CHAPTER 1

The sun was setting as Clarissa Fray made her way down onto the sand. The view took her breath away as she looked up towards the sky, which was a deep, tranquil blue stained with pink and orange. It made her feel warm and tingly despite the cool breeze which swirled around her, making her white dress swish around beneath her and causing her loose red curls to dance around her face.

She felt so intoxicated by the beauty of her surroundings and the anticipation of what was to come that she almost jumped when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up and was immediately met by Luke's kind, loving eyes. He gave her a quick smile and a slight tilt of the head as if to ask if she was ready, which she returned with her own smile, a smile so bright it could have illuminated the entire beach, although that was hardly necessary as Isabelle had already taken care of the lighting and Clary had to admit, she'd done a pretty fine job.

Shimmering lights and candles covered the area where they stood as well as decorating the various bouquets of flowers Isabelle had insisted on placing at the end of each row of seating. A set of twinkling gold and silver fairy lights marked their way down the aisle, ending at the altar which was adorned with rose petals and clusters of tea lights in multi-coloured jars.

Clary looked up to the end of the aisle and saw Jace standing there with Alec, his best man, standing behind him, both dressed in black suits. He smiled at Clary and she observed that it was almost as if he himself was glowing. However, it wasn't the candles or the sparkly lights that made his whole face light up this way; it was the pure joy and love in his eyes that illuminated his features, making Clary's heart skip a beat.

All of sudden, Clary felt the urge to be close to him, to hold his hands and look into his eyes and say the words that would make him her's forever. As the music began to play and she and Luke began their descent down the aisle, Clary desperately started to wish that the path towards the altar could be just a bit shorter. Finally after what seemed an eternity and a half they reached the end of the aisle. Letting go of Luke's arm, Clary took Jace's hands in her own and waited for the question that would change her life forever;

"Clarissa Fray, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?" She opened her mouth to reply and...

The door opened with a loud bang to reveal Jace Wayland standing in his pyjama trousers, crossing his arms impatiently over his chest. Clary turned over in her bed and moaned into her pillow,

"For God's sake Jace, don't you ever knock?" She demanded, sitting up to face him.

" Yes, actually I think you'll find I knocked several times but eventually I decided it would be easier to let myself in before one of us died of old age".

Clary let out a sigh of exasperation, this was typical Jace. It wasn't enough for him to just give a simple answer; it had to come with an extra side of sarcasm. Still, it was one of the things she loved about him, one of the many things...

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything" continued Jace as sarcastic (and gorgeous) as ever, before adding "You weren't dreaming about me, were you?"

Even though she knew Jace was joking, Clary could feel a deep blush creeping up her face; she grabbed her pillow and hugged it to her face in an attempt to hide the redness she knew was spreading over her cheeks. Looking up, Clary caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror that hung on her wall. Eurgh, she wished she didn't have to have that thing right in front of her, especially first thing in the morning when she wasn't exactly looking her best, but it had been a gift from Isabelle and she thought it would be rude not to use it.

In typical Isabelle style, the mirror was encrusted with jewels and sequins around the edge, it was without a doubt the sparkliest thing she owned. The gem stones glistened in the sunlight, which was streaming in through the window they sort of reminded her of all the twinkling lights from her dream...Oh God, she was blushing again, that just made her reflection look even worse, it was so bad she didn't know where to begin. Her hair hung in a mop of messy, matted tangles that stuck up at odd angles, she had dark circles under her eyes and oh great a pimple, just what I need right now, she thought to herself.

She tried to remind herself that most girls don't exactly look stunning after collapsing into bed in the early hours of the morning after chasing giant, mutinous demons through the sewers (unless they happened to be Isabelle Lightwood), before realising that in fact, most girls don't make a habit of chasing giant, mutinous demons through the sewers. Well considering everything that happened last night combined with the four hours sleep I managed to get, I guess I don't look too bad, she figured, until she looked at Jace.

He was his usual impossibly handsome self as always. In fact, leaning across her doorway he looked almost God –like, a comparison she had made many times before but still it surprised her each time. Honestly, living with so many beautiful people was enough to make her sick sometimes and if she wasn't so completely in love with Jace, she would probably hate him for it, or least resent him a little bit. But thinking about the way he had looked at her in that dream made her stomach fill with butterflies, he had looked at her as if she was his whole world, the single most important thing in his life...

Clary let her thoughts drift away until she was interrupted by the sound of Jace clearing his throat, "Er...I don't know if you've realised but you've been staring into that mirror for nearly five minutes" he informed her "and you tell me I'm vain"

"You are vain" retorted Clary

"Maybe so but at least I don't go for long periods of time checking out my reflection in the mirror first thing in the morning"

"Well excuse me but we can't all just roll out of bed at some horrendous hour looking like an Abercrombie & Fitch model" said Clary, glaring at her boyfriend.

Jace nodded and sighed theatrically "It's true, I do have amazing bone structure, not to mention this immaculate body" he said gesturing towards himself, Clary rolled her eyes. "But you shouldn't feel bad, if anything you should be happy 'cos you get to look at this everyday" he continued, striking a pose that would have been worthy of the red carpet and earning another glare from Clary.

"Er Jace, did you actually come in here for a reason or just to wake me up and flaunt your perfection in front of me?"

Jace smiled "Actually there was a reason I came in here, I need you to get ready because I'm taking you out"

"Out? Now? Where?" Clary panicked, if she was going out she seriously needed to do something with that hair, at least yank a brush through it or something. If only I could get it to look the way it looked in that dream, all loose and pretty she thought before mentally telling herself to shut up as she was pretty sure if this went on much longer, her face would start to match her hair.

" Oh, I'm not going to spoil the surprise" Jace grinned wickedly, " Just get ready and meet me at the front door of the Institute in an hour" he turned to leave before turning back and planting a quick kiss on Clary's lips,

"Oh, by the way, happy anniversary"