Answer me, James!” Will shouted. “Why have you blocked this door? I demand to know what’s going on!”“James isn’t here!” Matthew called, moving closer to him. “Go away!”James looked at Matthew, puzzled. “Really?”“I heard breaking glass!” Will called.“I was practicing fighting moves!” Matthew answered.“In the ballroom?”“We’re trying to distract Thomas! It’s been a very emotional day!” Matthew shouted back.“What?” Will’s voice was incredulous.“Don’t you blame this on me!” Thomas whispered.

Uncle Gabriel was already in the courtyard. His face had turned an alarming shade of puce. He was shouting something about thieving Herondales.

It was odd, he thought—almost as if he had forgotten what a steady light her presence could be when the world went dark.

You are the flame that cannot be put out. You are the star that cannot be lost. You are who you always have been, and that is enough and more than enough. Anyone who looks at you and sees darkness is blind.

Do not let any of them tell you who you are. You are the flame that cannot be put out. You are the star that cannot be lost. You are who you have always been, and that is enough and more than enough. Anyone who looks at you and sees darkness is blind.- Jem Carstairs

There are only four points of warmth and brightness, in the whole world, that burn fiercely enough for me to feel something like the person I was. Your mother, your father, Lucie, and you. You love, and tremble, and burn. Do not let any of them tell you who you are. You are the flame that cannot be put out. You are the star that cannot be lost. You are who you have always been, and that is enough and more than enough. Anyone who looks at you and sees darkness is blind.

Is that why you insist on carrying about enormous tomes everywhere you go, that you might visit violence upon innocent persons? Done to death by my best friend - my heart's brother - my own dear parabatai-

They were both thoroughly rumpled, but Matthew did not mind being rumpled for a good cause

Bless you, my Herondales," said Matthew grandly, scrambling up from the floor and making Lucie his bow. "I come upon an urgent errand. Tell me- be honest!- what do you think of my waistcoat?"Lucie dimpled. "Devastating.""What Lucie said," James agreed peacefully."Not fantastic?" Matthew asked. "Not positively stunning?""I suppose I am stunned," said James. "But am I positively stunned?