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CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
❝ Dies Irae ❞
Jace had disappeared. One moment he'd been standing right there and the next not anymore. Esme ran down to where he had been standing and peered through the hole in the deck. Clary, the thought was jarring and weakening and she resolved to sink to her knees but a familiar cry shook her.
"ALEC!" It was Nico, leaning over the railing and calling out for his brother. Esme didn't realize when she was on her feet, when was walking towards him, when she arrived and when she put her hand on his arm. He twisted, baring a familiar dagger just under her chin - then saw her.
Her hair was miserable, champagne color no more, matted with dust, and grime, and ichor. There was a large blue bruise on her nose coated in dried crusted black, lips busted and swollen. Her shirt, half tore open, hung barely over her body. But her eyes were shining, and she was smiling, and her face was rivaling the moon overhead. Nico reached for her, then stopped himself. He would not, he could not. This time apart had made him realize how much he had wanted to find her alive, prayed. He had never prayed before. And how happy he was to see her, happy, happy, happy. How wrong it was, wrong, wrong, wrong. She's a mundane, Nicholas.
He recognized the voice. His mother's voice. He stepped back. "I'm glad you're alive," he said but there was no emotion behind them.
Esme's smile turned to a frown. He opened his mouth to say something - anything - but she was yanking him away from the railing and twisting him away behind her as a scorpion demon's stinger slammed the spot where he had been standing previously. Her body against hers, he realized she was shivering or shaking or - he didn't have time. She twisted a ring knife out of his belt and flung it straight at the demon. It wedged itself in the center of the demon, and the creature evaporated into the night.
The ship rumbled and groaned.
Esme's hand was still outstretched, fingers splayed as the knife had just left them. She could not believe how close it was to Nico. So close, so close, so close - she turned and threw her arms around him. He stumbled back with the force and tried to resist.
But under her touch, something in him stilled. Something that had been anxious and fluttering ever since he'd heard that she was missing. Ever since he'd found her discarded phone and dagger by Luke's house. Ever since he'd stepped away from her under the Inquisitor's stare. She hugged him, her arms tight around his neck. Every apology rising in his throat choked him - he only whimpered.
The boat under their feet screamed, the metal groaning all around. Nico pulled away to look around, all the Shadowhunters swarming towards the edges, jumping into cold waters. The ship creaked and rumbled. Both him and Esme ducked as the surface beneath them shook. He put his hand on her shoulder, and said, "Run!" but his voice was dowsed by screaming metal. She read his lips and took off.
