Also by Cassandra Clare

“Because of Iarlath,” said Kieran.
Mark turned to stare. “Iarlath? What has he to do with this?”
“I thought you knew that at least,” Kieran muttered. “Iarlath and Malcolm have been in this together
since the attack on the Institute five years ago.”
“They’re allies?” Mark demanded. “How long have you known?”
“Only a short time,” said Kieran. “I became suspicious when Iarlath so strongly refused to allow
you to come back to Faerie. He wished you to stay here, so much so that he staged that charade of
punishment with the whipping so that you would not return with us. After that I realized there was
more to the plan of having you here at the Institute than finding the murderer who had taken faerie
lives. It was about preventing anyone in your family from being able to go to the Clave until it was
too late.”
Emma had a seraph blade in each hand and Cortana on her back; she had paused, her face stiff with
shock. “Iarlath said something to me when he was—when he was whipping me,” she said. “That
Shadowhunters don’t know who to trust. He meant Malcolm, didn’t he?”
“Most likely,” said Kieran. “Malcolm’s is the shadow hand that has guided the Followers, and
Malcolm killed your parents five years ago.”
“Why?” Emma was rigid. Julian wanted to go to her so badly it hurt. “Why did he kill my
parents?”
“As I understand it?” Kieran said, and there was a tinge of pity to his voice. “It was an experiment.
To see if the spell worked.”
Emma stood speechless. Julian asked it for her, the question she couldn’t voice. “What do you
mean, an experiment?”
“Years ago, Iarlath was one of the Fair Folk who allied themselves with Sebastian Morgenstern,”
said Kieran. “He was also a friend to Malcolm. As you probably know, there are certain books
warlocks are forbidden to own, but which can be found in some Shadowhunter libraries. Necromantic
tomes and the like. One of those is the Black Volume of the Dead.”
“The one that the poem talked about,” said Dru. Though her face was still tearstained, she had put
on her gear and was braiding her hair carefully back from her face. It hurt Julian’s heart, to see her
like that. “‘Find the black book at any cost.’”
“There are many black books,” said Kieran. “But this was one Malcolm specifically wanted. Once
the Institute was cleared of Shadowhunters and Sebastian departed, Malcolm took the opportunity to
slip in and steal the book from the library. After all, when else was the Institute going to be
unguarded, the door open? He took it, and he found the spell he wanted, and he saw that it required
the sacrifice of Shadowhunter life. That was when your parents returned to the Institute, Emma.”
“So he killed them,” Emma said. “For a spell.” She gave a short, bitter laugh. “Did it at least
work?”
“It didn’t,” said Kieran. “It failed, and so he left their bodies in the ocean, knowing that the
murders would be taken to be Sebastian’s work.”
“Iarlath told you all this?” There was suspicion on Mark’s face.
“I followed Iarlath to the Unseelie Court and listened to what he said there.” Kieran tried to meet
Mark’s gaze. Mark looked away. “The rest is what I demanded he tell me at knifepoint. Malcolm was
to misdirect and confuse you so that you would not realize what he was doing—he used Johnny Rook
for some of that. He wanted you to engage yourself in an investigation that would prove fruitless.
Mark’s presence here would deter you from asking the Clave or the Silent Brothers to help you, thus
protecting Malcolm’s work with the Followers, his attempts to raise his old love from the dead.