Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices 2)

"Before Id give you up," she said. "Dont you know that?"

And then she said nothing else, for Henry put his arms around her and kissed her. Kissed her in such a way that she no longer felt plain, or conscious of her hair or the ink spot on her dress or anything but Henry, whom she had always loved. Tears well ed up and spilled down her cheeks, and when he drew away, he touched her wet face wonderingly.

"Real y," he said. "You love me, too, Lottie?"

"Of course I do. I didnt marry you so Id have someone to run the Institute with, Henry. I married you because-because I knew I wouldnt mind how difficult directing this place was, or how badly the Clave treated me, if I knew yours would be the last face I saw every night before I went to sleep. " She hit him lightly on the shoulder. "Weve been married for years, Henry. What did you think I felt about you?"

He shrugged his thin shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "I thought you were fond of me," he said gruffly. "I thought you might come to love me, in time. "

"Thats what I thought about you," she said wonderingly. "Could we real y both have been so stupid?"

"Well, Im not surprised about me," said Henry. "But honestly, Charlotte, you ought to have known better. "

She choked back a laugh. "Henry!" She squeezed his arms. "Theres something else I have to tell you, something very important-"

The door to the drawing room banged open. It was Will. Henry and Charlotte drew apart and stared at him. He looked exhausted-pale, with dark rings about his eyes-but there was a clarity in his face Charlotte had never seen before, a sort of bril iance in his expression. She braced herself for a sarcastic remark or cold observation, but instead he just smiled happily at them.

"Henry, Charlotte," he said. "You havent seen Tessa, have you?"

"Shes likely in her room," said Charlotte, bewildered. "Will, is something the matter? Oughtnt you be resting? After the injuries you sustained-"

Will waved this away. "Your excel ent iratzes did their work. I dont require rest. I only wish to see Tessa, and to ask you-" He broke off, staring at the letter on Charlottes desk. With a few strides of his long legs, he had reached the desk and snatched it up, and read it with the same look of dismay Henry had worn. "Charlotte-no, you cant give up the Institute!"

"The Clave Will find you another place to live," Charlotte said. "Or you may stay here until you turn eighteen, though the Lightwoods-"

"I wouldnt want to live here without you and Henry. What dyou think I stay for? The ambiance?" Will shook the piece of paper til it crackled. "I even bloody miss Jessamine-Well, a bit. And the Lightwoods Will sack our servants and replace them with their own. Charlotte, you cant let it happen.

This is our home. Its Jems home, Sophies home. "

Charlotte stared. "Will, are you sure you havent a fever?"

"Charlotte. " Will slammed the paper back down onto the desk. "I forbid you to resign your directorship. Do you understand? Over all these years youve done everything for me as if I were your own blood, and Ive never told you I was grateful. That goes for you as well, Henry. But I am grateful, and because of it I shall not let you make this mistake. "

"Will," said Charlotte. "It is over. We have only three days to find Mortmain, and we cannot possibly do so. There simply is not time. "

"Hang Mortmain," said Will. "And I mean that literal y, of course, but also figuratively. The two-week limit on finding Mortmain was in essence set by Benedict Lightwood as a ridiculous test. A test that, as it turns out, was a cheat. He is working for Mortmain. This test was his attempt to leverage the Institute out from under you. If we but expose Benedict for what he is- Mortmains puppet-the Institute is yours again, and the search for Mortmain can continue. "

"We have Jessamines word that to expose Benedict is to play into Mortmains hands-"

"We cannot do nothing," Will said firmly. "It is worth at least a conversation, dont you think?" Charlotte couldnt think of a word to say. This Will was not a Will she knew. He was firm, straightforward, intensity shining in his eyes. If Henrys silence was anything to go by, he was just as surprised. Will nodded as if taking this for agreement.

"Excel ent," he said. "Ill tell Sophie to round up the others. "

And he darted from the room.

Charlotte stared up at her husband, all thoughts of the news she had wished to tell him driven from her mind. "Was that Will?" she said final y.

Henry arched one ginger eyebrow. "Perhaps hes been kidnapped and replaced by an automaton," he suggested. "It seems possible . . . "

For once Charlotte could only find herself in agreement.

Glumly Tessa finished the sandwiches and the rest of the tea, cursing her inability to keep her nose out of other peoples business. Once she was done, she put on her blue dress, finding the task difficult without Sophies assistance. Look at yourself, she thought, spoiled after just a few weeks of having a ladys maid. Cant dress yourself, cant stop nosing about where youre not wanted. Soon youll be needing someone to spoon gruel into your mouth or youll starve. She made a horrible face at herself in the mirror and sat down at her vanity table, picking up the silver-backed hairbrush and pul ing the bristles through her long brown hair.

A knock came at the door. Sophie, Tessa thought hopeful y, back for an apology. Well, she would get one. Tessa dropped the hairbrush and rushed to throw the door open.

Just as once before she had expected Jem and been disappointed to find Sophie on her threshold, now, in expecting Sophie, she was surprised to find Jem at her door. He wore a gray wool jacket and trousers, against which his silvery hair looked nearly white.

"Jem," she said, startled. "Is everything all right?"

His gray eyes searched her face, her long, loose hair. "You look as if you were waiting for someone else. "

"Sophie. " Tessa sighed, and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "I fear I have offended her. My habit of speaking before I think has caught me out again. "

"Oh," said Jem, with an uncharacteristic lack of interest. Usual y he would have asked Tessa what she had said to Sophie, and either reassured her or helped her plot a course of action to win Sophies forgiveness. His customary vivid interest in everything seemed oddly missing, Tessa thought with alarm; he was quite pale as well, and seemed to be glancing behind her as if checking to see whether she was quite alone. "Is now-that is, I would like to speak to you in private, Tessa. Are you feeling well enough?"

"That depends on what you have to tell me," she said with a laugh, but when her laugh brought no answering smile, apprehension rose inside her.

"Jem-you promise everythings all right? Will -"

"This is not about Will," he said. "Wil is out wandering and no doubt perfectly all right. This is about-Well, I suppose you might say its about me. " He glanced up and down the corridor. "Might I come in?"

Tessa briefly thought about what Aunt Harriet would say about a girl who all owed a boy she was not related to into her bedroom when there was no one else there. But then Aunt Harriet herself had been in love once, Tessa thought. Enough in love to let her fiance do-well, whatever it was exactly that left one with child. Aunt Harriet, had she been alive, would have been in no position to talk. And besides, etiquette was different for Shadowhunters.