Crowns ~ Alec Lightwood

We Break Noses and Accept the Consequences

"We have lost seven of our own. But we can't allow a single radical Seelie to define the entire downworld any more than we can allow Valentine to define all shadowhunters."

"So," Rory spoke up, "To restore unity with our allies, we'll be hosting regular cabinet meetings here at the Institute with the downworld leaders of New York."

Whispers broke out among the crowd, half for the idea and the rest against it. Rory could read the lips of two shadowhunters in particular that were against their leadership.

"Please," Alec said, "Let's make them feel welcome."

Rory dismissed them and the pair made their way to the group. Jace and Clary gave their congratulations before Alec gave them an assignment, "I need you two to go into the Seelie court."

"Where is that?" Clary asked.

"The nearest entrance is at Central Park...but it's in another realm where the Seelie queen lives," Izzy informed.

"We set a meeting with her to discuss Kaelie's crimes, but she said she'd only speak to Valentine's experiments," Rory said bitterly.

"Why don't you go then?" Clary asked.

"I think the Queen is more interested in Valentine's children than me," she stated.

"Do you think the Seelie Queen is responsible for Kaelie's attacks?"

Alec sighed, "That's what we want you to find out."

"It would make sense," Jace commented, "Those murders weren't exactly Kaelie's style."

Clary crossed her arms, "How did you know Kaelie?"

Rory bit her lip to keep from smiling. Alec looked up in second hand embarrassment. Jace coughed awkwardly, "Book club."

"You read?"

"Yeah, why does everyone find that so hard to believe?" he quipped.

"Focus," Alec redirected, "We need to find out if she's complicit. The entire faction could be turning against us."

"That shouldn't be too hard, right? Seelies can't lie," Clary shrugged.

"But they can spin the truth like Rumplestiltskin and his gold," Rory joked, "And the Queen is the master at it."

"The entire realm is dangerous. More than one shadowhunter hasn't made it back."

-

Rory couldn't feel her entire right arm. The burn had spread up to her shoulder and down to her wrist. It looked like she was slowly becoming a piece of charcoal.

Alec was starting to get suspicious of her activity. He saw that she was always wearing long sleeves and was acting like she wasn't injured.

He approached her when she was cleaning her blade in the weapons room. She instantly held her arm up in an uncomfortable position compared to her resting one.

"Hey," she greeted, "How's the prep for the meeting?"

"I'm not here to talk about that," he said coldly, "Something is wrong with you."

She scoffed, "Nothing's wrong."

He snatched her injured arm and she cried out. He dropped it instantly and let her cradle it gently.

"You're gonna tell me what the hell is going on with you...and you're gonna tell me right now," he warned.

She sighed and looked for anyone watching. She slowly peeled off her jacket and rolled up her sleeve.