City of Lost Souls

Simon was dimly aware that everyone else in the truck was staring at him, concern on their faces. He didn’t care. Clary’s voice in his mind was like a rope tossed over a chasm, and if he could grip his end of it, maybe he could pull her to safety, or at least keep her from slipping away.

Clary, listen. I can’t tell you how, it’s too long a story, but we have a weapon. It can be used on either Jace or Sebastian without hurting the other, and according to the… person who gave it to us, it might be able to cut them apart.

Cut them apart? How?

He said it would burn all the evil out of the one we used it on. So if we used it on Sebastian, I’m guessing, it would burn away the bond between them because the bond is evil. Simon felt his head throb, and hoped he sounded more confident than he did. I’m not sure. It’s very powerful, anyway. It’s called Glorious.

And you’d use it on Sebastian? It would burn them apart without killing them?

Well, that’s the idea. I mean, there is some chance it would destroy Sebastian. It would depend on if there’s any good left in him. “If he’s more Hell’s than Heaven’s” I think is what the Angel said—

The Angel? Her alarm was palpable. Simon, what have you—

Her voice broke off, and Simon was suddenly filled with a clamor of emotion—surprise, anger, terror. Pain. He cried out, sitting bolt upright.

Clary?

But there was only silence, ringing in his head.

Clary! he cried out, and then, aloud, he said: “Damn. She’s gone again.”

“What happened?” Isabelle demanded. “Is she all right? What’s going on?”

“I think we have a lot less time than we thought,” Simon said in a voice much calmer than he felt. “Magnus, pull the truck over. We have to talk.”

“So,” Sebastian said, filling the doorway as he looked down at Clary. “Would it be déjà vu if I asked you what you were doing in my room, little sister?”

Clary swallowed against her suddenly dry throat. The light in the hallway was bright behind Sebastian, turning him into a silhouette. She couldn’t see the expression on his face. “Looking for you?” she hazarded.

“You’re sitting on my bed,” he said. “Did you think I was under it?”

“I…”

He walked into the room—sauntered, really, as if he knew something she didn’t. Something no one else knew. “So why were you looking for me? And why haven’t you changed for the ceremony?”

“The dress,” she said. “It—doesn’t fit.”

“Of course it fits,” he said, sitting down on the bed beside her. He turned to face her, his back to the headboard. “Everything else in that room fits you. This should fit you too.”

“It’s silk and chiffon. It doesn’t stretch.”

“You’re a skinny little thing. It shouldn’t have to.” He took her right wrist, and she curled her fingers in, desperately trying to hide the ring. “Look, my fingers go right around your wrist.”

His skin felt hot against hers, sending sharp prickles through her nerves. She remembered the way, in Idris, his touch had burned her like acid. “The Seventh Sacred Site,” she said, not looking at him. “Is that where Jace went?”

“Yes. I sent him ahead. He’s readying things for our arrival. We’ll meet him there.”

Her heart dived inside her chest. “He’s not coming back?”

“Not before the ceremony.” She caught the curling edge of Sebastian’s smile. “Which is good, because he’d be so disappointed when I told him about this.” He slid his hand swiftly over hers, uncurling her fingers. The gold ring blazed there, like a signal fire. “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize faerie work? Do you think the Queen is such a fool that she would send you off to retrieve these for her without knowing you would keep them for yourself? She wanted you to bring this here, where I would find it.” He jerked the ring off her finger with a smirk.

“You’ve been in contact with the Queen?” Clary demanded. “How?”

“With this ring,” Sebastian purred, and Clary remembered the Queen saying in her high sweet voice, Jonathan Morgenstern could be a powerful ally. The Fair Folk are an old people; we do not make hasty decisions but wait to see in what direction the wind blows first. “Do you really think she’d let you get your hands on something that would let you communicate with your little friends without her being able to listen in? Since I took it from you, I’ve spoken to her, she’s spoken to me—you were a fool to trust her, little sister. She likes to be on the winning side of things, the Seelie Queen. And that side will be ours, Clary. Ours.” His voice was low and soft. “Forget them, your Shadowhunter friends. Your place is with us. With me. Your blood cries out for power, like mine does. Whatever your mother may have done to twist your conscience, you know who you are.” His hand caught at her wrist again, pulling her toward him. “Jocelyn made all the wrong decisions. She sided with the Clave against her family. This is your chance to rectify her mistake.”

She tried to pull her arm back. “Let me go, Sebastian. I mean it.”