Page 27

“What does it look like? I’m starting a podcast. There are some great acoustics in here.”

Ash raised an eyebrow. “I assume a podcast is some sort of mundane thing.”

“It could be a Shadowhunter thing.”

He shook his head. “If it were, I’d have heard of it.” He crossed the room to the wardrobe and opened it. When he turned back to her, Dru had to stifle a gasp. He was holding a book in one hand, bound in green velvet with an Angelic Power rune stamped upon the cover in gold. The Gray Book, which contained every known Shadowhunter rune. And in the other hand, he held a stele carved with runes and studded with small chips of sapphire. Dru’s stele, given to her by Julian on her sixteenth birthday.

She felt her shoulders tighten. More than anything, she wanted to rush over and snatch the stele out of his hand. Dig her nails into his wrist, make him drop it. She held on to her self-control as tightly as she could.

“Enough messing about with the weapons,” Ash said. “Put it back and come here.”

Dru didn’t move. She was counting to ten in her head.

He frowned. “I said, come here.”

He didn’t sound angry. He sounded puzzled. And Dru suddenly remembered Elara’s words: You will find that you wish to please him, not hurt him. That you wish to do what he says.

Elara hadn’t lied. In Ash’s jade-green eyes she saw his expectation—that she would obey automatically. That she would want to please him. She did not want to do any such thing, and had no idea why his power would not work on her. Was it that she disliked him too much? Surely that couldn’t be it. He seemed like the sort of person many people would dislike. Regardless, she knew she had two choices: She could push back, let him know that she seemed to be immune. Or she could let him think that it was working. Let him assume she was no threat. That she felt compelled to please him.

The thought was sickening. It was also, she knew, the only advantage over him she had.

She hung the sword back on its pegs and forced her feet to move, to cross the room toward him. Kept her expression neutral. Ash had to believe she was obeying him without wondering why, or even noticing that it was happening.

The wardrobe was still open. Ash reached in and tugged at a sliding tray set into the wood until he’d pulled it out. He placed the Gray Book on it. The stele, unfortunately, he kept in his right hand.

Dru stopped beside him. He was turning the pages of the Gray Book—it must have been a very old copy, because they were thin as onionskin, each one bearing the image of a bold black rune and below it, in unreadable blocky text, the description of which rune it was. What it did. Ash ran his fingers over the Memory rune, then turned the pages. Courage in Combat. Agility. Vision. Clarity.

“I am half Shadowhunter, as I’m sure you know,” he said. He had moved to the side, to make space for Dru, to allow her to look down at the book. He really wasn’t afraid of her. The thought was gratifying and annoying all at once. “But I’ve never drawn a rune. I want to learn how to use them. Fight with them. Janus can’t teach me—he can’t draw or bear runes himself. I want to learn how to use the stele. To be a stronger, faster warrior.”

“And you think I should be the one to help you with that,” she said. “You don’t even know if I can fight.”

“I do know,” he said. “Remember, we’ve met before.” Meeting her doubtful eyes, he smiled. “I recall you showing me a dagger. Gold, with roses on the blade.”

Dru felt a chill pass over her. She hadn’t really thought that Ash was lying about knowing her, but it was brutal to think that somehow, she had memories missing. She’d heard plenty of tales about mortals who forgot their visits to the Faerie realm, but she was a Shadowhunter. There was no reason it should happen to her.

“How many times have we met before, exactly?” she asked. She thought of the way she’d felt in the corridor earlier—that it was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. As if she’d forgotten something very like it…

But he shook his head. “That is a much more complicated conversation, I think, and not for today. If you really want to know why I’ve chosen you to teach me, it’s because you’re the only Shadowhunter here. Aside from Clary, and you may have noticed that Janus is somewhat possessive of her.”

Dru couldn’t help herself. “ ‘Somewhat’?”

“Somewhat,” said Ash, sounding very human for a moment, as if he were discussing a family member who often made terrible romantic decisions. “In the same way that, say, being burned alive is somewhat unpleasant.”

Dru glanced at him sideways. His mouth was curling up very slightly at one corner, like the flourish of a musical note. Had that been a joke? It seemed like it had been a joke. Maybe he had a sense of humor. Though neither of his parents was exactly a renowned comedian.

“He thinks he loves Clary,” said Dru. “But is he even capable of it?”

“His past took a great deal from him, but it did not take his ability to love,” Ash said, and there was an odd tone in his voice, as if this were something he had told himself before, told himself so many times he had memorized the phrase. “Of course he feels other emotions as well. Suspicion. Jealousy. Anger. Disappointment.”

“Those are all bad emotions.”

“I’m not sure emotions are good or bad,” said Ash. “Lust and bloodlust, they’re not so different.”

Dru felt her cheeks flush. Time to change the subject. “Where did you get a copy of the Gray Book?” she asked.

“As it turns out, you can buy nearly anything at the Shadow Market for the right price,” Ash said. “It’s not just for contaminated love spells and werewolf flea shampoo.” He turned a page of the book, landing on the rune for Strength. “Should I start with this one?”

Without thinking, Dru reached over to leaf through the pages. She heard him catch his breath and realized she had pushed directly into his personal space, her body angled across his, their sides touching. Surely not how most Faerie courtiers would interact with a prince. Having found the right page, she stepped back hastily.