Jem, rising to his feet, clapped his hands over Wil ’s mouth. “Do you promise to be quiet?” he hissed into his friend’s ear.
Wil nodded, blue eyes blazing. Tessa was staring at him in amazement; they al were. She had seen Wil many things—amused, bitter, condescending, angry, pitying—but never giddy before.
Jem let him go. “Al right, then.”
Wil slid to the floor, his back against the armchair, and threw his arms up. “A demon pox on al your houses!” he announced, and yawned.
“Oh God, weeks of pox jokes,” said Jem. “We’re for it now.”
“It can’t be true,” said Charlotte. “It’s simply—demon pox?”
“How do we know Gideon did not lie to Sophie?” asked Jem, his tone mild. “I am sorry, Sophie. I hate to have to say it, but the Lightwoods are not trustworthy. . . .”
“I’ve seen Gideon’s face when he looks at Sophie,” said Wil . “It was Tessa who told me first that Gideon fancied our Miss Col ins, and I thought back, and I realized it was true. And a man in love—a man in love wil tel anything. Betray anyone.” He was staring at Tessa as he spoke. She stared back; she could not help it. Her gaze felt pul ed to him. The way he looked at her, with those blue eyes like pieces of sky, as if trying to communicate something to her silently. But what on earth . . . ?
She did owe him her life, she realized with a start. Perhaps he had been waiting for her to thank him. But there had been no time, no chance! She resolved to thank him at the first opportunity that presented itself. “Besides, Benedict was holding a demon woman on his lap at that party of his, kissing her,” Wil went on, glancing away. “She had snakes for eyes. Each man to his own, I suppose. Anyway, the only way you can contract demon pox is by having improper relations with a demon, so . . .”
“Nate told me Mr. Lightwood preferred demon women,” said Tessa. “I don’t suppose his wife ever knew about that.”
“Wait.” It was Jem, who had suddenly gone very stil . “Wil —what are the symptoms of demon pox?”
“Quite nasty,” said Wil with relish. “It begins with a shield-shaped rash on one’s back, and spreads over the body, creating cracks and fissures in the skin—”
Jem expel ed a gasp of breath. “I—I shal return,” he said, “in just a moment. By the Angel—”
And he vanished out the door, leaving the others staring after him.
“You don’t think he has demon pox, do you?” Henry inquired of no one in particular.
I hope not, since we just got engaged, Tessa had the urge to say—just to see the looks on their faces—but repressed it.
“Oh, shut up, Henry,” said Wil , and looked as if he were about to say something else, but the door banged open and Jem was back in the room, panting, and holding a piece of parchment. “I got this,” he said, “from the Silent Brothers—when Tessa and I went to see Jessamine.” He gave Tessa a slightly guilty look from under his fair hair, and she remembered him leaving Jessamine’s cel and returning moments later, looking preoccupied. “It is the report on Barbara Lightwood’s death. After Charlotte told us that her father had never turned Silas Lightwood over to the Clave, I thought I would inquire of the Silent Brothers if there was another manner in which Mrs. Lightwood had died. To see if Benedict had also lied that she had died of grief.”
“And had he?” Tessa leaned forward, fascinated.
“Yes. In fact, she cut her own wrists. But there was more.” He looked down at the paper in his hand. “A shield-shaped rash, indicative of the heraldic marks of astriola, upon the left shoulder.” He held it out to Wil , who took it and scanned it, his blue eyes widening.
“A striola,” he said. “That is demon pox. You had evidence that demon pox existed and you didn’t mention it to me! Et tu, Brute!” He rol ed up the paper and hit Jem over the head with it.
“Ouch!” Jem rubbed his head rueful y. “The words meant nothing to me! I assumed it a minor sort of ailment. It hardly seemed as if it were what kil ed her. She slit her wrists, but if Benedict wanted to protect his children from the fact that their mother had taken her own life—”
“By the Angel,” said Charlotte softly. “No wonder she kil ed herself. Because her husband gave her demon pox. A nd she knew it.” She whirled on Sophie, who made a little gasping noise. “Does Gideon know of this?”
Sophie shook her head, saucer-eyed. “No.”