"You don't know a lot of things about me, Mark Blackthorn," Kieran said, setting Max down.
Alec and Magnus had exchanged a look at that, the sort of look that made Mark feel as if they had reached a silent and agreed-upon consensus about his relationship with Kieran.
"So," Magnus said, looking at Kieran with some interest. "You're the son of the Unseelie King?"
Kieran had what Mark thought of as his Court face on, blank and superior as befitted a prince. "And you are the warlock Magnus Bane."
"Quite," Magnus said. "Although that was an easy guess, since there's one of me and fifty of you."
Ty looked puzzled.
"Fifty sons of the Unseelie King," explained Livvy. "I think that was a joke."
"Not one of my best," said Magnus to Kieran. "I apologize-I'm not a big fan of your father."
"My father does not have fans." Kieran leaned against the edge of the table. "He has subjects. And enemies."
"And sons."
"His sons are his enemies," said Kieran, without inflection.
Magnus looked at him with a flicker of extra interest. "All right," he said, sitting up. "Diana explained some of this to us, but it's more complicated than I thought. Annabel Blackthorn, who was brought back from the dead by Malcolm, who was sort of dead before but is now very definitely dead, has the Black Volume. And the Seelie Queen wants it?"
"She does," said Mark. "She was very clear about that."
"And she made you a deal," Alec said, from the floor. "She always makes a deal."
"If we give her the Black Volume, she will use it against the Unseelie King," said Mark, and hesitated. YOU CAN TRUST MAGNUS AND ALEC, Julian had texted earlier. TELL THEM ANYTHING. "She has sworn not to try to use it to harm us. In fact, she has promised aid to us. She made Kieran her messenger. He'll testify in front of the Council about the Unseelie King's plans to make war on Alicante. Once the Queen has the Black Volume, she will authorize her Seelie soldiers to fight alongside Shadowhunters against the King-but the Clave will have to end all laws that forbid cooperation with faeries if they want her help."
"Which they will," said Magnus. "Fighting a war against Faerie would be much easier with faeries on your side."
Mark nodded. "We are hoping not just to defeat the King, but also to crush the Cohort and end the Cold Peace."
"Ah, the Cohort," said Magnus, exchanging a look with Alec. "We know them well. Horace Dearborn and his daughter, Zara."
"Horace?" Mark was startled.
"Sadly," said Magnus, "that is his name. Hence his life of evil."
"Not that the Dearborns are all of it," said Alec. "Plenty of bigots in the Clave, happy to gather under the umbrella of tossing out the Downworlders and returning the Clave to its former glory."
"Glory?" Kieran raised an eyebrow. "Do they mean the time of freely killing Downworlders? When our blood ran in the streets and their houses were stuffed with the spoils of their one-sided war?"
"Yes," said Magnus, "though they wouldn't describe it that way."
"Heading up the Alliance, we've heard more than a little about the Cohort," said Alec. "Their pushes to limit warlocks' use of their magic, to centralize blood supply for vampires so it can be monitored by the Clave-those have not gone unnoticed."
"They must not be allowed to get their hands on an Institute," said Magnus. "That could be potentially disastrous." He sighed and swung his legs over the side of the table. "I understand we must give the Black Volume to the Queen. But I don't like it, especially since it seems doubly important here."
"You mean because Annabel and Malcolm stole it from the Cornwall Institute," said Ty. "And then Malcolm stole it again, from the Institute in Los Angeles."
"The first time they were going to trade it to someone who they thought could protect them from the Clave," said Livvy. "The second time was with the Unseelie King's help. At least, according to Emma and Jules."
"And how did they find that out?" asked Magnus.
"It was in one of the books they found," said Cristina. "A diary. It explains why we found an Unseelie Court glove at the ruins of Malcolm's house. He must have met with the King or one of his sons there."
"Odd thing to write in a diary," Magnus muttered. " 'Traitorous plans with the Unseelie King afoot today, what ho.'"