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Ty had taken out his glass-beaded fidget toy and was fiddling with it. “She’s resting,” he said. “We are all exhausted, and the Riders of Mannan have been following us. Four of them seem to be…back from the grave.”

“The Riders of Mannan?” Magnus closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “Unbelievable. The magic that would be required to raise them would be…considerable. But never mind—of course they’re following you. Because we are living in the darkest timeline.”

“The what?” said Kit.

“Never mind. They’re following you because…”

“The Queen of Seelie set them on us,” said Kit. “She doesn’t want me to take the throne of Faerie away from—”

“Ash,” Magnus said grimly. “Jinfeng told me. The Queen wants him to inherit the High Throne, and presumably the evil version of Jace wants the same. What that has to do with their alliance with the Cohort and the kidnapping of Shadowhunters, I don’t know. Jaime Rosales was in Faerie, trying to learn of the Queen’s plans, but I haven’t heard from him in some time. Even though he has a ring with which he can summon me.” He looked worried.

“If the Queen is willing to go this far to keep us from collecting the artifacts, that means we’re on the right track,” Ty said. “Maybe they’ll turn out to be some kind of weapon, too, something we can use against her.”

“All we know is that it opens a door to Faerie,” Kit said gently, not wanting Ty to be disappointed. But Magnus was looking suddenly tense, as if one of them had said something terrible.

“The artifact,” Magnus said. “You have all the pieces now?”

Kit nodded.

Magnus looked even tenser. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s put it together. As quickly as we can.”

Kit retrieved the objects that they had so carefully gathered from four different cities, and brought the set to the coffee table in front of Magnus. He laid them, shining with a dull gold light, onto the glass. They looked like ordinary chunks of metal with designs of briars and thorns. They were pretty, but it was hard to imagine them becoming a key to open a door to Faerie. He had expected to feel anxiety and anticipation, but in their place he felt a wrenching fear that none of this would work.

Magnus passed his hand over the pieces, fingers curling gently as if he meant to pick them up. But he didn’t touch them. He sat back, and looked at Kit. “This is one whole that was broken into four pieces.”

“Yeah,” Kit said. “As the Heir, I have to join them together. That’s what Catarina said, anyway.”

Magnus prodded one of the pieces with a finger, his green-gold eyes shining. “It probably doesn’t matter what shape they turn out to be, just that they all fit together, like puzzle pieces.”

Kit exchanged a look with Ty before leaning forward. He picked up the first piece of artifact and nearly dropped it. To his surprise, it was thrumming as if blood were running through it. It felt alive as none of the artifacts had felt alive before now.

He placed it beside another piece, and then connected the two others, forming a sort of rough square. Each piece had that same feeling, pulsing and organic, but for a long moment, nothing happened.

“So it’s a square,” said Kit. “There are so many uses for a square.”

“Be quiet, Herondale,” Magnus said, still focused on the artifacts. Kit followed Magnus’s gaze; the pieces of the artifact had begun to shimmer, melting and flowing together as if in a goldworker’s forge. Their shapes blurred into a river of shimmering, precious metal, until at last they formed a simple, perfect circle.

Simple, but unmistakable. A golden band etched with intricate designs of flowers and thorns; at the tip of each sharp-looking thorn was a ruby, as if a princess had pricked her thumb on its point.

“It’s a crown,” Kit said, stunned, but how would a crown open a door? He could tell the crown was important, significant somehow to Faerie. Electricity that only he could see crackled from it, a sorcery like forked lighting.

Magnus spat a word that Kit was fairly sure was an expletive in Purgatic, before bolting to his feet. He began to pace.

“This is why I hate prophecies,” Magnus said. “Especially ones that have been correct so far.” He gestured at the crown. “You have to understand. Mother Hawthorn believed that Auraline would return and take up the throne that was meant to be hers, the throne of a united Faerie.”

“We do understand that,” said Ty. “I assume it’s why she wanted Auraline to be able to open a door into Faerie. So she could access the throne.”

“This is more than just a key to open a door to Faerie,” Magnus said. “It’s the real crown of Faerie. The one worn by the monarch before the land split. It is the throne. Once Kit puts it on, he becomes the King of Faerie. Do you understand? You can open a door into Faerie, yes, because once you wear that crown, you control Faerie. You rule it.”

Kit felt as if the blood had drained out of his body. “No,” he said numbly. “No—I don’t want to be the King of a united Faerie, or any part of Faerie.” He looked from Ty to Magnus. “It doesn’t make sense. Catarina knew about the prophecy, but all she said was that the Heir had to open a door to Faerie. Nothing about me being King.”

“Ragnor hadn’t deciphered that whole section yet,” said Magnus. “The full line is If a new door into Faerie is not opened by the Heir, a great darkness will come, for the land of fey must know its master.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, an oddly vulnerable gesture for Magnus. “The land of Faerie can only be mastered by its High King or Queen.”

“I don’t understand,” Ty said. “Does this mean Kit can’t actually open the door?”

Kit watched Magnus as he paced. He hadn’t seen the warlock this upset since Livvy’s funeral.

Magnus said, “At first, all we knew was that the prophecy predicted the Clave being split apart. And that the majority of Shadowhunters would be cut off from Idris. That came to pass. It’s how we knew the prophecy was accurate, and that deciphering it was a matter of urgency. But it was written in a code using a dozen different ancient languages, some from other worlds. Ragnor only managed to finish the translation a few days ago. Then he told me to come find you.”