Page 27 (1/2)

He took a ragged breath and said, "Why did you text Isabelle instead of me? If you were in trouble-"

"Because I knew she'd coht now"

"If souess you would have heard about it eventually You knohen you deigned to actually pick up the phone" She was still holding his wrists; she let go of them now, and sat back It was hard, physically hard, to be close to him like this and not touch him, but she forced her hands down by her sides and kept theet out of the roo; she didn't think she'd spoken to hi time "I'm sorry," he said finally "I ot no reason to listen to me And I probably shouldn't have come in here But when Isabelle said you were hurt, I couldn't stopthatthat happens to you matters to me"

"Well, that certainly explains why you haven't called me back once And the last ti host"

Jace's htly at the side "Not exactly Isabelle actually dated a ghost She could tell you-"

"No," Clary said "It was a metaphor And you know exactly what I mean"

For a moment he was silent Then he said, "Let me see the burns"

She held out her arms There were harsh red splotches on the insides of her wrists where the dehtly, looking at her for permission first, and turned them over She remembered the first time he had touched her, in the street outside Java Jones, searching her hands for Marks she didn't have "Deo away in a few hours Do they hurt?"

Clary shook her head

"I didn't know," he said "I didn't know you needed me"

Her voice shook "I always need you"

He bent his head and kissed the burn on her wrist A flare of heat coursed through her, like a hot spike that went from her wrist to the pit of her stomach "I didn't realize," he said He kissed the next burn, on her forear up her ar her back until she was lying against the pillows, looking up at him He propped hiht and looked down at her

His eyes always darkened when they kissed, as if desire changed their color in some fundamental way He touched the white star mark on her shoulder, the one they both had, that marked theels "I know I've been acting strange lately," he said "But it's not you I love you That never changes"

"Then what-?"

"I think everything that happened in Idris-Valentine, Max, Hodge, even Sebastian-I kept shoving it all down, trying to forget, but it's catching up with et better I promise"

"You proel" He ducked his head down, kissed her cheek "The hell with that I swear on us"

Clary wound her fingers into the sleeve of his T-shirt "Why us?"

"Because there isn't anything I believe in et an, and he must have felt her tense under hi on the spot I was just wondering what you knew about Shadowhunter weddings"

"No rings," Clary said, brushing her fingers across the back of his neck, where the skin was soft "Just runes"

"One here," he said, gently touching her arertip "And another here" He slid his fingertip up her arm, across her collarbone, and down until it rested over her racing heart "The ritual is taken fro of Solomon 'Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arer than that," Clary whispered, reht him back And this time, when his eyes darkened, she reached up and drew hi tiht had bled out of the room and they were just shadows Jace didn't h, and she sensed he aiting for permission

She realized she would have to be the one to take it further, if she wanted to-and she did want to He'd ad to do with her This was progress: positive progress He ought to be rewarded, right? A little grin crooked the edge of her ; she wanted more on her own behalf Because he was Jace, because she loved hieous that sometimes she felt the need to poke him in the arm just to make sure he was real

She did just that

"Ow," he said "What was that for?"

"Take your shirt off," she whispered She reached for the he it over his head and tossing it casually to the floor He shook his hair out, and she alold strands to scatter sparks in the darkness of the room

"Sit up," she said softly Her heart was pounding She didn't usually take the lead in these sort of situations, but he didn't see her up with hi the welter of blankets She crawled into his lap, straddling his hips Now they were face-to-face She heard hi for her shirt, but she pushed theently, to his sides, and put her own hands on hiers slide over his chest and arms, the swell of his biceps where the black Marks twined, the star-shaped er down the line between his pectoral muscles, across his flat washboard sto hard when she reached the buckle on his jeans, but he didn't move, just looked at her with an expression that said: Whatever you want

Her heart thudding, she dropped her hands to the hem of her own shirt and pulled it off over her head She wished she'd worn abra-this one was plain white cotton-but when she looked up again at Jace's expression, the thought evaporated His lips were parted, his eyes nearly black; she could see herself reflected in them and knew he didn't care if her bra hite or black or neon green All he was seeing was her

She reached for his hands, then, freeing them, and put them on her waist, as if to say, You can touch me now He tilted his head up, her ain, but it was fierce instead of languorous, a hot and fast-burning fire His hands were feverish: in her hair, on her body, pulling her down so that she lay under hiether she was acutely conscious that there really was nothing between theled her hands in his silky, disheveled hair, holding his head as he kissed down her throat How far are we going? What are we doing? a s, but the rest of herat that s him; she wanted him to hold her and to know that he was real, here with her, and that he would never leave again

His fingers found the clasp of her bra She tensed His eyes were large and luht?"