Wil swiveled his head to look at her. There was nothing in his cool blue eyes to recal the Wil of the night before, who had touched her with such tenderness, who had whispered her name like a secret. “The problem with questioning Jessamine is that even when forced to tel the truth, there is a limit to her knowledge. We do, however, have one more connection to the Magister. Someone who is likely to know a great deal more. That is your brother, Nate, through Jessamine. He stil trusts her. If she summons him to a meeting, then we wil be able to capture him there.”
“Jessamine would never agree to do it,” said Charlotte. “Not now—”
Wil gave her a dark look. “You are al in a lather, aren’t you?” he said. “Of course she wouldn’t. We wil be asking Tessa to reprise her starring role as Jessamine, A Traitorous Young Lady of Fashion.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Jem said in a subdued voice. “For Tessa.”
Tessa looked at him quickly, and caught a flash of his silvery eyes. It was the first time he had looked at her since she had left his room that night.
Was she imagining the concern in his voice when he spoke of danger to her, or was it simply the concern Jem had for everyone? Not wishing for her horrible demise was mere kindness, not—not what it was she hoped he felt.
Whatever that might be. Let him at least not despise her. . . .
“Tessa is fearless,” said Wil . “And there wil be little danger to her. We wil send him a note arranging a meeting in a place where we might fal upon him easily and immediately. The Silent Brothers can torture him until he gives up the information that we need.”
“Torture?” said Jem. “This is Tessa’s brother—”
“Torture him,” said Tessa. “If that is what is necessary. I give you my permission.”
Charlotte looked up at her, shocked. “You can’t mean that.”
“You said there was a way to dig through his mind for secrets,” Tessa said. “I asked you not to do that, and you didn’t. I thank you for that, but I wil not hold you to that promise. Dig through his mind if you must. There is more to al of this for me than there is for you, you know. For you this is about the Institute and the safety of Shadowhunters. I care about those things too, Charlotte. But Nate—he is working with Mortmain. Mortmain, who wants to trap me and use me, and for what we stil do not know. Mortmain, who may know what I am. Nate told Jessamine my father was a demon and my mother was a Shadowhunter—”
Wil sat up straight. “That’s impossible,” he said. “Shadowhunters and demons—they cannot procreate. They cannot produce living offspring.”
“Then maybe it was a lie, like the lie about Mortmain being in Idris,” said Tessa. “That doesn’t mean Mortmain doesn’t know the truth. I must know what I am. If nothing else, I believe it is the key to why he wants me.”
There was sadness in Jem’s eyes as he looked at her, and then away. “Very wel ,” he said. “Wil , how do you propose we lure him to a meeting?
Don’t you think he knows Jessamine’s handwriting? Isn’t it likely they have some secret signal between them?”
“Jessamine must be convinced,” said Wil . “To help us.”
“Please don’t suggest we torture her,” said Jem irritably. “The Mortal Sword has already been used. She has told us al she can—”
“The Mortal Sword did not give us their meeting places or any codes or pet names they might have used,” said Wil . “Don’t you understand? This is Jessamine’s last chance. Her last chance to cooperate. To get leniency from the Clave. To be forgiven. Even if Charlotte keeps the Institute, do you think they wil leave Jessamine’s fate in our hands? No, it wil be left to the Consul and the Inquisitor. And they wil not be kind. If she does this for us, it could mean her life.”
“I am not sure she cares about her life,” said Tessa softly.
“Everyone cares,” said Wil . “Everyone wants to live.”
Jem turned away from him abruptly, and stared into the fire.
“The question is, who can we send to persuade her?” said Charlotte. “I cannot go. She hates and blames me most of al .”
“I could go,” Henry said, his gentle face troubled. “I could perhaps reason with the poor girl, speak with her of the fol y of young love, how swiftly it fades in the face of life’s harsh reality—”
“No.” Charlotte’s tone was final.
“Wel , I highly doubt she wishes to see me,” said Wil . “It wil have to be Jem. He’s impossible to hate. Even that devil cat likes him.”
Jem exhaled, stil staring into the fire. “I wil go to the Silent City,” he said. “But Tessa should come with me.”
Tessa looked up, startled. “Oh, no,” she said. “I do not think Jessamine likes me much. She feels I have betrayed her terribly by disguising myself as her, and I cannot say I blame her.”
“Yes,” said Jem. “But you are Nate’s sister. If she loves him as you say she does . . .” His eyes met hers across the room. “You know Nate. You can speak of him with authority. You may be able to make her believe what I cannot.”