"Im most sorry to hear that. I hope your father is well," murmured Tessa, praying she would not be stricken down on the spot for this blatant falsehood.
"I suppose I had better go after my brother," said Gideon without answering her question. "If I do not, he Will take the carriage and leave me stranded. I hope to have him back to you at our next session in a better humor. " He bowed to Sophie, then Tessa. "Miss Col ins, Miss Gray. "
And he was gone, leaving both girls looking after him in mingled confusion and surprise.
With the training session merciful y over, Tessa found herself hurrying to change back into her ordinary clothes, and then to lunch, eager to see if Will had returned. He hadnt. His chair, between Jessamine and Henry, still sat empty-but there was someone new in the room, someone who made Tessa stop short at the doorway, trying not to stare. A tal man, he sat near the head of the table beside Charlotte, and was green. Not a very dark green -his skin had a faint greenish sheen to it, like light reflecting off the ocean, and his hair was snowy white. From his forehead curled two smal elegant horns.
"Miss Tessa Gray," said Charlotte, making the introductions, "this is the High Warlock of London, Ragnor Fell. Mr. Fell, Miss Gray. "
After murmuring that she was delighted to meet him, Tessa sat down at the table beside Jem, diagonal y from Fell, and tried not to stare at him out of the corner of her eye. As Magnuss cats eyes were his warlocks mark, Fel s would be his horns and tinted skin. She couldnt help being fascinated by Downworlders still, warlocks in particular. Why were they marked and she wasnt?
"Whats on the carpet, then, Charlotte?" Ragnor was saying. "Did you real y call me out here to discuss dark doings on the Yorkshire moors? I was under the impression that nothing of great interest ever happened in Yorkshire. In fact, I was under the impression that there was nothing in Yorkshire except sheep and mining. "
"So you never knew the Shades?" Charlotte inquired. "The warlock population of Britain is not so large . . . "
"I knew them. " As fell sawed into the ham on his plate, Tessa saw that he had an extra joint to each finger. She thought of Mrs. Black, with her elongated taloned hands, and repressed a shudder. "Shade was a little mad, with his obsession with clockwork and mechanisms. Their death was a shock to Downworld. The ripples of it went through the community, and there was even some discussion of vengeance, though none, I believe, was ever taken. "
Charlotte leaned forward. "Do you remember their son? Their adopted child?"
"I knew of him. A married warlock couple is rare. One who adopts a human child from an orphanage is rarer still. But I never saw the boy. Warlocks-we live forever. A gap of thirty, even fifty, years between meetings is not unusual.
Of course now that I know what the boy grew up to be, I wish I had met him.
Do you think there is value in attempting to discover who his true parents were?"
"Certainly, if it can be discovered. Whatever information we can glean about Mortmain could be useful. "
"I can tell you he gave himself that name," said Fell. "It sounds like a Shadowhunter name. It is the sort of name someone with a grudge against Nephilim, and a dark sense of humor, would take. Mort main-"
"Hand of death," supplied Jessamine, who was proud of her French.
"It does make one wonder," said Tessa. "If the Clave had simply given Mortmain what he wanted-reparations-would he still have become what he did? Would there ever have been a Pandemonium Club at all?"
"Tessa-," Charlotte began, but Ragnor fell waved her silent. He gazed amusedly down the table at Tessa. "Youre the shape-changer, arent you?"
he said. "Magnus Bane told me about you. No mark on you at all, they say. "
Tessa swal owed and looked him straight in the eye. They were discordantly human eyes, ordinary in his extraordinary face. "No. No mark. "
He grinned around his fork. "I do suppose theyve looked everywhere?"
"Im sure Will s tried," said Jessamine in a bored tone. Tessas silverware clattered to her plate. Jessamine, who had been mashing her peas flat with the side of her knife, looked up when Charlotte let out an aghast, "Jessamine!"
Jessamine shrugged. "Well, hes like that. "
Fel turned back to his plate with a faint smile on his face. "I remember Will s father. Quite the ladies man, he was. They couldnt resist him. Until he met Will s mother, of course. Then he threw it all in and went to live in Wales just to be with her. What a case he was. "
"He fell in love," said Jem. "It isnt that peculiar. "
"Fel into it," said the warlock, still with the same faint smile. "Hurtled into it is more like. Headlong-crashed into it. Still, there are always some men like that-just one woman for them, and only she Will do, or nothing. "
Charlotte looked over at Henry, but he appeared completely lost in thought, counting something-though who knew what-off on his fingers. He was wearing a pink and violet waistcoat today, and had gravy on his sleeve.
Charlottes shoulders slumped visibly, and she sighed. "Well," she said. "By all accounts they were very happy together-"
"Until they lost two of their three children and Edmund Herondale gambled away everything they had," said Fell. "But I imagine you never told young Will about that. "
Tessa exchanged a glance with Jem. My sister is dead, Will had said.
"They had three children, then?" she said. "Wil had two sisters?"
"Tessa. Please. " Charlotte looked uneasy. "Ragnor . . . I never hired you to invade the privacy of the Herondales, or Will. I did it because I had promised Will I would tell him if harm came to his family. "
Tessa thought of Will -a twelve-year-old Will, clinging to Charlottes hand, begging to be told if his family died. Why run? she thought for the hundredth time. Why put them behind you? She had thought perhaps he did not care, but clearly he had cared. Cared still. She could not stop the tightening at her heart as she thought of him call ing out for his sister. If he loved Cecily as she had once loved Nate . . .