Mina’s small face was tearstained, but she had clearly forgotten her tears before they were dry. She was smiling a gummy smile, apparently enchanted by this new experience.

“Jem always talks about how advanced you are, so how about advancing to the part where you sleep through the night?” Kit said. “I wonder if having a mom who is an immortal warlock means that you’ve been maturing faster than other babies.”

Mina had no response for this. Kit didn’t hold Mina often, though he would bend over the cradle or someone else’s arms and awkwardly offer her attention when he came into a room where she was. He did give her his forefinger to hold frequently, and now that Mina could focus better, she would hold her hands out imperiously when Kit came near. Jem was sure she knew Min-Min was Kit’s name for her, and Kit was the boy who held her hand.

Now she was bundled inelegantly in Kit’s arms, the long white woolen blanket Catarina Loss had knitted for her trailing. Kit tripped over it as he walked the floor and stumbled. Jem tensed to lunge across the room and catch them. But Kit caught himself against the wall, though he let out a curse as he did so and promptly looked horrified and belatedly tried to cover one of Mina’s ears.

“Please don’t tell Jem and Tessa I said that word in front of you!” Kit exclaimed.

Mina, who clearly thought Kit was playing a game with her, gave him another sleepy smile that split her small face, then yawned like a kitten. Kit bit his lip and hummed a broken line of a song to her, several times over. Soon she was drooling against Kit’s T-shirt, which had a design on it that Kit had informed Jem meant superheroes. Kit patted her on the back.

“There we go,” Kit murmured, sounding proud of himself. “It’s our secret.”

Jem watched Kit and Mina for a little while longer, then crept back to his room, letting Kit return to his own bed believing he’d helped Jem and Tessa to rest.

Janus kept thinking of that word, “Consul,” and Alec, and he decided he should survey the situation for himself. He couldn’t pass himself off as Alec’s parabatai if he didn’t know about Alec’s life. His father had always said that knowledge was power to be used in battle.

It was too dangerous to go to the Institute and risk someone seeing him, but Janus remembered where Magnus’s loft had been. He concealed himself and watched the door until Alec emerged. It was one of the sunny spring days in New York that was better than summer, the sky full of clear light and soft breezes.