Chapter 1
Wedding Day
The Institute was filled with love and laughter as the guests of Jem and Tessa’s wedding congratulated the happy couple and danced the night away. A figure slipped in through the door, unnoticed by most. He smiled as his eyes found the pair who had set him free, and it widened as he watched his former charge dance with her newfound husband.
“Ithuriel?” he turned to face Clarissa Morgenstern and Jonathan Herondale, who were staring at him incredulously.
“B-but… I thought…” Clary’s voice faltered.
Ithuriel offered her a gentle smile. “My kind cannot die dear one.”
Her moth shaped into an ‘O’ of understanding. He looked to Jace. “If you would be so kind so as to introduce me,” he said, gesturing to Jem and Tessa. Jace nodded and sped off.
“Um… Tessa?” Jace stood at her elbow, wearing an odd expression. He cleared his throat nervously. “There’s someone here to see you…” Jem raised an eyebrow and Jace stepped aside, revealing the visitor.
Tessa couldn’t contain the gasp that escaped through her parted lips.
“Ithuriel?!”
Said Angel smiled. “I come bearing gifts. Two, in fact.”
“The first gift I have for you is the gift of immortality, if he chooses to accept it.” Ithuriel looked to Jem, whose eyes widened fractionally.
“I…I…” Jem was speechless. As Tessa looked over at him worriedly, he began nodding furiously.
“Yes! That would be– that is… thank you,” he
breathed. “To be with
Tessa forever, it is a great gift.”
Ithuriel placed his hand over Jem’s heart. He felt a great shock, as if electricity flowed through his veins instead of blood, before returning back to normal.
“Thank you,” he whispered gratefully.
“For my second gift, you must first remember. Life is the provenance of Heaven, Theresa Carstairs. We decide when to take it, or in this case, when to return it.”
Tessa’s heart leapt, and Jem’s throat constricted with hope. A boy dropped down from the ceiling, landing on his feet, just like a cat. The boy had tousled raven hair, eyes like the night sky in Hell, and the face of a bad angel.
“I must say, that had to be my most dramatic entrance
yet!” William
Herondale observed smugly. He looked around at the now silent room.
“What, do I not get a round of applause?” he demanded. A few of the room’s occupants broke into bewildered clapping while Magnus Bane was doubled up with laughter. Jem and Tessa stood stock-still. Will walked over to them.
“Goodness, it’s like they’re statues. I could ju-” he broke off, staring in horror at something behind Jem’s shoulder. “Duck,” he hissed.
“WHO IN THE NAME OF HELL BROUGHT THAT DUCK?!” Will exploded.
Magnus, who was holding the infernal creature, stepped forward with a sly smile on his face. Will took a step back. “Get that thing away from me,” he snarled viciously at Magnus.
The warlock feigned a hurt expression. “I conjured especially as a ‘happy-come-back-to-life-day’ gift!” with every word that he spoke, the warlock advanced forward with Will matching him step for step, just in the opposite direction.
“Here, take him!” Magnus promptly threw the duck in Will’s face.
There was a scream. A high-pitched, unmasculine, very girly scream. It came not from Tessa or Clary, and neither did it come from any of the surrounding females. It had, in fact, come from the aforementioned Herondale boy.
At the sound, Jem and Tessa came back to their senses;
Jem wrestled the duck away from his parabatai and Tessa shoved the beaming Magnus back into the arms of his ever-present boyfriend.
After Jem had managed to calm Will down, the latter boy crossed his arms haughtily and proclaimed, “I wasn’t scared! Just taken aback is all. Amazing immortal people like me do not get scared.”
The guests looked at one another, unsure what to make of the whole exchange. Alec, knowing their story due to Magnus, hesitantly voiced a question.
“So… which one of you is married to her?”
