Chapter Twenty
Simon traipsed into the Institute, whistling tunelessly as he knocked snow off his coat. Isabelle was spending the afternoon with her brother, which left Simon to spend it with his parabatai. And her husband, though he hoped that wouldn't be necessary.
He hung up his coat and headed down the hallway. It was oddly quiet; the stone walls dampened the noise of the cars and wind outside, but he thought as he approached the library that he should have been able to hear Jace and Clary. When he opened the door, he found out why it was so silent: Jace was nowhere to be seen, and Clary was dozing in the desk chair, her head propped on one hand and a fine dribble of spit forming a pool on the surface of the desk.
Simon hovered in the doorway for a moment, but before he could decide what to do, she jerked awake. "Simon?" she said blearily.
"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to wake you up."
She shook her head, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "You didn't," she said. She stared at him for a long moment. "Crap. Crap. We were supposed to hang out today, weren't we?"
"Yeah," Simon admitted, "but the weather's terrible. Let's just stay in here."
Clary glanced out the window; a gentle cloud of snow drifted past. She raised her eyebrows at Simon.
"It's very cold," he said.
Clary smiled in a way that told Simon she knew exactly what he was doing, but appreciated it nonetheless. "I guess we'll stay in, then," she said. "Come on, pull up a chair."
He joined her at the desk, dragging one of the chairs from the table over to her. Up close, she looked very pale, the circles under her eyes all the more dark for it.
"You okay?" he said. "You're not still having nightmares, are you?"
She looked down. "Sometimes," she said. "Not as often anymore."
"That's good," Simon said.
She nodded. "I don't think I ever really apologized to you," she said. "About what happened before the baby shower."
"Why would you need to apologize?" said Simon. "You didn't do anything wrong."
Clary sighed, fiddling with a pen on the desk. "I feel a little stupid about it. Like I overreacted."
Simon took this in for a moment. "Clary," he said slowly, "do you think you might have PTSD?"
Her gaze shot to him. "What?" she said. "No. I don't think so."
"But way you reacted," Simon said, "like it was still happening, like it was real...and the nightmares...I don't know. It all just sounds like PTSD." She was looking at him with an uneasy expression. "Sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to open a can of worms."
"No," she said. "I mean, maybe you're right. I just..." She tugged on a lock of her hair. "I didn't want to feel like I was making a big deal out of it."
"But it was a big deal," said Simon.
"Yeah...Jace said something similar." She was chewing her lip. "I don't know. I don't think it really matters what I call it. The point is that I'm getting better."
"Are you?" Simon said, watching her closely.
She fiddled with the papers on her desk, straightening them unnecessarily. "I want to be," she said eventually.
"There's no shame in asking for help," Simon said gently.
"I don't know who to ask," she said.
"No," Simon admitted, "I guess you couldn't explain all this to a psychiatrist. And Silent Brothers don't really do the mental health thing..."
"Exactly." She sighed and let her hands drop into her lap. "I think I'll be okay," she said quietly. "I think I'm getting better."
"I'm glad," said Simon.
She gave him a soft smile and began to separate one of the large stacks of papers into smaller piles. "I'm sorry, Simon, I can talk while I work, but I really have to get a couple of things done—ouch." She looked down at her stomach. "Behave," she told it sternly.
"You know he can't understand you, right?" said Simon, amused.
"Oh, believe me, he understands when Jace talks to him," Clary said darkly. "Biased little asshole," she added, but the twitch of her lip gave her away.
"Where is Jace, anyway?" Simon asked. "Can't he do this? You look like you could use a break."
"I could," Clary sighed, "but he's cleaning up the armory, which is rather difficult for me to do in my current condition." She gathered up the largest pile of papers and stood up with a soft grunt, moving toward the filing cabinet.
"Let me help," said Simon, already getting up, but she waved him down with the few free fingers she had.
"I got it," she said, opening a drawer with her foot and dropping the papers in. "I can handle it," she said, though she sounded very winded. Pursing his lips, Simon sat back down. Clary took a little longer, rubbing her belly and wincing.
"Are you okay?" Simon asked.
"Yeah," Clary said, lowering herself into her chair. "I'm fine. Just...sore. He must really be bruising my insides." As she reached across the desk to start sorting the rest of the papers, the collar of her shirt dipped several inches.
"Uh, Clary," said Simon, averting his eyes. "Your shirt is very, ah, low-cut."
Clary glanced down. "Oh," she said, laying a hand over her chest with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Sorry. I've just figured lately that if the only good thing I have from this pregnancy is fantastic boobs, I might as well show them off a little."
"The only good thing?" said Simon, raising his eyebrows.
"Well, once the baby comes, there'll be two good things, but as of now all I've got are boobs," said Clary, grinning.
"Not much longer now, though, is it?" Simon said.
"Eight more weeks," Clary sighed, leaning back in her chair as she rested a hand on her belly. "His due date can't come soon enough, in my opinion."
"I still can't believe you're naming him after Sebastian," said Simon, scowling.
"Technically, we're naming him after Jace's ancestor," said Clary lightly, though there was a slight undercurrent of tension in her voice. "Jonathan is only his middle name."
"Still more than he deserves," Simon said stubbornly. "He tried to take over the world and almost killed us all, and you're naming your son after him."
"I'm naming my son after my brother, who never got a chance to be good because Valentine destroyed him," Clary snapped. Her eyes simmered with anger. "And in case you forgot, it was Jonathan who told us how to kill the Endarkened and end the war. He saved us all in the end. They weren't the same person."
"Look," said Simon, abandoning all pretense, "you have to understand what it means to the rest of us. Your brother was Sebastian, by blood at least, and that's all anyone knew him as. So you can say you're naming him after your brother, but all anyone else sees is you naming him after the guy who started the Dark War."
"He didn't even use the name Jonathan," Clary shot at him. "He didn't want it, because it wasn't him. You were there, Simon! You know he was different at the end."
"I'm just telling you how everyone else sees it," Simon said. "People can't separate the two like you can. They're not going to see it like you do."
"You mean you," said Clary, frowning. "You can't separate the two of them."
"Fine, I can't," Simon said, folding his arms. "Him changing at the end doesn't negate all the horrible stuff he did."
"But it wasn't him," Clary said angrily. "Don't you understand? The demon blood corrupted him. That's not who he was. That's not who he would have been. I'm naming my son for the brother I never got to have, and the son my mother lost." She sat back in her chair, curling her arm around her belly. "You don't have to like it," she said. "And if it bothers you that much, you can pretend we named him after Jace. But I'm done defending our choice, so just drop it, okay?"
"I..." Simon glanced down. "You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start a fight."
"It's okay," said Clary. The anger seemed to drain out of her. "I'm just so tired of explaining it to everyone. It's really no one else's business."
"You're right," Simon said. "I shouldn't have said anything. It's not my place."
"Thanks," Clary said. She sighed. "Look, I know you don't fully understand, but Jace and I are happy with it, okay? And my mom really—ooh." She broke off, wincing as she put a hand to her belly.
Simon sat up a little straighter. "You okay?" he said cautiously.
She nodded tightly. "Just a cramp," she said in a strained voice.
"Um," Simon said. "Now, I'm not an expert, by any means, but aren't contractions supposed to feel like cramps?"
She didn't answer; she was clutching the arm of her chair tightly, her eyes squeezed shut. "Clary?" said Simon, half-rising from his chair as his parabatai rune prickled. "Should I—do you need a Silent Brother?"
Clary exhaled slowly, sinking back into her chair. "No," she said, her voice shaky. "I'm okay. It wasn't a real contraction, I don't think."
"Looked pretty real from where I'm sitting," Simon pointed out.
"It's just false labor," she said slightly breathlessly. "My body's preparing for birth. No big deal."
"But...is it supposed to be that painful?"
She shrugged, suddenly looking exhausted, but before Simon could say anything more, one of the phones on the desk began to ring. Clary picked it up.
"New York Inst—Maia?" She pressed the phone against her ear. "How many?" She listened for a moment. "Is anyone hurt? Okay, that's good. We can send someone over to—" She broke off, her face turning white.
"What's wrong?" Simon said, but she ignored him.
"Okay. Thanks for letting me know. We'll be right there." She hung up the phone, looking unnerved.
"What is it?" Simon pressed, but she stood up and moved around the desk, one hand on her belly.
"I—I need to find Jace," she said shakily. "Come with me."
Jace was just sliding a stack of neatly folded gear onto a shelf when the armory door opened. "Hey," he said without looking. "I'm almost done, I can help you with—"
"Jace."
He turned around. Clary and Simon were standing in the doorway, both with grave expressions on their faces. "What's going on?" Jace said, his heart beating a little harder.
"Maia called," said Clary. "A demon attacked the pack's headquarters. They're all okay, they managed to capture it, but it—it's asking for you."
Jace took a moment to process this. A couple months ago, he would have been scrambling to strap on his weapons belt and Portal over, but now he hesitated.
"Okay," he said eventually. "Okay. This is good, Clary. We might finally be able to get some answers. I'll call Magnus and Alec." He looked at Simon. "I think you and Izzy should come, too, if you're up for it. We could probably use the extra help."
"Wait," said Clary as he made to start gathering weapons. "I don't think you should go."
"Clary," he said gently. "This isn't like last time. I'll be careful, I promise."
"I know, but I'm asking you not to go, okay?" She came over to him and grabbed his arm before he could take down his sword. "The others can handle it."
"If it's asking for me, I don't think it'll talk to anyone else," Jace said calmly, tucking an errant curl behind Clary's ear. "If anything happens, Magnus will Portal me back. I'll be fine."
"Jace," Clary said, "we talked about this."
"Yes," said Jace, trying to hold onto his patience. "We talked about me not being a reckless idiot. I'm not being reckless. I'm taking precautions. I'm not going alone."
"I don't want you to go!" said Clary.
Jace made a noise of frustration. "Seriously? After all this, you still don't trust me, do you?"
"It's not about that—"
"Cut the crap, Clary," Jace said, folding his arms. "How am I supposed to prove I've changed if you won't even give me a chance?"
"I will give you a different chance," Clary ground out. "Just not today."
"If we don't get answers today, then this will keep happening!" said Jace. "We can't keep living in fear, Clary. And it would be one thing if it was just me, but they went after Simon and Izzy, and now Maia...we have to end this."
"I understand that," said Clary, "but—"
"So then what's the issue?"
"I have a bad feeling about this," Clary said stubbornly.
Jace blew out an exasperated breath. "Of course you do. But then admit it's that. Admit you're just scared, and it has nothing to do with me or—"
"Of course I'm scared!" Clary shouted. "What if it's a trap, like at the hotel? And you're just going to go charging in there like an idiot—"
"Charging in? We have a plan! A good plan!" said Jace furiously.
"Make another one. One that doesn't involve you."
Jace balled his hands into fists. How could she be so uncompromising? "It has to be me, Clary, you know that," he said through clenched teeth. "But the problem is that you don't seem to understand the difference between taking unnecessary risks and doing my duty. In case you forgot, we have a job that doesn't just involve sitting around filing paperwork. Mandate from heaven? Duty to the mundanes? Any of this ringing a bell?"
"What about your duty to me?" Clary snapped. "Set me as a seal upon thy heart—any of that ringing a bell?"
"Look," Simon began, "I think—"
Jace rounded on him. "You stay out of this," he snarled.
"Don't talk to him like that," said Clary sharply. "I want to hear his opinion."
"Only because you know he's going to agree with you!"
"Actually," Simon interjected, "I was going to say that both of you need to calm down. All this stress probably isn't good for Clary."
"I'm not fragile, Simon," Clary snapped.
"I know, but—"
Clary cut him off. "You know what? Forget it." She turned back to Jace. "You want to go, go. God knows I can't stop you. You always do whatever you want anyway, don't you?"
"Clary," said Jace quietly.
"Just g—" She broke off, her face spasming. Behind them, Simon sucked in a breath; Jace turned to see his fingers flutter to his forearm.
"Clary?" said Simon, stepping forward.
"I'm fine," she said in a strangled voice. She had squeezed her eyes shut, and her hands were gripping the edge of the weapons table so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.
"No, you're not," said Jace, moving towards her. "What's going on?" She shook her head, half-bent over. "Clary—"
"Don't go," she whimpered.
"Okay," Jace said, alarmed at her sudden shift in tone. "I'm not going anywhere. Tell me what's—"
She let out a sudden cry, doubling over as her knees buckled.
"Clary!" Jace shouted, springing toward her. She slid down the wall, her chest heaving as she fisted her hands against her belly. "Get a Silent Brother!" Jace shouted to Simon over his shoulder, and Simon backed out of the room, taking off at a run. Jace dropped down beside Clary, taking her hand in his. "What's happening?"
"Something's—wrong—" Clary choked out. A strangled sob escaped her. "Jace, something's wrong."
"Clary," said Jace sharply. "Look at me." Her terrified green eyes met his. "You have to try to stay calm," he said, his voice softening. "Breathe, okay?"
She nodded, exhaling as she closed her eyes. Tears spilled onto her cheeks. "Something's wrong," she whispered again. "He stopped kicking, he never stops kicking—" Her grip on his hand tightened, and she cried out again.
"Breathe, Clary," said Jace desperately, wishing he could say something more helpful.
Her eyes flew open suddenly. "Oh—oh, God..."
"What?"
She put a shaking hand between her legs and drew it back. Her fingers were stained red.
Jace's stomach went cold.
Clary squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh, God," she whispered. "No, no, no, this is a dream, please tell me I'm dreaming..."
Jace didn't have a chance to respond; at that moment, the doors to the room burst open, and two Silent Brothers strode into the room.
Give us space, said one of their voices in his head.
"No," Jace snarled, tightening his hold on Clary's hand, but then a hand clamped down around his arm, hauling him up and away from Clary.
"No!" he shouted again, struggling to free himself. "Get off me, let me stay with her—"
"Jace," said a voice in his ear. It was Simon. "We have to let them help her, we have to get out of the way..." And he dragged Jace backward, out of the room. The last thing Jace saw before the doors slammed shut was Clary's pale, terrified face between the cloaks of the Silent Brothers.
The moment the doors closed, Jace wrenched his arm out of Simon's grip, shoving him away. "What the hell is the matter with you?" he shouted. "I need to be in there with her!"
"You can't help her," Simon said gently, though his face was tight with pain. He was very pale, his eyes dark, pupils blown wide with fear. "You think I don't know how you feel?"
"No, you don't know!" Jace bellowed. "It's my kid she's losing in there, it's—" The reality of his words hit him, and all the energy left him in a rush. He slid down the wall, shaking uncontrollably.
Simon stared at him; he seemed at a loss for words. Jace heard Clary cry out again from within the room. He gripped his arms, digging his nails in, feeling blood burst beneath his fingers.
The seconds stretched into minutes. It felt like they had been waiting an eternity. At some point, Simon came over and sat beside Jace, drawing his knees up to his chest.
"Someone needs to deal with Maia," Jace said. His voice barely scraped past his throat.
"It can wait," said Simon. "They have it trapped."
"They don't have runes," Jace said. "It won't stay trapped for long. You should go call the others."
"But...what about what you said? If it won't give us any answers without you—"
"Then kill it," said Jace. "I don't care. I'm staying here." He was surprised to hear himself say it. The last time Clary's life had been in danger, he'd jumped at the chance to lose his pain in fighting demons.
After a long moment, Simon got to his feet. "Will you—will you call me if..."
Jace nodded, turning his attention back to the door. He felt Simon's eyes on him, but didn't return his gaze. Finally, Simon turned and walked away. Jace listened to his footsteps recede until the hall was silent once more.
Inside the room, Clary screamed.
"Where the hell have you been?" Maia demanded as Simon came into the police station.
"Where's everyone else?" Simon asked.
Maia pursed her lips, clearly not pleased with his lack of an answer, but she pointed at the stairwell. "The Shadowhunters are down there. I told the pack to leave. I thought this might get messy."
"Probably," said Simon.
"Where's Jace? Isabelle said they can't do anything until he gets here."
"He's not coming," said Simon shortly.
Maia surveyed him. "Is everything okay?" she asked.
Simon swallowed and didn't respond. His arm throbbed painfully. "I should get down there," he said, moving past her. He yanked open the door to the stairwell and descended into the basement.
"Finally!" Isabelle said as he approached. "What took you so long?"
There was a loud growling noise from behind her, followed by rattling and a burst of blue light. Simon looked around Isabelle; Alec and Magnus were standing in front of a padlocked cage just a little taller than Simon. He stared at the demon; it was barely contained in the cage, and he silently commended Maia's pack for having managed to capture it at all. He thought it might be a drevak demon, though it was hard to tell since its flesh was squeezing through the holes in the cage, distorting its figure.
"Helloooo?" Isabelle said, snapping her fingers in front of Simon's nose. "Earth to Simon."
"Sorry," he said, snapping his attention to her. "What are we doing?"
"Jace Herondale!" the demon snarled. Isabelle turned around, looking exasperated.
"Yes," she said. "We know you want Jace. You've made that very clear." She looked back at Simon. "Speaking of Jace, where is he?"
"He couldn't—we'll have to do this without him," Simon said.
"Why?" Alec looked alarmed. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Simon said. "He's fine. Or—look, we can talk about it later. We need to deal with this demon first."
"JACE HERONDALE!" the demon screeched.
Even Alec looked a little irritated. "That's all it's said since we showed up," he said. "It'll only talk to Jace."
"Well, he can't be here," said Simon, a little more sharply than he had intended. "So does anyone have any other ideas?"
"I've got one," said Isabelle. She whipped a seraph blade out of her belt, muttering, "Jahoel!" The seraph blade activated, and Isabelle marched straight over to the cage, slicing a long cut across the demon's skin through the grate of the cage. It screeched; not a fatal wound, but a deep one.
"Talk," said Isabelle, pointing the blade at it. "You're looking for Jace. Why?"
The demon hissed, shifting in the cage; more of it oozed through the holes. "Master," it spat.
"Yes," Isabelle said patiently, "we know you have a master. Does your master have a name?" The demon growled, but said nothing. Isabelle spun the blade in her hand and opened another long cut in the demon's side.
"MASTER!" it shrieked.
"This is useless," said Alec. "It's not going to talk without Jace. We need him here."
"I don't know," said Magnus, chewing his lip. "This might all be a trap, like last time. Maybe we should just kill it."
"We need answers," Isabelle said, folding her arms. "This might be our only chance."
Alec shook his head. "It's not our only chance, because if we don't get answers now, demons will keep coming after Jace. We have to put a stop to this."
"This 'master' isn't just going to show up," Simon said. "No matter what we do right now, we're not going to just stop it all today."
"Especially because the master can't show up," Magnus said. "Sending that horde of lesser demons was the extent of his powers. Simon's right. Even if we could figure out who it is, we can't do anything about it. Not if he's trapped in a different dimension."
"So, what, we just let demons keep attacking Jace?" Alec said. "At least if we know who it is, we can figure out why they want Jace in the first place."
"JACE!" the demon screamed. They all simultaneously rolled their eyes.
"I'm with Alec," Isabelle said, spinning her seraph blade around her wrist. "Can you gut a demon without killing it?" she asked thoughtfully.
The demon screeched, writhing in its cage. "MASTER! MASTER!"
The room felt suddenly very cold; the demon went still. "Master," it hissed.
Heat flared from the demon. The cage burst apart, shards of metal flying everywhere. Isabelle yanked Simon to the side as a jagged bar drove into the wall, right where his head had been. There was no time to thank her; the demon thrashed, sending the remnants of the cage careening across the floor toward Alec. Magnus clapped his hands, and the cage disappeared.
The four of them converged on the demon, blocking it in as it made for the stairs. Simon drew his sword, slashing up at the demon. What should have been a mortal blow glanced off the demon's skin, forcing Simon to stagger back. Beside him, Isabelle and Alec were having similar problems.
"What's going on?" Isabelle shouted.
"It's drawing power from something!" Magnus said. Isabelle uncoiled her whip, flicking it three times in quick succession. The first and second hits were repelled, but on the third try, Simon heard it slice through skin. Ichor dribbled onto the floor.
"We have to hit it fast!" Alec said. "Magnus, Izzy, and I will deal quick, small blows to weaken it, and Simon, you finish it off!"
Isabelle nodded and began to slash at the demon with her whip as Alec shot it with arrow after arrow and Magnus threw jets of blue flame at it. Simon held his sword at the ready. Half of their attacks bounced off the demon harmlessly, but he could see it losing steam. They beat it back, away from the door.
Suddenly, Simon's arm gave a horrible flare of pain, nearly causing him to drop his sword.
"Simon!" Isabelle screamed. "Now!"
He grit his teeth and leapt forward, driving his sword up and into the demon's heart. It shrieked as ichor splattered the floor. Simon tore his sword out of the demon, and it began to crumple in on itself, vanishing.
"I may have been wrong about the master's powers," said Magnus mildly.
The rune on Simon's arm seared white-hot. This time he did drop his sword, gasping as he clutched his arm.
"Simon?" Isabelle was at his side. "What's wrong?" He pushed his sleeve up, running his fingers across his parabatai rune. It looked normal, but pain seized his whole arm. "Simon," said Isabelle sharply. "Tell us what the hell is going on."
"It's Clary," he gasped out before he could stop himself. "I think she's losing the baby."
Isabelle paled. "Oh my God. Oh my God. That's why Jace isn't here." She grabbed his good arm. "We have to go. Now."
Time crawled by. At some point, Clary had given a horrible scream and then fallen silent, but the doors remained resolutely closed. When Jace tried to approach, he had felt the Silent Brothers firmly repelling him. The longer he sat there, his legs going numb, the more convinced he was that the baby couldn't be saved. He thought of Clary, of the shine in her eyes when she had whispered to him that she thought it might be a boy, of the pure joy on her face when he had kicked for the first time, of the way she slept on her side, one arm always cradling her belly protectively. He wondered if the baby would have had her eyes.
He didn't know how much time had passed when the others approached.
"Any news?" said Isabelle.
Jace shook his head. "The demon?"
"Dead," Simon said. "We couldn't get anything out of it."
Alec sat down beside Jace, not saying anything. Jace appreciated it; he wasn't sure what would come out of him if he tried to talk about what was happening inside that room.
"Something odd did happen, though," Isabelle said; she had always been a nervous chatterer. She began to describe their fight with the demon. Jace was only half-listening. At some point, Simon touched her arm lightly, murmuring in her ear, and she trailed off.
Part of Jace wished she would keep talking; it was better than this heavy silence, with all of their eyes on him, or flicking between him and the doors. His legs had fallen asleep. He stood and shook them out, then began to pace. He expected someone to reprimand him like they always did, but no one said a word.
Alec's murmur broke the silence. Jace glanced around, but he was talking to Magnus. "The kids are with Mom," Alec explained, catching sight of Jace watching them. "Is it okay if we text and let her know what's going on?"
"Maybe we should tell Clary's parents too," Simon said.
Jace nodded and continued to pace. A hard lump had formed in his throat. The kids. The phrase had just seemed to roll off Alec's tongue. His family was such a large part of who he was. If the baby didn't survive, would they still be able to have kids? Would Clary even want to? Or maybe she wouldn't survive this either.
Don't go, she'd said.
He felt a sudden rush of hatred, toward the world, or perhaps toward himself. Why had he wasted all this time trying to track down some demon or other, when he could have been spending it with her, with his family? He couldn't believe he had been so stupid. At last he thought he understood everything Clary had been saying. The demon didn't matter, none of it mattered if he couldn't be with her, if he couldn't hold his son in his arms. And if he'd just realized it a little sooner, he could have had more time with them.
"Jace?" said Isabelle softly. At some point he had begun to cry, hot tears coursing down his cheeks. He wiped them away and continued to pace.
Luke and Jocelyn arrived. The seven of them sat in the hallway, a silent vigil. Night fell through the narrow window, and the witchlight sconces came to life.
At long last, the armory doors opened. Brother Enoch appeared in the doorway, his face impassive. Jace tried to speak, but his voice was stuck in his throat.
They are both alive.
Sounds of relief broke through the silence. Jocelyn collapsed against the wall, weeping, and Simon gripped Isabelle tightly to him. Blood thundered through Jace's ears. His knees felt weak.
Clary would like to see you, Jace.
He nodded numbly, wobbling forward; his legs seemed to have turned to water.
Clary was lying on her side in the middle of the room; Jace's stomach flipped as he took in her sweat-soaked hair and the blood all down her legs. She was very pale, but as he knelt beside her, she opened her eyes and gave a weak smile.
"He's okay," she whispered, sliding her hand across her belly. "He's kicking again." Jace reached out a hand hesitantly and laid it on her stomach. The baby's foot moved against his palm.
Tears sprang to his eyes, and he buried his face in Clary's hair, clutching her to him. She turned his head toward her and brushed her lips against his cheek.
We were able to stop her labor, said the other Silent Brother, whose name Jace didn't know. But the womb is in a precarious state, and we could not change it. She will need to be closely monitored over the next few days and remain on bedrest for the remainder of the pregnancy.
Clary nodded. Jace opened his mouth to ask how she was feeling, but nothing came out. She seemed to understand anyway. "I'm okay," she said. "Just achy."
The Silent Brothers began to prepare a stretcher to bring her up to the infirmary.
"Jace," Clary said softly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did. I should have trusted you. I do trust you."
"No, I'm sorry," Jace said, finding his voice at last. "I don't care about the demon, I don't care about any of it. All I care about is you. And him." He put his hand on her stomach. "I'm so lucky to have you. Both of you. I'm so unbelievably lucky. And I won't ever leave you again."
"Promise?" said Clary, gazing up at him.
"Yes," Jace said. It was the easiest decision he'd ever made. "I promise."
A/N: Sorry, I know this chapter was a little evil. But everything's fine! For now... :)
Please leave a review! There's only a few chapters left, and I'd love to get to 100 by the finale! As always, thanks so much for reading.
~4L