The Guardian~Magnus Bane Love Story

53. Party Time

Clary sat rigid on the ivory and gold throne. She felt like a child in an adult's chair: the thing had been built for someone massive, and her feet dangled above the top step. Her hands gripped the arms of the throne, but her fingers didn't come close to reaching the carved handrests-though, since each was shaped like a skull, she had no desire to touch them anyway.

Sebastian was pacing inside his protective circle of runes; every once in a while he would pause to look up at her and smile the sort of uninhabited, gleeful smile she associated with the Sebastian from her vision, the boy with guiltless green eyes. He drew a long, sharp dagger from his belt as she watched, and ran the blade along the inside of his palm. His head fell back, his eyes half-closing as he stretched his hand out; blood ran down his fingers and splattered onto the runes. Not Gray book runes. Foreign, strange ones.

And Alice was back beside Roderick who was twirling pieces of her hair between his fingers and kissing her cheek. Clary tried not to look at Alice, but couldn't help it.

The door to the room opened, and Amatis strode in, followed by two moving lines of Endarkened warriors. Their faces were blank as they silently ranged themselves along the walls of the room, but Amatis looked worried. Her gaze skipped past Jace, motionless on the floor, to focus on her master.

"Lord Sebastian," she said. "Your mother is not in her cell."

Sebastian frowned and tightened his bleeding hand into a fist. All around him the runes were burning fiercely now, with a cold ice-blue flame.

"Vexing," he said. "The others must have let her out."

Clary felt a surge of hope mixed with terror; she forced herself to remain silent, but saw Amatis's eyes flicker toward her. She didn't seem surprised to see Clary on the throne: on the contrary, her lips curved into a smirk.

"Would you like me to send the rest of the army out searching for them?" she said to Sebastian.

"There's no need." He glanced up toward Clary and smiled, there was a sudden explosive shattering sound, and the window behind her, the one that had looked out on Alicante, splintered into a spiderweb of mazed lines. "The borders are closing," Sebastian said. "I will bring them to me."
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First to enter was Simon and Isabelle. Isabelle caught sight of Jace and gave a cry, dropping down beside him to check his pulse.

"He's alive," Sebastian said, sounding bored. "Queen's orders."

Isabelle looked up. Some of the strands of her dark hair were stuck to her face with blood. She looked fierce, and beautiful. "The Seelie Queen? When has she ever cared about Jace?"

Sebastian gestured to Clary on the throne and Simon took an involuntary step forward-and was immediately blocked by a dozen endarkened warriors, Amatis at their center. She carried a massive spear and wore an expression of frightening venom.

"Stop where you are, vampire," she said. "You will not approach the lady of this realm."

Simon staggered back: he could see Isabelle staring incredulously from Clary, to Sebastian, to him. "Clary!" he called; she didn't flinch or move, but Sebastian's face darkened like a thunderstorm.

"You will not say my sister's name," he hissed. "You thought she belonged to you; she belongs to me now, and I will not share."

"You're insane," Simon said.

"And you're dead," Sebastian said. "Does any of it matter now?" His eyes raked up and down Simon. "Dear sister," he said, pitching his voice loudly enough for the whole room to hear it. "Are you absolutely sure you want to keep this one intact?"

Before she could answer, the entryway to the room burst open and Magnus and Alec spilled in, followed by Luke and Jocelyn. The doors slammed behind them, and Sebastian clapped his hands together. One hand was bloody, and a drop of blood fell at his feet, and sizzled where it hit the glowing runes, like water sizzling on a hot skillet.

Clary glanced over to see Alice's eyes were glued to Magnus like a magnet.

"Now everyone's here," Sebastian declared, his voice delighted. "It's a party?"