Also by Cassandra Clare

“That the Clave despises love because love is something human beings feel. That that’s why they
make all those Laws, about people not falling in love with Downworlders or with their parabatai. . .
. And the Laws don’t make sense. . . .” Emma watched Jem out of the corner of her eye. Was she being
too obvious?
“The Clave can be awful,” he said. “Hidebound and cruel. But some of the things they do are
rooted in history. The parabatai Law, for instance.”
Emma felt as if her body temperature had dropped several degrees. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know if I should tell you,” said Jem, looking off toward the ocean, and his expression was
so somber that Emma felt her heart freeze inside her chest. “That’s a secret—a secret even from
parabatai themselves—only a few know: the Silent Brothers, the Consul . . . I took a vow.”
“But you’re not a Shadowhunter anymore,” Emma said. “The vow doesn’t hold.” When he said
nothing, she pressed on: “You owe me, you know. For not being around.”
The corner of his mouth flicked up into a smile. “You drive a hard bargain, Emma Carstairs.” He
drew in a breath. Emma could hear Tessa’s voice, faint on the wind. She was saying Jace’s name.
“The ritual of parabatai was created so that two Shadowhunters could be stronger together than they
were apart. It has always been one of our most powerful weapons. Not everyone has a parabatai, but
the fact that they exist is part of what makes Nephilim what they are. Without them, we would be
infinitely weaker, in ways it is forbidden for me even to explain. Ideally, the ceremony increases each
parabatai’s power—runes given to each other are stronger—and the closer the personal bond, the
greater the power.”
Emma thought of the healing runes she’d drawn on Julian after the arrow poisoning. The way they’d
glowed. The Endurance rune he’d given her. How it had behaved like no Endurance rune she’d ever
known.
“It was not long after the ritual had been in use for some generations,” Jem said, lowering his
voice, “that it was discovered that if the bond was too close, if it tipped into romantic love—then it
would begin to warp and change the kind of power that was generated by the spell. One-sided love, a
crush even, all that seems to pass by the rule—but real, requited, romantic love? It had a terrible
cost.”
“They’d lose their power?” Emma guessed. “As Shadowhunters?”
“Their power would grow,” Jem corrected. “The runes they created would be unlike any others.
They would begin to wield magic as warlocks do. But Nephilim are not meant to be magicians.
Eventually the power would make them mad, until they became as monsters. They would destroy their
families, the others they loved. Death would surround them until eventually they died themselves.”
Emma felt as if she were choking. “Why don’t they tell us that? Why not warn Nephilim, so they
know?”
“It’s power, Emma,” said Jem. “Some would have wisely avoided the bond, but many others would
have rushed to take advantage of it for the wrong reasons. Power will always attract the greedy and
the weak.”
“I wouldn’t want it,” Emma said softly. “Not that kind of power.”
“There is also human nature to take into account,” Jem said, and smiled down at Tessa, who was
off the phone and coming up the path toward them. “Being told that love is forbidden does not kill
love. It strengthens it.”
“What are you two talking about?” Tessa smiled up at them from the foot of the steps.
“Love,” Jem said. “How to end it, I suppose.”
“Oh, if we could end love just by willing it, life would be very different!” Tessa laughed. “It’s