“Would wild horses be able to stop you?” said James. Please, don’t, he thought. The last thing I want is for you to think my marriage failed because your advice was flawed.

“That depends,” said Will. “Do you currently have access to any wild horses?”

James had to smile. “Not at the moment.”

“Then no,” said Will. “So here it is: always tell Cordelia what you feel.” He looked James in the eye. “You may fear what will happen if you speak your heart. You may wish to hide things because you fear hurting others. But secrets have a way of eating at relationships, Jamie. At love, at friendship—they undermine and destroy them until in the end you find you are bitterly alone with the secrets you kept.”

Tessa laid her hand quietly over Will’s. James just nodded, feeling sick. Secrets. Lies. He was lying to his parents now—lying to everyone about his feelings. What would they say when he and Cordelia divorced in a year’s time? How would he explain? A picture rose to his mind of his father, striking through James’s marriage runes with a look of devastation on his face.

Will looked as if he were about to say something more when a rattling, crunching sound came from outside: wheels on snow and stone. Someone shouted a greeting. The first of the guests had begun to arrive.

They all rose, and Will reached out to brush a light hand through James’s hair. “Do you need a moment? You’re quite white-faced. It’s natural to have nerves before such an event, you know.”

I owe Cordelia a better performance than this, James thought. Oddly, the thought of Daisy strengthened him: he forgot sometimes, it was Daisy he was marrying, Daisy with her light laugh, her gentle, familiar touch, her surprising strength. It was not some stranger. If it were not for the thought of how disappointed his parents would be when it all came apart, he might be quite content.

“No need,” he said. “I am only excited—that is all.”

His parents broke into relieved smiles. The three of them made their way downstairs, through the brightly decorated Institute. Will opened the door, letting in a gust of sparkling ice crystals along with the first of the guests, and as James prepared to greet them, he realized that he was still wearing Grace’s bracelet. Well, there was no time to remove it now. Cordelia would understand.

James was in the midst of greeting what seemed like every Shadowhunter in London (and a good number from elsewhere), when he saw Lucie appear across the room.