Sнadow Girl ▹ Jace Wayland (editing)

22.

He was covered in blood, practically drowning in it. Clary cries out his name before running across the room to embrace him. He gently hugged her back for second before pushing her away.

"I'm covered in blood," He said. "Don't worry—it isn't mine."

"Then whose is it?" Valentine's voice echoed through the room.

Luke's arm wrapped around Clary protectively. Jace stood hesitantly behind his father while Valentine watched them both intensely.

"Pangborn's," Luke said.

Valentine ran a hand over his face, as if the news pained him. "I see. Did you tear his throat out with your teeth?"

"Actually," Luke said. "I killed him with this." He held out a long thin dagger. "Do you remember it?"

Valentine looked down at it, his jaw tightening. "I do,"

Examining the blade i quickly recalled Valentine's earlier words. Clary's dagger had once been apart of a matched pair. The missing dagger was now dangling between Luke's fingertips, the blades reunited at last.

"You handed it to me seventeen years ago and told me to end my life with it," Luke explained, gripping the blade in his hand tightly. "And I nearly did."

"Do you expect me to deny it?" Valentine voice held a hint of pain, the memory of old grief weighing it down. "I tried to save you from yourself, Lucian. I made a grave mistake. If only I'd had the strength to kill you myself, you could have died a man."

"Like you?" Luke asked. "A man who chains his unconscious wife to a bed in the hopes of torturing her for information when she wakes up? That's your bravery?"

Jace stared up at his father. A flash of anger twisted Valentine's features for a second, then it was gone. "I didn't torture her," He said. "She is chained for her own protection."

"Against what?" Luke demanded daring at step closer to Valentine. "The only thing endangering her is you. The only thing that ever endangered her was you. She's spent her life running to get away from you."

"I loved her," Valentine said. "I never would have hurt her. It was you who turned her against me."

Luke laughed. "She didn't need me to turn her against you. She learned to hate you on her own."

"That is a lie!" Valentine roared in anger levelling his sword at Luke's heart.

My hand automatically raised my own, but Luke looked at me to tell me to stand down.

Jace took a step forward Valentine. "Father—"

"Jonathan, be silent!" Valentine shouted, a look of shock passed across Luke face at the name Valentine had called Jace.

"Jonathan?" He whispered.

Jace's mouth twisted. "Don't you call me that," He said fiercely, golden eyes blazing. "I'll kill you myself if you call me that."

"And then i would kill you." I warned him.

Luke ignored the blade pointed at his heart. "Your mother would be proud." He muttered.

"I don't have a mother," Jace said, his hands shaking. "The woman who gave birth to me walked away from me before i learned to remember her face. I was nothing to her, so she is nothing to me."

"Your mother is not the one who walked away from you," Luke said gaze moving slowly to Valentine. "I would have thought even you," He said. "Were above using your own flesh and blood as bait. I suppose i was wrong."