Chain of Thorns (The Last Hours, #3)

“Then we have an agreement,” said Cordelia. “But first you must swear to it. Swear that you will send us to Edom safely. Swear that if Belial dies by my blade, you will free me from my paladin’s oath. Swear on Lucifer’s name.”


Lilith flinched. She flinched, but she swore, on the name of Lucifer, Cordelia listening very carefully to each of her words to make sure that Lilith was swearing to exactly what she had asked for. No one cared about exactitude of language more than demons; Cordelia had learned that with her paladin’s oath, and she would not be tricked again.

When she was done, Lilith grinned, a ghastly snake’s grin. “It is done,” she said. “Remove the pentagram.”

“No,” Lucie said firmly. She turned to the ghosts. “When I have passed through the Portal, you may disperse and free the demon. But not before I am gone.”

Lilith snarled at that but raised her hands, spreading them wide, her fingers seeming to reach out to touch Lucie and Cordelia.

Darkness poured from her hands. Cordelia could not help but think of the shadows that had swallowed James and Matthew, as the blackness curled around her and Lucie, cutting off her vision and her breath. She slammed Cortana back into its scabbard as she felt herself caught and spun upward and outward, Lilith’s laughter echoing in her ears. She saw the glow of three strange moons in the sky as a searing, dry wind lifted her, twisting her body until it seemed as if her spine would snap.

She cried out for Lucie—and then she was falling, falling through a hot, choking darkness, the salt taste of blood in her mouth.



* * *



Jesse shoved his bedroom door open. He had left the candles burning; in fact, he had left the whole room a mess. And he was a mess himself, come to that: his shirt was buttoned incorrectly, and his shoes didn’t match.

He had bolted out of the room the moment he’d read Lucie’s note. He had no idea how long it had been since she’d left it, though he felt as if he’d barely slept—surely it couldn’t have been more than half an hour before he’d rolled over and the crinkle of Lucie’s note had awakened him.

He barely remembered throwing on clothes and rushing out into the street. He was halfway across the snowy courtyard when he recalled: he was a Shadowhunter. He could do better than racing into the night with no map and no plan. With Lucie’s gold comb in hand, he drew a Tracking rune on the back of his hand and waited.

And felt nothing.

Cold crept into his bones. Perhaps he had drawn the rune incorrectly, though he knew in his heart that he hadn’t. He did it again. Waited again.

Nothing. Only the wind blowing particles of ice and soot, and the terrible silence of a London without birdsong, traffic, or the calls of barrow boys.

Lucie was gone.

He made his way warily back to his room, and crossed most of the way to the bed before he realized it was occupied. There was a sort of nest of blankets in the center, mixed up with scattered papers, and in the middle of the nest was Grace. She was curled up, her feet bandaged, wearing a clean linen nightgown. Her pale hair was in braids. She looked years younger than she was, less like the young woman she had become and more like the little girl he had trained and protected to the best of his ability so many years ago.

“They’re gone,” she said. “Aren’t they?”

Jesse sat down at the foot of the bed. “How did you know?”

She tugged at a braid. “I couldn’t sleep. I was looking out the window and saw them go outside together. And then you rushed out, and it looked like you were trying to Track them.” She frowned. “Where’d they go?”

Jesse fished Lucie’s note from his trouser pocket and handed it to Grace, who unfolded it curiously. When she was done, she looked at Jesse with worried eyes.

“I knew they were planning something,” she said. “I didn’t know it was this. Edom, and Lilith—I don’t know—”

“How did you know they were planning something?” asked Jesse, furrowing his brow.

“The way they were looking at each other,” Grace said. “Like—they had a secret.”

“I feel a fool,” Jesse said. “I didn’t notice.”

“I used to have a secret with Lucie. You. I know what she looks like when she’s planning something. Cordelia’s harder to read, but…” Grace cast her eyes down. “I’m sorry I didn’t guess what it was. I would have said something. Even when I saw them leave, I assumed they were just hunting Watchers, or looking for more Downworlders.…”

“It’s not your fault,” Jesse said. Her eyes were huge, the color of mirrors, and fixed on him. He meant it, though—he didn’t blame her; not for this, at least.

“It’s strange,” he said. “When I was a ghost, I could sense Lucie, you know. I could simply… reach out into the shadows and always find her. Appear wherever she was. But not anymore.”

“Now you’re alive,” Grace said quietly. “You must live within human limitations. And within those, there is nothing you could have done.”

“I wish Lucie had told me,” Jesse said, looking down at his hands. “I could have tried to talk her out of it.…”

Grace said, not unkindly, “I’ve come to know Lucie quite well, you know, these last months. She was probably as close to a friend as I have ever had. And I know—and you know, too, I don’t doubt—that she is very determined. This is what she wanted, and she would have let nothing stand in her way. Not even you.”

“Even if I couldn’t have stopped her,” Jesse said, “I could have gone with her.”

“No,” said Grace. “I mean—Jesse, if they’ve gone to Edom, it is only because Cordelia is protected by her bond with Lilith, and Lucie by her ties to Belial. It’s a demon realm, and you would have been in terrible danger—it’s why Lucie didn’t tell you, or anyone. I don’t know if Cordelia even told Alastair. They knew no one else could come.”

“I wouldn’t have minded,” Jesse said, clenching and unclenching his fists. “The risk, I mean.”

“Well, I would mind. If you risked yourself. I know you are angry with me, Jesse. I know you may never feel the same way about me again as you did once. But you are still my brother. You are part of my character, and if there is a little good in me, along with the evil, then it is there because of you.”

Jesse softened. He reached out and took Grace’s hand in his, and for a moment, they sat in silence.

“If it’s any consolation,” Grace said after a time, “I think that Lucie also went without you because she knew we needed you. There are only six of us here now. Six Shadowhunters to stand between London and the forever dark.”

“It’s a bit of consolation,” Jesse said. “And—there is good in you, Gracie,” he added, after a time. “The first thing you did when you escaped the Silent City was run here to warn us of Tatiana. You could simply have fled. It would have been easier, perhaps safer. Yet you took the risk.”