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Elara tugged on the gold-green ivy vines that grew thickly along the corridor walls. “Perhaps she will not have the last laugh,” she said, so quietly Dru had to strain to hear her. “In any case. I would like to show you something.”

Dru’s ears perked up. Even weary and damp with spilled wine (the smell of which made her feel sick), she couldn’t resist those words. “Is it a way out?”

Elara smiled sadly. “Nothing like that. But it will please you.” She turned to push aside a sheet of ivy. Behind it was a door. A tall, plain wooden door, with a symbol carved into it.

A rune. A Shadowhunter rune, as familiar to Dru as the letters of the alphabet. The rune for Angelic Power.

“What—” she began, but Elara held a finger to her lips. After glancing up and down the corridor to check whether anyone was there to observe them, Elara took a key from the bundle at her waist, unlocked the door, and ushered Dru through, slipping in quietly behind her.

Beyond the door was a stone passageway, lit with torches that gave off a familiar white glow. Witchlight. Dru couldn’t help herself; she went up to a torch fixed into the wall beside a tall door and brushed her hand through the flame. It was cool to the touch, as witchlight always was.

She turned to Elara. “Explain,” she said. “I thought the fey hated Shadowhunter things.”

Elara ducked her head so that her black hair hid her face. “There are only two apartments here. Down at the end is Ash’s. This”—she indicated the door in front of Dru—“belongs to the Huntsman.”

Dru froze. “But isn’t he in his room? He wasn’t at the banquet.”

Elara shook her head. “The Queen sent him on a hunt.” She took another key from her bundle, and unlocked the door. “Come. We have little time.”

She pushed the door open, gesturing for Dru to go inside. The moment Dru stepped over the threshold, Elara shut the door quickly behind her, and Dru stifled a gasp.

The room wasn’t that different from her own—windowless and stone walled, with a thin, trickling waterfall splashing into a turquoise pool. But Dru barely saw any of that. She was staring at the large golden cage that occupied the center of the room. The same cage she’d seen when she first came to Faerie. And inside the cage was Clary.

Janus had furnished the cage since Dru had first seen it. There was a desk and chair in it, and a mattress on the floor, piled with blankets and cushions, where Clary sat, a book open in her lap.

She was surrounded by piles of things. A bizarre mixture of objects Janus had clearly placed there for Clary to enjoy: paper, watercolor palettes, and brushes on the desk, along with a stack of books. And it was clear he was absolutely determined to keep her prisoner. The cage door was wrapped around with heavy chains and padlocks, and the bars of it shimmered with the residue of enchantment.

Clary dropped her book.

“Dru?” she gasped. She sprang up and ran to the side of the cage, where she thrust her hands through the bars. Dru grabbed hold of Clary’s hands and squeezed them with her own. Clary looked so thin and miserable—her eyes were red, with dark hollows under them, and her light blue tunic left her arms and legs bare. Dru could see the goose bumps on her skin. Not surprising, as the room was freezing cold.

“This is so awful,” Dru breathed. “You’re in a cage while I have a perfectly fine room. Maybe I could talk to Ash—”

“Don’t,” Clary said. “He’ll tell Janus and it’s much more likely we’d both end up in cages than that he would let me out.” Clary squeezed Dru’s hands hard, and released them. “Did you get that stele? Is that why you’re here?”

Dru looked at the floor. “Not yet,” she said. “I think he either keeps it on him most of the time or locked up in his room.”

“Don’t fret. We still have time.” Clary sat down on a pile of blankets, folding her legs under her. The cage was on a raised platform, so it only put her a little lower than Dru.

“Do we?” said Dru. “Did Janus tell you anything about his plans? How long he expects we’ll be here?”

“Not exactly,” Clary said. “He did say that the Cohort aren’t our enemies. When I pressed him on it, he admitted that they’re his allies, and that he hopes one day to take me to Idris so they can help us to ‘reclaim our homeland.’ ”

By the Angel. “Of course he’s joined up with the worst Shadowhunters ever,” Dru said bitterly. “But what do they even have to offer him? They’re trapped in Idris! How is he even communicating with them? Is he going there somehow? I thought all the ways to the mortal world were closed.”

“So did I.” Clary pulled one of the blankets around her shoulders. “I’ll try to find out the details.” She looked at Dru with concern. “Why are you dressed like a faerie servant?”

“It’s complicated.” As quickly as she could, Dru explained that Ash’s gift, the power of inspiring love and loyalty, didn’t work on her (though she didn’t bother explaining why). How she’d let him think otherwise, hoping she could get him to trust her. How the Queen had demanded that she try to trick Kit, and punished her when she said no.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Clary said, when she was done. “Not just the pettiness of trying to humiliate you. That’s par for the course where it comes to the Queen. But the fact that she’s looking for Kit. That she might have sent the Riders to look for Kit. Though,” she added, seeming to catch sight of Dru’s worried expression, “I’m sure they won’t find him.”

“He’s not Kit to the Queen. Just the only living Heir to Seelie and Unseelie both. Destined to unite the Courts, all that stuff. I don’t know what I’ll do if Ash wants me to tell him where Kit is. I have to let him think I’d do anything he asked.”

“Do you know where Kit is?”

“No,” Dru admitted. “Thankfully.”

Clary sighed. “I understand why you’re scared. We’re both walking a fine line. I can’t show how much I hate Janus—the Angel knows what he’d do. But if I let him think I trust him completely, nothing will stop him. He’ll want a wedding and everything that comes with it. And even the thought of kissing him makes me sick, I don’t think I could—” She broke off. “You don’t need to hear about all that. My only point is that you’ll have better luck with Ash than I’ll have with Janus. Ash thinks you do trust him. He’s had people falling at his feet since he was a child.”