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"Becausehe touches?" Jace said bitterly

"Because your father, for all his sins, still has a son, and she doesn’t And because she blaht," said Jace "It was his fault"

"Not entirely," said Luke "He offered Stephen a choice, and Stephen chose Whatever else his faults were, Valentine never black the Circle He wanted only willing followers The responsibility for Stephen’s choices rests with him"

"Free will," said Clary

"There’s nothing free about it," said Jace "Valentine--"

"Offered you a choice, didn’t he?" Luke said "When you went to see him He wanted you to stay, didn’t he? Stay and join up with him?"

"Yes" Jace looked out across the water toward Governors Island "He did" Clary could see the river reflected in his eyes; they looked steely, as if the gray water had drowned all their gold

"And you said no," said Luke

Jace glared "I wish people would stop guessing that It’sme feel predictable"

Luke turned away as if to hide a s"

So, sonus," Clary said "But he looks … different"

As he drew closer, she saw that his hair, nor cleanly past his ears like a sheet of black silk The rainbow leather pants had been replaced by a neat, old-fashioned dark suit and a black frock coat with glireen "You look surprised to see lanced at his watch "We did wonder if you were co"

"I said I would come, so I came I just needed time to prepare This isn’t so to take soic" He turned to Luke "How’s the arm?"

"Fine Thank you" Luke was always polite

"That’s your truck parked up by the factory, isn’t it?" Magnus pointed "It’s awfully butch for a bookseller"

"Oh, I don’t know," said Luke "All that lugging around heavy book boxes, clinus laughed "Can you unlock the truck for ers--"but that seeed and they headed back toward the factory When Clary ht her arm "Wait I want to talk to you for a second"

Clary watched as Magnus and Luke headed for the truck Theyblack coat and the shorter, stockier man in jeans and flannel, but they were both Doorlders, both trapped in the same space between the mundane and the supernatural worlds

"Clary," Jace said "Earth to Clary Where are you?"

She looked back at hi his face in shadow and turning his hair to a halo of gold "Sorry"

"It’s all right" He touched her face, gently, with the back of his hand "You disappear so completely into your head sometimes," he said "I wish I could follow you"

You do, she wanted to say You live in my head all the time Instead, she said, "What did you want to tell me?"

He dropped his hand "I want you to put the Fearless rune on ets back?"

"Because he’s going to say it’s a bad idea But it’s the only chance of defeating Agramon Luke hasn’t--encountered it, he doesn’t knohat it’s like But I do"

She searched his face "What was it like?"

His eyes were unreadable "You see what you fear the most in the world"

"I don’t even knohat that is"

"Trust lanced down "Do you have your stele?"

"Yeah, I have it" She pulled the woolly glove off her right hand and fished for the stele Her hand was shaking a little as she drew it out "Where do you want the Mark?"

"The closer it is to the heart, the more effective" He turned his back on her hand and drew off his jacket, dropping it on the ground He shrugged his T-shirt up, baring his back "On the shoulder blade would be good"

Clary placed a hand on his shoulder to steady herself His skin there was a paler gold than the skin of his hands and face, and smooth where it was not scarred She traced the tip of the stele along the blade of his shoulder and felt hi "Don’t press so hard--"

"Sorry" She eased up, letting the rune flow froh her arm, into the stele The black line it left behind looked like charring, a line of ash "There You’re finished"

He turned around, shrugging his shirt back on "Thanks" The sun was burning down beyond the horizon now, flooding the sky with blood and roses, turning the edge of the river to liquid gold, softening the ugliness of the urban waste all around them "What about you?"

"What about me what?"

He took a step closer "Push your sleeves up I’ll Mark you"

"Oh Right" She did as he asked, pushing up her sleeves, holding her bare ar of the stele on her skin was like the light touch of a needle’s tip, scraping without puncturing She watched the black lines appear with a sort of fascination The Mark she’d gotten in her dreaes