in the end ~ d. malfoy

Chapter Forty-Five

July 2016

UNTIL NOW, MAYA'S NEVER REALIZED HOW LITTLE SHE KNOWS ABOUT THE CIRCLE.

All she's ever heard are rumors, fables, scraps of fabric woven together to make a mismatched quilt. The Shadowhunters are forbidden to even speak about it — even though it's a part of their history, the truth of what happened is murky, unclear, the few survivors of the aftermath either dead or in hiding.

Nandini was still in secondary school when a rogue Shadowhunter named Valentine Morgenstern formed the Circle with his close circle of friends. Their purpose was to create change in the laws and the society of the Shadow world — to make it a safer place for the vulnerable, marginalized humans that they were supposed to protect. They wanted to rewrite existence, sacrifice their youth in nobility so that the Mundanes could live out their lives in peace.

Or rather, that's what everyone else thought.

But not all that glitters is true gold, and Valentine's idealism turned out to be nothing but a sham — in order to purify their universe and make it safer for humans, his ultimate goal would become to eradicate all demons and Downworlders from the Shadow world. The Shadowhunters had never realized the lengths Valentine was willing to go for peace, the lives he was willing to sacrifice. He became power-hungry, obsessed with his one true goal. Maya shudders as she recalls the gruesome anecdotes Magnus would mention as cautionary tales —warlocks dead in the streets . . . vampires with their teeth taken out, blood dripping from the place where their fangs used to be . . . .

If he had succeeded, only half of her family would even be alive.

No one knows who set the fire to the Morgenstern manor — Maya suspects that no one even wanted to know, given what was happening at the time. But Valentine's charred body was found alongside his son's inside the wreckage, marking the end of a particularly dark time in Nephilim history. The traitors were captured, the responsible were punished, the deaths of those with demon blood slowly ceased.

At least, until now.

For, as Maya overhears from Hodge, coming out of the bathroom as he explains their history to Clary and Jace, Jocelyn Fray was a former Circle member. And her daughter doesn't seem very happy about it

She runs after Jace, who chases a fuming Clary down the hallway, 'Clary, look, will you just calm down?!'

The redhead whirls around, her emerald eyes piercing as she shrieks, 'Calm down? Really, calm down?, ' She scoffs, glaring at him, 'Okay, Jace, you might be some kind of emotionless G.I. Joe, but—

'I-' Jace looks spectacularly confused, 'What is a G.I. Joe?'

Clary sighs, 'A soldier who doesn't understand human emotions. Who doesn't know what it's like to lose someone, to lose your own mother —'

'Hey, ' Maya interrupts, her eyes flashing at Clary. She doesn't notice the way Jace stiffens behind her at the mention of his parents — both of them killed in the bloody aftermath that followed the end of the Circle.

'You're right, ' He says, stiffly, eyes downcast, 'I never knew my mother'

Clary's face pales, she swallows, deeply, looking as though she now wants to swallow her earlier words, 'I didn't know.'

Jace scoffs, his tone hardening, 'That's precisely my point. You don't know anything about this. You don't know about me, you don't know about my life... but in the Shadow World, no training and no plan gets you killed., '

Clary exhales, slowly, thinking, 'Okay, so we know that Valentine is back and wants the Cup . . . . and for some reason he thinks my mother has it.'

'Could she?' Jace questions, desperately, 'Have the Cup?'