Warlock
law was very clear on this point: if you loved a mortal, all well and good, but
it was not your place to interfere with their mortality. It took a long time to
become used to such a law . . . usually until you realized that being immortal
was less a gift than a burden.
Magnus
dropped the snuffbox back onto the desk and picked up the phone, hitting the
speed-dial button for Alec’s number. When Alec picked up he sounded both
harried and hopeful: “Magnus? Have you found anything?”
“Nothing.
I’m sorry.”
“Oh.”
Crushing disappointment made Alec’s voice sound small.
“But
I was thinking about parabatai,” said Magnus. “When parabatai are
especially close, they can sense if the other is dead, or Changed, or—”
“I
know,” said Alec. “I know that. I felt it—for that moment that Jace died, back
in Idris. But this isn’t like that.” Magnus could picture him, eyes blue in his
pale face, tugging at a snarled lock of his hair. Alec usually looked like he’d
fallen out of bed and into a random pile of clothes, rather than as if he’d
actually picked out an outfit, and since Jace had gone missing, he’d started to
look like he’d stopped brushing his hair, too. “I just feel nothing.”
“Like
really nothing? As in . . . nothingness?”
“Right
. . .?” Alec sounded confused.
“That
actually does give me some ideas,” said Magnus. “I’ll do everything I can to
help, you know that, right, Alexander? Not because it’s the Clave, but because
it’s you.”
“I
know.” Alec was silent for a moment. “It’s good to hear your voice, even if you
can’t help,” Alec added, and hung up abruptly.
Magnus
placed the phone next to him and sat for a moment, still enough to hear himself
breathing. I’m losing him, he thought. I don’t know how or why,
but I know that I am.
