Chain of Iron

“I think,” Anna said, in a measured voice, “that she was trying to help Grace. It seems they know each other rather well.”

James recalled Grace, in this drawing room. I know Lucie, like you, can see the dead—but you can also travel in shadows. Can Lucie do the same?

“They do?” The surprise in Cordelia’s eyes was clear. She glanced away quickly, though. “Never mind, Anna. It’s not important.”

“I went with her to question Hypatia Vex,” Anna said. “She told us that Tatiana had refused to have the protection spells placed on Jesse and had hired our old friend Emmanuel Gast to do it instead.”

So that’s how Lucie knew to summon Gast, James realized. There was clearly far more to what Lucie could do, and indeed, what she had already done, than any of them had guessed. He thought of her gold locket. Part of the way Tatiana had preserved her son, it seemed, yet that same son had sacrificed the magic of it to save James’s life. He remembered what Grace had said to him, after: My mother says she knows now there is no chance Jesse will ever return. She says it is as if you stole his last breath.

He had not understood her at the time. But Lucie had known …

Tomorrow, he told himself. He would speak with Lucie then.

“Belial had his hooks in Emmanuel Gast,” said James. “He forced the warlock to place a piece of his essence inside Jesse, so that as Jesse grew older, Belial would have an anchor in him, and a body Belial could possess on this Earth.”

“But why now?” said Christopher. “Why possess Jesse now?”

“Because I refused him,” said James wearily. “Because his attempt to possess me went disastrously wrong. Not only did he not possess me; he was wounded by Cortana. He has remained in fear of it.”

“Belial wanted to make a warrior,” said Cordelia. “He believed that if he murdered Shadowhunters, took their runes and gave them to Jesse, he could create a warrior capable of defeating Cortana—half Prince of Hell, half Shadowhunter.”

Anna smiled at her. “But it sounds as if you fought and defeated this being. Belial, as it turns out, was no match for our Cordelia.”

Cordelia’s voice was low, and ragged around the edges. “Anna, no. That’s—that’s not what happened.”

Anna did not look surprised. She set her teacup down, her blue eyes fixed on Cordelia. “Daisy,” she said. “Tell us.”

James wanted to jump in, to tell the story, to save Cordelia from having to say the words. He found his fingers digging into the arm of his chair as, steadily and without emotion, she told them the story from the moment the faerie woman had approached her at the Hell Ruelle, to her trip to the White Horse, her vision of the forge, her oath and subsequent discovery that it was not Wayland the Smith she had sworn loyalty to, but the Mother of Demons.

As she spoke, Matthew rose and went to the window. He stood there, hands in his pockets, his shoulders stiff, as Cordelia finished explaining that Lilith had sent the demons in Nelson Square. “She wanted me to understand,” she said, “what it meant to have that power. To be able to wield Cortana as a paladin.”

“I should never have taken you to the barrow,” said Matthew. He faced the window, unmoving.

“Matthew,” Cordelia said gently. “It’s not your fault.”

Thomas rubbed at his arm, where the compass rose tattoo showed through the white of his sleeve. “So all this time, Lilith has been taking different forms to manipulate and trick you—trick us. When you saw Magnus at the Shadow Market, that wasn’t the real Magnus, was it?”

Christopher looked stunned. “But why—?”

“It was never the real Magnus,” said James. “I should have guessed when he came to our home here. His magic was the wrong color.”

Christopher’s brow was furrowed. “But Magnus was rather helpful,” he said. “He helped us solve the question of the pithos.” He tapped his breast pocket, where the adamas object now rested. “Why would Lilith do that?”

James watched Matthew, who was still staring out the window. “She had to earn our trust and make us believe she was Magnus. And remember, she is Belial’s enemy. They hate each other. She would not mind helping us defeat him. What she really wanted was to have me take her back to Edom, and it almost worked.”

“I must tell Magnus about this,” said Anna. “He can be sworn to secrecy, but he must know. Who knows what else Lilith may have done, while pretending to be him?”

There was a murmur of agreement. Thomas, his eyebrows knit together in thought, said, “So if Cordelia is Lilith’s paladin, how were you able to get rid of her?”

James smiled. “Your revolver, Christopher.”

“You shot Lilith?” said Christopher in disbelief.

“Doesn’t seem right, shooting a demon,” said Anna. “Unsportsmanlike. Though, of course, I am glad you did it.”

“I don’t understand,” said Christopher. “There’s no way Lilith could be harmed by ordinary runed weapons. And as unusual as it may be, the revolver is nothing more than a runed weapon.”

“But it worked,” protested Matthew.

“It’s a miracle it worked. It shouldn’t have worked,” Christopher said. He turned back to James. “But you knew it would, didn’t you?”

“I strongly suspected,” James said. “You told me yourself you performed all sorts of enchantments on it, trying to make it work. I remembered you said you had done a sort of modified Nephilim protection spell. And then I thought about the protection spells.”

“Yes,” said Christopher, “but—oh!” His face lit up with understanding.

Thomas smiled a bit. “All right, all right, explain it, one of you. I can see you want to.”

“The protection spell,” Christopher said. “It’s done in the names of three angels.”

“Sanvi, Sansanvi, Semangelaf,” said James. “They are angels of protection. In the old texts, they are angels meant to protect against Lilith specifically.”

“So Christopher managed to make a Lilith-killing weapon?” said Anna. “Most amazing.”

“It didn’t kill her,” said Cordelia. “She was weakened, I think, and fled because she was startled and injured. But she is no more dead and gone than Belial is.” She looked around miserably at the group. “I will understand if you must distance yourselves from me. I am still Lilith’s paladin.”

“James is Belial’s grandson,” said Anna, “and none of us have abandoned him. That is not the spirit of the Merry Thieves.”

“That’s different,” Cordelia said, her voice a bit desperate. “Lilith is bound to me as a Shadowhunter. She could appear at any time, as has always been true, but whenever I draw a weapon, it will summon her. If I wield Cortana, then so does she, through me. If you think that it would be best to throw myself on the mercy of the Clave—”

“Obviously not,” said Matthew, spinning away from the window. “We will tell no one.”

Anna sat back in her chair. “You don’t think your mother would be merciful?”

“My mother would, Will and Tessa would,” Matthew said, nodding at James. “But plenty would not. Plenty would panic, and Cordelia would be in the Silent City before we could do anything.”