Valentine's Arrow

23: The End of the Beginning

There is more to this, I know

You can make it out

You will live to tell

~ Saosin, You're Not Alone

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

REBECCA

Rebecca stepped away from the Mortal Sword, clenching her hands in an effort to stop them from shaking. Robert's eyes lingered on her for a second, but then he turned and said – "We are Nephilim. We do not trade away our own. He knows that."

"We of the Infernal Cup have in our possession five of your allies," was the reply. "Meliorn of the Fair Folk, Raphael Santiago of the Night's Children, Luke Garroway of the Moon's Children, Jocelyn Morgenstern of the Nephilim, and Magnus Bane of the Children of Lilith. If you do not give us what we ask for, they will be put to the deaths of iron and silver, of fire and rowan. And when your Downworld allies learn that you have sacrificed their representatives because you would not give up your own, they will turn on you. They will join with us, and you will find yourselves fighting not just he who holds the Infernal Cup, but all of Downworld."

Rebecca's heart sank. She had suspected it all along, but until now, it had been nothing but a hunch. To hear it, to be sure of it, was something else altogether.

"You are a fool," snapped Kadir, his eyes angry as he regarded Matthias. "No Downworlders will hold us accountable for not sacrificing two of our children to Jonathan Morgenstern's pyre of corpses. As for the Lightwood girl-"

"No one is going anywhere." Robert's voice was hard as steel.

"Oh, but he will not kill them," said Matthias with vicious glee. "You have his word on the Angel that no harm will come to them. They are his family, and he desires them by his side. So there is no sacrifice."

A hush settled over the room. Nobody seemed to know what to do.

And although Rebecca felt unsteady on her feet, she stepped forward. "I am willing to go," she said to the silent spectators. "Take me, Matthias, but leave Clary and Jace out of it."

Matthias's laugh was cruel. "The fabled Lightwood. Do you honestly believe that he will forgive you after all you've done?"

She replied without hesitation. "I know he will."

"This is stupid!" A voice rang around the room. Alec. He was gazing at her with a sort of fury, and for a second, Rebecca thought it was directed at her, until he said – "Rebecca, please. Don't go."

Rebecca refused to meet his eyes. "I have to." Taking a deep breath, she turned to face Matthias. "Well, what are you waiting for?" She held out her hands, wrists together, palms up.

Matthias regarded her balefully. Then, swiftly, he stepped down from the dais, dragging Jia along with him, his blade still on her throat. "If you try anything funny..."

Rebecca simply gazed back at him, her face expressionless.

Matthias and Jia were five feet away from her when she moved, sweeping Matthias' legs out from under him so that he immediately lost balance. Quick as a flash, she seized Jia by her robes and shoved her to the side. By this time, Matthias was on his feet, his blade back in his hand. He lunged for Rebecca – once, twice, thrice – but each time she dodged, and when he came in a fourth time, she grabbed hold of his blade arm, and rammed her elbow into his solar plexus. As Matthias gasped with the shock, she seized the blade from his hand, and, without hesitation, stabbed him in the chest.