Sed Lex Dura Lex

Chapter Two

"I remember this being a lot smaller." Jace commented, standing next to Simon in the empty living room and watching dust particles dance in the sunlight from the windows.

"I don't remember this at all." Simon shook his head. "And apparently it was pretty important."

"Give me your necklace." Jace held a hand out. Simon reached behind his neck to unclasp the silver chain that had been there as long as he could remember. He pooled the chain in Jace's open palm and watched him gently turn it over in his hand. "Beati Bellicosi." Jace read. "Do you know what that means?"

"Um..." Simon shrugged. "My sister gave it to me. From when she went to Italy."

"No she didn't." Jace said flatly. "This inscription here means 'blessed are the warriors.' It's the slogan of the Praetor Lupus."

"What?"

"Jordan Kyle was a member of the Preators. He was assigned to protect you." Jace said, his voice mechanic like he was reading from a textbook. "You lived here with him. That's his room, over there on the left. He spent all his energy protecting you, which wasn't easy because everyone tried to kill you all the time." Jace took a deep breath, which shook a little. "He went to the Praetor headquarters at the start of the war. While he was there, he found that the place had been burned to the ground. Every praetor was dead. Sebastian...stabbed him in the chest. He died on the beach within five minutes."

There was a long, drawn out silence that followed as Jace gently handed him back the medallion. Simon stared at it in his open palm, looked at the stamped wolf print and remembered wondering why the hell there was a wolf print on it. "Maia Roberts." He blurted.

Jace looked stunned. "What?"

"What?" Simon squeezed his eyes closed. "I don't know. Who is that? Why did I say that?"

"You tell me." Jace arched an eyebrow.

"I just...it just popped into my mind. A girl with brown hair. And um..." Jace watched in fascination as he closed his eyes tight and made spastic gestures with both hands. "A mark."

Realization dawned on Jace's face and he literally bounced on his heels. "The mark of Cain! Yes! You had that when Jordan lived here. You're remembering without Magnus's help."

He looked at Simon, his smile disappearing when he noticed the look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"He was my best friend, wasn't he?"

"He was a good guy." Jace said simply, moving to stand behind Simon and taking the necklace from him. He carefully drew it back over Simon's neck and opened the clasp. "He wanted you to have this so you would remember him. If Magnus wants to deny his dying wish then...Magnus is a dick. Please don't tell Alec I said that."

Simon grinned and nodded, putting two fingers over the medallion, like he was looking for a pulse. "I don't know what he looked like."

"Um, like both our girlfriends thought he was hot." Jace laughed, watching a ghost of a smile come to Simon's face.

"We're going to be in trouble with Magnus when we get back."

"So let's go to the Institute." Jace decided, hastily stepping back from Simon, apparently done with his moments of compassion.

"So you can make out with Clary." He said flatly. "God is that all you do?"

He sighed. "That's the last time I'll ever try and cheer you up, Lewis."