Alec didn’t recognize the woman, but he recognized that tone of voice.He knew how it was to lay claim to what you loved, a§ the moreinsistently because people doubted the love that belonged to you. Alecwasn’t sure what to say, so he did one of his favorite things. He producedhis phone and found a rea§y good picture, walked up to the dais, andshowed it to them both.“›is is my son, Max.

Alec’s friends were gathered all around him, and his family, and it wasone of those moments when he remembered the desperate loneliness ofwhen he was younger, hopelessly torn between fearing for what he mightnever have, and what he might lose. Alec secured his hold on Magnus’swaist and felt a small incredulous starburst of happiness in his chest: thathe could have all this.

As mortals called on God, on angels and saints, as they chanted while telling their rosary, Raphael was pronouncing the only names that were sacred to him and would not burn his tongue to utter. Raphael was calling on his family.

Family could be a matter of choice—a matter of love

Family is more than blood.

The more you try to crush your nature, the more it will control you. Be what you are. No one who really loves you will stop.

For the first time, he looked at her, and she wasn’t a stranger, she was Clary—his friend. His family. The girl he’d sworn always to protect. The girl he loved as fiercely as he loved himself.

Clary curled up on the ground seeing in front of her not the shell of a destroyed town but the eyes of the brother and the sister that she would never have.

I don’t know,” Mark said, looking down at his own long pale fingers tangled in the little boy’s brown curls. “He just – Julian left, and Tavvy fell asleep on my lap.”He sounded amazed, wondering.“Of course he did,” Cristina said. “He’s your brother. He trusts you.”“Nobody trusts a Hunter,” Mark said.