Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices 1)

"I saw you," she said. "In the parking lot. And when you disappeared today at the theater, I would guess that was because of him as well?"

"Please tell no one, Cristina." The look of fear on his face broke her heart. "They would punish him, and me as well. We both swore we would not reveal our relationship to any Shadowhunters, lest they think I would be too loyal to Faerie and too likely to return to it, and not agree to our bargain. Also, Kieran is forbidden to see me now that I am out of the Hunt."

"I will tell no one," said Cristina. "I have not mentioned it, not to Emma, not to anyone."

"You are as kind as you are lovely," he said, but the words sounded rehearsed.

"I know you think you can't trust mortals. But I will not betray you."

There was nothing rehearsed about the look he gave her then."I meant it when I said you were beautiful. I want you, and Kieran would not mind--"

"You want me?"

"Yes," Mark said simply, and Cristina looked away, suddenly very aware of how close his body was to hers. Of the shape of his shoulders under his jacket. He was lovely as faeries were lovely, with a sort of unearthliness, as quicksilver as moonlight on water. He didn't seem quite touchable, but she had seen him kiss Kieran and knew better. "You do not want to be wanted?"

In another time, the time before, Cristina would have blushed. "It is not the sort of compliment mortal women enjoy."

"But why not?" said Mark.

"Because it makes it sound like I am a thing you want to use. And when you say Kieran would not mind, you make it sound as if he would not mind because I do not matter."

"That is very human," he said. "To be jealous of a body but not a heart."

Cristina had studied faeries closely. It was true that unmarried faerie folk, regardless of sexual orientation, placed a very low value on physical fidelity, though a much greater value than humans did on emotional loyalty. There were few if any vows that had to do with sex, but many that had to do with true love. "You see, I do not want a body without a heart," she said.

He did not reply, but she could read the look in his eyes. If she said the word, she could have Mark Blackthorn, for some value of having him. It was a strange thing to know, even if she did not want what he offered. But if he were offering more--well, there had been a time she had thought she would never want anyone again.

It was good to know that wasn't true.

"Is Kieran the reason?" she said. "That you might return to Faerie, even if the killer is caught?"

"Kieran saved my life," said Mark. "I was nothing in the Wild Hunt."

"You are not nothing. You are the son of the Lady Nerissa."

"And Kieran is the son of the King of the Unseelie Court," said Mark flatly. "He did everything for me in the Wild Hunt. Protected me and kept me alive. And he has only me. Julian and the others, they have each other. They do not need me."

But he didn't sound convinced. He spoke as if the words were dead leaves, blowing across some hollow and aching space inside him. And in that moment Cristina yearned toward him more than she ever had, for she knew that feeling, to be so hollowed out by loss that you felt as if the wind could blow through you.

"That is not love," Cristina said. "That is debt."

Mark set his jaw. He had never looked more like a Blackthorn. "If there is one thing I have learned in my life, and I grant I have not learned much, it is this: Neither Fair Folk nor mortals know what love is or is not. No one does."

"So, basically, you kind of solved the investigation," said Livvy. She was lying on the rug in Julian's room. They were all sprawled around his bedroom: Cristina perched neatly on a chair, Ty sitting against a wall with his headphones on, Julian cross-legged on his bed. He'd taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. The cuff links Emma had given him gleamed on the nightstand. Mark lay on his stomach across the foot of the bed, eye to eye with Church, who'd decided to pay them a visit, probably because of the weather. "I mean, now we know who did it. The murders."

"Not exactly," said Emma. She was sitting on the floor, leaning her back against the nightstand. "I mean, here's what we do know. This group, these Followers or whatever they call themselves, they're responsible for Stanley Wells's murder. The Followers are mostly people who've had some brush with the supernatural. They have the Sight, they're part faerie--Sterling's sort of a werewolf. Every month they hold a Lottery. Someone gets picked, and that someone becomes a sacrifice."

"Wells was a sacrifice," said Julian. "So it stands to reason that the other eleven murders have been because of this cult too."

"It also explains the fey bodies," said Cristina. "Since so many of them are half-fey, it makes sense that they've been picked for the sacrifices."

Julian glanced at Mark. "Do you think the Courts know if the bodies were half-fey or full-blooded?"

"Hard to say," said Mark, still staring at the cat. "They often cannot tell just by looking, and some of the Followers are full-blood faeries."

"It seems like full-blood faeries would have better things to do." It was Ty, having pulled the headphones from his ears. Emma could faintly hear classical music drifting from them. "Why would they join something like this?"

"It is a place for lost souls," said Mark. "And since the Cold Peace, many of the Fair Folk are lost. It makes sense."

"I saw them advertising at the Shadow Market," said Emma. "I saw Belinda there too. They seemed to be specifically looking for anyone with the Sight, anyone who seemed frightened or alone. Having a group to belong to, being promised good luck and wealth, getting strength from the sacrifices--you can see how it would be appealing."

"They do seem very confident," Cristina said. "How much do they know about the existence of Nephilim, I wonder?"

"Sterling seemed afraid of us," said Emma. "It's weird. He got picked, so that means they're going to sacrifice him. You'd think he'd want any help he could get, even from Shadowhunters."

"But getting help is forbidden, right?" said Livvy. "If they caught him accepting it, they could torture him. Do worse than kill him."

Cristina shuddered. "Or he could be a true believer. Maybe he thinks it would be a sin to accept help."

"Men have gone to their deaths for less," said Mark.

"How many of them do you think there were? The Followers?"

"About three hundred," said Julian.

"Well, if we can't go to the faeries yet, we've got two options," said Emma. "One, we track down every one of those three hundred losers and beat them up until they tell us who did the actual killing."

"That seems impractical," said Ty. "And time-consuming."

"Or we could go straight to finding out who the leader is," Emma said. "If anyone knows, it's that Belinda girl."

Julian ran a hand through his hair. "Belinda's not her real name--"

"I'm telling you, Johnny Rook knows her," Emma said. "In fact, he probably knows a lot, given that information about the Shadow World is his business. We're asking him."

"Yes, you agreed to this already in the car," Mark said, and frowned. "This cat is looking at me with judgment."

"He's not," said Jules. "That's just his face."

"You look at me the same way," Mark said, glancing at Julian. "Judgy face."

"This is still progress," Livvy said stubbornly. She glanced at Mark sideways, and Emma saw anxiety in her gaze. It was so rare for Livvy to show the worry she felt that Emma sat up straight. "We should go to the faerie convoy, tell them the Followers are responsible--"

"We can't," said Diana, appearing in the doorway. "The fey were very specific. 'The one with blood on his hands.' You might think they want progress reports, but I don't think they do. They want results, and that's all."

"How long have you been eavesdropping?" Julian asked, though there was no hostility in the question. He glanced at his watch. "It's awfully late for you to be here."

Diana sighed. She did look bone weary. Her hair was untidy and she was uncharacteristically dressed down in a sweatshirt and

jeans. There was a long scrape across one of her cheeks.

"I went by the convergence on my way back from Ojai," she said. "I got in and out fast. Only had to kill one Mantid." She sighed again. "It doesn't look like anyone's been back there since the night you went. I'm worried our necromancer's found a new place."

"Well, if he doesn't use a convergence, the next time he uses dark magic, he'll show up on Magnus's map," said Ty.

"Did you find anything useful in Ojai?" Emma asked. "What warlock is up there? It's not anyone we know, is it?"

"No." Diana leaned against the doorjamb, clearly not planning on saying anything else. "I did hear about the Followers; I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you were tracking them down here. I wish you'd told me, but--"

"You'd already left," said Jules. He leaned back on his hands. His dress shirt stretched across his chest. Knowing what his body looked like under the cotton was not helping Emma's concentration. She looked away, hating her uncontrolled thoughts. "But I can give you the summary."

As he started to talk, Emma quietly turned and walked out of the room. She could hear Julian's voice behind her, recounting the events of the evening. She knew he'd tell the story exactly right; she knew she didn't have to worry. But right now there were two people she urgently needed to talk to, and she needed to do it alone.

"Mom," Emma whispered. "Dad. I need your help."