Outcast

Chapter Eight - Meeting Max

As soon as the door had shut, Maryse had all but dragged Magnus into the dining room and rounded on him.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "You have endangered our reputation here by bringing a warlock to my home, by barging in uninvited, and Max is upstairs!" She gestured wildly toward the staircase. "You have endangered him."

"Alec isn't dangerous! Don't talk about him like he's some sort of rabid animal," Magnus snapped. "I have brought your son home because we need to talk about something that you've hidden from us."

She didn't falter. Her face was alight with a new kind of rage that Magnus hadn't seen before. It scared him a little. She took a step forward and he instinctively took one back. Although she had never struck him, old habits died hard, he supposed.

"I've hidden?" she echoed. "Why not talk about why you've been hiding that you've been galivanting around with someone I explicitly said was never to have contact with the family again!"

"I am not a child!" Magnus exclaimed. His hands were shaking and he was seized with a sudden urge to pull at his shirtsleeves. Suddenly sweating, he shucked off his coat and tossed it carelessly over a chair. His voice rising, he continued; "You don't get to talk down to me and tell me who I can and cannot hang around!"

"Hush up," she snapped, glancing furtively toward the stairs. "Max is asleep."

"No!" he clamored, pointing toward the wall that faced the street. "Alexander is a good, kind person—"

"He has brought shame to our family—"

"By doing what? Being born?" Magnus laughed. It was a high, crazed, derisive sound. It was Maryse's turn to take a retreating step, alarmed. "And that's another thing! Two Shadowhunters don't just make a warlock! Who's the daddy, Maryse? It isn't Robert!"

"Shut up!" Maryse shouted, her face reddening in anger. Struggling to control her temper, she growled, "What I do and do not speak about with my husband is no concern of yours, Magnus Lightwood. You would do well to hold your tongue." Her eyes kept darting toward the stairs. That infuriated Magnus. Was Alec some big secret she was keeping from Max?

"And what of it? What about Robert? Have you told him?" Magnus shouted, not caring who heard him. Maryse's icy face faltered slightly. It was the kind of falter that one got when one's deepest, darkest secret had been brought to light by someone they thought was still in the dark. Magnus played off of that. "Judging by the look you've got, you haven't! You and I both know that Robert is not Alec's father! If he hasn't figured it out by now, he's even dumber than you!"

"Magnus Demetrius, you keep your voice down," she hissed. "We are surrounded by very important people—"

"I will not," Magnus growled, although he did lower his tone. "What are you going to tell Max, huh? What will you tell him when he gets older and starts asking why his brother is half demon?"

"You were never like this," Maryse said, coldly. "You were never like this until you started hanging out with that—that Downworlder—"

"With your son, you mean!" Magnus' head was spinning. He pressed a hand to his forehead and leaned his shoulder against the wall. He hadn't eaten much that morning for his anxiety, and he hadn't even thought about food or drink since they landed in Idris.

"His being my son would insinuate that he is Max's brother," Maryse replied. "I will not let him corrupt my little boy. Look at Jace and Isabelle. They grew up without that warlock around and they turned out just fine. You did, too, until you two became friends." The word dripped venom.