Rafe said several swift sentences in Spanish.

“Is that so?” asked Magnus. “How extremely interesting.”

“What are you saying?” Alec asked Rafe anxiously.

“You aren’t getting away with this one, Alec Lightwood.” Magnus pointed at him. “Not this time. I have a spy!”

Alec went over to the rug, knelt down, and made earnest eye contact with Rafe.

“Rafe,” he said. “Please don’t be a spy.”

Rafe gave Alec a look of firm incomprehension and burst into a torrent of Spanish for Magnus. Alec was certain at least some of it was Rafe promising to be a spy anytime Magnus wanted.

“Sounds like you did some pretty impressive things in Buenos Aires,” said Magnus at last. “A lot of people would have given up. What were you thinking?”

Alec picked Max up, tipped him upside down, then sideways, then returned him to the rug, grinning when Max crowed with laughter.

“All I did was think about being worthy of coming home to you,” said Alec. “It was nothing much.”

There was a silence. Alec turned, a little concerned, to find Magnus staring at him. That surprised look was on his face again, and there was a softness along with it that was rare for Magnus.

“What?” said Alec.

“Nothing, you stealth romance attacker,” Magnus said. “How do you always know what to say?”

He leaned forward easily, keeping Rafe held comfortably against him, to give Alec a kiss on the jaw. Alec smiled.

Rafe was studying Max, who seemed gratified Rafe was taking an interest.

“If you want to be a Shadowhunter,” said Rafael, in careful English, “you have to train.”

“No, Rafe,” said Alec. “Max doesn’t need to train.”

“I train!” said Max.

Alec shook his head. His baby was a warlock. Alec would train Rafe, but Max didn’t need to learn any of that. He looked to Magnus for backup, but Magnus was hesitating, his lip caught between his teeth.

“Magnus!”

“Max wants to be just like you,” Magnus said. “I can understand that. Are we going to tell him he can’t be whatever he wants to be?”

“He’s not—” Alec began, and stopped.

“There’s nothing to say a warlock couldn’t physically fight,” said Magnus. “Using magic to substitute for Shadowhunter attributes. It might keep him safe, because people don’t expect a warlock to be trained that way. It wouldn’t hurt to try. Besides … we found Max on the steps of Shadowhunter Academy. Someone might have wanted him to have Shadowhunter training.”

Alec hated the idea. But he’d thought, hadn’t he, that he wished he could train a kid? He’d promised himself that he would never be the kind of father who made the walls of home feel like a trap.

If you loved somebody, you trusted them.

“All right,” said Alec. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to show them a few ways to stand and fall. Might get them tired enough for bedtime.”