Shadowhunters | [ON HOLD]

Chapter 9

~Katiana's POV~

Magnus fluffs Luke's pillows as I sit at the end of the bed, my back against it's structure.

"Thank you, Magnus," Luke tells him gratefully.

"You're welcome." We notice Clary standing in the doorway. "I'll leave you three alone." He says before walking to Clary and telling her something.

"You know you can’t avoid the question, right?" Clary states. "I know Mom swore you to secrecy, but I’ve seen you stand up to her before. Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?"

"Because we were afraid you’d hate us," Luke tells us.

"Not possible," I answer. "Okay… the last few days, we didn't get all of the information."

"And you still don’t. But you need to know everything. It’ll help you find the Mortal Cup," Luke says.

"How?"

"You’re just gonna have to trust me."

"I do, more than anything," I answer.
"Nothing you say is ever gonna change that. You have to trust us, too."

"All right," he nobs. "Magnus told you about the Uprising?"

"Yeah," Clary affirms.

"About the Valentine who murdered all those people?"

"Yes." She says firmly as I feel the uncomfort getting back.

"The reason he became that man was our fault… mine and Jocelyn’s," Luke says.

"I don’t believe you," Clary denies. Altought I find it hard to believe, I know he wouldn't lie right now.

"We betrayed him, Clary… your mother and I. We fell in love."

"Did you… Wait… Are you my…" Clary trails off.

"No. No, we never…" he trails off awkwardly.

"Slept together?" I smirk and raise an eyebrow tauntingly.

"Yeah. I mean, no! Your parents were married. Valentine was my parabatai. We both loved him. But as his rhetoric got more violent… and he became more combative with the Clave… we started to worry. We tried to help him, tried to temper him, but… he just kept pulling away. That just drew us closer together. We knew it was wrong, but we couldn’t deny it, or hide it," he tells us. "Valentine became convinced we were having an affair. He was obsessed with winning Jocelyn’s heart back. For love, he was willing to do anything… even compromise his own principles. He became fixated on becoming a better soldier. That led him to do the unthinkable… experiment with Downworlder blood." My eyes widen slightly and to my horror, I can understand his actions, to an extent.

"Once he crossed that line… we never got him back again. In the end, our love did more damage to Valentine than anything anybody else could have done. We broke his heart," Luke tells us. At the moment, I hate myself for feeling bad for Valentine. He did horrible things.

"At least now I know he had one... Before his crazy, disorted view of the world set in," Clary says.

"What was he like back then?" I speak up.

"In the early days of the Circle?" he asks me and I nob. "Oh, he was honorable. Idealistic. He was charismatic."

"Just mom's type. Just like you," Clary says.

"Oh, no. No. I never came close," Luke denies. "He was a leader. Devoted to protecting us from dying pointless deaths."

"And you believed in him," Clary said.