Valentine Morgestern

Valentine Morgenstern Part 6

Six wonderful months of married life later and I arose one morning to a sickness in the pit of my stomach. Flying across our room to the toilet I vomited noisily, past caring who heard me or what they thought. I pushed my red hair out of my face as I unsteadily fought to get to my feet. As I stood up realisation sunk in. Blindly I leant back against the wall and sank to my feet. I was pregnant. I was going to be a Mother. The mixture of emotions was overwhelming. My initial shock morphed into fear which manifested into happiness which culminated at ecstasy. We would have a baby. Instantly my mind began to picture the blonde hair our child would have and the bright green eyes. They would be beautiful and a skilled Shadowhunter. They would be brave, kind, loyal and strong. They would be the next of both of us morphed into a single person. They would be better than either of us ever could be. I placed my hand on my still slim tummy and smiled at it in happy surprise.

I tiptoed back into our room and I climbed into the bed beside Valentine. I placed my hand on his bare arm and gently shook him awake.

"Lynn, are you alright?" He asked lovingly.

"I have something to tell you!" I babbled excitedly.

"What?"

"I think I'm pregnant!" I cried.

For a few long minutes there was silence and I watched as realisation slowly sunk in. His dark eyes showed longing then pride then something darker. Something calculating set into his eyes. Something I knew I did not like. For a short moment I almost recoiled in fear, disgust. He clasped my tiny hands in his larger ones.

"Congratulations Mrs Morgenstern," he congratulated letting pride fill his voice. My heart fluttered at the sound of our married name. "How will you find out for sure?"

"I'll go to see one of the silent brothers. They know everything," I replied.

He smiled in approval. "A son, a boy will make a perfect warrior, a soldier. He will be the greatest shadowhunter the world has ever seen. He..." Valentine trailed off, seemingly distracted by his own ideas of the heights of greatness his son would achieve.

"A girl can make just as good a warrior as any boy. I reckon maybe even better!" I retorted.

Valentine chucked and nodded. His eyes lit with happiness and suddenly I felt like things could only get better and maybe this would stop the sudden radical turn in the Circle.

That day I felt like I was floating. I made my way quietly to one of the entrances to the Silent city. I felt a tingle of fear wash over me as I stood under the carved walk of the entrance chamber. The bricks contained the ashes of dead shadowhunters and never failed to remind me that even in death all Shadowhunters including myself would continue to serve the Clave and all it stood for. My eyes cast themselves nervously around the dark entrance.

Brother Zachariah made his way towards me in the silent, eerie immeasurable footsteps of the Brotherhood. His bone coloured robes enclosed his slightly disfigured face in a comforting way.

"Mrs Morgenstern," his whispering voice filled my mind.

"Brother Zachariah," I replied out loud.

"What brings you to Silent City?"

"I think I am pregnant. I want to confirm it."

For a moment I felt awkward as Brother Zachariah and I stood in the eerie silence of the entrance. Unlike the other brothers he was not as severely disfigured. His mouth was merely closed shut, not stitched and his eyes wide open, not zipped shut slits. He still seemed so human while the other brothers were so severely mutilated and horribly disfigured they no longer looked like Shadowhunters.

"You are indeed pregnant Mrs Morgenstern. Congratulations to you and your husband."

"Thank you for your time," I said softly.

As I turned to leave I felt the whispering warnings of Zachariah intrude upon my mind again. Only he did not speak loudly enough for me to hear nor did I have courage great enough to ask him to repeat so I kept walking trying to purge any traces of fear from my body.

I walked down the twisting streets of Alicante, finding myself enchanted by the beauty of the city once more. The faces of The Circle smiled at me as I moved through the streets and spoke murmured and hurried hellos. I walked quickly the whole way home.

I stepped into the manor and sighed. I was home. I felt slightly more safe but not entirely. Something chilling was haunting me.

Valentine was nowhere to be seen and after searching for him for an hour I gave up. I assisted my Mother in making dinner and ate with her in a comfortable silence before preparing to go on patrol with Lucian.

Whilst on patrol we began to talk.

"Sometimes he terrifies me," I admitted out loud.

"Who does?" He asked as we walked through the black night.

"Valentine," I confessed. Part of me was horrified that I was admitting this and I was glad it was dark as some things are easier to say in the dark.

"Why?" We stopped walking and paused in the clearing.

"Sometimes he has these fits of rage and he rants and rails at things I can not see. Lucian he reads all these books about magic and summoning demons, which surely must violate the ethics of The Circle. Sometimes at night he debates with me why the angel Raziel left us so powerless against Downworlders as we do not posses the beauty of the fey nor the magic of the warlocks nor the speed of lycanthropes nor the agility of vampires. He questions why Raziel would leave us so powerless and when I dare suggest perhaps we are powerful in our ability to create seraph blades, use runes and are safe in the knowledge that we were created by an angel of Heaven. His answer is always the same, what power have we against Downworlders but these painted lines on our skin which fade," I drew a sharp breath, "Lucian he's losing it."

"Jocelyn, Valentine hates Downworlders naturally he is opposed to any advantage they may possess over us. I think you are worrying over nothing," Lucian replied. He seemed to be choosing his words with care. Lucian's kind reassurances did nothing to calm my fears.

We continued our patrol in silence.