Chain of Gold
by Cassandra Clare
Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Book 1 in The Last Hours Series
Welcome to Edwardian London,
a time of electric lights and long shadows, the celebration of artistic beauty and the wild pursuit of pleasure, with demons waiting in the dark. For years there has been peace in the Shadowhunter world. James and Lucie Herondale, children of the famous Will and Tessa, have grown up in an idyll with their loving friends and family, listening to stories of good defeating evil and love conquering all. But everything changes when the Blackthorn and Carstairs families come to London…and so does a remorseless and inescapable plague.
James Herondale longs for a great love, and thinks he has found it in the beautiful, mysterious Grace Blackthorn. Cordelia Carstairs is desperate to become a hero, save her family from ruin, and keep her secret love for James hidden. When disaster strikes the Shadowhunters, James, Cordelia and their friends are plunged into a wild adventure which will reveal dark and incredible powers, and the true cruel price of being a hero…and falling in love.
Genre
Triggers
Violence, death
Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare is the first book in The Last Hours series, a new series in Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter world. This series centers around London's next generation of Shadowhunters after the Infernal Devices series. The Infernal Devices couples children, and other family relations, to be exact. We have James and Lucie Herondale (Will and Tess's children), Thomas Lightwood (Gideon and Sophie's son), Christopher and Anna Lightwood, (Gabriel and Cecily's children), Cordelia and Alistair Carstairs (Jem's neice and nephew), Matthew Fairchild (one of Charlotte and Henry's son's), and lastly, Grace Cartwright and Jesse Blackthorn (Tatiana Blackthorns adopted daughter, and son from her dead husband).
This is a HUGE book ... which, is awesome, considering how long fans have been waiting for it. So bear with me. Lots of thoughts here and lots of interweaving stories and characters. I'm just going to jump in from the start of the book and work my way to the end.
Lucie and Jesse - Their whole thing going on ... I love it. Their first meeting is innocent and precious. Their friendship that builds throughout the story, to what I feel like in genuine love on Jesse's side (I don't think Lucie has figured that out yet) is rather beautiful for its simplicity and innocence. Jesse willing to give James his "last breath", the one thing that might truly bring him back to the living, is heartbreaking ... he is still around, however faint, but I believe Lucie will accomplish her promise to help bring him back ... despite him asking her not to.
Cordelia and James - I love, love, LOVE Cordelia. She is truly the epitome of a self-less character. She is kind, intelligent, and loving, fierce and brave. I love how she jumps into anything with no hesitation if it means helping a friend, or doing what is right. I love James too. He is essentially his father, and I have loved Will since I first read the Infernal Devices years ago. Honorable, kind, loyal and strong, he is an easy character to love. Makes it easy to see why these two characters are obviously head over heels in love, and if it wasn't for Grace and whatever is up with her (a weird power where she can seduce anyone?), and that damn bracelet that she locks on James and binds him to her, they would be together. In the end, when Cordelia ruins herself by providing an alibi for James by saying they spent the night together, and in return, he proposes marriage for a short term to help her redeem herself in society's eyes, is bittersweet. Because Cordelia, who has always loved James, is getting to marry him ... but James is under this weird spell, which makes him think he loves Grace. It's annoying. By the way, I totally predicted that Grace would put that damn bracelet back on him. Ugh. Almost threw my book.
The Merry Thieves - James, Matthew, Thomas and Christopher, best friends, and nicknamed the Merry Thieves. It's always a riot when they are altogether, and I loved the strong connections they all have with one another.
Matthew - I can't wait to find out what happened to this poor character who is so sad, he drinks himself into a stupor everyday. All we get to know, it that he vows to never tell anyone, not even James, and that he murdered someone he loved ... or thinks he did. I suspect there is a lot more to this story, and we will find out in the next one. He is a fascinating character, really. Openly bi-sexual to an extent, funny and loves a good time ... but how he goes from loving Lucie in the first half of the book, to falling for Cordelia ... makes me wonder why. This book loses half a popint for originality, only because James and Matthew, parabatai, both loving the same woman, when this is a spin off from the infernal devices, where Jem and Will both loved Tess ...
Alistair - he is a rather interesting character, and while at times he is easy to dislike, by the end I truly feel bad for him. He obviously was a bully in school, and put up walls against everyone, including Cordelia, to protect himself against torment. Now that he finally realizes that he doesn't have to be that way, and doesn't have to settle, it comes out some of the horrible things he has said about Thomas and his family, and he ends up hurt. This, on top of being gay in a time where it is highly frowned upon, therefore having to hide who he is, it will be interesting to see where his character goes.
Anna - Probably one of my favorite characters of this book. I love her confidence, and she is just draws you in. I love that despite living her life her way in a time where it isn't accepted, she still does it anyway, and with the love and support of her family and friends. And while she says she doesn't believe in love, her small gesture to help Cordelia stand out in Jame's eyes with the dresses shows she believes in it enough for other people.
Grace - I just can't stand her. She has opportunities to be brave and be the better person, and she doesn't take them. It is hard for me to put aside what she is doing to James to try to see any redeeming quality about her.
Will and Tessa - I was obsessed with the Infernal Devices series years ago, so any little bit of time we get with Will and Tess, I love. I love that all these years later they still are head over heels in love. It breaks my heart that Will is aging, knowing that one day he will pass on, leaving Tess behind. Its interesting to see them as parents, especially Will, knowing how difficult he was at James' age.
Jem - Just like in the Infernal Devices, Jem ... now a silent brother, is just as calming in this series as he was in the infernal devices. His love for Will and Tess, and their children is rather beautiful, considering their bittersweet ending.
Tatiana - What a wacky old crow. I don't have too much to say about her, other than its truly amazing what she can get away with, when other shadowhunters are not as lucky.
Sexuality - First of all, I love that Cassandra Clare brings awareness to the LGBTQ through her writing. It's not seen enough, and it needs to be. There is just ONE inconsistency that bothers me. In the Mortal Instruments, Alex is in the closet for a long time. He won't even admit he is gay to Jace, his parabatai, because he is scared of the judgement and shame he will feel from the clave. This is relatively a modern time (2007), and he is fearful of being alone. In fact, the only other Shadowhunter who we know of who is gay is the Consul's daughter. So it's a little weird that it is so common in 1903, when it would be much more frowned upon than in 2007. Matthew is bi-sexual and doesn't hide it from James ... and he admits it to Cordelia shortly after meeting her. I loved how many relationships there were, and how they went across the spectrum, but the consistency of it I found just a touch odd.
Alcoholism - In the Infernal Devices, we got an inside look of opium, and its use to forget bad memories (Will in Clockwork Prince I believe uses it during a particularly rough time) It seems like alcoholism will be focused on in this series, with Matthew having an obvious problem with it (to the point where he starts to withdraw), and Elias, Cordelia and Alistair's father, who has been a drunk for years. I hope we see in the next book Matthew kick the habit and find some peace within himself.
In the end, I really enjoyed Chain of Gold. There were some really frustrating parts (particularly with Grace), but all the characters were great reads, and the chemistry between the main potential couples, like James and Cordelia, Matthew and Cordelia, and Lucie and Jesse was evident. There was a lot of loose ends left at the end of this book, which promises a lot more to come in the next two books.
Jesse: "Come along, now. Don't be frightened. What shall we talk about? Do you like stories?"
Lucie: "I love stories. When I grow up, I am going to be a famous writer."
Jesse: "That sounds wonderful."
Lucie: "I'm so happy you're here. I never thought it would really happen."
James: "Why not? The Law demands you train together before you can become parabatai, and besides, Father adores Daisy, and he does make the rules ..."
Cordelia: "Your father adores any Carstairs. I'm not sure it's to my particular credit. He may even like Alastair."
James: "I think he has convinced himself Alastair has hidden depths."
Cordelia: "So does quicksand."
Matthew: "Jamie, Jamie, Why must you chivvy a fellow so? I was peacefully napping."
Jamie: "Well, wake up. You're needed in the ballroom to make up the numbers. There are a shocking number of girls out there."
Matthew: "Damn the ballroom. Bother the dancing. I intend to remain here and get thoroughly foxed. You can join me if you want."
Jamie: "That's my father's port. You'll be vilely ill in the morning."
Matthew: "Carpe decanter. It's good port. I've always admired your father, you know. Planned to be like him one day. Though I once knew a warlock who had three arms. He could duel with one hand, shuffle a deck of hards with the next, and untie a lady's corset with the third, all at the same time. Now there was a chap to emulate."
James: "You're already foxed."
Matthew: "You know what they say. Drink, and you will sleep; sleep, and you will not sin; do not sin, and you will be saved; therefore, drink, and be saved."
Anna: "Matthew, you could sin in your sleep."
Matthew: "That's right.. Just - try to smile, and no one will notice anything happened. James and I are practically interchangeable in the public consciousness anyway."
Cordelia: "James - left."
Matthew: "I know. Very bad form. One should not leave a lady on the dance floor unless something is actually on fire. I'll have a word."
Cordelia: "A word. A word?"
Matthew: "Several words, if it will make you feel better?"
Matthew: "Have you really read Oscar's work?"
Cordelia: "Just Dorian Gray. It gave me nightmares."
Matthew: "I should like to have a portrait in the attic that would show all my sins, while I stayed young and beautiful. And not only for sinning purposes - imagine being able to try out new fashions on it. I could paint the portrait's hair blue and see how it looks."
Cordelia: "You don't need a portrait. You are young and beautiful."
Matthew: "Men are not beautiful. Men are handsome."
Cordelia: "Thomas is handsome. You are beautiful. James is beautiful, too."
Matthew: "He was a very unprepossessing child. Scowly, and he hadn't grown into his nose."
Cordelia: "He's grown into everything now."
Matthew laughed, again as if he was surprised to be doing it.
Matthew: "That was a very shocking observation, Cordelia Carstairs. I am shocked."
Cordelia: "Can you do that?"
Matthew: "I think you'll find I can do whatever I want, and I usually do."
Sona: "Cordelia has a tendency to throw herself into every situation headlong. I'm sure you understand."
Will: "Oh, we do. We're always speaking very sternly to our children about that very thing. 'If you don't throw yourself into situations headlong, James and Lucie, you can expect bread and water for supper again.'"
She quirked a smile at him.
Will: "What is it?"
Tess: "You're posing. It makes me want to paint a portrait of you. I'd call it Gentleman, Dissipated."
Will: "You can't paint a line, Tess." he said, and came over to her putting his hands on her shoulders.
Will: "Much less capture my glorious handsomeness, which, I hardly need to point out, has only grown with age."
Tess: "I'm well aware of that. I saw Penelope Mayhew flirting with you tonight. Shamelessly."
He bent his head to kiss her neck.
Will: "I hadn't noticed."
Will: "Tess, Tess. Do you think when you stopped growing older, you stopped aging in your heart? You never became cynical and fearful? Is it old age catching up with me, that I am so fretful and disquieted over nothing."
She seized him by the chin, turning his face to hers.
Tess: "You are not old. Even when you are eighty, you will be my beautiful Will."
She kissed him. He made a pleased, startled noise and his arms cam up around her.
Will: "My Tess. My lovely wife."
Sona: "Cordelia. Really? Alone in a boy's bedroom?"
Cordelia: "Maman, he can barely sit up, and I'm a trained warrior who wields a mythical sword."
"I sought not fire, yet is my heart all flame. Layla, this love is not of earth."
James: "All I can do is swear to you that you will never lack at any social event in the future, someone to stand up with or dance attendance on you. You might not credit it, having met Thomas and Christopher and Matthew, but they are quite popular. We can make you the toast of the season."
Cordelia: "Really? Thomas and Christopher and Matthew are popular?"
He laughed.
James: "Yes, and I can make you a further promise as well. If I offend you again, I will wear a truly frightful gown to the next significant social gathering."
Cordelia: "Very well. We can shake on it like gentlemen do."
A demon lunged for Alastair: Cordelia brought Cortana down in a great curving arc, severing its head.
Alastair: "Really. I could have done that on my own."
Cordelia considered killing Alastair, but there was no time - someone was screaming.
Matthew: "It seems somehow blasphemous to use Marks to rid oneself of the effects of alcohol."
James: "I've seen you use your stele to part your hair."
Matthew: "The Angel gave me this hair. It's one of the Shadowhunters' gifts. Like the Mortal Sword."
Thomas: "Now that is blasphemy."
Matthew: "Please recall that I am the pale neurasthenic one and you are the stern heroic one. It is very tedious when you mix up our roles. We will have to think of something quite impressive to startle you."
Christopher: "So what is my role"
Matthew: "Mad inventor, of course. And Thomas is the one with a good heart."
Thomas: "Lord, I sound dull."
James: "Do you want to do something?"
Lucie: "I am doing something. I'm writing."
James: "What are you writing about?"
Lucie: "Well, if you don't leave me alone, I'll write about you."
James: "I must be off. There's an orangery in Kensington Gardens that needs smashing. Ladies, lock up your outbuildings. James Herondale is in town and he has been slighted in love!"
Matthew: "James. I don't know whether to embrace you as a brother or strike you down as a foe."
James: "I vote the first one."
Christopher: "And we all know what Grandfather Benedict was up to in that house. It's why he turned into a worm."
Matthew: "Ah, fond family memories."
Cordelia: "Might I inquire as to the problem?"
Evangeline: "Anna. I loved her - I love her still! I would have given it all up for her, all of it, polite society and all its rules, just to be with her, but she has thrown me out like a dog on the street!"
Anna: "Now, Evangeline. You can't say you've been thrown out like a dog when you've got your mama, two footmen, and a butler coming for you. Hello, Cordelia."
Cordelia: "Oh, dear."
She patted Evangeline gently on the shoulder.
Anna: "Besides, Evangeline. You're to be married Wednesday. To a baronet."
Evangeline: "I don't want him! I want you!"
Anna: "No. You want a baronet. Not to live in my messy little flat. Now go on, Evangeline, there's a good girl."
Evangeline burst into a fresh spate of tears.
Evangeline: "I thought I was the one. After all the other girls - I thought they didn't mean anything -"
Anna: "They didn't. And neither did you. Do come up, Cordelia, the water's already boiled."
Anna: "Well, at first it was because you're the new girl in our set, and I was wondering if you were good enough for our Jamie or our Matthew."
Cordelia: "Good enough for them in what sense?"
Anna: "Well, marriage of course. Anything else would be scandalous."
Matthew: "I have already had a maddening day. James has been slandered by Tatiana Blackthorn and my rotten older brother is backing her up to the hilt; James has gone off to rendezvous with Grace. I am here to get squiffy and try to forget what a foolish thing my parabatai is doing. Also, I have to be at Fleet Street by midnight."
Anna: "A dreadful tale. Shall we go?"
Matthew: "Certainly. Cordelia,it was lovely, if surprising, to see you."
Anna: "There is no need to say farewell. Cordelia will be coming with us. That was why I invited her here in the first place."
Cordelia: "I thought you wanted to have tea!"
Anna: "No one every just wants to have tea. Tea is always an excuse for a clandestine agenda."
Anna: "It is time for us to do what we do best."
Matthew: "Drink?"
Anna: "Be charming."
Cordelia: "You surprise me. I am all astonishment."
He sat down on the edge of Lucie's bed - and immediately leaped back up, blushing. Lucie took her hands off her hips, amused.
Lucie: "A ghost with a sense of propriety. That is funny."
Lucie: "You're just lucky I didn't tell him you were here. He would have believed me. And if he thought there was a boy in his daughter's room, he would have figured out how to tear him limb from limb, even if he couldn't see him."
Lucie: "Let me tell you something, Jesse Blackthorn. Your mother may have reason to be resentful of Shadowhunters, but if her ridiculous demons hurt my brother, I will have no pity. I shall beat her to death with her own stupid hat."
Cordelia: "I simply cannot see why one would wish to picnic in the nude. There would be ants in dreadful places."
Anna: *laughing* "Cordelia, you are a breath of fresh air."
Hypatia: "I cannot say I care for the idea of so many Nephilim infesting my salon. Are you interesting, Cordelia Carstairs?"
Cordelia hesitated.
Hypatia: "If you have to think about it, then you're not."
Cordelia: "That hardly makes sense. Surely if you do not think, you cannot be interesting."
Hypatia: "I suppose you may stay a moment."
Hypatia: "Hyacinth. Have the guards take this mermaid away and put her in the wine cellar."
Matthew: "Please reconsider putting a poisoner in the wine cellar. I beg of you, for the sake of my future visits."
Matthew: "I would never have guessed Arabella was engaged in poisoning."
Anna: "I told you earlier, I never do court dull girls."
James: "Oscar Wilde stayed there. When Matthew says 'anybody,' that's usually who he means."
Matthew: "Not only Oscar Wilde. But yes, Oscar Wilde. He died there."
James: "I trust you'll have a more pleasant time."
James: "How much is love meant to hurt?"
Will: "Oh, terribly. But we suffer for love because love is worth it."
Christopher: "What just happened?"
Matthew: "Demons vanished. The leader seemed to feel it was an old friend of Jame's grandfather."
Christopher: "Oh, the demony grandfather?"
James: "Yes, obviously the demony one, Christopher."
Thomas: "The other one's Welsh."
Ragnus: "By the name of Lilith. Hide the breakables. Hide the whole house. Christopher Lightwood is here."
James: "Christopher is often here. The house remains mostly intact."
Jem: If you saw humanity as I can see it, there is very little brightness and warmth in the world for me. There are only four flames, in the whole world, that burn fiercely enough for me to feel something like the person I was. Your mother, your father, Lucie and you. You love, and tremble, and burn. Do not let those who cannot see the truth tell you who you are. You are the flame that cannot be put out. You are the tar that cannot be lost. You are who you have always been, and that is enough and more than enough. Anyone who looks at you and sees darkness is blind.
Will: "You stole our carriage."
James: "It's only the second-best carriage."
Lucie: "Remember when Papa stole Uncle Gabriel's carriage? It's a proud family tradition."
Will: "I did not raise you to be horse thieves and scallywags."
Will: "As I have known Charles since he was born, I have a difficult time taking him seriously as an authority figure. I suppose if he says anything I don't like, I can request that he be spanked."
Matthew: "Oh, yes, please. It would do him a world of good."
Jessamine makes herself visible to everyone in the room
Cordelia: "Oh! It's very nice to meet you, Jessamine. Lucie speaks of you often."
Jessamine beamed.
Matthew: "You are a very attractive ghost. I do hope Lucie and James have mentioned as much."
Jessamine: "They have not."
Matthew: "Very remiss."
James: "Tell me, Matthew. Tell me the name of the shadow that is always hanging over you. I can become a shadow. I could fight it for you."
Matthew: "Oh, Jamie. What if I said there is no shadow?"
James: "I would not believe you. I know what I feel in my own heart."
Matthew: "Only a fool would rob Hypatia Vex. And let it not be said that Matthew Fairchild is a fool. At least, let it not be said in my hearing I would find it very hurtful."
Matthew: "Is this your list of conquests?"
Anna: "Of course not. It's a memorandum book ... about my conquests. That is an important but meaningful distinction."
Lucie: "Nobody's ever tried to seduce me at all. There's no need to look at me like that, James. I wouldn't say yes, but I could immortalize the experience in my novel."
James: "It would be a very short novel, before we got hold of the blackguard and killed him."
Christopher: "If you haven't got the proper clothes, I could lend you my new waistcoat. It's orange."
Anna shuddered.
Anna: "Orange is not the color of seduction, Christopher. Orange is the color of despair, and pumpkins."
James: "Grace asked me if I would run away with her. Cut my ties off with my family, marry her in Scotland, and start over as mundanes."
Cordelia: "But - but your parents, and Lucie -"
James: "Yes. And my parabatai. All my friends. I refused. I failed her. I failed to love as I should have. I am not sure caring could be my strength."
Cordelia: "That was not love she asked for. That is not love. That is a test. And love should not be tested like that."
James: "I had no idea your mother liked me so much. I should come round more often when I am in need of feeling appreciated."
Cordelia: "I fear my mother might be equally enthused over any eligible bachelor who pretended an interest in tea. That is why I told you to find me one, remember?"
James: "Right ... when all this business is over ..."
Cordelia: "Yes, yes."
James: "I really do like tea! In fact, I love it! I LOVE TEA!"
Will: "I am going to kiss your mother now. Flee if you will, children. If not, we could play Ludo when the romance is over."
James: "The romance is never over."
Cordelia: "What do we do now? How long does seduction usually last?"
Matthew: "depends if you do it properly."
James: "Daisy ... my Daisy ..."
Lucie: "Well, you'd all better hope it works. Especially you, James, because if Mam and Papa find out you released a demon in the Sanctuary, they will feed you to it."
Matthew: "Magnus Bane?"
Magnus: "I want to know what you're doing, but I must confess I'm afraid to find out. A spot of demon-summoning, I gather?"
James: "It's a bit complicated. Hello, Magnus. It's good to see you."
Magnus: "Last time I saw you, you were face-down in the Serpentine. Now you're fiddling with a Pyxis. I see you have decided to follow in the long Herondale tradition of poor decision-making."
Lucie: "So have I!"
Matthew: "We could have tea. I am a true enthusiast of your work, Mr. Bane. Also, your personal style. Your waistcoats alone ..."
Thomas: "Matthew, so shut up. Mr. Bane doesn't want to talk about waistcoats."
Magnus: "Untrue. I always want to talk about waistcoats."
Elias: "Cordelia, why, exactly, do you want Cortana?"
Cordelia: "Cortana was made my Wayland the Smith. He made swords for all the greatest heroes. Excalibur for Arthur. Durendal for Roland and Hector. Sigurdm who slew the dragon Fafnir, bore a sword named Balmung made by Wayland -"
Alistair: "Cordelia, we know all this. No need for a history lesson."
Elias: "So you want to be a hero."
Cordelia: "Cortana has one sharp edge and one dull one. Because of that, it has always been called a sword of mercy. I want to be a merciful hero."
Elias: "And you?"
Alistair: "It's a Carstair's sword. I'm Alistair Carstairs and I always will be. When Cordelia gets married and has a passel of brats, one of them will end up with Cortana - and they won't be a Carstairs."
Elias: "He's right. Cordelia, let your brother keep the sword."
Cordelia: "But Cortana is mine! I know it is!"
Alastair opened his mouth to deliver a retort - but only gasped as the sword wrenched itself out of his grasp and flew across the room toward his sister. Cordelia held out a hand as if to ward it off, startled, and the hilt smacked into her palm. She closed her hand around it reflexively and felt a jolt go up her arm.
Alastair: "Father. Is this some sort of trick?"
Elias: "Sometime the sword chooses the bearer. Cortana will be Cordelia's."
James: "Besides, I know you did much more risky things when you were my age."
Will: "It's dreadful the way you keep throwing that in my face."
Cordelia: "Have you ever heard of the death of a thousand cuts?"
Matthew: "I always preferred the death of a thousand cats, in which one is buried under kittens."
Cordelia: "What does this mean?"
Matthew: "The green carnation symbolizes a love of art and artifice, since a green carnation has to be created rather than appearing in nature."
Matthew hesitated.
Matthew: "It also celebrates loving anyone you choose, whether that is a man or a woman."
Cordelia: "I like that. And I am sure anyone you chose to be in your life, whether it was a man or a woman, would be a good person who I would like very much."
James: "Thank you. For what you did on the bridge. That was exceedingly brave."
Cordelia: "Which part?"
Cordelia: "I do trust you. I entirely understand. You did not take liberties, James. It was a pretense. It was false, I know -"
James: "False? I kissed you because I wanted to. Because I'd never wanted anything so much."
Alistair: "I know you hate me for how I treated you at school, and rightfully so. But however much you hate me, do not take it out on my sister."
James: "Alistair, you made my life a living hell at the Academy. But I'd never take it out on Cordelia. That's something you would do, not something I would do."
Alistair: "I see how it is. In school I had the power, and here you have the power to lord it over me. What's your game? What do you want with my sister?"
James: "Your sister. Your sister is the only thing keeping me from punching you in the face. Your sister loves you, Angel knows why, and you aren't even the least bit grateful."
Cordelia: "No shame should accrue to you, either - Father's weakness is not your weakness."
Alistair: "I have my own weaknesses, as you well know."
Cordelia: "Love is not a weakness, Alistair dadash."
Alistair: "Isn't it?"
Jessamine: "You should brush your hair. It will get tangled."
Lucie: "Why must you be such a fussy ghost?"
Jessamine: "When I was a girl, I brushed my hair one hundred strokes a day. Why I -"
She shrieked and shot up into the air, hovering a foot above the nightstand. A wash of cold went over Lucie. SHe pulled the blankets up around her, looking about the room anxiously.
Lucie: "Jesse?"
Jesse: "I am here."
Lucie: "Could I have a moment to speak with Jesse alone?"
Jessamine: "Alone? But he's a gentleman. In your bedroom."
Jesse: "I'm a ghost. What is it exactly you imagine I might do?"
Lucie: "Please, Jessamine."
Jessamine: "Never in my day!"
Jesse: "I spent many night walking alone in Brocelind Forest, with only the dead to see me. And you. A little girl who'd fallen into a faerie trap."
Lucie blushed
Jesse: "I was surprised when you saw me. And even more when I was able to touch y our hand and lift you out of that pit. I thought perhaps it was because you were so young, but no. There is something unusual about you, Lucie. You have a power that is tied to the dead."
Lucie: "If only I could have had a power that was tied to bread-and-butter pudding."
Jesse: "That would not have helped Cordelia last night. My mother believes that once everything is in order, and she has all the ingredients a warlock will need, the last breath in this locket can be used to resurrect me. But on the riverbank, I was holding it because ..."
Lucie raised her eyebrows.
Jesse: "I thought at first you might have been in the water. Drowning. The life force in the locket could have emptied your lungs and let you breathe. I thought, if you were dying, I would use it to bring you back."
Lucie: "You would do that? For me?"
His eyes were fathomless deep green, the way Lucie imagined the depth of the ocean. His lips parted as if he meant to answer, just as a shaft of dawn light pierced the window glass. He stiffened, his eyes still locked on hers, as if he had been shot through with an arrow.
Lucie: "Jesse." she whispered, but he had already vanished.
Matthew: "James is my parabatai. And I love him. The only think that I have never understood about him is his feelings for Grace Blackthorn. I have wished for a long time for him to come to place his affections somewhere else, and yet, when I saw him with you in the Whispering Room, I was not happy."
Cordelia: "What do you mean?"
Matthew: "I suppose I question if he knows what he feels. I suppose I worry that he will hurt you."
Cordelia: "He is your parabatai. Why should you care if he hurts me?"
Matthew: "I don't know. But I find that I do care."
Cordelia: "It's very rude to take someone else's sword without asking."
Cordelia: "They treated you badly?"
Alistair: "For a while. I realized I had a choice. There were only two kinds of people at the Academy. The bullies and the bullied."
Cordelia: "And you ...?"
Alistair: "Which would you have chosen?"
Cordelia: "If those were my only two choices, I would have left and come home."
Alistair: "Yes, well. I chose the one where I wasn't made to feel like a laughingstock."
Cordelia: "And how has that worked out?"
Alistair: "Awful. It's awful."
Lucie: "I am so sorry. This is my fault."
Jesse: "Lucie, no. You let me be something I had never been before, even when I was living. A Shadowhunter. You let me be part of what you did. I never thought I would again be given the chance to make a difference."
Lucie: "You made every difference."
Jesse: "Do not be sorry, Lucie. You brought light into my lightless world, and for that I am grateful."
Lucie: "I am the one who is grateful. And I will find a way to help you, Jesse. I swear to bring you back if I can, or lay you to rest if I cannot."
Jesse: "You cannot promise something so grave."
Lucie: "I can promise it. I do promise it. I am a Herondale, and we keep our promises."
Cordelia: "I do not find you ridiculous, and I wish you would not say such things. Matthew, you may speak however badly of yourself as you like, but it does not make it true. You decide the truth about yourself. No one else. And the choice about what kind of person you will be is yours alone."
Cordelia: "I do not see why we must do what he says. Open the portal, Matthew."
Matthew: "You are quite bossy for a girl whose nickname is Daisy."
Cordelia: "He's burning the house down, isn't he?"
Matthew: "Bloody Herondales."
James: "Father. Mother. Mrs. Carstairs. I will hear anything you have to say, and apologize for all that I have done wrong, but first let me present to you my promised wife."
Tessa: "You mean ..."
James smiled.
James: "Cordelia has done me the honor of agreeing to marry me."
Cordelia: "We are both very happy and we hope you will be happy too."
Mrs. Carstairs: "Cheshmet roshan. I have given my blessing."
Will: "Then we have no choice but to give our blessing too. Cordelia Carstairs, the Carstairs and Herondales will be bonded even more closely now. If James could have chosen his wife from all the women in all the worlds that are or ever were, I would wish for no other."
Tessa laughed.
Tessa: "Will! You cannot compliment our new daughter only on the chance of her last name!"
Will: "Wait until I tell Jem -"
Alistair: "Love is complicated. Isn't it?"
Cordelia: "I know I love you, Alistair."
Thomas: "Luce. I must go greet Cordelia and Alastair. Could you take this awful brat?"
Alexander: "Not a brat."
Lucie: "I could. I don't particularly want to, though."
Tessa: "The cruel will always spread rumors. And others who take pleasure in cruelty will believe them and spread them. But I believe that in the end, truth wins out. Besides, the most interesting women are always the most whispered about."
Will: "Or we can always arrange nothing, if you prefer. Nothing is my favorite thing to arrange. It takes so little effort."
James: "I suppose I am saying that I know this is an odd experience - but I hope you can be at least a little bit happy, Daisy."
Cordelia: "I am a little bit happy."
James: "I'm glad to hear it."
She thought of what James said about faerie fruit: that the more you had of it, the more you wanted, and the more you ached when it was gone. And yet, was not knowing what it was like to taste it not also a form of torment?
She loved James; she always would. So many people loved without hope of return, without the dream of a touch or a glance from their object of affection. They pined away in silence and misery like mortals starving for faerie fruit.
What fate was offering her now was a year of such fruit for her table. A year of living with James and loving him might ruin her for any other love, but oh, at least she would blaze up in glory. For a year she would share his life. They would walk together, read together, eat together, and live together. They would laugh together. For a year, she would stand close to the fire and know what it was like to burn.
Quotes from Will & Tessa's short story
Charlotte: "I stand here in two capacities. As the Consul, it is my duty to join together two of the Nephilim. As a friend of these two, it is a jot to seal their happiness in the covenant of marriage. Theresa Gray. Has thou found the one thy soul loves?
Tessa: "I have found him, and I will not let him go."
Charlotte: "William Owen Herondale. Hast thou gone among the watchmen, and in the cities of the world? Hast thou found the one thy soul loves?"
Will: "I have found her, and I will never let her go."
Will: "Before she left the ballroom, Tatiana said to me, 'Today will be the happiest day of your life.'"
Tessa: "So you think she means each successive day after this one will be unhappier? I'm sure she does. She hates you, Will. She hates me, too. If she could ruin this day for us, she would gladly do it. It does not mean she has the powers of the evil fairy at the christening of Sleeping Beauty."
Will: "I do know that. But I have worried all this time I will not be able to make you happy, Tessa. Not as Jem could have made you happy."
Tessa: "Will."
Will: "I have never blamed you for loving him. Everything in his life he has done with honor and purity and strength - and who would not want to be loved like that? Whereas when I love you, I know, it is desperate. You cannot understand, I think, how I love you. Perhaps I have hidden it better than I thought. It is a shattering thing, Tessa. It threatens to break me in pieces and I am terrified to be so ... changed."
Will helping Tessa put the wedding runes on him:
Will: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm. For love is strong as death; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame."
Tessa: "Many waters can quench love; neither can the floods drown it. I will never stop loving you, Will -"
Tessa: "It's the day after our wedding. Are you not happier than you were yesterday? For I am. I think I will be happier every day of our lives."
Will: "You are shameless, my wife. Did you really wake me in the middle of the night just to make a point?"
Tessa: "Maybe not just to make a point, my love."
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