"I'm going to kill him." Jonathan told her.
She swallowed, looking at him. "You're underestimating him." But even she didn't believe her words. He had cut Jace's ropes after he'd passed out.
He had moved them outside to the valley, just near the cottage. She was still tied up, her arms bound behind her. Somehow, in a way only Jonathan could have pulled off, he had managed to carry Jace and make sure she didn't run. What he hadn't comprehended was that she never would have left Jace alone with him.
The grass underneath her was soft and cool. The moon granted them a fair amount of light, even though some of it was blocked by the trees.
Jonathan chuckled. "You love him." He observed. "That's good." He knelt down, brushing the hair from her face. "What you've done, the mistake you made in betraying Father and siding against us, there is only one way to fix it."
"Don't touch me." She hissed. "Get away."
His lips spread into a close-lipped smile. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look back at him. "Little sister, you're going to pay for what you've done. You're going to watch as I kill the boy you love. You're going to sit here, utterly helpless, while all those you care about are slaughtered by Father's army. The Lightwoods, the half-breed warlock, that bloodsucker of yours, all of them are going to die and it will be because of you." He whistled under his breath. "And then, because I know somewhere in there that you aren't completely stupid, you're going to join us again. I know you, I've seen it, you admitted to it."
She inhaled sharply. "You think that I'd come back after you've slaughtered everyone I love? Jonathan, the only thing that I can promise you is that if you do this, I will kill you."
He laughed quietly, shaking his head. "You'll come back. Even if it's only because you'll have nowhere else to go. Soon, you'll succumb to your true self."
He flung her head to the side, letting her go. She saw Jace stirring, his eyes fluttering open. He pressed his hand to his face and then twitched, looking at his hand with confusion.
"Your continuous fainting is growing old." Jonathan told him. Jace glanced between them, saying nothing. "Stand up." Jonathan ordered. "I'm giving you five seconds before I kill you."
Her blood went cold as she watched Jace struggle to get to his feet. She rubbed her wrists together, trying to find a way out of the ropes. "Why out here?" Jace asked. "Why bother moving me?"
Jonathan held up two fingers. "I liked knocking you out and there would be dire consequences to getting your blood in the cavern." He paused. "And trust me, little brother, I'll make sure you bleed."
Jace's hands felt at his belt. She frowned. He didn't have any weapons. Jonathan had taken them, but when? Jace pulled a dagger from his belt, looking down at it. She knew it wouldn't be a fair match against Jonathan's sword.
"Not a good weapon you've got there." Jonathan pointed out.
Jace nodded. "I don't think I can fight with this." His voice shook, words uneven and frantic.
Jonathan said that really was a shame. He strode towards Jace, his grip on his sword uncaring. Jace reared back, socking Jonathan right in the face.
She heard the crunching sound of bone against bone. Jonathan fell back into the dirt. His sword went up in the air and Jace lurched, catching it by the hilt. He stood over Jonathan, the blade pointed down to her brother's chest.
She released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She saw a stream of blood coming from Jonathan's nose as he pushed aside his collar, showing his pale neck. "Get it over with and kill me."
It only took a second. A brief moment in time where Jace hesitated before raising the sword. The hesitation was all it took for Jonathan to spring up, backflipping into the air and landing with catlike ease. He jutted his leg out, kicking Jace's hand. The sword went flying once again and Jonathan caught it with a maniacal laugh. He swung the sword dangerously close to Jace's chest. He barely avoided the hit but the blade had caught the front of his shirt. She leaned forward, spotting blood on the front of Jace.
He's going to kill him, she told herself. Jonathan is going to kill him.
She moved her hands vigorously behind her back. He had tied the knot intricately. He had even been sure to take her knives from her braces. But, she realized, he hadn't found the knife slipped under her belt. She didn't remember putting it there when they'd left that morning. How long had that been there? No doubt it was left behind from some long-ago hunt.
Jace leapt into the air, grabbing onto a tree branch that had to be at least twenty feet in the air. He swung himself over the branch and knelt on it. He aimed the dagger, throwing it down at Jonathan. But he had already jumped into the air, landing on the branch next to Jace.
She worked, trying to slip the knife from under her belt. Her hands weren't loose enough to bend to get it. Close, but not close enough. She grimaced, feeling the slim hilt and the thin blade, but it wouldn't budge. She bit down on her lip, closing her eyes tightly. She heard her wrist crack and she felt the knife in her hand.
She moved quickly, sawing the blade against the ropes until she felt them go slack. The ropes fell to the ground quietly and she rubbed her wrist, fighting off a groan. A Healing rune later would fix that.
She saw both of the boys on the tree branch above her. Jonathan lunged at Jace and they both fell. They landed on the ground away from her, clawing at each other. She heard Jonathan shout and saw him smack Jace's face. The two of them rolled half into the river.
Jace got on top of him, closing his hands around his throat. Jonathan grabbed Jace's wrist, snapping it back. Jace's scream chilled her to the core and he fell backward.
"Jonathan!" She heard herself shout out. He didn't look back to her. "Jonathan!" She tried again, more force in her voice. She felt something begin to take over inside of her. The darkness, the demon blood. "JONATHAN!"
Her eyes had gone completely black, an abyss as dark as the one demons crawled from.
Her shout had caused both of them to look over at her. She leaned over, plucking Jonathan's discarded sword from the dirt. She strutted towards them, his sword in her left hand and her knife in her right.
Jonathan moved fast. He put himself on top of Jace, his knee resting on his chest, Jace's dagger in his hand. He positioned it right over Jace's heart. "Come any closer, little sister, and he dies. He'll die and never know the truth."
She stopped, just a few feet in front of them. The truth? It was all she had ever wanted to give him.
"You're not going to kill him." She told him.
"And why is that? Are you going to stop me?" She said yes. Jonathan chuckled. "You've been trying to hurt me for years. You've failed time and time again. Forgive me for not being afraid of you."
She gripped the knife so hard her knuckles were turning white. Please. She narrowed her eyes, focusing on Jonathan's chest. Right at the heart. She let the knife go. It flew through the air and she could have closed her eyes, knowing it would hit its mark.
She never missed.
Her breath caught. Jonathan was holding the knife in his hand, a wicked smile on his face. She exhaled. "You missed." He said.
Almost lazily, he launched the knife from his grip. It landed in her abdomen. She fell to her knees, pain burning through her. Jonathan's sword fell from her hand, clattering into the dirt. She wrapped her hand around the hilt of the knife.
"Lizzie!" Jace shouted.
Jonathan looked down at him. "Take comfort in the fact that you won't have to watch her die, Wayland. I'll kill her after you're dead."
"That isn't my last name and you know it." She heard Jace say.
Every piece of her was screaming to take the knife from her stomach, but she knew that she couldn't. She'd bleed to death and she wasn't too keen on brushing that experience again. As much as it hurt, the knife had to stay in.
Blood slicked her hand as she held it in place.
"It's as much your name as Morgenstern is." Jonathan snapped. She watched him lean towards Jace, their faces only inches apart. "I know Eliza is a skilled liar but you couldn't have honestly believed that you were Valentine's true son?" She tried to stand but fell back to her knees. "You absolute fool. You wailing, miserable, worthless piece of space. You aren't fit to bear the Morgenstern name. You aren't worthy of calling yourself my brother."
She groaned out. He wasn't supposed to be the one to let the truth out. She had to do it. She had spun the web, she had to be the one to unravel it. "Jonathan, please." But he didn't hear her. The words were quiet, washed over by the sound of the river.
"Father ripped into a dead woman to save your pathetic life. But you were one of his experiments, you had to be rescued, I suppose. He did everything he could for you, but you were never good enough to be his son, to be any real use to him. Not like me. You were too soft to be a warrior." Harsh, cruel, malicious words. Words that had done their job and done it well. "He faked his death and sent you to the Lightwoods as a decoy. You're nothing to him."
She stopped. The pain was too much. Against her better judgement, she ripped the knife from her abdomen. The blood flow was steady, pouring from between her fingers.
"That means…Are you…?" Jace whispered.
She looked at them, pressing her hand against her stomach. She used her other hand to pick the knife up from the ground.
"Yes. I'm his son." Jonathan smiled. "I'm the real Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern. I'm Eliza's twin brother."
Even from a distance, she heard Jace's sharp intake of breath. "I don't have demon blood in me. It's you."
"Oh, yes."
With a grimace, she managed to get to her feet. Her legs felt week and wobbled under her weight, but she stood.
"I had to hear about you all the time." Jonathan continued. "When I wasn't hearing what a disgrace my sister was, I was listening to my father talk about your soft nature and your fragile heart. My God, you cried when that damn bird died. It isn't hard to see why he's ashamed to have raised you."
Valentine, ashamed of Jace? Never. Even she knew better. As much as he hated to admit, Valentine cared about Jace. He cared in a way he had never seemed to care about her and she was his flesh and blood.
"You're wrong." Jace's voice was strong. "He's ashamed of you. He didn't take you to Lake Lyn because you were needed here. He didn't take you because you're an abomination and to take you in front of the Angel would be sinful. He may love you, but he hates you."
She made it to the edge of the river, her hand numb from holding the knife so hard. She staggered back as Jonathan plunged the dagger into Jace's chest. Jace screamed out.
Jonathan's eyes slid over to her. "You did this." He told her. "You know that, don't you?"
This was a nightmare, it had to be. She had seen this before, on Valentine's ship. Agramon had shown it to her. Who knew the Demon of Fear doubled as a seer of the future?
"Jonathan, what have you done?" She whispered. Tears stung her eyes.
He grinned, turning his attention back to Jace. "Isn't it terrible, Wayland? All this time, you've been in love with my sister and you believed that you were her brother. I bet it killed you, believing that. I've seen the way you watch her, I can only imagine how heavy the shame of your feelings must have been. Maybe if you had been smarter, or hadn't trusted her pretty face, you could have made a life with her." He applied more pressure to the knife, sinking it deeper. "Look at her." He used his free hand, forcing Jace to look at Eliza. "She's crying, for you. My sister loves you. And now, she's going to watch you die."
She stumbled towards them, shoving Jonathan away from Jace. She knelt over him, her hand wavering over the knife. One of her tears fell on his cheek.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She whispered. His eyes rolled back in his head.
She looked at Jonathan, half-sitting up, watching them with a glimmer of amusement in his dark eyes. She forgot about the pain in her stomach, Jace fell back from her mind. All she knew was that she had a knife and he had nothing.
She lunged, knocking him back. His dark eyes widened. "There it is." He breathed. "The real you."
Her free hand wrapped around his throat, her nails digging into the skin. She held the knife over his chest. "I want to kill you. I want to watch the light fade from your disgusting eyes and I want to hear you take your last breath."
He grabbed her wrist, forcing it back. It bent, slowly but surely, towards her own chest. Something wrapped around his wrist, gold and shimmering. She gasped. The thin cord moved around his wrist and his hand fell from the knife. And then, his hand fell to the ground. She stared, her mind blank.
What the f-?
"Need a hand?" A familiar voice called.
She looked up. Isabelle was standing over them. Her electrum whip was covered in Jonathan's blood, her hand on her hip with satisfaction. Jonathan's eyes were locked on his stumped wrist.
"That's for my little brother, you piece of shit." Isabelle snarled.
Jonathan's lip curled. "You stupid bitch." He shoved Eliza off him, jumping to his feet. Isabelle lashed at him again with her whip. He narrowly avoided being hit, running off to the tree line. He disappeared into the darkness.
"Liz, oh my God." Isabelle sank to her knees. She put her hands over the stab wound on her stomach.
"No. No." Eliza pushed her away. "Jace. Jace needs you." She had to practically shove Isabelle away from her. "You have to help him."
Isabelle rushed to Jace, getting her stele out. She swore that she heard Jace say something like Isabelle's name. "It'll be okay. I promise."
Eliza barely managed to move to Jace's other side. She put a bloody hand on his face, looking over at Izzy. "How- Why are you here?" She asked.
Izzy's stele was flowing easily over Jace's chest. "Jace, I'm not sure if you know, but you aren't Valentine's son." Eliza assured her that he knew. "Right, good. I know you practically begged us not to look for you guys in the note you left, and I didn't plan to. But then we found out that you weren't Valentine's son and I couldn't let you die without knowing the truth." Her words ran together, her voice fast and fervent. "I got Magnus to help me. I gave him that little toy soldier you gave to Max and-." Her voice broke off. She took a minute to compose herself. "I just told him that Alec insisted and he and Alec are on really good terms right now. Anyway, Magnus set up the Portal and-."
Isabelle was lifted from the ground, her scream cutting through the air. She flew through the air, her whip falling away from her. Jonathan stood in front of her, his wrist bandaged. His foot connected with her chest as she reached for her whip. Isabelle went sailing back, landing roughly on her side with a painful cry.
He picked up her whip, kicking her again.
Eliza reached, picking up Isabelle's stele. She half-assed a poorly made iratze and dropped the tool to the ground as she stood. Jace grabbed her ankle and she looked down. "Finish him."
She nodded once. She plucked the knife from the ground and sauntered toward Jonathan.
"Big brother." She called out.
He turned to her. He hated being called that. He always had. "Why won't you die?" He growled.
She lunged at him, the knife firm and high. He grabbed her by the shoulder, flipping her to the ground. She landed hard on her back, the breath knocked out of her. She gasped for breath.
He used Isabelle's whip, curling it around her throat. "Father wanted me to wait, drag your death out, but I think your time has come."
She clawed at the whip, trying to pull it from her throat. The harder she tried, the tighter he seemed to pull it. She couldn't breathe.
He was going to kill her. Just like she thought, she'd die in the valley. And it would be because of her brother.
Somewhere, far away, she could hear Isabelle screaming. She could hear her brother's taunting and hollow laugh. Her nails dug into the skin of her throat, trying to loosen the whip.
She didn't want the last thing she saw to be Jonathan. What a horrible last image that would leave her with. She turned her head to the side. Jace. She wanted him to be the last thing she saw before leaving the world.
But he wasn't there.
Jonathan pulled tighter on the whip. She felt blood welling under the cord and wondered if he meant to cut her head off.
She saw Jace staggering towards them, his dagger in his hand. Blood was all over his chest and face.
"Now that I think about it, Father won't be displeased with your death. He'll reward me. He'll be glad to have you off his hands. I'll tell him, assure him that he isn't losing a soldier. You were never what he wanted. You were a waste of his time and energy. The world will be better off without-."
"Do it." She gurgled.
He raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowed. "What?"
She watched Jace, standing behind Jonathan with the dagger in his hand. "Finish him."
He did. Jace plunged the dagger into Jonathan's back.
Her brother fell forward, the whip falling from his hand. It loosened around her neck and she yanked the cord from her throat. She gasped, taking in a deep breath.
Her brother's face went slack.
Jonathan slowly turned to Jace. His mouth fell open and his knees buckled. He fell to the ground next to her. He went into the river. Their eyes met for a fleeting moment before the water overtook him and washed him away.
"Jace!" She heard Isabelle shout out.
She rushed to Jace's side as he fell to his knees.
Eliza crawled to him, lifting herself to kneel beside him. She put her hands on his face. "Stay awake." She demanded him. "You have to stay with me. Please don't go."
Jace fell to the ground, his eyes fluttering shut.
Isabelle looked at her. "I'll fix him, Liz. I'll help him and then I promise I'll help you."
She nodded, grimacing. Something inside of her chest churned. It felt like her heart was being torn in two. She grabbed at her chest, pressing down.
"Liz? What's wrong?" Isabelle sounded far away.
She bit down, holding back a scream.
This is death, she told herself. This is what dying feels like. Not at all peaceful.
Jace was the last thing she saw before the darkness washed over her.
She exploded back into consciousness. Her head felt full of water and there was a dull pain in her abdomen.
Jace was next to her, his eyes open, looking to the sky.
"J-Jace." Her voice was hoarse, cracking and raspy.
He turned, and in the moonlight, maybe he was an angel. There was no maybe to her, he was an angel. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, feeling of her stomach. For the most part, it seemed the wound had closed up. Her shirt and skin were still stiff with blood. She raised up slowly, looking around. Half of her still expected to see Jonathan.
It took a second to realize that Jace had killed him. He was gone. Finally.
Relief flooded over her. It was only for a minute before it was replaced by dread.
"We need to go." She said suddenly. "To the lake, we have to go to the lake."
He sat up but didn't disagree with her. Isabelle was sitting away from them. "You can't go!" She exclaimed. "You're both hurt, you need to see a doctor."
Eliza got to her feet, holding the place on her stomach. She didn't want to rip it open. "Another iratze and I'll live. But everyone else won't unless we go to the lake and stop o-." She stopped herself. The lie had vanished. He knew the truth. "We have to stop my father before he can raise the Angel and kill every Shadowhunter that refuses to follow him."
"Go back, Iz. We need you to tell everyone what he's going to do." Jace told her. "And that isn't a suggestion." He added before she could protest.
Isabelle stood up, her whip wrapped around her arm. "Don't get yourselves killed." She snapped at them.
Jace stood up. He wrapped his arms around Isabelle, hugging her. "Thank you." She heard him whisper.
A soft look fell on Isabelle's face, a hint of a smile. She said nothing as she walked away from them.
Jace and Eliza looked at each other. He picked Jonathan's sword up from the dirt. "Follow me." She said.
She led him back the way Jonathan had brought them from the tunnel. It would be quicker than trying to find the way they had come before, searching in every crevice in the wall.
Her hands were caked with blood. Her face throbbed from the times Jonathan had hit her. Her neck burned from Isabelle's electrum whip. "Liz, we should talk."
She almost stopped but forced her legs to keep moving. They were in the tunnel. Darkness overtook and she took her witchlight stone from her pocket. "I don't think there's anything to talk about." She murmured as they winded a curve.
His hand curled around her wrist and he pulled her to a stop. His hand traveled up to her neck, his thumb running over the faint red lines left behind from Isabelle's whip. "I'm not mad at you, Lizzie. I just need to know why."
She looked away from him, taking a step backward. Was it safe? Truly? No one was around. Jonathan was dead, his body was floating somewhere down the river. Valentine wasn't there, he was at Lake Lyn.
She turned away, continuing down the tunnel. Jace quickened his step, falling into pace next to her. "That night, at Renwick's, I couldn't think straight." She began telling him. "The memory block had broken and the life I had made up was colliding with the one I was living. Valentine started talking and he was saying all of these things about you and me. About us." She took a deep breath. "He told me that you had to believe that you were my brother, that you were Jonathan. I told him that I wouldn't lie anymore. You deserved better than that. He threatened me, he threatened Alec and Izzy, he threatened Clary." She looked over at him, trying to gauge his expression.
True to his word, he didn't seem mad or upset. If anything, he looked…morose. "You did it because you had to." He finally said.
They reached the chamber. It seemed wrong to be there, just the two of them. Her short-sword was lying on the ground and she grabbed it, putting it back in its rightful place on her back. Jonathan had left her knives in a hapless pile near the centered stalagmite. She swore under her breath, he had absolutely no affinity for the finer things in life. She grabbed the knives, wiping each one off on her pants. She slipped one in each of the braces on her wrist and put the others in her belt. "Let's go. We don't have much time."
She started towards the tunnel that Valentine had left from. Jace grabbed her wrist, turning her around. His arm snaked around her waist and he put his hand on her cheek. "Liz, listen to me. I forgive you." She murmured that he shouldn't be so quick to do it. It wasn't the first time. "The only lie I couldn't forgive you for would be telling me you loved me when you didn't."
"I promise I'll never say that." She said quietly. "I'll always love you."
He leaned forward, kissing her on the mouth gently. She put her hands on his neck, pulling him closer. When he pulled away, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Later." He promised.
"You hate liars." She reminded him softly. "You told me that once."
He reached for her hand, closing his around it. "I could never hate you."
Despite everything, despite her brother having almost killed them both, despite him dying, despite the fact that her father was about to eradicate all of the Shadowhunters, she didn't think she had ever felt better.
She saw her father standing over Clary. He had Maellartach in his grip, the blade high in the air. Did he mean to kill her? They were hardly a foot away.
She slipped a knife into her hand and stared her father down. She inhaled and aimed. The breath held as she let the knife go.
It flew true and hit her father in the hand he held the sword. Her lips spread into a breathless smile. Her hit had knocked Maellartach from his grip. He grabbed onto his injured hand, whirling back. She saw that his eyes were wide with surprise as he took in the presence of the two people behind him.
"You're alive." He noted, unable to hide the surprise.
She stared past him. Clary was lying on the ground. "Are you all right, Clary?" She called.
Clary didn't answer, she only stared back at her. Surely…Surely she wasn't dead. "She is unable to answer you." Valentine told her. "In fact, she can't really do much of anything at the moment."
Jace's sword was up, directed at Valentine. "What did you do to her?" He growled.
Her father stepped back a step, his face uneasy. He hadn't expected them to be alive, but how had he known something had happened?
Eliza took her sword from her back, pointing it at her father. "Answer the question." She ordered him.
"I placed a Rune of Quietude on her. She's unharmed." But there was something in his tone, an unsaid mostly that she knew he had wanted to say. "By the looks of it, I'm guessing the two of you are not here to join me in being blessed by the Angel."
"Blessed? Is that what you're calling what you're about to do?" Eliza asked him. "That isn't the word I'd use."
"We know everything. We know why you're going to call on the Angel. We won't let you succeed." Jace told Valentine that they had sent Isabelle back to warn the army of Valentine's plans. Sure enough, a small envoy would be on the way to stop him.
Valentine chuckled. "No envoy can stop me now. What I'm planning, no one can stop me." He nodded his head to Jace's sword. "Put that away and we can speak more-." His words broke off abruptly as he stared at the sword. "That is a Morgenstern family sword. Which means it does not belong to you."
Jace nodded along, a tender smile on his face. Something lingered behind it, though, something she recognized. With a dark smile like that, he looked like Jonathan. "I know. It belonged to Jonathan, before he died."
Bewilderment crossed over her father's face. "What?" It was the first time he had sounded genuinely stunned by something. He looked at Eliza with pure hatred, his lip curled back in a snarl. "You killed your brother."
Jace said no sharply. "She didn't kill him. I did. And then I took his sword."
Something lit in her father's eyes. "Oh, Eliza." He sighed. "I trained you to do one thing, to be one thing, and you couldn't even do that. I even gave you a genetic advantage and you've wasted it."
"I know." She said simply. "You raised me to kill, to be a killer. You trained Jonathan and I and he was always the better of your little monsters."
He nodded solemnly, saying he knew that. "Between the two of you, you should have been unstoppable forces. I trained the two of you myself. There have never been any better warriors than you two, especially him."
"Actually, it seems to me like there was someone better than Jonathan." Jace said.
She saw her father swallow hard. "He was your brother." He responded unevenly, his voice cracking.
Jace shook his head. "He wasn't." He stepped closer. "Tell me what happened to my family. Did you kill them, my mother and my father? Did you kill them like you killed the Fairchilds, Michael Wayland, and his son?"
Eliza told him to provide answers. He still seemed like he had been hit over the head too hard. Was Jonathan's death hitting him that hard? "I didn't kill either of them. Your father was killed in a raid and your mother killed herself upon hearing the news. Had I not cut you from her, you would have died along with her."
He inched the sword up, holding it to Valentine's throat. "You have to tell me why!" Jace shouted. "There was no reason for you to take me. You already had a son, and a daughter. What was the point?"
Valentine's shoulders seemed to sag. She, almost as much as Jace, wanted to know the truth. Jonathan had known everything and she next to nothing. "I needed another soldier." He said honestly. "Yes, I had Jonathan and Eliza, but I needed a backup plan. An insurance policy, if you will. Even as a baby, I could see that Jonathan had a little too much of the demon blood in him. He was sudden, impatient, and often barbaric. I feared he wouldn't possess the humanity needed to lead the Clave after I passed on. And Eliza, well, we all know how greatly she failed me. But, for all her trouble, she could have been perfect. She possessed her humanity and when she wanted to be, she was unstoppable."
She knew that she shouldn't have been as hurt as she felt. He had admitted, written it down that he had always known she would fail him. Hearing him say it, though, it was like being stabbed all over again.
"So, when I was presented with another chance, I took it. I took you." He told Jace. "Everything I feared Jonathan would not have, you were graced with too much of. You were soft, gentle, you felt your pain and that of other's far too easily. I found myself admiring those qualities of yours. I loved you more for them, I loved you as if you had been my flesh and blood. And while I loved you for your compassion, it made you ineffective for what I needed.
Her gaze slid over to Jace. Nothing on his face gave a hint to his emotions. Either he truly felt nothing, or he was doing a damn good job hiding whatever he was feeling. "We'll see how gentle you think I am when I've slit your throat with the sword I took from your son after I killed him." Jace remarked harshly.
"I recall a time when we stood exactly like this before." Valentine told them. "You threatened my life then as well and you couldn't do it. If you couldn't do it then, what makes you think you can do it now?"
"Regret." Jace said plainly. "I've regretted not killing you every single day. Max, my nine-year-old little brother, was murdered because I chose not to kill you. Who knows how many people are dead because of that choice. Jonathan told us everything about your plan. You want to kill every single Shadowhunter that doesn't choose your side. I think the time has come for me to step up and do what I should have back at Renwick's. I may not want to kill you, but I will."
She thought of Jonathan. Despicable, vicious, more of a monster than Valentine had bargained for. Jace had killed him and almost died doing it. Jonathan had deserved it, he had more than deserved it. But Jace would wear that blood on his hands for the rest of his life. It would eat him alive. She couldn't let him do it again.
"Jace, please don't do this." Valentine said hurriedly. "I don't want-."
Jace raised an eyebrow. "I know you don't. No one does." He lowered the blade, resting it at Valentine's chest. Just by the heart. "Any last words, Father?"
Blood began to show on Valentine's shirt. There was fear in his dark eyes.
"Stop." She blurted.
Both of them looked at her, bewildered by her outburst. Jace said her name through gritted teeth. Valentine smiled uneasily at her. "Daughter." He almost sighed. "I knew you would come to your senses soon enough. I knew you would find your true self."
She lowered her sword to her side and took the few steps to stand right at Jace's side. She reached her free hand and rested it atop his own on the sword. "It's okay." She whispered. "Put it down."
"Liz, you can't be serious." He hissed. "You want him dead more than anyone."
She nodded slowly. "I know, I know. Jace, please just lower your sword and back up. Please." He shook his head, saying he wouldn't let Valentine live. "Get back." She commanded. He stood in his place, unwavering. She locked her jaw, staring back at him. Her eyes darkened, faded from green to the same black that Jonathan's had been. "I said, get back."
His face went slack. His dark tawny eyes seemed to glaze over. He took an unsteady step backwards and his sword fell to his side.
In a flash, her sword was back up, right at Valentine's heart. "You didn't really think I was going to let you live, did you?" She taunted him. "After all of the things you've done? Father, you must not know me very well."
Even though she had the tip of her blade sinking slowly into his chest, he wore a smile. She cocked her head to the side. "Ah, see, there you are. The perfection I made. I knew you had it in you, it just needed to be tortured out of you."
"Liz, what are you doing?" Jace whispered.
She didn't look back at him. She couldn't take her eyes from her father. "I can't let you kill again, Jace. I won't let the guilt of murder poison your heart." She reached her arm out, holding him away from her at her side.
"What about your heart, Lizzie?"
She laughed, sounding almost exactly like her brother. "Don't you know, Jace? I have demon blood in me. I'm already poisoned."
His sigh was relenting and quiet.
"Now, Father, what will your last words be?" She asked, pressing the tip of the sword just a little further.
"I'm so sorry, my children." His arm extended, his hand out towards her. He opened his palm to the sky, stretching his fingers out.
Before she could do anything, silver flashed through her line of vision and something landed in her father's grasp.
Maellartach.
He swung the sword, knocking Eosphoros from her grip. "Foolish, as always." He told her, plunging the Angel's blade into her chest.
She heard Jace shout wordlessly.
Her hands gripped the blade and her father yanked it from her. The force sent her to her knees. She tasted blood in her mouth and felt the warmth of it welling on her skin.
Like a trail of black ice, Valentine forced the sword forward, driving it into Jace.
If she could have screamed, she would have.
He dropped Jonathan's sword, falling to his knees in the dirt. His mouth fell open, blood bubbling and falling down his chin.
She fell forward, her face colliding with the damp earth. Dirt and blood mixed on her lips. She lifted her head, watching as Valentine sank to the ground and pulled Jace into his lap.
Right in the heart, she thought. He had missed her heart narrowly. Maybe it had been the swiftness of his movement or the fear, but he had missed.
He never missed.
"My son." She heard Valentine whisper into Jace's shoulder.
Her arms wobbled as she lifted herself from the ground. She crawled towards them. Valentine stared at her but made no move toward her. His eyes were on her as she grabbed Jace's hand, clutching it tight.
"No." She murmured. "God, no." Her eyes were hot with tears. Blood trickled from her mouth.
His eyes slid over to her. Amber, bright as the sun. A weak smile graced his face before it went slack. Before the light left his eyes.
She cried out, her chest burning. Each breath hurt more and more. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. "What did you do?" She looked at her father, tears spilling down her face.
Valentine maneuvered out from under Jace's limp body. With a gentleness he had never shown, he cupped her face as he leaned down. His eyes bore into her, his mouth turned down in sorrow. "I'm sorry." He murmured. "For everything. Truly."
He stood up straight. His tongue swiped over his bottom lip. His mouth opened. "Ave-." His voice cracked and he turned away.
Black tinged her vision. Her arms fell beneath her and she fell back into the dirt. She watched her father, she didn't have the energy to do anything else. She was dying, slowly but surely.
He held the Mortal Cup in one hand and the Mortal Sword in the other. He was mouthing something and then he threw the Cup into Lake Lyn. He looked as if he were going to launch the Angel's Sword into the lake as well.
The Sword went hurtling into the lake. A large column of water spit up where the sword had landed, sending a sound like ice shattering.
Lake Lyn exploded. Beads of water fell onto her face. Brightness burned her eyes as he rose from the lake, the Angel Raziel in all his glory.
She felt as if he were staring at her. She squinted. The Angel's Marks were a brilliant gold, shimmering and moving across his body. His wings spread across the sky, gold, each wing had a large golden eye.
"Raziel." The word came from her mouth with a spurt of blood. It was the last word she spoke before she succumbed to the darkness once more. For the last time.