Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2)(64)

"So your father steps in, the Cohort makes sure he carries the vote, and the Institute is his," said Manuel.

"Ours," Zara corrected. "I will run the Institute by his side. He trusts me. We'll be a team."

Manuel didn't seem impressed. He'd probably heard it before. "And then, the Registry."



       
         
       
        

"Absolutely. We'll be able to propose it as Law immediately, and once it passes, we can begin the identifications." Zara's eyes glittered. "Every Downworlder will wear the sign."

Kit's stomach lurched. This was close enough to mundane history to make him taste bile in the back of his throat.

"We can start at the Shadow Market," said Zara. "The creatures congregate there. If we take enough of them into custody, we should be able to seize the rest for registration soon enough."

"And if they're not inclined to be registered, then they can be convinced easily enough with a little pain," said Manuel.

Zara frowned. "I think you enjoy the torture, Manu."

He leaned forward, elbows on the table, his face open and handsome and charming. "I think you do too, Zara. I've seen you admiring my work." He flexed his fingers. "You just don't want to admit it in front of Perfect Diego."

"Seriously? They call him that too?" Kit muttered under his breath.

Zara tossed her head, but Manuel was grinning.

"You're going to have to tell him eventually, about the Cohort's full plans," he said. "You know he won't approve. He's a Downworlder-lover if there ever was one."

Zara made a disgusted noise. "Nonsense. He's nothing like that disgusting Alec Lightwood and his stupid Alliance and his repulsive demon-spawn boyfriend. The Blackthorns may be faerie-loving morons, but Diego's just . . . confused."

"What about Emma Carstairs?"

Zara began gathering up the pages of her father's letter. She didn't look at Manuel. "What about her?"

"Everyone says she's the best Shadowhunter since Jace Herondale," said Manuel. "A title I know you've long coveted for yourself."

"Vanessa Ashdown says she's a boy-crazy slut," said Zara, and the ugly words seemed to echo off the rock walls. Kit thought of Emma with her sword, Emma saving his life, Emma hugging Cristina and looking at Julian like he hung the moon, and he wondered if he could get away with stomping on Zara's foot the next time he saw her. "And I haven't been particularly impressed by her in person. She's quite, quite ordinary."

"I'm sure she is," said Manuel as Zara rose to her feet, papers in hand. "I still don't understand what you see in Diego."

"You wouldn't. It's a family alliance."

"An arranged marriage? How mundane and medieval." Manuel grabbed for the rune-stones on the table, and for a moment the light in the room seemed to dance, a wild pattern of shine and shadow. "So, are we heading back?" 

"We'd better. If anyone sees us, we can say we were checking the wards." Zara crumpled the pages of her father's letter and stuffed them into her pocket. "The Council meets soon. My father will read out my letter to him there, stating Arthur Blackthorn's inability to run an Institute, and then announce his own candidacy."

"They won't know what hit them," said Manuel, sliding his hands into his pockets. "And when it's all over, of course . . ."

"Don't worry," Zara said irritably. "You'll get what you want. Though it would be better if you were more committed to the cause."

She had already turned away; Kit saw Manuel's eyes glint beneath his lashes as he looked after her. There was something in his expression-an unpleasant sort of hunger, though whether it was desire for Zara or something far more arcane, Kit couldn't tell. "Oh, I'm committed," said Manuel. "I'd like to see the world burned clean of Downworlders as much as you, Zara. I just don't believe in doing something for nothing."

Zara glanced back over her shoulder as she moved into the corridor Manuel had used as an entrance. "It won't be nothing, Manu," she said. "I can promise you that."

And they were gone, leaving Kit, Ty, and Livvy to huddle together in the mouth of the tunnel, stunned into silence.

* * *

The sound that woke Cristina was so faint she thought at first she might have imagined it. She lay, still tired, blinking against the foggy sunlight. She wondered how long it would be until sundown, when they could navigate by the stars again.

The sound came again, a sweet far-calling cry, and she sat up, shaking her hair back. It was wet with dew. She combed her fingers through it, wishing for something to tie it back with. She hardly ever wore her hair down like this, and the weight against her neck was bothersome.