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"I’ve never even been to England," she said, but she shut her eyelids She could feel the dank heaviness of her clothes, cold and itchy against her skin, and the cloying sweet air of the cave, colder yet, and the weight of Jace’s hands on her shoulders, the only things that arm And then he kissed her

She felt the brush of his lips, light at first, and her own opened autoainst her will she felt herself go fluid and pliant, stretching upward to twine her arht His ar in her hair, and the kiss stopped being gentle and beca into a blaze Clary heard a sound like a sigh rush through the Court, all around the, was lost in the rush of her blood through her veins, the dizzying sense of weightlessness in her body

Jace’s hands moved from her hair, slid down her spine; she felt the hard press of his palently disengaging hi back For aessential had been torn away fro, and she stared at Jace in blank astonish? She didn’t think she could bear it if he felt nothing

He looked back at her, and when she saw the look on his face, she saw his eyes at Renwick’s, when he had watched the Portal that separated him from his hoaze for a split second, then looked away fro His hands were clenched into fists at his sides "Was that good enough?" he called, turning to face the Queen and the courtiers behind her "Did that entertain you?"

The Queen had a hand across hera smile "We are quite entertained," she said "But not, I think, so much as the both of you"

"I can only assume," said Jace, "that mortal emotions amuse you because you have none of your own"

The smile slipped from her mouth at that

"Easy, Jace," said Isabelle She turned to Clary "Can you leave now? Are you free?"

Clary went to the door and was not surprised to find no resistance barring her way She stood with her hand a at her as if he’d never seen her before

"We should go," she said "Before it’s too late"

"It’s already too late," he said

Meliorn led them from the Seelie Court and deposited thele word Clary thought his back looked stiff and disapproving He turned away after they’d splashed out of the pond, without even a good-bye for Isabelle, and disappeared back into the wavering reflection of the o with a scowl "He is so broken up with"

Jace h and flipped the collar of his wet jacket up They were all shivering The cold night smelled like dirt and plants and huht she could scent the iron on the air The ring of city surrounding the park sparked with fierce lights: ice blue, cool green, hot red, and the pond lapped quietly against its dirt shores The e and quivered there as if it were afraid of theet back" Isabelle drew her still-wet coat closer around her shoulders "Before we freeze to death"

"It’s going to take forever to get back to Brooklyn," Clary said "Maybe we should take a taxi"

"Or we could just go to the Institute," suggested Isabelle At Jace’s look, she said quickly, "No one’s there anyway--they’re all in the Bone City, looking for clues It’ll just take a second to stop by and grab your clothes, change into so dry Besides, the Institute is still your home, Jace"

"It’s fine," Jace said, to Isabelle’s evident surprise "There’s so I need from my room there anyway"

Clary hesitated "I don’t know I rab a cab back with Siether, she could explain to him what had happened down in the Seelie Court, and that it wasn’t what he thought

Jace had been exae Now he looked at her, eyebrows raised "Thatthat he left already"

"He what?" Clary whirled around and stared Sione; the three of them were alone by the pond She ran a little way up the hill and shouted his na purposefully away along the concrete path that led out of the park and onto the avenue She called out to hiain, but he didn’t turn around

9

AND DEATH SHALL HAVE NO DOMINION

ISABELLE HAD BEEN TELLING THE TRUTH: THE INSTITUTE WAS entirely deserted Almost entirely, anyway Max was asleep on the red couch in the foyer when they cahtly askew and he clearly hadn’t meant to fall asleep: There was a book open on the floor where he’d dropped it and his sneakered feet dangled over the couch’s edge in a manner that looked as if it were probably uncomfortable

Clary’s heart went out to hie of nine or ten, all glasses and aard blinking and ears

"Max is like a cat He can sleep anywhere" Jace reached down and plucked the glasses fro them down on a squat inlaid table nearby There was a look on his face Clary had never seen before--a fierce protective gentleness that surprised her

"Oh, leave his stuff alone--you’ll just gether wet coat Her dress clung to her long torso and water darkened the thick leather belt around her waist The glitter of her coiled as just visible where the handle protruded fro "I can feel a cold co to take a hot shower"

Jace watched her disappear down the corridor with a sort of reluctant admiration "Sometimes she reminds me of the poem ‘Isabelle, Isabelle, didn’t worry Isabelle didn’t screa?" Clary asked hied off his wet coat and hung it on the peg next to Isabelle’s "She’s right about the hot shower, though I could certainly use one"

"I don’t have anything to change into," Clary said, suddenly wanting a few ers itched to dial Siht "I’ll just wait for you here"

"Don’t be stupid I’ll lend you a T-shirt" His jeans were soaked and hung low on his hipbones, showing a strip of pale, tattooed skin between the denie of his T-shirt

Clary looked away "I don’t think--"

"Co I want to show you, anyway"

Surreptitiously, Clary checked the screen on her phone as she followed Jace down the hall to his room Simon hadn’t tried to call Ice seeo, it had been years since she and Siht Now he seemed to be mad at her all the time

Jace’s room was just as she remembered it: neat as a pin and bare as aabout the roo about Jace: no posters on the walls, no books stacked on the night table Even the duvet on the bed was plain white

He went to the dresser and pulled a folded long-sleeved blue T-shirt out of a drawer He tossed it to Clary "That one shrank in the wash," he said "It’ll probably still be big on you, but…" He shrugged "I’"