Alec jumped. Lily swiftly thrust Rafael behind the protection of Alec’s front door and spun, lip curling from her needle-sharp teeth.

Alec turned as well, very slowly. He wasn’t scared. He knew that voice.

“Alec,” said Robert Lightwood. “We need to talk.”

“Okay, Dad,” said Alec. “Lily, I need to explain everything to Magnus, so could you watch Rafe for a second?”

Lily nodded, still giving Robert the evil eye. There was a pause.

“Hello, Lily,” Robert added gruffly.

“Who the hell are you?” asked Lily.

“My dad,” said Alec. “The Inquisitor. The second most important person in the Clave. Someone you have met at least twenty-six times.”

“I don’t recall,” said Lily.

Alec’s incredulous look was mirrored on his father’s face.

“Lily,” said Robert. “I know you know me.”

“Never gonna, don’t wanna.” Lily shut the door of Alec’s apartment building in his father’s face.

There was an awkward silence.

“Sorry about that,” said Alec finally, jogging down the steps to join his father on the sidewalk.

“All your other vampires like me,” muttered Robert.

Alec blinked. “My other vampires?”

“Your friend Elliott reaches out whenever Lily leaves him in charge,” explained Robert. “He says he feels in need of Lightwood guidance. I visited the Hotel Dumort while you were away, and the vampires had a little dinner just for me, and they all talked to me about you. Elliott gave me his phone number, I presume so I can call him in case of emergencies. Elliott’s always charming to me.”

Alec didn’t know how to break it to his dad that Elliott was shamelessly hitting on him.

“Huh,” said Alec.

“How is Magnus? Doing well? Dressing, uh, uniquely?”

“Still gorgeous,” said Alec defiantly. “Yeah.”

His father looked abashed. Alec wasn’t comfortable talking about how he felt, but he wasn’t ashamed, and nobody was going to make him be ashamed ever again. He didn’t know why his father never stopped poking at him, with the obsessive curiosity of a child poking at a scab.

When he was younger, his dad used to joke insistently about Alec and girls. It was too painful to respond to those comments. Alec talked less and less.

He remembered the day he’d walked out of the Institute to find Magnus. He’d met Magnus twice and couldn’t forget him. The Institute lay behind him, its stark outlines cutting the sky. He’d been breathless and terrified, with one thought very clear in his mind.

Is this how you want to live your whole life?

Then he’d gone to Magnus’s place and asked him out.

Alec couldn’t bear the idea of one of his kids ever feeling trapped in their own home. He knew his dad hadn’t meant to do that. But he had.

“How’s my little M&M?” asked Robert.

Max’s middle name was Michael, after Robert’s long-dead parabatai.