Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3)

He swept a mocking bow. His clothes were filthy with dust, and they resembled no Shadowhunter gear she had ever seen. “I am not the Jace Herondale you know or have ever met. I am his dark mirror. I have indeed come from that world. But my friend here was born here, in your Courts.”

“Your friend?” the Queen breathed.

Jace nodded. “Ash, take down your hood.”

His companion raised his hands and drew back the hood of his cloak, though the Queen knew already what she would see.

White-silver curls tumbled over his brow. He was some years older than he had been when he had gone through the Portal in the Unseelie King’s throne room. He looked a mortal in his teen years, his face already beginning to show signs of her own beauty. His eyes were green as grass as the true eyes of his father had been. He regarded her with a calm, straightforward gaze.

“Ash,” she breathed, rising to her feet. She wanted to hurl her arms around her son, but she held back. No one gave something for nothing in the Courts. “You bring my son to me,” she said. “And for that I thank you. But what do you wish in return?”

“A safe place for Ash to live. To remain with him as he grows up.”

“Both those wishes can be easily granted,” said the Queen. “Is there nothing else?”

“There is one more thing,” said the Jace that was not Jace, his golden eyes hard. “I want you to bring me Clary Fairchild.”