. Angel blood is super rare. The only thing I can even think of it being used for is..." He trailed off as his mind raced ahead of his mouth for a change.

"...making genetically-altered mutant babies?" Simon supplied helpfully.

Clary punched him none too gently in the arm. "I'm one of those mutant babies."

Alec, as usual, stood in for the voice of reason. "To forge an aegis, like the one Jace used to kill Asmodeus. The Adamant Citadel is our best option here."

"You will read the Codex one day," Jace hissed at Simon.

"But then why would I need you?"

"I can go," Clary offered at the same time as Sera. Both women looked at each other in surprise, and Clary nodded. "We can go together. If it's going to be anyone, it should be us."

Alec agreed and gave them his blessing. He hoped that his newly-strengthened ties to the Citadel would help smooth their way. Cleophas had told him that the only way for the Iron Sisters to be innocent of treason for providing them with weapons from their armoury was to make sure that he won, and he had.

"That may satisfy one half of the problem," the Seelie Queen admitted, "but the corruptisia blooms may be just as difficult to acquire. No Shadowhunter will survive that deep in Faerie."

"But I will," Cassius said quietly. "I do not believe that this opportunity has been presented to us now, when our two races so desperately need one another, by chance. Neither of us could do this without the other." He thought of the twisted landscape of Deep Faerie and the monsters it concealed. "I will go."

"With me." Zeke's grey eyes were thunderous. "You can't keep leaving me here like some sort of invalid. You need me."

"My Zeke..." Cassius felt his heart tighten in his chest. The fatalistic part of him knew how this had to end, knew that Jiahao's parting words were truer than the exiled Seelie Lord had known. Heads I win, tails you lose, Cassius. "Listen to the Queen. You cannot withstand the effects of Deep Faerie. I must walk this path alone."

Zeke's lip twisted up in disgust and he pulled away from his mate. "Maybe you don't recall making a promise to stay together no matter what came between us, but I do." He pushed himself away from the counter. "Come find me when you remember what you said to me all those years ago." He stalked out of the kitchen without a backward glance.

The silence that followed his abrupt departure was excruciatingly awkward, and Alec cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'll try to contact Magnus and see if he will be able to get his hands on the more common ingredients and mix this up once we get those last two pieces. It might actually end up being a good thing that he's in the Spiral Labyrinth right now..."

"See to it that he is ready to act on a moment's notice, Consul," Cassius cautioned him. "The corruptisia flowers will not last long in the Mortal realm once I have returned from Faerie. And the potion itself will be incredibly unstable once it is mixed - we will need to work quickly."

"Yeah, but how do you actually use this stuff?" Simon asked. "I mean, like, do we get a spray bottle and hose down the trees like some kind of magic Weed-B-Gon?"

"I have made the journey to the Eternal Forest before. I will do so again," the Faerie replied evenly.

Murmurs of concern rippled around the room, but no one dared to suggest an alternative. The Queen was eyeing Cassius suspiciously and paid little heed to the whispers of the Nephilim around her. His behaviour did not tally with what she would have expected from him when it came to his Shadowhunter mate. Something more had transpired when he had gone to seek out Jiahao.

Steven elbowed Simon gently in the ribs and said quietly under his breath, "This is just like being at the Council of Elrond!"

"Definitely," Simon agreed just as quietly so that Clary couldn't hear him. "Apparently, one does simply walk into Mordor if one is Greater Fey."

"So, aside from keeping Magnus on speed dial," Jace ventured, "what are we supposed to do while we wait?"

Alec sighed heavily and lifted his agreement with the Seelie Queen from the table. He gave his parabatai a dry look.

"You keep me alive when I present this to the Clave."

**Author's note: Thanks @Adorabludthirsty for catching the ongoing, and unintentional, double-entendre of Zeke being a Stripped Shadowhunter who often appears mostly naked in quite a good number of his scenes. You commented in chapter 10, and I promised to make Jace joke about it at my earliest convenience as payment for the outrageous laugh-out-loud moment this gave me. He does actually have a reason for it, but you won't see it until I release his short story in The Mortal Reflections.