“So Christopher managed to make a Lilith-killing weapon?” said Anna. “Most amazing.”
“It didn’t kill her,” said Cordelia. “She was weakened, I think, and fled because she was startled and injured. But she is no more dead and gone than Belial is.” She looked around miserably at the group. “I will understand if you must distance yourselves from me. I am still Lilith’s paladin.”
“James is Belial’s grandson,” said Anna, “and none of us have abandoned him. That is not the spirit of the Merry Thieves.”
“That’s different,” Cordelia said, her voice a bit desperate. “Lilith is bound to me as a Shadowhunter. She could appear at any time, as has always been true, but whenever I draw a weapon, it will summon her. If I wield Cortana, then so does she, through me. If you think that it would be best to throw myself on the mercy of the Clave—”
“Obviously not,” said Matthew, spinning away from the window. “We will tell no one.”
Anna sat back in her chair. “You don’t think your mother would be merciful?”
“My mother would, Will and Tessa would,” Matthew said, nodding at James. “But plenty would not. Plenty would panic, and Cordelia would be in the Silent City before we could do anything.”
“Maybe I should be,” said Cordelia.
“Absolutely not,” said James. “It’s your choice, Daisy, what you want to do. If you want us to tell anyone. But I agree with Matthew. You’ve done nothing wrong—you’re no danger as long as you don’t pick up a weapon—and the Mother of Demons has reason to fear us.” He put his hand to his belt, where the revolver rested. “We’ve defeated worse than Lilith.”
“She’s not even a Prince of Hell, and we’ve defeated two of those today,” Thomas pointed out.
Cordelia clamped her lips together tightly, as if she were struggling not to cry. Christopher looked terribly alarmed. “Oh, what ho, tears,” he said helplessly. “Ghastly—not that you shouldn’t cry if you wish, of course. Cry like the blazes, Cordelia.”
“Christopher,” said James darkly. “You are not helping.”
Cordelia shook her head. “It’s not Christopher. Or—I suppose it is, but it’s not Christopher making me sad. It’s only… I had not realized—you really think of me as your friend, all of you?”
“Oh, darling,” said Anna affectionately. “Of course we do.”
I do not think of you as a friend, James thought, but all he said was, “We will manage this together, Daisy. We will never leave you alone.”
* * *
The swift winter night came, falling like a knife between one moment and the next, casting the drawing room into gold-tinged shadow. Matthew was first to leave, having borrowed a tweed overcoat from James, who walked him to the door and stood leaning against the jamb, exhausted, while Matthew pulled on his gloves.
“You’re certain you don’t want to borrow our carriage?” James asked, for the fifth time, as Matthew glanced up at the gray-black sky.
“No, I’ll catch a hansom at Oxford Street. Might as well walk a bit. Clear my head.”
“Let me know if it works.” James brushed a flake of snow from Matthew’s shoulder; it wasn’t falling, but the wind was sending flurries skirling down the streets.
“We cannot keep all this a secret,” Matthew said. He looked tired, the shadows under his eyes pronounced. “We will have to at least tell your parents.”
James nodded. “I had planned to tell them tomorrow, all of it—hopefully Lucie can fill in the bits we don’t know. But with Belial on the horizon, we can’t keep this a secret from them. Save the part about Cordelia and Lilith, of course.”
“I agree,” said Matthew. “Perhaps Magnus will have some idea how the enchantment between them can be broken.” He put his gloved hand over James’s bare one where it rested on his shoulder. James could feel the slight tremor in Matthew’s touch; Matthew had drunk a little port in the drawing room, but it wouldn’t be enough. He’d be wanting to get home, not to rest but to drink until he could.
So silly of me. Who knew toys had sharp edges?
“You were not there,” Matthew said. “You did not see how happy she was when she thought Wayland the Smith had chosen her to be his paladin. I—I know what it is like, to do something you thought was good, and have it turn out to be a terrible mistake.”