Valentine's Arrow

40: Now, Death Has Parted Us Forever

CHAPTER FORTY

REBECCA

A few days later...

Lake Lyn looked almost unreal, with its lovely tinted grey sky. The water reflected the sky above it, making it appear a dull steel grey. The surface was very still, broken only by occasional ripples. The hills that surrounded the lake stood silent and solemn, almost as if they were in mourning too.

Clary was already standing at the edge of the water, Jace a few feet behind her. His golden hair rippled in the slight breeze.

Clary herself was shivering; Rebecca could see it as she came up beside her. She turned and gave Rebecca a sad smile - sad, but warm nonetheless - and held out the silver box she cradled in her arms. Feeling like she was in a dream, Rebecca reached out and touched the cool surface.

"Together?" Clary whispered.

Rebecca simply nodded. A lump had settled in her throat. She stared at the silver box, trying to come to terms with what they were going to do.

The Clave had burned Jonathan's body- at Clary's request. The burning of a body was an honor, and those who died in disgrace were buried at crossroads whole and unburned. The burning had been more than a favor, Rebecca knew; it had been a sure way for the Clave to be absolutely certain that he was dead. But still, Jonathan's ashes were never to be taken to the abode of the Silent Brothers. They would never form a part of the City of Bones; he would never be a soul among other Nephilim souls.

Clary slowly opened the box. Inside it were ashes, powdery and gray, flecked with bits of charred bone. Among the ashes lay the Morgenstern ring, glimmering and silver. It had been on a chain around Jonathan's throat when he had been burned, and it remained, untouched and unharmed by the fire.

"I never had a brother," she said, staring at the contents of the box. "Not really."

"You had Simon," Rebecca said simply. "He was your brother, in all the ways that mattered."

Clary looked up at the other girl. Her green eyes were still heavy with grief - or maybe weariness. She looked back down at the box. "Ready?" She took a deep breath and lifted the box.

"Wait!"

Clary's hand froze in mid-motion, her expression slightly puzzled.

"I-" For some reason, the words wouldn't come out of Rebecca's mouth. So she simply reached inside the box, closed her fingers around the Morgenstern ring. Clary didn't need to look inside the box to know what she had taken.

"I-" Rebecca began again, but Clary said quietly, "I understand."

Together, they lifted the box, and flung it out into the water. The splash sounded almost deafening. They could see it sink slowly beneath the surface, and then it vanished from view.

It was all so funny, wasn't it? How unfair the world was. How innocent people had to pay the price for the atrocities committed by monsters. As she tightened her fingers around the Morgenstern ring, something seemed to settle down inside Rebecca's chest. As if a hole inside had been partially filled.

"Ave atque vale," she whispered. "Ave atque vale in perpetuum, meus rex." Hail and farewell forever, my king.

"Ave atque vale in perpetuum, frater," Clary whispered after her. Hail and farewell forever, my brother.

The wind off the lake was icy cold, freezing the tears to Rebecca's face. She wept not for the boy she knew, but for the boy she yearned to know, the one she had seen only in rare moments, the boy she had kissed only in dreams.