After the stunned silence, Alec is the first one to speak.
"Will?" he said while frowning. "The same Will as the one Camille mentioned?"
"Yes, yes." Magnus said while waving his hand to dismiss the questions that he knew Alec would ask. He stood up and pressed his fingers at the bridge of his nose.
"Who is he, Magnus?"
"I've told you Alec! He's an old friend." he said looking at him with an exasperated look on his face.
"Well he must be a really really good 'friend' of yours since his name seems to pop out a lot." Alec said accusingly.
"ALEC! Can you just stop being unreasonably jealous for a while? Jace is missing for the second time may I remind you. THE SECOND TIME! And this time there is no binding rune to keep him safe. This is neither the time to rekindle our relationship nor to fight, once again, about my past!"
Alec's face was wide with shock and Magnus watched as it slowly turned to a pained expression. Alec stood up and went further inside the Institute.
Isabelle rolled her eyes and said "Seriously, Magnus? He's Jace's parabatai. It is clear to all of us that he does care about Jace and he's just in a really complicated state right now." She followed Alec and disappeared inside the dark halls of the Institute.
"I'm sorry." Magnus said even though there was no one left to hear him but Clary.
"He misses you Magnus" Clary said quietly, feeling that she should not inetervene but seeing Alec suffer, she knew Magnus should at least be aware.
"I know." he said almost inaudible. He looked at the ground and said "But right now I just can't."
"Thank you for being here Magnus. I mean, after you two... broke up, I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with us."
"I believe I shouldn't be quick to dismiss our friendship Clary." he said with a smile.
Clary flinched 'How quickly do you dismiss our love' Jace's voice echoed in her head. Everything just seems to remind her of him. She smiled at Magnus, trying to hide the pain building up inside her once more. Trying her best to look brave. "Goodnight Magnus."
Magnus is about to exit the Institute when Clary asked. "Magnus!"
He turned around.
"Were you with a Shadowhunter?" she said, genuinely curious.
"Why?" Magnus said, smiling.
"Who let you in the Institute?"
He smiled and said "Goodnight Clary."
Clary nodded, too exhausted to ask any more questions. She started to head for her room when Magnus called out,
"Oh and Clary! You might want to meet Tessa again. You might find a lot similiraties based on your... experiences." And then he was gone.
