My Beautiful One

37. Above all laws

"Break me out?" Sebastian said, blinking wide, surprised eyes.

"Yes." Clary said, her amused smile widening to a grin. "Now come on, Sebby. Help."

'Sebby' raised arched white brows at his sister. "Don't call me Sebby." He said, taking the stele she held out to him and helping me disfigure the runes of his pentagram while Clary worked at his shackles, using new runes she'd scribbled down on the way to the cell to pop open the demon metal manacles.

Sebastian's movements were quick and economical as he helped me, nothing like how he'd been even a minute ago before Clary came in. Then, it had been like he was in a dream; slow and leisurely, his words uncensored, and he'd had a wistful and somewhat rueful smile on his face.

"I love you, Amari." I remembered him saying. "More than the tiny, dismal, infinitesimal fragments of what is left of life."

People don't tend to control what they say when they think they're dreaming, which is why I was about 90% sure he'd been serious. He wasn't just saying it as some kind of thanks for breaking him out of jail, but because when he thought that there was nobody to criticise his thoughts, that was what was on his mind. Love, not burning down the world or raising Hell.

As well as giving me the most beautiful feeling of rightness and joy, it gave me hope that I'd be able to get him to change his mind. Things wouldn't be as they'd been before I knew who he was, of course, but maybe knowing that I cared for him even now would show him that he didn't have to get revenge on mankind to make up for all that he had lost. Not that I'd be able to make up for it, but I was going to try.

"Done." Said Clary and Sebastian at exactly the same time, when the last manacle lay broken on the floor.

I looked around at the broken restraints, the mangled pentagram, and the hole Clary had made in the entrance to the cell.

"The runes." I said suddenly, my gaze snapping towards Clary. "The runes on the manacles. When the Clave discovers he isn't here anymore, they're going to know that somebody -somebody with a stele- helped him. And the pentagram, and the bars..."

She shook her head. "No. I created the runes so they fade after use. And as for the pentagram and the bars, a demon could have made short work of those on its own."

I nodded and smiled in relief. "Great. Let's go, then." I said, jumping to my feet and walking towards the hole Clary had made in the cell bars before ducking through it.

"Follow me." Clary whispered when we were all out in the corridor.

"Hush." Sebastian whispered back, grinning evilly and putting a finger to his lips. His gaze darted around, lingering on a skull that was built into the wall on our left. "You'll wake the dead."

The dim golden light from the torches mounted on the walls flickered across his face and accented each slant and curve, defining the shape of his angular cheekbones and winding shadows through his hair. He looked handsome, but in an inhuman way, like how a shard of ice or a polished blade might be considered beautiful. And he looked dangerous as well: exactly the kind of person that should be locked up in the most secure cell in the City of Bones.

But he shouldn't. He can be saved, and he will be. I told myself forcefully as I followed my two companions through winding halls and up crumbling stone steps, our every footfall sounding like cannon blows to my ears. As well as the Soundless runes Clary had put on my shoes earlier, the effects of the Fearless rune were starting to wear away, making me feel more anxious the closer we got to the surface.

"Aren't there supposed to be Silent Brothers around here?" I hissed to Clary.

"I have no idea." She replied. "But I hope not."