"But they cannot return while there is no one to head the Institute. Which is why I thought you-"
"I don't want it to be me," Diana said. "I'm not here to ask for that job. But neither do I want it to go to Zara Dearborn and her father."
"Really," said Jia. Her tone was neutral but her eyes glittered with interest. "If not the Dearborns, and not you, then who?"
"If Helen Blackthorn was allowed to return-"
Jia sat up straight. "And run the Institute? You know the Council would never allow-"
"Then let Aline run the Institute," said Diana. "Helen could simply remain in Los Angeles as her wife, and be with her family."
Jia's expression was calm, but her hands gripped the desk tightly. "Aline is my daughter. You think I don't want to bring her home?"
"I've never known what you thought," Diana said. It was true. She had no children, but if it had been her sister who had been exiled, she couldn't imagine not fighting tooth and claw to have her released.
"When Helen was first exiled, and Aline chose to go with her, I thought about resigning as Consul," said Jia, her hands still taut. "I knew I had no power to reverse the Clave's decision. The Consul is not a tyrant who can impose her choices on the unwilling. Usually I would say that was a good thing. But I will tell you, for a long time, I wished I could be a tyrant."
"Why not resign, then?"
"I didn't trust who might come after me," said Jia simply. "The Cold Peace was very popular. If the Consul who followed me wished to, they could separate Aline from Helen-and though I want my daughter home, I don't want her heart broken. They could do worse, too. They could try Aline and Helen as traitors, turn Helen's sentence of exile into one of death. Maybe Aline's as well. Anything was possible." Her gaze was dark and heavy. "I remain where I am to stand between my daughter and the Clave's darker forces."
"Then aren't we on the same side?" Diana said. "Don't we want the same thing?"
Jia gave a flat smile. "What separates us, Diana, is five years. Five years of my trying everything to get the Council to reconsider. Helen is their example. Their way of saying to the Fair Folk: Look, we take the Cold Peace so seriously we even punish our own. Every time the issue comes up for a vote, I am voted down."
"But what if other circumstances presented themselves?"
"What other circumstances did you have in mind?"
Diana rolled her shoulders back, feeling the tension prickle along her spine. "Jace Herondale and Clary Fairchild were dispatched to Faerie for a mission," she said. It was half a guess-while the two of them had been at the Institute, she had glimpsed the contents of their bags: Both had been packed with iron and salt.
"Yes," said Jia. "We have received several messages since they left."
"Then they've told you," said Diana. "About the blight on the Unseelie King's Lands."
Jia sat arrested, one hand hovering over her desk. "No one knows what they told me but the Inquisitor and myself," she said. "How do you know . . . ?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm telling you because I need you to believe that I know what I'm talking about," said Diana. "I know that the Unseelie King hates Nephilim, and that he has uncovered some force, some magic, that renders our powers useless. He has made it so that there are parts of his kingdom where runes do not work, where seraph blades will not light."
Jia frowned. "Jace and Clary didn't mention anything so specific. And they've had no contact with anyone but me since they entered Faerie-"
"There is a boy," said Diana. "A faerie, a messenger from the Seelie Court. Kieran. He's also a prince of Unseelie. He knows some of what his father plans. He's willing to testify in front of the Council."
Jia looked bewildered. "An Unseelie prince would testify for the Seelie Court? And what is the Seelie Court's interest?"
"The Seelie Queen hates the Unseelie King," said Diana. "More, apparently, than she hates Shadowhunters. She is willing to commit the forces of her army to defeating the Unseelie King. To wiping out his power and reversing the blight on his Lands."
"Out of the kindness of her heart?" Jia raised an eyebrow.
"In exchange for the end of the Cold Peace," said Diana.
Jia gave a short bark of laughter. "No one will agree to that. The Clave-"
"Everyone is sick of the Cold Peace except the most extreme bigots," said Diana. "And I don't think either of us want to see them gain power."