New World

24 | The Hall pt.2

The murmur that went through the room sounded like the crash. A moment later Robert Lightwood appeared, wearing a grim expression. Behind him came two guards, and between them walked Annabel.

The Black Volume was hanging from a strap over Annabel's back, which made her look younger like a girl on her way to school.

"This is an outrage," sputtered Zara's father. "Did we not all suffer enough from the corrosive filth of the Endarkened? Must you bring this thing in front of us?"

Julian sprang to his feet. "The Endarkened were not undead," he said, turning to face the Hall. "They were Turned by the Infernal Cup. Annabel is exactly who she was in life. She was tortured by Malcolm, kept in a half-alive state for years—she wants to help us."

"Julian Blackthorn," sneered Dearborn. "My daughter told me about you—your uncle was mad, your whole family's mad, only a madman would find this a good idea—"

"Do not speak that way to him. He is my blood kin." Annabel looked angry.

"Blackthorns," said Dearborn. "Seems they're all mad, dead, or both!"

Lila felt like punching Horace Dearborn, too.

"Sit," Jia said to Dearborn coldly. "It appears your family has an issue with the way Nephilim are meant to comport themselves. Interrupt me again and you'll be thrown out of the Hall."

Horace Dearborn sat, but his eyes gleamed with rage.

Julian pushed his way into the aisle and was standing facing the front of the room. "Annabel," he said, his voice low and encouraging. "Tell them about the King."

"The Unseelie King," Annabel said. "Is the Lord of Shadows. He was in league with Malcolm. It is important you all know this, as he plans the destruction of all Shadowhunters."

"But the Fair Folk are weak!" A man in an embroidered gandora was on his feet, dark eyes sparking with concern. "Years of the Cold Peace have weakened them. The King cannot hope to stand against us."

"Not in a clash of equal armies, no," Annabel said in a small voice. "But the King has harnessed the power of the Black Volume, and he has learned how to destroy the power of the Nephilim. How to cancel out runes, seraph blades, and witchlight. You would be fighting his forces with no more power than mundanes—"

Lila scanned the expressions on every bodies faces. She whispered to Livvy, who sat beside her. "I've got a bad feeling."

Livvy looked grim. "Ty's just said that to me as well."

"Do you?" Lila asked.

Livvy nodded.

"—daughter didn't kill Malcolm Fade," said Julian. "Annabel did."

Zara popped to her feet like a puppet jerked upward on strings. "That's a lie!" she shrieked.

"It is not a lie," said Annabel. "Malcolm raised me from the dead. He used the blood of Arthur Blackthorn to do it. And for that, and for his torture and abandonment of me, I killed him."

The room was filled with yells and names. Horace Dearborn was calling that Annabel was a liar.

"Enough!" shouted Jia.