Chain of Iron

Chapter Thirty-One

James woke up the next morning to the sound of birds chirping outside of his window and he blinked tiredly. His eyes felt heavy from a lack of sleep; he had gotten into bed very late the night before as he had been in the infirmary with Lucie, watching over Jesse. Uncle Jem had said that Jesse was now in a stable condition but they did not know when he would wake up. Lucie had insisted that she needed to stay right by Jesse' side all night and even still stayed when James said he needed to sleep.

James stretched and then looked over at the sleeping figure of Cordelia next to him. She had also been with he and Lucie in the infirmary and they had gone to sleep at the same time. They had both agreed that they would sleep in the same bed, as it would have looked odd if anyone had found out that they did not; they had fallen asleep after speaking about the demon attack. James found that it had not been awkward sharing a bed with Cordelia as he already had once before. She looked so peaceful as she slept and James could not help but smile at her.

He silently slipped out of the bed, careful not to wake Cordelia, and began to ready himself for the day. The wedding, James thought, had gone very smoothly up until the demon attack. Cordelia had looked simply beautiful in her wedding gown and something had tugged on James' heart at the sight of her. The Clave was still unaware of how the demons had entered the Institute but James knew how; Belial. He was a strong enough demon to have broken through the wards of the Institute.

James shook off his thoughts as he walked down to the dining room where, to his surprise, Matthew was sat at the table. A cup of tea was placed in front of him and he was reading a piece of paper that he held in his hand, frowning. It disappeared as he saw James and was replaced with a small smile.

"Did you spend the night?" James asked curiously as he took a seat across from his Parabatai.

Matthew nodded. "I could not be bothered with walking all of the way back to my flat. Besides, I wished to be present for your first morning as a married man."

A married man. His words made James feel a little lightheaded. He still could not believe that he had really married Cordelia and that he could no longer be a wild teenager. He had now had to be a man.

"It is very strange." James admitted. "I had not thought that I would marry for at least a few more years. Although I suppose I am not truly married, as this arrangement is only for a year."

James continued as Matthew did not reply. "It was not odd sleeping in the same bed as Cordelia, though, as I have already spent a night with her before."

Matthew's eyes widened and he turned a strange pale colour. "Really? You did not mention it before."

"I had forgotten to tell you with everything going on. I had been so distraught the night where Magnus Bane had refused to help me raise Belial and I had found myself at Cordelia's door."

Matthew studied him deeply for a moment. "Do you feel for Cordelia?"

James felt surprised for a moment; they had never spoken about Cordelia like this before. Did he feel for her? Sometimes there were moments where he felt as if he did, but Grace would return to his mind and he would forget all about Cordelia.

"No," James replied finally. "I do not believe that I do."

Matthew only continued to study him and James' attention went to the paper that was still in front of Matthew. He reached for it, curious to see what was written on it.

"No, Jamie, you should not read that." Matthew spoke hastily and tried to take the paper back.

James chuckled. "What could be so terrible that is written on here, Math?" He then proceeded to read the letter.