Clary Fairchild and her mother had been in the palace of Versailles for a month. After Clary's father had been named a traitor to the crown, he'd quickly been executed and stripped of any lands and titles. It had only been her maternal grandparents' excellent standing with the king that kept Clary and her mother from also being accused of treachery.
And so they had moved to Versailles to show their loyalty to the king of France, as well as seek husbands who would help reestablish their higher standing in society.
So far Jocelyn Fairchild had collected several worthy suitors, but Clary had not even started looking. She spent her time exploring.
The Palace was huge. There were so many rooms and hallways, all crowded and bustling with courtiers and servants. The gardens were just as busy, though beautiful. Clary found the whole palace smothering. She much preferred solitude, but knew better than to spend time during the day in the suites she shared with her mother. She would never hear the end of it if her mother knew she was "wasting" her time reading or sketching when she should be socializing.
One day while exploring the palace, she discovered the famous Hall of Mirrors. For everything that Clary had heard of the Hall, for everyone's raving about its wonders, she was surprised to find it mostly empty, save for a few servants running in and out of various rooms.
Clary seemed to have found the one place in the entire palace that wasn't full of obnoxious courtiers and people pretending to be royalty. She wondered if the mirrors themselves had anything to do with it; if the courtiers believed their secrets could not be kept around so many mirrors in the Hall.
Clary took a seat at one of the long benches in the Hall and pulled out her sketch pad and pencils, finally able to work on her art in peace.
Unfortunately, her peace did not last long, as a golden-haired guard came running into the Hall, pausing in front of her to catch his breath.
"Have you seen anyone running through here?" He asked between breaths.
Clary shook her head. "No, sorry. I haven't been here long, and all I've seen are servants moving around, but at a usual pace, not running." She looked at the guard, surprised to see how young he looked. He seemed no more than a year or two older than her. Though, she supposed, she wasn't all that young, especially considering her mother was already looking for a husband for her. "Why do you ask? Has something happened?"
The guard eyed her for a moment, as if judging to see whether she could be trusted with any information. "A jewel thief snatched one of Lady Starkweather's necklaces. She claims the necklace is worth a fortune, and demanded I retrieve it for her." He let out a small laugh. "Though if you ask me, Lady Starkweather should be thanking the thief for taking that hideous thing out of her sight."
Clary smiled. "I haven't seen anyone who seemed like a jewel thief, but I could help you look," she suggested.
The guard shook his head, some of his golden hair falling into his eyes. Clary was surprised when her fingers twitched, as though they wanted to fix the guard's hair for him. "No, I couldn't ask you to do that. It's my job to protect the people of this court. And it could be dangerous.
Clary glared at him. "You think I couldn't hold my own against a simple jewel thief?"
The guard looked taken aback for a moment, as though surprised a court lady would even consider going after a jewel thief. "I didn't mean to imply anything, miss. I just didn't think you would want to put yourself in any sort of danger."
Clary stood up, brushing off invisible dust from her skirts. "Well, as it turns out, I don't have any other plans this afternoon, so I might as well join you."
The guard watched her for a moment, seeming surprised at her gall to stand up to him. Especially since he towered over her, which she particularly noticed when she stood up and realized the top of her head barely reached his chin.
The guard looked up and shook his head. Then he returned his gaze to her and said, "Well, then we should get moving. The jewel thief could be just about anywhere by now."
The guard led Clary down the Hall and through more corridors in the palace. They were silent as they walked, but Clary eyed her companion. He had golden hair that Clary kept wanting to run her hands through, but she would never admit it. His eyes were also golden, and Clary wondered at the color. They looked almost unnatural, but sort of angelic. He must be strong, too, if the muscles bulging in his shirt were any indication. His guard training must be really extensive.
Their pace quickened when they heard yelling up ahead of them. They started running down the hallway they were in until they found three men sitting on the floor. It seemed that one of them had run into the other two, causing all of them to fall to the ground.
Two of the men, who seemed more distinguished, were yelling at the younger man, who was the first to notice Clary and the guard. His eyes widened in fear, as though he knew he was about to be in a lot of trouble. Clary knew they'd found their jewel thief.
"Guard! Arrest this man! He interrupted our most important meeting! And very likely ruined my new suit! Do you have any idea who I am?"
The guard blanched, and then grabbed at the younger man. The younger man evaded the guard's grasp and started running down the hall. The guard ran after him, Clary doing her best to keep up even in her large dress.
The young man stopped when they reached a dead end in the hallway. Clary caught up to them and stood next to the guard.
"You've got nowhere left to run," the guard said, opening his arms to indicate the dead end.
The young man looked panicked. He reached slowly into the pocket of his jacket, then quickly jumped over to Clary and grabbed her, moving her back with him to the end of the dead end. The thing he'd reached into his jacket to retrieve happened to be a knife, which he now held to Clary's neck.
"Just let me walk out of here or she dies," the young man said calmly to the guard, who was now the one who looked panicked.
The guard held out his hands and slowly started walking toward Clary and the young man. "Just put down the knife and we can all leave here in peace," he said calmly. The young man's hand on the knife started shaking, and Clary worried that it would cause the knife to cut her, but he was holding it just far enough away from her that it didn't. Clary also realized that the young man was nervous. He'd probably never killed anyone before, and had likely never held anyone with a knife to their neck like this. The guard seemed to realize this, too.
The guard had slowly been moving closer to Clary and the young man, who finally seemed to realize how close he now was.
"Get back!" The young man yelled, tightening the knife against Clary's neck. The knife cut Clary a tiny bit, causing her to gasp, more in surprise than pain.
As soon as Clary made that sound, the guard leapt into action and grabbed the young man's knife arm, pulling it away from Clary. He then pulled the young man's arm behind his back and incapacitated the young man, allowing Clary to back up a few steps from them.
"You're going to the dungeons, thief. And you'll be lucky if they allow you to stay there, instead of executing your sorry self," the guard whispered loudly and angrily in the young man's ear.
There was obvious fear in the young man's eyes now, and Clary almost felt bad for him, until she reached up to her neck and found a small trickle of blood. Not enough to be worried about, but enough that made her angry.
Clary followed the guard as they led the young man to the dungeons. The guard made Clary wait at the top of the stairs as he led the thief down to the dungeons, but Clary was silently glad for it. She wasn't sure she wanted to see the horror and despair that was likely reeking in the dungeon.
After a minute or two, the guard came running back up the stairs to Clary.
"Are you okay?" He asked, assessing her neck for any serious injuries. He looked down nervously. "I know I should have asked you that sooner, but I needed to get him put away. And I knew you weren't in such serious danger that you needed a healer immediately. But now… are you okay?" He seemed breathless as he let out the words, as though he needed to hear her answer to them as soon as possible, even sooner than he could finish the question.
Clary nodded, then winced as her neck throbbed. "Yes, I'm fine. There's a little pain but nothing I can't handle."
The guard moved the two steps it took to close the distance between them and cupped her face in his hands. "I'm so sorry I let you get in that position. I should have never let you come with me."
Clary covered his hands with her own and replied, "I put myself in that situation. You shouldn't feel bad at all. And I'm not hurt that badly. So don't worry about me."
"But I was—I am worried about you," he answered so quietly she barely heard him.
Clary looked up to find his eyes pleading with her, for what, she didn't know. She was again astounded by the color of his eyes. How beautiful, and shining, and perfect they were. "I'm fine. Really."
The distant bell tower started to ring right then, signaling that it was time for the court to make their way to the dining room for dinner.
Clary took a step back. "I guess I should be going now."
The guard opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. Then he said quietly, hesitantly, as if he knew he shouldn't say it, "I'd like to see you again."
Clary felt her heart skip a beat. She knew she wanted to see him again, too, but didn't want to seem too eager. "Well, I don't know if I should." She smirked at him and watched as his face dropped. He started nodding, preparing to accept the truth about their social standing. "I mean, since I don't even know your name."
He looked back up, a glimmer of hope shining on his face. He seemed to finally see where she was going with it, since he grinned right back at Clary. "I'm Jace," he said.
She smiled. "I'm Clary."
"Well, Clary, now that we've been formally introduced, would you like to meet me in the Hall of Mirrors again tomorrow?" His voice sounded as if he was trying to match her arrogant confidence, but was still somewhat hesitant that she would decline.
Clary smiled up at him. "Of course. And if it's anything like today, I'm sure I won't be bored."
Jace smiled back at her. "Well I hope we won't be chasing any more thieves. And I certainly won't be letting you get in any more danger like today."
Clary just nodded softly. "I should be getting to dinner now. The king doesn't like it when people are late."
"Right."
Clary could feel Jace watching as she turned and started walking away toward the dining room. And for the rest of the day she couldn't get the image of his golden eyes out of her head.