Royal Dilemma

Revelation Rejected

"Thank you for coming," Alec spoke into the silent room. His weeks of investigating were about to be put to the test. Aside from his parents Alec addressed, Valentine, Jocelyn, Lucian, and Amatis who together made up the generation before him and the King's council. If he was going to change the world, it had to start here.

"You said you had something to share with us that you learned on those odd little trips you've been taking to the docks," his mother said.

"Yes," Alec replied. "Though it's a little more than just that."

"Let's hear it then son," Robert sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"We have always married shadowhunter to shadowhunter," Alec stared. "To allow the next generation to hold our weapons like the previous one, but I have discovered there is no need for this. It takes only a single ancestor to pass on the ability, even three generations later."

"Not possible," Valentine dismissed him. "And even if it was true, the gene would be so diluted as to be useless."

"It is possible, in fact, it happened and the ability isn't diluted," Alec explained. "I met a little boy directly descended from the Herondale line who could not only make my bow glow brightly with the slightest touch, but also knew instinctively that he could touch it without harming himself."

"Ha!" Valentine scoffed. "A fools dream. Let me meet this boy."

"I knew you'd say that," Alec smiled. He'd spoken to Lillian about this and she was expecting him. "Follow me."

With dubious looks on their faces everyone followed Alec to the portal. Alec opened it and when they appeared on the other side Lillian and Ed were there to greet them. He'd set them up with better living conditions, so the council arrived in a small, but comfortable two room cottage. Alec handed Lillian his bow and watched the terrified looked on his family's faces as they saw it light up.

"Shiny!" little Ed said as he tried to get the bow from his mother. Lillian leaned down and handed it to the boy who smiled widely, waving it in the air, clearly very happy to be holding it. Jocelyn gasped and Alec heard her whisper how Jonathan had been much the same when he'd first seen a weapon of the angels.

"Never once had we considered this," Alec stated firmly. "The idea of sharing the burden of fighting demons with our people never occurred to us, but it is possible. The proof is before your eyes."

"You are ruining a way of life!" Valentine snapped at Alec.

"I am improving it," Alec replied calmly. "It will be only so long before there aren't enough of us left to keep our traditions alive without incest. And I am here to tell you that mundane blood mixed with ours is a far better option than such insanity."

"Oh Alec," Maryse sighed.

"I still can't believe," Jocelyn whispered.

"This is an amazing discovery," Lucian exclaimed. "This could change everything!"

"Thanks," Alec smiled at him.

"What matters is that there is someone able to keep the demons at bay," Amatis added calmly, siding with her brother though without his enthusiasm.

"Exactly," Alec continued. "What if the majority of our people had the blood? What if everyone could fight? Wouldn't we all be safer?" There was silence as they all took in what he'd just said. This meant a change in the very fabric of their society. It meant marrying, training and arming their people. It meant the end of isolation, a new world.

Alec thanked Lillian for her time, then lead everyone back through the portal and into the mission room, where the silence continued as everyone sat down, without a word. Then Alec was asked to leave so they could all discuss the issue. He wanted to stay and defend his plan, but sensed that wouldn't help so he left. Alec paced outside the mission doors as he went through everything in his mind, over and over. Had he missed something? Should he have appeared more to how this would benefit the council? If they said yes, where would he start? Maybe letting more humans into the Palace permanently? A cook perhaps? Intermixing the races was the first step to intermarrying them right? And what next, maybe outlawing marrying shadowhunters to shadowhunters or was that too bold a move? Alec reached the wall again and turned pacing the other way. How could he find a way to throw hundreds or maybe thousands of years of tradition out the window? This wasn't only about him anymore, his happiness. This was about his people. If the royal family continued as they were the world would be broken forever.