Read Online Born to Endless Night by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan - Free Book Online

people I loved, to make sure they were safe. I should have been able to do it. But I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to help either of them. You did. You saved Isabelle’s life. When Magnus’s father was intent on taking him and there was nothing I could do about it, nothing at all, you stepped in. I’d undervalued you, in the past, and you did everything I ever wanted to do, and then you were gone. Isabelle was a wreck. Clary was worse. Jace was so upset. Magnus felt guilty. Everyone was so hurt, and I wanted to help them, and you came back but you didn’t remember what you had done. I’m not really good with strangers, and you were a really complicated stranger. I couldn’t talk to you. It wasn’t that you did anything wrong. It was that there was nothing I could do to make it even between us. I owed you more than I could ever repay, and I didn’t even know how to thank you. It wouldn’t have meant anything. You didn’t even remember.”
    “Oh,” said Simon. “Wow.”
    It was weird to think of faceless strangers thinking of Simon as a hero. It was even weirder to have Alec Lightwood, who he’d thought did not even like him, talk about him as if he was a hero.
    “So you don’t hate me, and you don’t hate Clary. You don’t hate anyone.”
    “I hate people forcing me to talk about my feelings,” said Alec.
    Simon stared at him for a moment, an apology on his lips, but he did not speak it. Instead he grinned, and Alec grinned shyly back.
    “I’ve been doing it way too much since I got to the Academy.”
    “I can imagine,” said Simon.
    He had not been sure what would happen with the baby Alec and Magnus were taking care of, but from everything Isabelle had said, she was sure they were keeping him. That must have required a conversation.
    “I would like,” Alec said, “not to talk about feelings again for about a year. Also maybe to sleep for a year. Do babies ever sleep?”
    “I used to babysit sometimes,” Simon said. “As I recall babies do sleep a lot, but when you least expect it. Babies: more like the Spanish Inquisition than you think.”
    Alec nodded, though he seemed confused. Simon made a mental note that it was his duty now, as Alec’s established friend, to introduce Alec to Monty Python as soon as possible. The baby crowed as if he were pleased by the comparison.
    “Hey,” said Alec. “I’m sorry that I made you think I was mad at you, just because I didn’t know what to say.”
    “Well,” Simon said. “Here’s the thing. I was helped along in my assumption.”
    Alec stopped playing patty-cake with the baby. He went still all over. “What do you mean?”
    “You didn’t talk to me a lot, and I was a little worried about it,” Simon explained. “So I asked my friend, between us guys, if you had a problem with me. I asked my good friend Jace.”
    There was a pause as Alec absorbed this news. “You did.”
    “And Jace,” said Simon. “Jace told me that there was a big, dark secret issue between us. He said it wasn’t his place to talk about it.”
    The baby looked at Simon, then back at Alec. His small face looked thoughtful, as if he might shake his head and go: That Jace, what will he do next?
    “Leave this to me,” Alec said calmly. “He’s my parabatai and we have a sacred bond and everything, but now he has gone too far.”
    “That’s cool,” said Simon. “Please exact awful vengeance for both of us, because I’m pretty sure he could take me in a fight.”
    Alec nodded, admitting this very true fact. Simon could not believe he had been so worried about Alec Lightwood. Alec was great.
    “Well,” Alec said. “Like I said . . . I do owe you.”
    Simon waved a hand. “Nah. Call it even.”
    *    *    *
    Magnus was so tired, he stumbled into the Shadowhunter Academy dining room and thought about eating there.
    Then he actually looked at the food and came to his senses.
    It was not quite dinnertime, but there were a few students gathered early, even