ELEANORA'S POV
I lead Will into a small room far away from the drawing room so Caspian and Magnus won't be able to listen in.
Will and I lean against opposite walls, a leg up on the wall, watching each other warily.
"You shouldn't have been there tonight," I finally say.
"I was doing my duty as a Shadowhunter," Will says, voice ragged. Something had happened to him.
I scan him, my eyes narrowed. "I won't speak to you unless you let me deal with that arm of yours."
Will blinks in surprise, clearly not having expected that. I walk over to him and gently pull his sleeve up, shaking my head.
"It's not important," Will says, and I grab his arm before he can pull away.
Will's forearm bears a long, deep, and bloody gash. Blood bracelets his wrist and drips from his fingers. Embedded in the gash, like a crystal sunk into the wall of a cave, is a single white tooth.
I wince. "How?"
"That stupid demon," Will says. "I—"
"Get it out, Herondale. It could be poisonous. Don't you think?" I say, concern flooding through me.
"Not a lot," Will says.
I scowl and reach for the tooth and yank it out. Will sucks in a gasp of pain.
"That," I hiss, "is for not thinking."
"I need my answers."
I draw out my stele and make an iratze for his arm. The bleeding slows, but it's too deep of a gash.
"I was forced to go with Caspian," I say. "Did you not see Gabriel and Gideon? Like them, Caspian and I had to be there."
"What did that man call you? Schlange," Will says, watching me as I take out a piece of cloth and clean the blood off his fingers.
My hand is encircled loosely around his wrist and his slim fingers are all bloodied.
"It's German," I say. "Unless you didn't know, the Nightstorm family originates from Germany."
"That explains the eyes," Will says.
I take Will's hand, having finished cleaning it. "Care to explain why you went after a demon and got this?"
"It's the demon," Will says, staring at our hands. "It's the demon that cursed me. I found it."
I blink. Then suddenly Will sways forward. I catch him in my arms.
"Will?"
"You were right. That blasted thing was poisonous."
"You are so stupid, Liam."
~
I wake up in a familiar room. I have my own room in Camille's house. I've stayed here countless times. I stand slowly and head out quietly.
Camille. She's back. I can tell instantly.
The presence in the house is different. Where is Will?
I head downstairs, and Camille sees me, of course.
"Ella?"
"Camille," I smile. "Is something wrong? Where's Magnus?"
"He went out with his lover," Camille says, scowling. "That Shadowhunter. I don't suppose you know him?"
I realise instantly what Magnus had done.
I nod slowly. "Ah. Will Herondale. Yes, Magnus thought you had left him. He moves on fast, you know."
Camille licks her lips. "That I do know."
"Well, I'd better go," I say. "Goodbye, Camille."
"Goodbye, Eleanora Nightstorm."
I head out of the house and see Magnus and Will.
"Well, abandoning me there, weren't you," I say dryly.
"Apologies," Magnus says, sighing. "You can bring him back?"
"Yes," I say, going to take Will's hand.
Will stares at me, and I laugh. "You look happy."
"I am," Will says, squeezing my hand. "I really am. I have hope. For once I can hope."
Magnus looks at me, smiling. "Yes, William. You can hope."
"Let's go," I say, leading him away.
~
We enter the drawing room, just as Jem says, "Having a lie-in, no doubt, and as for him being a witness, well, everyone thinks Will is a lunatic as it is—"
"Ah," Will says, exchanging a look with me, "having your annual everyone-thinks-Will-is-a-lunatic meeting, are you?"
"It's biannual," says Jem. "And no, this is not that meeting."
Will's eyes sought Tessa across the room. "They know about Jessamine?"
"Yes, they know all about Jessamine," she says hastily. "She was questioned with the Mortal Sword and taken to the Silent City, and right now we're having a meeting about what to do next, and it's dreadfully important. Charlotte's very upset."
I look at Tessa, eyes narrowed. Exactly what had happened when I had left them? They did drink the lemonade...
Charlotte looks at Tessa in puzzlement.
"Well, you are," Tessa says, seemingly out of breath from speaking so quickly.
"And you were asking for Will—"
"And here I am," says Will, throwing himself down into a chair near Jem. "Glad to hear Jessamine's in the Silent City. Best place for her. What's the next step?"
"That's the meeting we were trying to have," says Jem.
"Well, who knows she's there?" Will asks practically.
"Just us," says Charlotte, "and Brother Enoch, but he's agreed not to inform the Clave for another day or so. Until we decide what to do. Which reminds me, I shall have some choice words for you, Will, haring off to Benedict Lightwood's without informing me, and dragging Tessa with you."
"There was no time to lose," says Will. "By the time we'd have roused you and made you agree to the plan, Nathaniel could have been and gone. And you can't say it was a dreadful idea. We've learned a great deal about Nathaniel and Benedict Lightwood—"
"Nathaniel Gray and Benedict Lightwood aren't Mortmain."
Will traces a pattern on the air with his long, elegant fingers. "Mortmain is the spider at the heart of the web," he says. "The more we learn, the more we know how far his reach extends. Before last night we had no clue he had any connection to Lightwood; now we know the man is his puppet. I say we go to the Clave and report Benedict and Jessamine. Let Wayland take care of them. See what Benedict spills under the Mortal Sword."
Charlotte shakes her head. "No, I- I don't think we can do that."
Will tilted his head back. "Why not?"
"Jessamine said it was exactly what Mortmain wanted us to do. And she said it under the influence of the Mortal Sword. She wasn't lying."
"But she could have been wrong," says Will. "Mortmain could have foreseen just this circumstance and have had Nate plant the thought in her head for us to discover."
"D'you think he would have thought ahead like that?" Henry asks.
"Assuredly," says Will. "The man's a strategist." He taps his temple. "Like me."
"So you think we should go to the Clave?" asks Jem.
"Bloody hell, no," says Will. "What if it is the truth? Then we'll feel like right fools."
Charlotte throws her hands up. "But you said—"
"I know what I said," says Will. "But you have to look at consequences. If we go to the Clave and we're wrong, then we've played into Mortmain's hands. We still have a few days before the deadline is up. Going to the Clave early gains us nothing. If we investigate, and can proceed on a surer footing . . ."
"And how do you propose to investigate?" Tessa inquired.
Will swivels his head to look at her. "The problem with questioning Jessamine is that even when forced to tell the truth, there is a limit to her knowledge. We do, however, have one more connection to the Magister. Someone who is likely to know a great deal more. That is your brother, Nate, through Jessamine. He still trusts her. If she summons him to a meeting, then we will be able to capture him there."
"Jessamine would never agree to do it," said Charlotte. "Not now—"
Will gives her a dark look. "You are all in a lather, aren't you?" he says. "Of course she wouldn't. We will be asking Tessa to reprise her starring role as Jessamine, A Traitorous Young Lady of Fashion."
"That sounds dangerous," Jem says in a subdued voice. "For Tessa." I frown.
"Tessa is fearless," says Will. "And there will be little danger to her. We will send him a note arranging a meeting in a place where we might fall upon him easily and immediately. The Silent Brothers can torture him until he gives up the information that we need."
"Torture?" Jem says. "This is Tessa's brother—"
"Torture him," said Tessa. "If that is what is necessary. I give you my permission."
Charlotte looked up at her, shocked. "You can't mean that."
"You said there was a way to dig through his mind for secrets," Tessa says. "I asked you not to do that, and you didn't. I thank you for that, but I will not hold you to that promise. Dig through his mind if you must. There is more to all of this for me than there is for you, you know. For you this is about the Institute and the safety of Shadowhunters. I care about those things too, Charlotte. But Nate—he is working with Mortmain. Mortmain, who wants to trap me and use me, and for what we still do not know. Mortmain, who may know what I am. Nate told Jessamine my father was a demon and my mother was a Shadowhunter—"
Will sits up straight. "That's impossible," he says. "Shadowhunters and demons—they cannot procreate. They cannot produce living offspring."
"Then maybe it was a lie, like the lie about Mortmain being in Idris," says Tessa. "That doesn't mean Mortmain doesn't know the truth. I must know what I am. If nothing else, I believe it is the key to why he wants me."
I suddenly feel a bolt of anger ripple through me. Not mine. I glance out the room.
"Is Caspian here?" I say.
Everyone turns to look at me, seemingly having forgotten I was present.
"Ella," Tessa breathes out. "You were there as well. You and Caspian."
I blink. "You mean you didn't tell them?"
"I thought I should at least give you a chance to explain."
"I'm touched," I say, "but I don't have a logical explanation. Not one that will result in me not being put under the Mortal Sword, that is."
Charlotte's eyes widen. "You were there too? At the party?"
"That I was," I say.
Jem eyes me. "Why?"
"No," Tessa says firmly as I lean against the doorframe. "Who were those people? Nate mentioned you. You were all sitting at the table at the front. He said something about a... a Gericht. What does that mean? He said that the Gericht is very powerful."
"It is," I say, smiling, amused. "It's how I knew Magnus, Camille, De Quincey, the Dark Sisters. All of them. The Gericht make it a point to know important people in Downworld."
"Gericht. That's German, isn't it?" Tessa says, eyeing me. "So is Schlange. Nate knew you. That's what he called you."
I nod slowly and Caspian appears next to me suddenly. I tap my ring to his necklace and it loosens, falling off my finger. I catch it and put it around my chain and then around my neck.
"Yes. That's what he called me," I say. "It is simply a title."
"Snake," Henry says, to everyone's shock. "Snake. That's what it means, right?"
I nod. "Yes."
"And that guy," Will says, eyes narrowed on me. "He called Caspian Krähe. What does that mean?"
"Crow," Henry answers.