Chain of Thorns (The Last Hours, #3)

Lucie stepped forward, taking Cordelia’s place before the throne. She didn’t look at Daisy as she did so; if she hadn’t known this important thing about her best friend, had she ever really known her at all? Had Cordelia ever really trusted her?

She told herself to stop, that this was what Carbas wanted. Their pain. His amber demon’s eyes were already fixed on her with anticipatory delight. “I have a secret,” she said. “One nobody knows.”

“Ooh,” said Carbas.

“When Cordelia and I tried to practice our parabatai ceremony,” she said, “I couldn’t go through with it. I didn’t tell her why. I pretended as if nothing had happened, but that—that wasn’t true at all.” She glanced over her shoulder at Cordelia, who was holding Cortana so tightly her knuckles were white. “When we began to speak the words,” Lucie said, “the room filled with ghosts. Ghosts of Shadowhunters, though none I knew. I could see them everywhere, and they were staring at us. Usually I can understand the dead, but—I didn’t know what they wanted. Did they disapprove of my creating a bond to someone living? Or did they want me to do it? I thought—what if going through with it bonded you, too, to the dead?”

Cordelia had gone a sickly color. “How could you not tell me that?” she whispered. “You were going to go ahead with the ceremony, then, without warning me? What if something had happened to you during it—what if the ghosts meant harm?”

“I was going to tell you,” Lucie protested. “But then the thing with Lilith happened, and you told me that we couldn’t become parabatai—”

“Yes, because I thought I owed you the truth before we bonded ourselves together.”

Carbas moaned in pleasure. “Don’t stop,” he groaned. “This is wonderful! It’s rare I get two people telling secrets about each other. I haven’t enjoyed a revelation this much since I found out Napoleon always hid his hand inside his jacket because he kept a spare sandwich there.”

He leered again.

“Oh, ugh,” said Lucie, thoroughly revolted. “That’s enough. We’ve done what you asked—by your own rules, you have to let us leave.”

Carbas sighed and looked sadly at the flapping skull, as if seeking sympathy. “Well, if you return this way, do stop by and see old Carbas.” As he spoke, a hidden door in the far wall swung open. Through it Lucie could see the familiar bloody orange light of Edom. “But then again,” Carbas added, as Lucie and Cordelia made their way to the door, “this is Edom. Who are we trying to fool? You’ll be lucky to make it to nightfall, Nephilim. You certainly won’t be coming back here.”





31 BRIGHT VOLUMES




At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears,

Hangs a Thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years:

Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard

In the silence of morning the song of the Bird.

’Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her? She sees

A mountain ascending, a vision of trees;

Bright volumes of vapour through Lothbury glide,

And a river flows on through the vale of Cheapside.

—William Wordsworth, “The Reverie of Poor Susan”



“Are you sure?” said Alastair, unable to hide the doubt in his voice.

“We’re sure,” Anna said. She, Ari, and Alastair stood in the entryway of the Institute. They were all in gear. They had taken just enough time for Anna to pack a small haversack in which she had placed maps, a few flasks of drinking water, and a packet of Jacob’s Biscuits.

“But he’s just a dog,” Alastair objected.

With a deeply offended look, Oscar went to sit on Ari’s feet. “Oscar is not just a dog,” she said, reaching down to scratch the retriever’s head. “He is a member of our team. Without him, we would have had to go through the York Gate.”

“Oscar is the least of our problems,” Anna said. “We have to locate the site of a church that burned down hundreds of years ago, and hope to discover a lost entrance to the Silent City. Oscar’s task is simple by comparison.”

Oscar barked. Alastair sighed. “I hope the hound gets a medal from the Clave after this. Though he’d probably prefer a soup bone.”

“Who wouldn’t?” said Ari, lifting one of Oscar’s ears and letting it flop back down. “Isn’t that right, best puppy pup?”

Anna raised an eyebrow. “I think Ari misses Winston,” she said. “Alastair, you’ll need to tell Grace and Jesse—”

“To send fire-messages instructing the Enclave to meet you at the entrance to the Iron Tombs. I know,” Alastair said. “You do realize they haven’t sent a successful message yet, to the Enclave or anyone else.”

“I know,” Anna said. “And if we reach the Iron Tombs and there’s no one there, we’ll know they’ve failed. We’ll start out toward the Adamant Citadel. Once we’re there, we can at least start getting messages to the Clave, and we’ll bring back as many Shadowhunters as we can, as soon as we can.” She did her best to sound as if it would be all right either way; the truth was that she was praying to the Angel that Christopher’s pet project could be made to work.

“Are you sure you want to go now?” Alastair said. “The Silent City could be crawling with Watchers. Thomas and I would go with you—”

“Thomas needs rest,” Anna said firmly. “And we have no time to waste. Every moment we are not taking action is one in which Belial could be breaking down James’s resolve, or enacting some other horrible plan. Besides—you can’t leave Jesse and Grace alone here. They will need you, especially traveling back and forth to Grosvenor Square—”

“I just feel that we’re disappearing one by one, vanishing from London,” Alastair said. He looked oddly vulnerable; Anna suspected he had been more worried about Thomas than he had let on.

“If we succeed,” Anna said, “then we will return in force. And if it doesn’t work, it won’t be this excursion to the Silent City that makes the difference.”

“If we stick together—”

“Alastair,” Anna said, and then, “You’ve surprised me, you know. I used to think you were an uncaring cad. And not in the entertaining, novelish way, but in the selfish, everyday kind of way.”

“I hope this is the part where you explain you’ve changed your mind,” Alastair muttered.

Ari hid a smile behind her hand.

“I started to think better of you when you helped Thomas, after he was arrested. And now, well—there isn’t anyone I’d rather be stuck at the end of the world with.” Anna put out her hand. After a moment, with a look of bemusement, Alastair shook it. “I’m glad that you’ll be here, looking after London,” she added. “We’ll see you soon.”

Alastair seemed surprised into speechlessness. Which was all right, as far as Anna was concerned; she’d said what she wanted to say. She and Ari descended the Institute steps, Oscar frolicking at their heels.

Anna was aware that Alastair was watching them go, but she didn’t turn back to look at him. There had been too many goodbyes lately; she didn’t need another.



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