Hey ! Another update ^^ Yay! You know, it's great living in France because each time I post a new chapter I get the reviews in the morning when I wake up and there's no better way to start my day than to read what you guys think! So continue reviewing to make my day start on the right foot (I think that's the expression, right?)

So Jack Force asked me yesterday: Why didn't Clary and Jace spend some more time with each other instead of working? Well Jace's work at the DPD takes a lot of his time –when I say a lot it's a lot lot– but when he's not working he's devoted to Clary which I think Is a good thing^^ This whole adventure with Valentine will –hopefully– teach him a life lesson.

If any of you guys have question leave a review or PM me, I'm always glad to answer^^

Keep reviewing^^

Now let's get to the story!

Love,

Lilly

Chapter Eight: Masquerade

The American Society building looked like a museum to Jonathan, or a throw back in time. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling above the massive marble staircase with a decorative black wrought iron railing and a velvet blood red carpet was laid onto the steps.

The ball room was located on the first floor of the building. It was lit by candle light and heavy velvet curtains hanging on the high windows were drawn, plunging the room into semi-darkness. Several other crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, casting twinkling shadows on the guests, floor, and walls. Masked waiters were walking through the room, serving champagne in long flutes on silver platters. The wooden floorboard seemed extremely slippery, especially when guests would start to drink and spill the contents of their flutes onto the floor, he thought. The room was crowded with people, too many for Jonathan's taste. His father had vanished among the crowd, leaving him behind and staring absentmindedly at the men and women in front of him. He tousled his freshly dyed hair and let the music distract him momentarily. The band was composed of two violinists, a harpist and a string bassist. Couples were swaying on the dance floor in twirling colors, feathers and shiny jewels.

His eyes snapped back into focus when, from the corner of his eyes, he spotted a red-headed beauty, walking uncomfortably into the room.

Jonathan held his breath. This time it was Clary for real, and she was breathtakingly gorgeous. Her fashion designer had transformed her into a graceful peacock, all in black, sapphire blue, emerald green and gold. The sweetheart neckline molded the shape of her breasts with long and large peacock feathers sewn across her chest, leaving her throat bare and exposed. Unlike most of the other women, the dress had been cut in the front, revealing her short legs, elongated by the high feathery black stilettos she had slipped into. He couldn't see the back very clearly but the satin black and blue train was visible, like an elegant tail sprouting from the puffy back of the gown. Her eyes were framed in a gold lace delicate mask, but their twinkling green was unmistakable. Her shiny red hair was falling around her shoulders, curled elegantly; and on the top of it sat a gold tiara, encrusted with sapphires and emeralds – whether they were true or not, Jonathan couldn't tell from where he was standing. Clary's eyes were peering through the crowd and when they settled on him, she squinted before running to him.

When Clary spotted Jace, she gathered her skirts and ran to him. After she had left the house, she had wandered the streets of SoHo aimlessly before going back home to apologize, not because she thought she had been wrong earlier but because each time she fought with Jace it was like she ripped out a part of herself.

He was handsome, dressed in a simple smoky black suit with a plain black mask. She grabbed his sleeve and tugged on it. He looked down, surprised. In the dim candlelight, his golden eyes looked almost black. She cupped his face with a hand and wrapped the other around his neck, pulling him closer. She crushed her lips on his. He kissed her back, his burning hands on her hips, but the kiss felt different, his lips harder than they usually were. It felt like kissing someone else.

"I'm so sorry," she kissed him again. "I hate it when we fight."

"Fight?" Jace repeated with a frown. His voice also sounded different, colder.

"Jace?" He kissed her again and the realization that this man wasn't her husband slapped her in the face. "You're not Jace."

She put her hands on her mouth. "I'm so sorry. I just – I confused you with my husband, we got into a fight and I–I can't find him because of all the masks and I thought because you're blond too," she stopped abruptly. "I need a drink," she said. "Again, I'm really sorry," she apologized into a group of guests, leaving him staring after her. Jonathan, who took his hand to his lips, still had the taste of Clary's kiss imprinted on his lips.

Tatiana was all red and black.

If Sebastian thought she had been beautiful the night before when he met her, that night she was gorgeous. He didn't know exactly how he had managed to get her to invite him. He had simply found all the excuses in the world to spend the whole day with her and at the end of it she invited him.

Tatiana was wearing the kind of ball gowns that emphasized every single curve of someone's body. The corset was red and tight-fitted with a straight neckline that showed a lot of skin without being vulgar. It molded to her bust, chest and hips before puffing in heavy black satin that fell to the ground. She was walking with elegance, as if she wore those kinds of clothes every day.

The ball room of the American Society building looked like an evening at Venice's carnival. Even the members of the band were wearing white wigs. He noticed that although all the women had dressed into extravagant gowns from another century, the men had kept it simple in smoky black or black and white suits.

"Are you looking for someone?" Tatiana asked. Her bright red lipstick made her mouth look so much bigger and so much more kissable that he had to force himself not to stare at it. Sebastian shook his head.

"No, I was just – admiring the view." He gestured to the whole room before his eyes settled on her again.

Tatiana smiled. "Well, I'm going to fetch myself a drink while you continue to – admire the view," she squeezed his hand. "I'll be right back."

His gaze followed her through the crowd until she vanished behind a broad-shouldered man.

"I see Tatiana's treating you well," a voice behind him smirked. Sebastian didn't have to turn around to see it was Jace, but he did.

"Is Pangborn here?" Alec asked immediately.

That guy always cut to the chase, Sebastian thought. I like that.

He and Magnus were wearing matching smoky black suits except Magnus had added a fancy scarf and a delirious multi-colored-jewel-encrusted mask. What he was doing here, Sebastian didn't know, but he was smiling at him.

"What?" He felt obligated to ask and was curious as to why he was always looked at this way when he was in Jace's or Magnus' presence.

"I'm just admiring my work," Magnus answered. "The girls were so right about the hairstyle, suits you much better this way."

"Mags, we need to work," Jace sighed.

"Okay, sorry," Magnus shrugged but the smile hadn't left his face. "I'm going to see if I can find your wife anywhere so that you can apologize."

Sebastian frowned but Jace waved off his confusion with a wave of his hand. "None of your business. So is Pangborn here or not?"

"I don't know," Sebastian admitted and as soon as the words were out he regretted them.

"What do you think we're doing here?" Jace asked and though his mask was covering half of his face Sebastian could still see the anger mixed with disbelief in his eyes. "Setting you up with a hot girl so you can have your way with her? Jesus! What kind of operative are you?"

"Jace." Alec put a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"Tatiana told me he'd be here a little late. He had, and I quote, 'an errand to run'."

"When he arrives introduce yourself," Jace said. "We'll expect him to do a background check sometime tonight and to call you back tomorrow since all of his little friends are spending the next two nights in jail."

"Okay." Sebastian nodded.

"And keep your eyes on Tatiana," Alec said.

"Alec's right," Jace agreed. "She's not your girlfriend, you can't let her run off like this! You're supposed to watch her!"

Sebastian nodded again. "Sorry." He had never seen Jace on edge but it wasn't particularly pleasant. "Why did you come?" he asked. "I mean apart from checking on me."

"We –"

"And by we Jace means he," Alec interrupted.

"We have strong reasons to believe Valentine or Jonathan will be here tonight," Jace said. "So we're looking for any of them."

"Why would he be here?" Sebastian wondered aloud but he couldn't hide the excitement in his voice and he stretched his neck, hoping he could spot the criminal mastermind he had read so much about.

"Well, while they wait for whatever they're after to be delivered, they have to enjoy themselves don't they? And since they're friends with the Pangborns I think they've been invited," Jace explained.

"That's your theory," Alec insisted. "I think Jonathan's in a strip club and Valentine's writing a book about himself."

"If they were anywhere other than New York I would tend to agree," Jace replied. "But they're here."

"So yo–"

"Tatiana's coming back," Alec said, before grabbing Jace and disappearing behind a pillar.

Clary had lost any hope to find Jace in the room. There were too many blond men for her to find him and her feet had suffered a lot because of all the running. So she was sitting on a chair, her legs extended in front of her, twisting her fingers nervously. Her heart was beating wildly against her ribcage, threatening to just jump out of her chest any minute. She felt like crying again.

Let it go, Clary.

Jace's cold voice echoed in her head, again and again, like a song stuck on repeat. She needed to find her husband because she needed to know what was scaring him. Jace might have thought he was good at hiding things from her, but over the years Clary had learned to pick up on things he said, decipher the real message when he talked on the phone, read between the lines. He was scared and it made her wonder why. Was it because she was tiny and he thought a pregnancy would hurt her? Or because he was lying and he never planned on having kids at all?

Whatever the reason was, she needed to know.

Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't realized that someone was crouching in front of her, trying to get a hold of her gaze. She blinked and her heart dropped. How could she have ever confused Jace with the man from earlier? Jace's eyes were always gold, like melted amber, no matter how dark it was. She stayed silent for a few minutes, watching him, trying to see if he was still mad at her. Jace took her hands in his and helped her stand up.

"I'm so sorry, Clary," he whispered, his face only millimeters from hers. She didn't know what she could say so she kept staring into his eyes, chewing on her lip. "I'm sorry about earlier, about how huge of a jerk I was. If you want a baby, of course we can have one – or four or ten even – I'll give you everything you want. Forgive me."

Clary sighed and closed the space between them to kiss him. It felt right this time. It felt like Jace. His lips were soft and burning and full with all the longing and the apologies of their fight. She encircled his waist with her arms while he cupped her face with both hands. She smiled.

"I'm sorry, too," she said. "For getting mad so fast. And if you don't want a baby now, I can wait a little longer," she added. "But not too long, okay?"

Jace grinned and nodded. "I love you so much Clary."

"I love you too."

"Do you want to dance?"

"Yes," Clary smiled. He led her to the dance floor.

Thankfully, Clary remembered enough about the few dance classes she and Jace had taken so she didn't walk on his toes.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you were tonight?" he whispered in her ear, feeling the shiver running through her body. "Magnus really outdid himself."

"I kissed someone else," she blurted out. It seemed to be her thing now, blurting out bits of truth at random. Her cheeks suddenly burned with the weight of her confession. Clary was always so honest.

"What?" Jace's eyes went wide and he pulled her behind one of the pillars of the room.

"In my defense, I thought it was you. It was dark and everyone was masked. I–"

Jace burst out laughing. "It's not funny!" Clary cried.

"Actually it is," Jace said. Clary crossed her arms over her chest while his hands were flat against the marble stone on each side of her head.

"So?"

"So what?" Clary asked.

"How was it?"

The chances of that were almost impossible.

But Jace wasn't a common name, and Jonathan was sure Clary had called him that when she had confused him with her husband. He thought that his now blond hair must have thrown her off, but that was only confirming what he had thought.

Jace.

Of all the people he hated – his father included – Jace was on the top of the list. He had taken Jonathan's place in his father's heart – or whatever was in its place – only to betray him, to stab him in the back. If he really was married to Clary then finding him would be much easier. And after Valentine was done with, Clary would be all his. Killing two birds with one stone.

He liked that idea. Everything seemed to slowly click in place like pieces of a puzzle. He smiled to himself. Valentine arrived a few minutes after that, a flute of champagne in his hand.

"Son, I saw–"

Jonathan interrupted him. "I found Jace."

This is getting so exciting!

Read and review!

Tell me if you have ideas, I want to see what you're thinking should happen next!

See ya!

Lilly