Prologue
December 2007.
The throne room was as cold as a freezer. Kaelie Whitewillow's breath puffed from her lips in hazy white clouds as she slowly made her way closer to the throne. Snow twirled down like little ballerinas, sprinkling the winding plants with white powder. A shiver hovered underneath her skin. The tendrils of the vining plants looked like they were reaching for her, ready to trap her in a thorny embrace.
She tried not to shake in fear as she knelt in the snow. It soaked through her thin dress, sticking to her skin.
"Now, what news do you bring me of the Nephilim?"
She felt the Seelie Queen's power grazing her skin, like rays from a wayward sun. In front of her downcast eyes, a pair of ivory feet descended into the snow, walking slowly and carefully towards her.
"They… They.."
Kaelie couldn't form the words. Her disbelief at their cruelty towards her people blocked the words from escaping. How could they do this? How will we survive?
"Speak, girl, or I will make you."
"They have decreed that because of our siding with Jonathan Morgenstern, that we are not allowed to bear arms, and we must rebuild all that we have destroyed, parts of Alicante, the Praetor Lupus, the broken wards with our own riches."
The pair of ivory feet stilled in front of her. Kaelie toppled over, sliding in the snow when the Seelie Queen kicked her away from her in disgust. The Queen mounted the dais and sat back in her throne. Kaelie studied her Queen's luminous face, looking for any emotion flickering in her jewel-like eyes. But the ruler of the Seelie Court was expressionless.
"You are not surprised by this news, your Majesty?" she squeaked, pushing herself back in her kneeling position.
"Oh, you may rise, Kaelie Whitewillow. Stop groveling in the snow. And no, I am not surprised. When you are as old as I am, you forget the feeling completely. Do you think I did not prepare for the chance that Jonathan Morgenstern would fail? I am not stupid, girl."
Brushing off the snow from her dress, she pushed herself up. She felt the pulsing warmth of her blood beading from the scraps on her legs and side. Bright green rivulets twined down her calves, splattering the snow. Her all-blue eyes were wide with reverence.
"I need you to send a letter to the King of the Unseelie Court."
Kaelie sucked in a breath. "But you and the King are-"
"Don't question me, girl. Now, tell him it is time to wake her."
"Wake who, Your Majesty?"
"Lady Midnight. Oh, I am so excited for the Shadowhunters to encounter her. They will scramble like confused ants when they realize what a threat she is. She will be the ruin of the Nephilim, once and for all."