Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2)(205)

She drew away from him. "What is it?"

He was fiddling with his glass bracelet. Since Julian rarely expressed any anxiety in a visible way, Emma felt her heart thump.

"Julian," she said. "Tell me."

"When we were going into Faerie," he said in a low voice, "the phouka told me that if I entered the Lands, I would meet someone who knew how to break the parabatai bond."

The thumping of Emma's heart became a rapid tattoo beating against the inside of her rib cage. She sat up straight. "Are you saying you know how to break it?"

He shook his head. "The wording was correct-I met someone who did know how to break it. The Seelie Queen, to be precise. And she told me she knew it could be done, but not how."

"Is that part of returning the book?" Emma said. "We give her the Black Volume, she tells us how to end the bond?"

He nodded. He was looking at the fire.

"You didn't tell me," she said. "Is that because you thought I wouldn't care?"

"Partially," he said. "If you didn't want the bond broken, then neither did I. I'd rather be your parabatai than nothing."

"Jules-Julian-"

"And there's more," he said. "She told me there would be a cost."

Of course, a cost. There is always a cost when faeries are involved. 

"What kind of cost?" she whispered.

"Breaking the bond involves using the Black Volume to dig out the root of all parabatai ceremonies," said Julian. "It would break our bond, yes. But it would also destroy every parabatai bond in the world. They'd all be snapped. There'd be no more parabatai."

Emma stared at him in absolute shock. "We couldn't possibly do that. Alec and Jace-Clary and Simon-there are so many others-"

"You think I don't know that? But I couldn't not tell you. You have a right to know."

Emma felt as if she could barely breathe. "The Queen-"

A sharp bang echoed through the room, as if someone had set off a firecracker. Magnus Bane appeared in their kitchen, wrapped in a long black coat, his right hand sparking blue fire, his expression thunderous. "Why in the names of the nine princes of Hell are neither of you answering your phone?" he demanded.

Emma and Julian gaped at him. After a moment, he gaped back.

"My God," he said. "Are you . . . ?"

He didn't finish the question. He didn't have to.

Emma and Julian scrambled out of the bed. They were both mostly dressed, but Magnus was looking at them as if he'd caught them in flagrante.

"Magnus," Julian said. He didn't follow up his greeting by saying it wasn't like that, or Magnus was getting the wrong idea. Julian didn't say things like that. "What's going on? Is something wrong at home?"

Magnus looked, at that moment, like he was feeling his age. "Parabatai," he said, and sighed. "Yes, something's wrong. We need to get you back to the Institute. Grab your things and get ready to leave."

He leaned back against the kitchen island, crossing his arms. He was wearing a sort of greatcoat with several layers of short capes in the back. He was dry-he must have Portaled from inside the Institute.

"There's blood on your sword, Emma," he said, looking at where Cortana was propped against the wall.

"Faerie blood," said Emma. Julian was yanking on a sweater and running his fingers through his wild hair.

"When you say faerie blood," Magnus said, "you mean the Riders, don't you?"

Emma saw Julian start. "They were looking for us-how would you know?"

"They weren't just looking for you. The King sent them to find the Black Volume. He instructed them to hunt all of you-all the Blackthorns."

"To hunt us?" Julian demanded. "Is anyone hurt?" He strode across the room to Magnus, almost as if he meant to grab the warlock by his shirt and shake him. "Is anyone in my family hurt?"

"Julian." Magnus's voice was firm. "Everyone's fine. But the Riders did come. They attacked Kit, Ty, and Livvy."

"And they're all right?" Emma demanded anxiously, shoving her feet into boots.

"Yes-I got a fire-message from Alec," Magnus said. "Kit got a bump on the head. Ty and Livvy, not a scratch. But they were lucky-Gwyn and Diana intervened."

"Diana and Gwyn? Together?" Emma was baffled.

"Emma killed one of the Riders," Julian said. He was gathering up Annabel's portfolio, Malcolm's diaries, shoving them into his bag. "We hid his body up on the cliff, but we probably shouldn't leave it there."

Magnus whistled between his teeth. "No one's killed one of Mannan's Riders in-well, in all the history I know."

Emma shuddered, remembering the cold feeling as the blade had gone into Fal's body. "It was horrible."