Slowly, she shook her head. No one knew her, not really.

“I, on the other hand, believed in you. I trusted you. And you repay this trust with suspicion?”

“I really didn’t—”

“Of course you had no suspicions. You just thought you’d pay a social call. Behind my curtains. While I was out.”

“Okay. Oui. I was suspicious.”

“See? You are smart.” That smile again, warm and approving, like she’d fulfilled his intentions. “And what is it you’ve discovered about me, with your intrepid investigation?”

There was no point in pretense. And Céline was almost as curious as she was terrified. So she told the truth, as she’d surmised it. “Dominique du Froid wasn’t in business with two Shadowhunters. She was in business with you. You’re trying to set someone up, and you’re using us to do it.”

“Us?”

“Me. Robert. Stephen.”

“Robert and Stephen, yes. I’m indeed using them. But you? You’re here, aren’t you? You’re getting the full story.”

“I am?”

“If you want it …”

Céline had not had the kind of parents who read her fairy tales. But she’d read enough of them herself to know the cardinal rule of these stories: be careful what you wish for.

And like every Shadowhunter, she knew: all the stories are true.

“I want to know,” she said.

He told her she was right. He was framing two Shadowhunters, innocent of these crimes but guilty of a much larger one—standing in the Circle’s way. “They’re bogged down in tradition, they’re beholden to the Clave’s corruption. And they’re dead set on destroying me. So I acted first.” He’d used the warlock to plant evidence, he admitted. Now he would use Stephen and Robert as witnesses to her confession. “Since she is, unfortunately, no longer able to testify.”

“What about the Mortal Sword?” Céline asked. “Aren’t you worried what will happen when the accused Shadowhunters are interrogated?”

Valentine tsked, as if disappointed that she hadn’t jumped to the correct conclusion. “It’s very unfortunate, they’ll never make it that far. I happen to know these two Shadowhunters will make an escape attempt during their transport to the Silent City. They’ll be killed in the ensuing chaos. Tragic.”

The words sat heavy between them. Céline tried to process it. Valentine wasn’t just setting up two Shadowhunters, two innocent Shadowhunters. He was planning to murder them in cold blood. This was an unthinkable crime, for which the Law would demand death.

“Why are you telling me this?” she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling. “What makes you think I won’t turn you in? Unless …”

Unless he had no intention of letting her leave this apartment alive.