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"I want to" The heat she saw in his eyes, the ragged edge to his voice, told her he wasn't lying "But-we can't" He took her wrists fir their hands between the a barrier

Clary's eyes widened "Why not?"

He took a deep breath "We came here to train, and we should train If we just spend all the ti out instead, they'll quit letting me help train you at all"

"Aren't they supposed to be hiring someone else to trainup and pulling her to her feet along with hi out with your instructors, you'll wind upout with him, too"

"Don't be sexist They could find me a female instructor"

"In that case you haveas I can watch"

"Nice" Clary grinned, bending down to fold up the blanket they'd brought to sit on "You're just worried they'll hire a male instructor and he'll be hotter than you"

Jace's eyebroent up "Hotter than me?"

"It could happen," Clary said "You know, theoretically"

"Theoretically the planet could suddenly crack in half, leaving ically parted, but I's," Jace said, with his customary crooked smile, "are just too unlikely to dwell upon"

He held out his hand; she took it, and together they crossed the e of the East Meadow that only Shadowhunters seelamoured, since she and Jace trained there fairly often and no one had ever interrupted them there except Isabelle or Maryse

Central Park in autu the reen in blazing gold, red, copper, and russet orange It was a beautiful day to take a roh the park and kiss on one of the stone bridges But that wasn't going to happen Obviously, as far as Jace was concerned, the park was an outside extension of the Institute's training rooh various exercises involving terrain navigation, escape and evasion techniques, and killing things with her bare hands

Nors with her bare hands But there was still so her about Jace She couldn't rid herself of the nagging feeling that so If only there were a rune, she thought, that wouldBut she would never create a rune like that, she reminded herself hastily It would be unethical to use her power to try to control so rune in Idris, her power had lain seee to draw old runes, nor had she had any visions of new runes to create Maryse had told her that they would be trying to bring in a specialist in runes to tutor her, once training really got underway, but so far that hadn't materialized Not that she minded, really She had to admit she wasn't sure she would be entirely sorry if her power had vanished forever

"There are going to be ti weapon," Jace was saying as they passed under a row of trees laden with low-hanging leaves whose colors ran the gaold "At that point, you can't panic First, you have to re can be a weapon A tree branch, a handful of coins-theyAnd second, keep in mind that you are a weapon In theory, when you're done with training, you should be able to kick a hole in a wall or knock out a le punch"

"I would never hit a ered"

Jace s to face her They had reached the copse, a small, cleared area in the center of a stand of trees There were runes carved into the trunks of the trees that surrounded the it as a Shadowhunter place

"There's an ancient fighting style called Muay Thai," he said "Have you heard of it?"

She shook her head The sun was bright and steady, and she was almost too hot in her track pants and warm-up jacket Jace took off his jacket and turned back to her, flexing his sliold in the aututh trailed like a pattern of vines fro under the sleeves of his T-shirt She wondered why he'd bothered Marking himself up as if she were a foe to be reckoned with

"I heard a ru next week is a master of Muay Thai," he said "And saa, jujitsu, and another one that frankly I don't re people with s to be used to working with soe who's as inexperienced as you are, so if we teach you a few of the basics, I'enerously toward you" He reached out to put his hands on her hips "Now turn and faceeach other like this, her head cahtly on his biceps

"Muay Thai is called 'the art of eight limbs' That's because you use not just your fists and feet as strike points, but also your knees and elbows First you want to pull your opponent in, then pummel him with every one of your strike points until he or she collapses"

"And that works on demons?" Clary raised her eyebrows

"The smaller ones" Jace rip the back of my neck"

It was just possible to do as he instructed without going up on her toes Not for the first time, Clary cursed the fact that she was so short

"Now you raise your other hand and do the saain, so your hands are looped around the back of my neck"

She did it The back of his neck arers Their bodies were pressed up against each other; she could feel the ring she wore on a chain around her neck pressed between them like a pebble pressed between two palht you'd do thatit, his voice was a little unsteady "Now that grip on e to pull yourself forward and add momentum to your upward knee kicks-"

"My, my," said a cool, amused voice "Only six weeks, and already at each other's throats? Hoiftlyher hold on Jace, Clary whirled, though she already kneho it was The Queen of the Seelie Court stood in the shadows between two trees If Clary had not known she was there, she wondered if she would have seen her, even with the Sight The Queen wore a gown as green as grass, and her hair, falling around her shoulders, was the color of a turning leaf She was as beautiful and awful as a dying season Clary had never trusted her

"What are you doing here?" It was Jace, his eyes narrow "This is a Shadowhunter place"

"And I have news of interest to Shadowhunters" As the Queen stepped gracefully forward, the sun lanced down through the trees and sparked off the circlet of golden berries she wore around her head Clary sometimes wondered if the Queen planned these dramatic entrances, and if so, how "There has been another death"