She had, at least, given him the woman’s name. Brother Zachariah could take her back to her family and the City of Bones, where she could rest and he could not.

He knelt down by the dead woman’s side and closed her staring eyes.

Ave atque vale, Catherine Ashdown, he murmured.

He rose to find Raphael still by his side, though not looking at him or the dead woman. Raphael’s eyes rested on the black sea touched with moonlight, the black sky edged with the faintest line of silver.

I am glad to have met you both, Zachariah added.

“I can’t imagine why,” said Raphael. “Those names Lily came up with were very bad.”

People do not joke with the Silent Brothers often.

The prospect of not being joked around with made Raphael look wistful. “It must be nice to be a Silent Brother. Aside from the fact that Shadowhunters are annoying and pathetic. And I don’t know that she was joking. I’d watch yourself next time you’re in New York.”

Of course she was joking, said Brother Zachariah. She is in love with you.

Raphael’s face twisted. “Why do Shadowhunters always want to talk about feelings? Why can nobody ever be a professional? For your information, I do not have any interest in romance of any kind and never will. Now can you drop this revolting subject?”

I can, said Brother Zachariah. Perhaps you would like to talk about the gang of boys you claim to have killed?

“I’ve killed many people,” said Raphael distantly.

A group of children? said Zachariah. In your city? Did this happen in the 1950s?

Maryse Lightwood might have been fooled. Brother Zachariah was familiar with what it looked like when someone blamed and hated themselves for what had happened to those they loved.

“There was a vampire hunting children on the streets where my brothers played,” Raphael said, his voice still distant. “I led my gang to his lair to stop him. None of us survived.”

Brother Zachariah tried to be gentle.

When a vampire is newborn, they cannot control themselves.

“I was the leader,” said Raphael, his steely voice brooking no argument. “I was responsible. Well. We did stop the vampire, and my family lived to grow up.”

All but one, Brother Zachariah thought.

“I generally do accomplish what I set my mind on,” said Raphael.

That is extremely clear, said Brother Zachariah.

He listened to the sound of the waves hitting the side of the boat, carrying them to the city. On the night of the Market he had been detached from the city and everyone in it, and certainly he had felt nothing for a vampire determined to feel nothing himself.

But then had come a laugh, and the sound had woken things inside him that he had feared dead. Once woken to the world, Zachariah did not want to be blind to any of it.