"Well, well, well. My sister, home at last."
There was something bitterly annoying about the way he spoke to her. Proud and arrogant. A little bit of surprise, which was a rarity.
She was on her knees in front of him. The same two Endarkened were holding her arms back. Together, they were just barely strong enough to subdue her. Or so they thought.
Behind each throne was a window. One showed the barren wasteland that lay outside of the fortress. The other showed…Alicante. Dusk light streamed in, red blood on one side, golden fire the other. This Council room felt eerily similar to the one back in Alicante. Minus the two thrones on the dais.
"Where are your friends?" He asked her. "Or did they abandon you to die?"
She lifted her head to stare back at him. He was the same as he had always been, with his platinum hair and void eyes. She saw pieces of herself in him, like she was looking in a distorted mirror. Her cheekbones, high and elegant; her nose, straight and sharp; her hands that had been inherited from their mother; the shape of her eyes. That had been the difference in the past. His eyes were black, straight-through, like looking in the abyss. And hers had been green, the color of the forest after it rained. The same green as Clary's and their mother's. But now, hers were black. The perfect match to his.
"Maybe I abandoned them." She smiled wolfishly. "Ever think of that?"
Sebastian guffawed. The idea was outlandish to him. "I know you better than that. You would never leave your love or abandon our little sister. Your heart is too soft."
Maybe so. But it wasn't as soft as he thought. He had always underestimated her and her ability to survive. All those times he had won sparring matches, he thought it was because she was weak. She was letting him win. Not anymore.
"I don't know where they are." She said truthfully. It couldn't be a lie. Maybe they hadn't made it inside yet. Maybe they had. Who could know? "I left them and came for you. I've had a change of heart, if you will."
Sebastian inclined his body towards her. "Have you now?"
She nodded sagely. "Being in Edom is really an experience, isn't it? It's where we belong, you and I. Lilith knew that, it was why she bound us together. We were made together, we weren't supposed to be apart. We were meant to win a war, to fight battles, to rule." For emphasis, she averted her eyes to the twin thrones. Just as Jace had seen, gold and ivory. The back of each throne was emblazoned with a singular key. Beauty in death. "If I was at your side, you wouldn't have to exert as much energy into beating the Nephilim. We could do it, the two of us. We could remake the world, just as the asmodei remade this one."
Sebastian whistled. He leaned back and stood up. He straightened his posture and held his hand under his chin. Passive thought clouded his face and she relaxed herself. He paced leisurely, away from her and to the thrones, back and forth in front of them. Finally, he sat down in the larger throne. Sebastian adjusted himself to get comfortable before he met her gaze once again.
"You make a compelling argument, little sister." She said she was aware. "It's all true, every word of it. We were made to be unstoppable and together, we would be. It's too bad," his voice turned dark and cold, "you're lying."
The point in creating a believable lie was that there had to be some truth in the words. That was paramount if one was lying to someone who knew them well. And Sebastian knew her all too well. Which was exactly why she had created the most outrageous, unbelievable lie she could think of. That she wanted to be at this side.
"Of course, I'm lying." She replied. "I would've been worried about you if you had believed me."
The corner of his mouth twitched up violently. "Where do you get off ly-."
"Jonathan, honestly-."
"Do not call me that."
"It's your name. Our mother gave it to you after we were born-."
"She is not my mother. My true mother reigns here, in Edom, with me. She protects me here and everywhere."
"Jonathan and Eliza." She continued on, paying him no mind. "That has a much better ring to it than Sebastian and Eliza."
"Enough, I will not-."
"Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern. You have a great name, I don't know why you don't use it."
"Eliza-."
"Honestly, Jonathan, you've always been so difficult."
"If you invoke that name one more time, I swear-."
She flexed her hands as he balled his into fists. "What?" She questioned sweetly. "What're you going to do to me, Jonathan?"
"THAT IS NOT MY NAME!" One of the worse things about him: quick to anger.
He jumped up from the throne. His face was red, steaming. Black eyes glittering with madness. He stormed forward and motioned for the guards to tightened their hold on her. Before she could process it, his fist slammed into her cheek. It hit the high spot of the bone, grazing her eye. She bit down on her tongue to keep from screaming.
She was not going to give him the satisfaction of showing pain.
He took a hollow breath and shook out his hand. His mouth curled in a sneer. "They'll come for you, Eliza. And when they do, I am going to take such joy in driving my sword straight through your heart."
Her cheek throbbed. Even so, she managed a smile. "When I go, I'm taking you with me. It's me and you, Jonathan. Life and death and Hell after."
"You could let me go, you know." She gave the larger of her guards a poisonously sweet smile. "It could be our little secret. No one would ever have to know."
His eyes flashed to the one who was tightly holding her other wrist. "Yeah, right."
Eliza let out an unconcerned breath through her nose. "Him? Please, I could kill him forty-five seconds. Maybe less." The two Endarkened exchanged a look. She put on her best simper and stared up at the man. He was imposing, as her father had been, but younger. Maybe no more than five years older than her. Inky black hair and dead brown eyes. "Look, handsome, the offer's only good for a limited time. Either let me go or I'll snap your neck."
He smiled and shook his head. "We have strict orders."
"Yeah, yeah." She muttered. "Your loss."
She jerked to the left and clamped her mouth around the Dark Shadowhunter's wrist. Her teeth sunk into the flesh and she felt it tear under pressure. He stumbled back from her and she kicked the other guard back. Turning back to the smaller one, she spat a sinewy mixture of flesh and blood into his face. She swiped his blade from his belt and shoved it through his throat.
Heaving a deep breath, she turned back to the larger, more alive guard. "Twenty seconds." She noted, tossing the blade to the side. He charged at her and she charged at him. As he dove to barrel into her, she jumped up in the air and landed behind him. He looked around, everywhere but behind. She brought her leg up and kicked him in the back of the knee. The act sent him down on the floor. His knee snapped as it hit the cold stone. "I gave you a choice." She reminded him as she slid her arm around his throat. She brought her other up and used it to steady his thrashing head. "You chose wrong." And she jerked her arms to the side. The bone of his spine made a sick crack as it broke.
She wiped her hands together and looked around. What fun.
Somewhere, somewhere in the Dark Gard, there was a battle happening. She could hear the screech of demons fighting, demons dying. And after many years of studying them and a handful of months fighting them, she knew that they didn't just do that. Over it all, she heard Sebastian's brutal commands, shouted at the top of his lungs.
She glanced around the room a final time, hoping to see her sword. And…there. On a pedestal by the entryway.
The doors blew open and he burst forth into the room. Wrath oozed off him, a Behemoth demon on his trail. He stopped, his eyes widening as he took in the scene.
"You." He snarled, edging closer to her. "How did you-?"
"Oh, please." She snipped at him. "You've underestimated me our entire lives. But even I didn't think you were stupid-careless- enough to leave me with just two little guards."
His eye twitched. "Your friends are here."
"I heard."
He crossed the room and she let him grab her by the side of the neck. "He's coming for you and when he does, I'm going to break your little neck. Just like a baby bird's." He snapped at the demon and ordered it to guard the door.
The rubies of her sword glimmered. Sebastian tossed her to the floor. He began to draw a circle of runes. His work was hasty, but it was clean.
The door flew open again. Her breath caught. It was Jace and Clary. Sebastian's head jerked up. He glanced from Eliza and then to Jace and Clary before setting back to work on the runes.
The Behemoth demon charged on them. Jace jumped through the air and took out his sword. He planted his feet on its back and plunged the sword down into its head. Ichor spurted out of the wound. Black, nasty, putrid smelling demon blood. Over and over, Jace stabbed his sword into the demon's back until finally it fell to the ground. It emitted a final screech and Jace clambered off its back.
Yeah, that was her husband.
Sebastian got to his feet. He grabbed the ends of her hair and she let him yank her up. He held her against him, her back to his chest. One arm wrapped around her midsection, the other holding a knife to her throat.
"Excellent work, Jace. Truly." He said dryly. "Do you recognize where we are?" He gestured around with the knife.
It was at that moment that Eliza saw her. The Endarkened woman kneeling next to the left-most throne. How had she not seen her? More importantly, why hadn't the Dark Shadowhunter stopped her from killing the others?
"I am he that liveth, and was dead and behold," Sebastian returned the knife to her throat, the metal cool against her skin, "I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and death." He paused, admiring his thrones. "Do you like them?" He asked Jace and Clary. "They were special gifts from Asmodeus and Lilith. Behold, the keys of hell and death."
Eliza met Jace's eyes. Further back, her sword was still laying there. Waiting. The perfect weapon. The only weapon they had.
"And I still don't care." Clary told Sebastian, her own voice just as dry as his had been. "I don't care if you threaten me. And it won't do you any good threatening Eliza or Jace. He has heavenly fire in him still. And if you hurt her, we'll make you pay before we kill you."
Sebastian's mouth cocked a crooked smile. It could have been a handsome one, if he weren't who he was. If he had been normal. "I think that after the little bonfire he hosted the other night, little Jace may not have much of heaven left in him." He grinned. "How did my demon treat you, little brother? Poorly, I expect. Your heart is too soft to handle the pressure of murdering a fellow Nephilim."
Eliza's eyes snapped back to Jace.
"Sister Magdalena's blood is on your hands." Jace growled at him. "You forced me to do that."
Sister…He had killed an Iron Sister. Oh, dear God.
"As you please, I suppose." He beckoned the woman next to the throne. As she rose, Eliza realized it was Amatis, Luke's sister. Sebastian ordered her to go and bring Jocelyn to them. She smiled as she accepted the command. The smile was still on her face as she took her leave of the room. "Now, on to my favorite part of the evening. I have so looked forward to this, you know." He glinted another smile in Jace's particular direction. He let the knife tip run down Eliza's cheekbone.
"You played me." Eliza breathed. "You meant to leave me alone and you knew I'd kill those guards. Why did you tell Amatis to sit back and watch?"
He chuckled and flipped the knife between his fingers. "I'm tired of fighting you. As much as I love beating the life from you, it exhausts me. I gave you the…freedom to exercise your energy so that when the time came for me to take your worthless little life, you wouldn't have the energy to fight back."
Had he given any thought at all to her genetic makeup, his plan would have worked. But he hadn't. He found himself superior to her in every way and couldn't fathom the fact that they were still made of the same stuff. Angel's blood and a hell of a lot of demon blood.
"Jace Herondale, Clarissa Morgenstern," Sebastian's voice carried through the room, "are you ready to watch your precious Eliza die? I know I am."
Jace jutted forward and immediately stumbled back. He bounced against what had to be an invisible wall.
"Now, why," Sebastian drawled out, "would you think I would let you anywhere near me? I will not be making that mistake again, angel boy."
"So, you can be killed with heavenly fire." Jace stated. "Good to know."
Sebastian lodged the knife between his teeth and flourished his fingers. As he retrieved the knife from his mouth, Jace went flying into the back wall. He fell to the floor and Eliza could see a thick line of blood welling across his head.
"You've always had power." Clary kept her face emotionless and her eyes on him.
Eliza fought off a disgusted look. Sebastian released her. He analyzed her with a quick glance and snapped his fingers. Ropes bound her hands behind her back.
"Much better." He mused. He turned his focus back to Clary. "And yes, I have always had power. But here, it is limitless. Here I am stronger than ever. It's part of the reason I like it so well. And they always said, it was better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." He swept his arm out to the thrones. "It is true here. I rule over the land. My Endarkened serve me, the demons serve me. And as my mother said, my true mother, I will be more powerful than the Great Ones and the asmodei and I will rule Hell, the voids, and everything else. For I am the Morning Star."
Clary had asked her if the inscription on Jonathan Shadowhunter's statue referred to a Morgenstern. And as she was prone to do, Eliza lied. It didn't mean Valentine Morgenstern. It didn't mean Jonathan-Sebastian. It meant them. Clary and Eliza.
"I used to believe that all I wanted was to burn our world to the ground, but now I have seen the light, Clary. All I want is the Morgenstern name and a long and proud legacy. I want what our name promises us."
Clary said that, by all means, if he wanted to take Lucifer's mantle and call himself the devil to go right on ahead. If ruling Hell was all he wanted, he could have it. And all he had to do was let them go and promise to stay in Hell forever.
Sebastian smiled down on her from the dais. He folded his hands behind his back. "I will not rule alone, Clarissa. One of these thrones belongs to you."
"Oh." Clary's mouth worked slowly. "No. Absolutely not."
Her stubbornness, a solid family trait, could be incorrigible. Especially to Eliza when it was used against her. However, Clary was working it against Sebastian, and she found herself amused.
"You cannot turn back." Sebastian said languidly. "None of you can. The pathway you used to enter my realm is sealed off. The only way back is through here," he pointed to the window that pictured Alicante, "and soon too, I will seal it. Your blood may sing with that of the angel's, but you will rule in Hell with me." Clary asked why he had chosen her. Of anyone, everyone. Why her? "I love you." He said it so casually, as if he said the words all the time. But there was a tension in the way he held his shoulders and the way his mouth screwed around the words. "I will not see you hurt."
Love. What did he know of love? Much like Valentine, he blurred the line between possession and love. To have was to love. To own was to love.
"You've hurt me before." Clary pointed out to him. "You've-."
He waved her off. "Don't you see that it doesn't matter what I do to you? I own you, you are mine. That means I can and will do whatever I wish with you." Eliza burned. Bastard, smarmy little demon bastard. "I shall see no one else to love or want or-."
Eliza broke free of the ropes. One harsh tug of her arms and the binding broke and the rope spiraled to the floor. She took the knife from her boot and stood off against him.
He stared back at her with pure, unadulterated disbelief. Sure, he had planned for her to exert all her energy killing the two Endarkened. But not this. Never this. She was weak where he was strong.
"Once again, your underestimation of me proves faulty." She twirled the knife in her grasp. "We're made of the same stuff, Jonathan," her use of his given name caused his eye to twitch, "I have just as much of Lilith's blood in me as you do. Did you honestly think her realm wouldn't affect me the same way it did you? You're getting sloppy in your madness."
His mouth curled into a snarl. He darted for her and she side-stepped. She grabbed the back of his gear and flung him into one of the thrones.
"And for the record, your idea of love is completely and totally screwed up. You have no idea what love really is."
He peeled himself from the throne. "And I supposed you do? You know nothing of love, only primal desire. Trust me. I've paid witness."
She didn't falter. "I know love. I always have. Isn't that the difference between us? That Mommy loved me and not you."
He lunged again and she kicked out. Her foot landed against his stomach and he went stumbling backwards to the floor.
"You were never better than me, Jonathan. I learned to survive our father and to survive you. Did you think you beat me fair and square all those years? Newsflash, I let you win."
That, for him, was enough. He ran at her again. She met him halfway. He landed a punch to the same cheek as earlier. Her head reeled back, and she brought it forward, slamming it against his. He staggered, dancing around the slashes of her knife.
She needed a way to get her sword.
"I will have Clary!" He roared at her as he drew his sword. The father's sword. "She is mine!"
"No," Eliza huffed, "she isn't. She's my sister." She took a step forward. "Mine." She avoided a violent swing. The blade of Phaesphoros was longer, harder to duck around. The agility rune burned on the back of her shoulder. "I will never let you have her. You are just some diabolical demon that our mother had the misfortune of bringing into this world." She ducked as he swung. The blade narrowly missed the top of her head. She grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him to the floor. His head smacked against the dais. "And I have every intention of taking you out of it. Even if it kills me."
She snatched the sword from his grip. Their father's weapon wasn't made her for. It didn't balance perfectly in her grasp, much too heavy, but it would have to do.
"Oh," Sebastian barreled into her back, "it will." They tumbled to the floor. The sword and her knife clattered away. For someone so slim, his body was heavy on top of hers. He flipped her over and produced a dagger from his belt. "I had hoped to plunge my sword through your heart, but slitting your throat will have to suffice."
She reached under her back and slipped the other knife into her hand. "Same to you." She brought her hand up and slashed the blade to the side. Blood sprayed down on her. She kicked him off the top of her and stood over him. The cut hadn't been deep enough to do major damage, but blood still poured generously from the wound.
"There is no hope for you to return home!" He gurgled through blood. It bubbled in his mouth as he stood. "My forces, Dark and fey, have attacked Alicante. They slaughter your people now." He waved his hand and the window picturing Alicante changed. It moved from a serene night sky to a bloodbath, a massacre. Faerie warriors and Dark Shadowhunters descending on the Nephilim. The street was littered with the dead. More corpses of black than red. "The war is lost. I have won." Clary told him that there were more Shadowhunters than the ones in Alicante. The Idris force was not the only force. "Those that remain after the battle will be Turned. And when they are subservient to me, they will be sent to find the fleeting remainder of the Nephilim race. And those will be Turned. Or they will perish. Either way, the Nephilim will soon cease to exist. The Iron Sisters and the Silent Brothers will be slaughtered. With no one to defend it, the mundane world will collapse into fire and brimstone. I will reign Hell here and I will bring it there."
Clary said that should he do that, there was no way she would sit beside him on a throne. He couldn't seriously expect that of her.
"And that is why, my Clary," Sebastian's wound was already healing, his speech becoming less guttural and more clear-toned, "you must choose. Willingly choose to sit on the throne I offer you and I shall call back my army and spare your pathetic world. However, if you refuse me, I will deploy death and annihilation and remake that world into this. You must choose."
Eliza's eyes locked onto Clary. She shook her head. The way one did when they still had a trick up their sleeve, a secret weapon they weren't ready to use yet. And Clary, her little sister, a picture of goodness and the Angel's mercy, trusted her. She had never not trusted her. And Eliza used that to her advantage. Trust was a dangerous thing, especially when placed in someone you loved more than anything in the world.
That was why she was the most dangerous person, dangerous more so even than Sebastian. He wasn't trustworthy. People trusted her, with their secrets and their lives, the lives of others. The fate of the world.
"The Shadowhunters could still win against you." Clary stumbled over the words.
Sebastian chuckled, amused at her conviction. Her faith in the Nephilim was unwavering. He pointed back to the window. In the sky of Alicante, dark horse-riders powered through the stars. "The Gatherers of the Dead have arrived. They will have their pickings of the slaughter."
Clary closed her eyes. Eliza held her breath. Sebastian watched.
"How," Clary's green eyes flashed open, "can I be sure that you will keep your word?"
Sebastian did not hide the overjoyed grin on his face. "I must seal this world from that before I can assume my full power. And when I do, the Dark force that resides in that world will be defeated by the Nephilim. Without a connection to me, they will be weak enough to destroy. In a way, I shall save the Shadowhunters. Or I shall destroy them." Clary asked about everyone else. Her mother, Luke, her friends. Jace and Eliza. Sebastian gave Eliza a wayward glance. "The others will be allowed to live, if you wish it." She repeated Eliza's name again. "She must die. That is the way. Sacrifice one life for the billions. Give her life to save your world, Clarissa. She is only one person."
Clary licked over her bottom lip. Eliza nodded once. It's okay. Say yes. I trust you.
"I just have to sit on that throne?" She asked him.
He shrugged and said, more or less. Not to mention a vow to stand beside him as long as he lived. Which, had he forgotten to mention, would be forever. His life would be immortal in Edom and Clary as well would live forever. He was gifting her with something magnificent. Not just eternal life but the power to save a world, to be a hero.
"She'll do it." Eliza decided.
They both snapped their sight on her.
"Clary, you have to. You know that." She eased. "What's my life over billions? You can't choose the one over the many. I won't let you."
As Clary ascended up the dais, Eliza backed down. She still held her knife in her hand. Sebastian's gaze was locked in on Clary as she made her way towards the smaller of the thrones. Eliza quietly jumped down from the dais and made her way to Jace. He was still breathing. Raggedly, but a breath was a breath.
Her sword, her precious, all sacred weapon, was just lying there. Waiting for the taking. She glanced back at Sebastian. His back was turned to her. Clary was on the last step of the throne and she turned. Her green eyes, so far away, were so bright. Fairchild green. She had Morgenstern blood, but she had never been a Morgenstern. She had always been a Fairchild and she always would be. Eliza intended for it to stay that way.
As Clary took her seat on the throne, Eliza seized her sword.
Sebastian remained silent. Clary was where he had always wanted her. Jace had not yet come back to consciousness. And that was what he was waiting for. He needed Jace awake and alert so that he could see his love die before his eyes.
Until then, Eliza was safe.
And her sword was on her back. As Sebastian had reveled in Clary on her throne, the word queen thrown out, she had Marked it with a glamour rune. Eosphoros was invisible and, as always, her perfect weapon.
The perfect weapon.
Valentine could not have known that, upon his forging of the daughter's sword, it would one day be used to murder his son. There was no way he could have foreseen that she would use her gift to rid all worlds of Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern.
As he moved, he caught her eye. Sebastian still stood inside his neat circle of runes. What they were for, she didn't know. And she didn't necessarily want to find out. He drew forth his dagger and slid the blade across the palm of his hand. He held it over the runes and let his blood drip down to cover them.
The runes gleamed as his blood fell down upon them. They weren't runes she had ever seen before, but knowing him, she wasn't surprised.
All their attention was captured when the door opened. Amatis strode into the room. She was flanked by long lines of Dark Shadowhunters. She motioned at them and they spread out to line the walls of the room.
"I don't like your face." Sebastian told her. "Why is that?"
Amatis did look as worried as someone who had no emotions at all could look. Amatis' eyes flittered to Jace, her eyes locked with Eliza's, and then she looked to Sebastian. "Your mother has escaped."
More blood dripped down as he fisted his hand. The runes blazed blue. "How annoying." He muttered darkly. Amatis asked Sebastian if he wanted the rest of his force out searching for the escaped prisoners and the trespassing Shadowhunters. Sebastian, with a cruel smile said no. Behind Clary's throne, the window to Alicante shattered. The glass didn't fly out, but it cracked and splintered into small fractals. "No need. They will come to me."
It was only a few tense minutes later when Simon and Isabelle ran in. Isabelle cried out upon seeing Jace and ran to him. Eliza grabbed her hand.
"He's not dead." She assured her.
"By order of the Queen." Sebastian announced. She could hear it in his voice: he was getting bored. And quickly. Nothing good ever came from that.
Isabelle's mouth downturned. "Why would the Seelie Queen-?"
"He doesn't mean her." Eliza grumbled.
Sebastian's mountainous laugh cut off any reply Isabelle had prepared. He pointed to Clary, still on her throne. She was much too small for it. Her feet didn't quite reach the final step that led up to it. The skull-decorated armrests were too long for her arms. She seemed small, childlike and innocent, sitting there.
Simon jolted forward and Amatis was suddenly in front of him. "You shall not offend the lady of the realm with your presence, vampire."
Simon called out for his best friend and she didn't respond. Sebastian's face clouded over and he shouted for Simon to never address Clary again. She was his, now and forever.
"How did you let this happen?" Isabelle whispered.
Eliza narrowed her eyes at the younger girl. "I have a plan."
"If it's 'trust me', I'm waning."
She cracked a smile.
Sebastian asked Clary if it was absolutely necessary to her happiness that they let Simon live. The door blew open again before she could reply and in spilled the others. Alec, Magnus in his arms. Luke and Jocelyn behind them. As they clambered into the room, Sebastian clapped hastily, and the door slammed shut.
She had a bad feeling it was locked and an Open rune wasn't going to be enough.
"Great! Now the party can begin!" Sebastian was suddenly a lot less bored.
Jocelyn's sight was zeroed in on her younger daughter. Seated on a throne of Hell, one that meant she had succumbed to Sebastian.
Isabelle held Jace in her lap. Eliza stood up. Discreetly, she checked for her sword. Still there. Jocelyn and Luke were staring at Clary as if she had stabbed both of them and told them they meant nothing. Which, her sitting on that throne was a pretty good equivalent.
He stepped from outside his circle of blue fire. "Citizens of Edom, welcome to my world. You are, in fact, just living in it."
Luke drew a weapon. Isabelle stood up, loosing her whip. Alec, always him it seemed, was the fastest of them all. He drew his bow and nocked an arrow. A millisecond later and it was whizzing through the air.
It went straight into Sebastian's chest. The force was enough to cause him to lose his footing. He quickly regained it and yanked the arrow from his chest. Annoyance crossed over his face. He tossed the arrow aside.
"No weapon of Heaven can kill me now. I am unstoppable. I am forever." Alec's gaze shifted to Jace. Still unconscious on the floor. "Jace Herondale is no longer a weapon of Heaven." Sebastian told them. Eliza's breath caught. He couldn't know…Could he? "He wasted his heavenly fire out in the desert, my doing of course."
From the corner of her eye, Eliza saw Jace rise to his feet. His face was colorless as he took in their surroundings. The few of them against a massive force of Endarkened. Clary on the throne. He looked at Eliza, eyes wide.
"Was this your plan?" He asked her. "Or was it supposed to go differently?"
She rolled her eyes. Where was the trust?
"Little brother," Sebastian called to him, "would you like to take a shot at defeating me? Maybe I am mistaken and there is still some of Heaven's fire in your veins." He spied Jace's bracelet on his wrist. "If I cannot reach Heaven, I will raise Hell. And here we are." He spread his arms out. "Give it back. Renounce to me my bracelet as Eliza has renounced to me our sister. I require all that belongs to me."
That was when everyone turned on her. That was the part of her plan she hadn't measured for. The immeasurable amounts of betrayal and distrust from all the people she cared about. She steeled herself. All she had to do was wait. She would wait and they would see.
All part of the plan.
Jocelyn flung herself towards Sebastian. "Kill me instead! Take me, torture me! Let Clary go!" Sebastian looked down on her with disgust as he said that his having Clary was Jocelyn's torture. "She's my daughter, my child, my-."
He wrapped his hand around her throat and seized her up. "So was I." He snarled. "And yet you cast me aside. Lilith took me and gave me everything. A second chance at life, this world. And you will give me Clary. Just as Eliza has!"
He dropped Jocelyn and she turned her venomous gaze onto her older daughter. "You said- You said Clary was the person you loved most. You promised to always care for her and protect her! And you let him take her!"
Eliza's dark gaze was molten when she looked at her mother. Jocelyn tried, she really did. But a part of her would always believe Eliza was more of the devils than the angels. "I know what I did."
"What was it, then?" Jace stepped to stand next to Eliza. "Did you promise Clary we would all live if she joined you?" He took the silver bracelet and slid it off his wrist.
He shrugged. "You lot get to live. Eliza dies. And Clary gets-."
"The world." Magnus' voice chilled her. She refused to look at him, to see the disappointment on his face as he thought she was a traitor to everything and everyone. He sounded sick, and never had she ever heard that. His voice was raw and hoarse. "I know this circle of protection. You're using a spell to close this world off from our own. Having all your power here will mean you're invincible." Isabelle asked how Sebastian was supposed to travel between dimensions if they were sealed off from one another. "There will be no travel." Magnus told her. "Once the gates are closed, they are closed forever. He will be trapped here and so will we."
She had to act fast then. There was no way they were spending the rest of their days in Edom. If they did, there wouldn't be many left. The realm was strangling the life from them.
"If Clary remains here with you, you promised to leave our world alone. For good." Magnus went on. Sebastian said he was exactly right.
"You can't, Clary!" Jocelyn yelled out to her.
Clary finally spoke. Her voice was clear and resonate. "If I don't, he'll destroy everything. Our world will become a shadow of this one. Billions will die. I have to do this. Sebastian won't hurt me and one day, I'll love him too."
The words, the idea, made Eliza sick. Loving him. It wasn't possible. No one could love a monster.
Jocelyn pressed on. There was no changing him, making him better. Morgenstern men were stuck in their molding. There was no tempering anyone with Morgenstern blood.
Clary stared down at their mother with a world of sorrow. Sorrow that no person, no sixteen-year-old should ever feel. "He offered me a gift. I accepted."
Jace's gaze slid over Eliza as he stepped in front of Sebastian. He dropped the bracelet into his hand.
Sebastian closed his fist around it. "Kneel to your Queen. Clarissa Morgenstern, of Edom."
One at a time, the Endarkened soldiers bent their knees to her. Each bowed a head to her. Amatis knelt last and she kept her head up. Luke, faced with his sister for the first time since her Turning, stared at the woman as if he were looking at a ghost.
Amatis turned to him. Teeth bared, she ordered him to kneel. "Kneel. Or die."
Magnus was the first one down. Eliza turned then and watched him. Her warlock, proud and flamboyant. And…worse for wear. He was sick, in every sense of the word. Weak and thin, no color to him at all. He went down and his knees touched the floor.
I hope you have a plan, little dove. Or else we are all doomed.
She refused to smile, to show anything other than blank expression. But Magnus' voice, back in her head where it belonged, lit her up. She hadn't realized just how empty her mind had been without his constant witty remarks or sage, age-old advice. His need to comment every time her emotions flared up. Little dove.
You think I'd actually let all this happen? Where's the faith in me, honestly?
Alec, at his rightful place beside Magnus, dropped to his knees next. Isabelle followed his suit and Simon hers. Luke, as he went down, took Jocelyn with him. As Jace bent his knee, the window behind Clary shattered again.
This time, the glass fractured out and rained down. There was no window, only grey stone. The final path home was gone.
All or nothing.
"You have no way home. You are-." Sebastian's words broke off.
Eliza was still standing. Everyone else that stood before him in the room was down on bended knee. Except for her.
"Why do you stand against me?" He demanded. "I am all-powerful here. I am-."
"Unstoppable. I know. I heard."
The heads of all her loved ones raised. Even the Endarkened lifted their gazes to watch her stand against their lord and master.
"You cannot win against me, Eliza. You have no weapon but your hands."
At that moment, she reached behind her and pulled Eosphoros free. "What did I tell you about underestimating me?" She chided. His eyes widened, just barely. Once again, she had surprised him.
He drew Phaesphoros, unbridled rage dancing in his eyes. "I did promise to kill you in front of everyone who loved you. And," he looked back at the others, "this is a perfect show."
She twisted her sword. In the dim light, it shone. The rubies glittered. There was something different, something otherworldly about it. "Step outside your little circle and make good on your word, then. Take my life just like our bastard of a father did."
She need not say anymore. He stepped free of the circle. He paused before rushing towards her. She deflected the first blow. His weapon was heavier and larger than hers. They danced around one another, an orchestra of metal against metal.
"Come on." She goaded him. "You can do better than that," as he narrowly avoided a swipe to his shoulder. The sword sliced into his gear, drawing blood. "Where's the unstoppable, all-powerful King of Edom, hmm?"
His lip curled in anger. His face was red. No one could enrage him quite like her. "When I kill you, I will celebrate this day each year. It will be a holiday."
"Ooh," she grinned as she side-stepped him and ducked to the ground, "I hope there's cake." She rolled away and jumped back up to her feet.
"Lilith should have left you for dead!" He swung again. The motion was reckless.
She blocked it and forced her sword up. Sebastian staggered back towards the edge of the dais. "Funny." She ran and jumped on top of his throne. "Move." She hissed at Clary. Her sister jumped up and darted away. "That's exactly what I said about you. Silly demon, she never listens, does she?"
Sebastian launched himself towards her. She used the sword to deflect his blow. He twisted and knocked it from her grasp. They stared at one another, lost in the fact that she was weaponless. A grin placed itself on his mouth. He reared back to swing again. She leapt up in the air. His sword sang out as it collided with the back of his throne.
She landed, her feet stomping down on Phaesphoros' blade. It wasn't enough to break the blade, but it did startle him. She hopped over to Clary's throne and glanced back.
Eosphoros had skittered away. It was behind Sebastian. If the Angel had any mercy for her at all, he needed to send a miracle. She needed that sword to find its way into Sebastian. It was the only weapon they had to defeat him.
"Clary, the sword!" She heard Magnus yell.
She found him and his face said everything. He knew. She stumbled as she leapt down from the throne and evened her footing.
"Not so fast!" Sebastian hissed. He grabbed her by the hair and she was yanked back. He spun her and all she felt was blinding pain. All she heard was someone scream her name.
She gasped out for breath. Something seared inside of her. In her ear, she heard Sebastian try to find his own breath.
Clary was standing in front of her. Her green eyes were wide, body frozen. Eliza looked down. Three rubies surrounding an engraved M winked up at her. The hilt of her sword was protruding from her stomach.
"Liz…" Clary whispered. "No."
She could feel Sebastian behind her. All she had to do was turn and…
In his effort to use her as a human shield, he had held her close to his body. He hadn't expected Clary to drive so much force through the blow. The blade had pierced clean through her and straight into him.
Thank the Angel, a miracle indeed.
"Clarissa." He gasped out.
"Hail, master." Eliza grinned, wickedly, wildly. Blood mixed in with her saliva. She reached back and grabbed on to him. With her other hand, she grabbed the hilt and twisted it. The pain was unbearable, worse even than Maellartach. Everything was on fire inside of her.
He grinned in return. Blood stained his teeth. "You fool! I cannot be killed. This has been a fatal-."
She was beginning to think she had miscalculated. Maybe it hadn't worked. There was a chance, after all. But he spasmed. And again. The place where the sword had entered her glowed. It flashed red and then gold. Gold like fire.
Heavenly fire.
She could feel it then. The burn taking over each part of her.
"No, no. What have you done?"
Eliza pulled the sword from her. She stumbled forward, dropping the weapon. Clary caught her by the arm.
"You wanted the Morning Star." Eliza reminded him. "I just gave it to you." Dark blood dripped from her mouth.
She fell to the ground. He erupted in flames. The same flames that, not so long ago, had poured from Jace's hands. The same flames that she had encased in her sword. He was burning on the outside and she was burning on the inside.
If there is more Heaven than Hell…If not…
He was screaming out. The chilling sound reverberated off the walls. As much as it hurt her eyes to look, she watched him burn in a column of Heaven's flames. His body was a black silhouette surrounded by licks of orange, gold, red, yellow. He was screaming and his army was thundering.
And then, all at once, it became silent. She blinked and the fire was gone. She blinked and there he was. Lying on his back with a hole in his stomach. He looked in pain, something he tended not to showcase.
And he was staring at her. Staring at her with bright green eyes. Fairchild eyes. "My sisters…" He whispered. Clary was on her knees at Eliza's side, holding her hand. He was only a few feet away. "How smart you…putting heavenly fire into…Morning-Bringer…"
She nodded at the name of her sword. At the plan she had fought so hard to conceal from everyone. Everyone except for Jace.
A whisper of do you trust me? A gentle slide of her sword into him. Fascination as all the heavenly fire poured itself out of him and into her blade. As the fire died out of him and let her blade shine. The deep cut in his abdomen that healed almost as soon as she freed her sword from him.
Take the heavenly fire out of my boyfriend and put it in my sword. And I'll drive it through Sebastian's heart.
Stomach, but close enough. And Clary…Clary had done it. Strong Clary, the power of the angels on her side.
He was changed. There was nothing cruel or hard in his appearance. He seemed softer, more human somehow. Perhaps…
"I told you I was better, didn't I?" Her smile came off weak and pained. Heavenly fire burned inside of her. "I won, Jonathan."
"Jonathan…" He murmured. "That's my name, isn't it?"
"It is." She confirmed, just as quiet.
Amatis shouted out, a wordless noise full of hate. "Kill them both!"
"No!" He shouted. He, after a lot of struggle, pulled himself into an upright position. "Stop! Come no closer!" He ordered his forces.
They halted at his order. Amatis stood at their front, face flushed with rage. Jocelyn shoved past her and jumped up onto the dais. She jolted to a stop as she stood over them. Her twins, her first children.
Both with eyes green as spring grass. Eyes they had gotten from her.
"Is it her…?" Jonathan kept his eyes on Eliza. "Our mother?"
"It is."
He coughed. Blood bubbled and trailed down onto his neck. It mixed over the dried blood from where she had cut his throat. As Jocelyn stared at him, Eliza remembered the words she had overheard. Her vision of a different life, a dead dream. Jonathan, normal and human, fiercely protective of his two sisters. And there he lay. A boy that should have been. A boy that would only be for a little while longer.
Jocelyn knelt down and sat between them. She took their hands. Her eyes were bright and tinged red. She had brought them into the world and she would hold them when they left it.
"I'm sorry….so sorry." Jonathan's breath was ragged.
Eliza looked over at him. This was the brother she should have had. Kind and endearing. One who could love and feel regret and pain, remorse and true happiness. One to spar with her and they'd improve together. One with a humanity intact. One graced with a gift she had been given.
"Liz…" She didn't chill when he said her name. Perhaps because fire raged inside her and it took all she had not to scream out. It was burning through each molecule, each muscle, and every tissue. Taking its time as it burned her alive from the inside. "Don't dwell on it….on me…I never was…I never will be…the heavenly fire is destroying me….taking all the evil…all I am is evil…I will not survive….maybe you will…"
Jocelyn sniffed.
It had been known to her since the moment they chose the path into Edom: she wouldn't leave. "I'll stay with you." She promised him. This was her brother. Maybe only a specter or a ghost, a shadow of what could have been. But this was Jonathan and right now he was good. And she would stay by his side. "I'll go with you. That's how it's meant to be. The two of us. Life and death."
"And Hell after." Blood foamed on his lips as he produced a weak smile. He called out for Jace.
She closed her eyes as he approached. His steps were quiet and calculated. She could feel him near. "Are you here, my brother?" Her eyes flicked open at Jace's positive remark. "Take the Light-Bringer and cut it open. You know."
Jace's eyes flickered to her and he looked away quickly. Phaesphoros was only feet away. He picked up the sword and leapt down from the dais. Eliza watched him, her angel, as he strode over to the Behemoth demon he had slain. That felt like forever ago. It hadn't even been an hour. Jace used the sword to split the demon open. He reached down and pulled something from it.
What breath she had caught. The Infernal Cup.
"He must…the circle…it must…" Jonathan was overtaken by shudders. His eyes rolled back in his head.
Clary shouted for Jace to throw the cup into the circle of runes. Amatis screamed out. If the cup was destroyed, so would the whole army. He could not lay waste to them.
"You should have never been created." Jonathan told her. "I am sorry for that."
Jace threw the Infernal Cup into the circle. As soon as it collided to the ground, it fractured apart. Amatis shrieked. Her gaze met Luke's and for a brief, fleeting moment, she was herself again.
She fell to the floor. All around the room, the Endarkened collapsed. Dead.
Outside, something howled. The sky turned to blood as the howl grew louder and louder, higher and higher until it was a single shriek.
"Lilith cries for us." Jonathan stated.
For him, maybe. For her, not so much.
Clary asked him how they could return home. There had to be a way. He was full of sorrow as he said there was no way. The Faerie path was blocked and the gateway to Alicante broken. They were stuck.
Eliza stuttered a gasp as the fire raged. It was in her chest, encasing her lungs. It filled her heart and reached into her blood. It was everywhere. "I can't…I can't…"
"Breathe." Jonathan murmured to her. "Perhaps we were more alike than either of us ever knew."
Perhaps they had been.
"I don't…I don't want to die…" Tears burned in her eyes. Her mouth tasted of iron and rust. "I don't want to go…"
"Just look at me." It wasn't Jonathan. Jace leaned over her. Clary had scooted over to make room for him. He took her hand from her and held it against his chest. Jace, who barely ever cried, had tears streaming down his face.
She spasmed up, her back lifting from the floor as it shot through her. Jace grimaced and she knew he wanted to look away. "I told you to…trust me…"
He choked a laugh. "I've always trusted you. I let you stab me. Twice."
She smiled and felt the warmth of blood coat over her lips. She looked past him. Jonathan's face was blank. A ghost smile on his face as his eyes looked into forever. Dead. He was gone. Really gone.
"You're going to be okay." Jace told her. He brushed her hair from her face.
"I…nine languages, you know…bullshit…it's not one of them…"
His eyes sparkled when he smiled. "Hey, stay with me. You gotta stay with me. I'm not ready for these runes to fade." He traced his finger over the Wedded Union rune on the back of her hand. "You made me a deal, remember? You, me, a nice ceremony in the winter. You in the snow, morning glories in your hair. Remember?"
She did. She remembered it all. The first day she had seen him on that dock. She had never seen him before but in her heart, she knew him. Their first hunt, the way he had moved behind her on that table. His explanation of a doggy bag, the way he smiled at her in her confusion. Their first kiss. How he had told her he loved her with such conviction and trust in his eyes and she knew she had ruined it all because it was Jace and he had knocked down walls for her, to let her in. She remembered everything.
"Morning glories…" she couldn't find the words she had wanted after that.
Each breath hurt. Her lungs seared. She wanted it to stop. It had to stop.
"Liz?"
Magnus…Make it stop. I don't want to hurt anymore. Please.
All the warmth that came with Magnus, so much even in his sick state, poured over her. Her mind eased. Cool washed over her.
Where do you want to be?
Somewhere peaceful.
She closed her eyes.
And there it was, her dream. A painted sky of oranges and pinks. Morning glories all over the ground. Rolling hills. The sun, warm and content on her skin. And Jace. Shining before her as the Angel Raziel had when he came from Lake Lyn. His hand outstretched to her.
"Lizzie…?"
And she took it. She clasped his hand to hers and fire flared in her. It didn't hurt at all.