War of Hearts

Chapter 16

Val's POV

I walked into the cabin before I made my way down to the basement. I cringed when I saw the blood that spattered the walls. A mix of both mine and Jonathan's last days here.

"I've spent years clinging to my memories of freedom, imagining what I'd feel when I finally made it back." I heard Jonathan's voice. I followed it and raised a brow when I saw Valentine Jonathan looked over at me and I held up the note he had left on my desk. Luckily Valentine had his back to me, and Jonathan kept talking so he wouldn't turn around and see me there. "Would I be happy? Angry? Hard as I try... I could never quite picture it. In the end, I felt nothing. Just the unforgiving cold of the winter air." I sent him a confused look before I realized that he wasn't really there that day when Alec and I had gone to get breakfast.

"I guess it's true what they say." I said from my spot. Valentine spun around so fast he nearly fell. "You can never go back home."

Jonathan grabbed him and led him over to the chair. "Sit." Valentine sat down and Jonathan pulled out the chains that once held him and chained Valentine's feet to the chair.

"Why bring me here?" Valentine asked, looking at his son. "Why is she here?"

"Because I realized the thing that was missing was you. You made us what we are, Father. Everything you did to us created this. Val already returned the favor when she had you in that cell. Now it's my turn to repay the favor." Jonathan told him.

"I haven't been to this place in years. Not since I was 12. A little over 10 years." I remarked. "The last memory I have of this place is you taking a whip to my back because you caught me talking to a kid you had chained up. The same kid who happened to be my fucking twin." I stayed where I was on the steps, but looked around the room that held my worst memories.

Alec's POV

"Any word from Magnus or Luke?" Clary asked as she and Jace joined Lucy, Izzy, and I at one of the tables. I looked up from my phone waiting to hear from Val.

"No. With Valentine free, the Downworld Cabinet has been holding secluded meetings in the Seelie Court." I told them.

"That's not good." Jace replied. "Where's Val?"

"She wanted to go check something out. She had a bad feeling when Duncan touched Valentine, so before he was even really missing she had Magnus open a Portal and she just went." The more I thought about the more I realized she was rushing to leave as she clutched a note in her hand. "Back to the topic at hand."

"You think anything good happens in the Seelie Court?" Clary aimed the question at Jace.

"The Clave isn't gonna let this go unpunished. The Inquisitor sent an envoy to assess the situation. Chances are, they'll be the ones replacing me as the Head of the Institute." I say before an argument can ensue. "No one is to mention Val already searching for Valentine." They all nodded in agreement since none of us wanted Val to be arrested for going rogue.

"Not if we recapture Valentine. Sebastian and all available personnel are searching. We already know Duncan managed to hijack the Portal." Izzy said.

"If he was Luke's accomplice, he could have been orchestrating the secret transfer all along." Jace said.

"Listen, I appreciate the effort, but Valentine escaped on mine and Val's watch. Since she's out there searching for her homicidal father, I deserve to take the heat for this." I told them.

"This isn't your fault, it's mine. I was the one in charge of the transfer team." Izzy said.

"Hey, we both were. Look, Alec, you are a good leader. Val too. You can't just let Imogen fire you over something you didn't do." Jace said.