“Well,” Elliott said. “Me, like usual. But this time it really wasn’t my fault! It was a total and complete accident that could have happened to anyone. You see, I have this regular selkie Thursday-night booty call.”

Selkies were water faeries who shed their sealskins to assume human form. They were fairly rare.

Alec subjected him to a judgmental stare. “So this disaster could have happened to anyone with a regular selkie booty call.”

“Yeah, exactly,” said Elliott. “Or, like, regular booty calls with two different selkies. One of them found the other’s sealskin in my wardrobe. There was a scene. You know how it is with selkies.”

Alec, Jace, and Bat shook their heads.

“Only one tiny wall fell down, but now Lily’s all mad.”

Lily had made Elliott her second in command because they were friends, not because Elliott had any aptitude for leadership. Sometimes Alec worried about the New York vampire clan.

Bat said, “This guy. Why do you have to suggest threesomes to everybody? Why are vampires like this?”

Elliott shrugged. “Vampires love threesomes. Live long, get decadent. We aren’t all the same, of course.” His face brightened with a pleasant memory. “The boss used to get very cross about decadence. But really, I’m ready to settle down. I think you and I and Maia—”

“My abuela wouldn’t like you,” Bat said firmly. “My abuela loves Maia. Maia’s learning Spanish for her.”

Bat’s slightly raspy voice went low and warm whenever he talked about Maia, the leader of the werewolves, and his girlfriend. Alec couldn’t blame him. Alec never worried about the werewolves. Maia always had everything under control.

“Speaking of Spanish,” Alec said, “I’m going to Buenos Aires, and I’m asking Lily to come with me, since she’s fluent. By the time Lily gets back, she’ll have cooled off.”

Elliott nodded. “A trip would be good for her,” he said, his voice unusually serious. “She hasn’t been doing well lately. She misses the boss. Well, we all do, but it’s different for Lily. It takes us like this sometimes.” He glanced at Alec and clarified: “Immortals. We’re used to seeing each other off and on through the centuries. Years go by, then someone’s back, and it’s just the way it was before. Because we stay the same, though the world doesn’t. When someone dies, it takes us a while to process. You think to yourself: I wonder when I’ll see him again. Then you remember, and it’s a shock every time. You have to keep reminding yourself, until you believe it: I’ll never see him again.”

There was an achingly sad note in Elliott’s voice. Alec nodded. He knew how it would be, one day, when Magnus had to think “never again” about him.

He knew how strong someone had to be, to withstand the loneliness of immortality.