Cassandra Clare - Robin Wasserman - The Wicked Ones értékelés

1989, Párizs

Már kellett egy rész, amikor Jace szüleiről is megtudunk némi háttér-információt. Édesanyja, Céline Montclaire, fiatalon a Valentine alapította kör tagja lesz, akárcsak Robert Lightwood és Stephen Herondale is. A lány már az akadémia óta szerelmes a Herondale fiúba, ám az nem tekint rá nőként, ráadásul már felesége is van, Amatis.

Céline kemény gyerekkort tudhat maga mögött, és bármit megtenne azért, hogy ne kelljen többet a szüleit viszontlátnia. Az egyetlen hely, ahol otthon érzi magát, az a párizsi árnypiac.

Zakariás Testvér megszállottan keresi azt Herondale fiút, aki még a néhai Tobias Herondale-nek és Evanak, a közös gyermekének a mostani leszármazottja. A régi mítosz szerint, Tobias gyávasága menekülésre késztette a férfit, de a klávé így is kiszabta a büntetést, {{ az akkor állapotos feleségét végezték ki helyette}} Ám egy boszorkánymester elrejtette a világ elől a Herondale újszülöttet, és sajátjaként nevelte fel.

Így keresztezik egymás útjait Zakariás Testvér, Céline, és Jack Crow, (aki a látás képességével bír) valamint feleségével, Rosemary-vel.

Rosemary óva inti Céline-t Valentine társaságától, ám ő nem hallgat rá...

Végül a lány beoson Valentine házába, és fény derül a démon kilétére. Valentine azonban olyan ajánlatot tesz Céline-nek, amit nem tud és nem is akar visszautasítani. Így a kör alapító titka is megmarad, és a lány is megkapja, ami a szíve vágya...

Idézetek: Vigyázat, spoileresek!!!

"It was said among the Shadowhunters that one could not know true beauty until one had seen the gleaming towers of Alicante. It was said that no city on Earth could rival its wonders. It was said that no Shadowhunter could feel truly at home anywhere else. If anyone had asked Céline Montclaire her opinion on the subject, she would have said: obviously these Shadowhunters had never been to Paris."

..

"You sure there’s not some kind of rune to keep these foul beasts away?” Stephen Herondale said as a thunderous flutter of wings descended. He ducked, whacked blindly at his feathered foe."

...

“The great Herondale warrior afraid of pigeons?”

...

" “Not afraid. Simply exhibiting a prudent amount of caution in the face of a potentially demonic creature.” “Demon pigeons?” “I look upon them with great suspicion,” Stephen said with as much dignity as a pigeon-phobe could muster. He tapped the longsword hanging by his hip. “And this great warrior stands at the ready to do what need be done.”

...

"But now, Céline thought, her cheeks burning again, they were practically equals. Yes, she was 17, still a student, while he was 22, not just a full-fledged adult but Valentine Morgenstern’s most trusted lieutenant in the Circle—the elite group of young Shadowhunters sworn to reform the Clave and return it to its pure and ancient glory. But Céline was finally a member of the Circle too, handpicked by Valentine himself."

...

"She loved the way her name sounded on his tongue. She loved every detail of him: the blue eyes that sparkled like the sea of the Côte d’Azur. The white-blond hair that glowed like the golden rotunda of the Palais Garnier. The curve of his neck, the tautness of his muscles, the smooth lines of his body like something carved by Rodin, a model of human perfection. Somehow he’d gotten even more handsome since she saw him last."

...

"Céline had only been in the Circle for a few months, but she’d already learned this lesson: if Valentine hated something, it was her duty to hate it too. She was trying her best."

...

"We’re only doing this because we love you, her mother would say before locking her in the basement. We’re only doing this because we love you, her father would say before lashing her with the whip. We’re only doing this because we love you, when they set the Dragonidae demon on her; when they dumped her for the night, eight years old and weaponless, in a werewolf-ridden wood; when they taught her the bloody consequences of weakness or clumsiness or fear."

...

"It was the Paris Shadow Market, and from the moment Céline first saw it, she felt herself finally home. That first trip, she’d spent two nights there, haunting the booths, befriending a shy werewolf cub, sating her gnawing hunger with the crêpe nutella that a Silent Brother had purchased for her, no questions asked. She’d napped beneath the tablecloth of a vampire’s jewelry stand; she’d whirled with horned children in an improvised faerie revel; she’d finally discovered what it meant to be happy. On the third night, the Shadowhunters of the Paris Institute tracked her down and returned her home."

...

"It’s like an Eidolon demon tried turning into Cyndi Lauper and accidentally got stuck midway through,” Céline joked. “Huh?” Robert said. “Is that another warlock?” Stephen smirked. “Yeah, Robert. Another warlock. The Clave executed her ’cause she just wanted to have fun.” Céline and Stephen laughed together, and Robert’s obvious fury at being mocked only made them laugh harder."

...

"Once he’d joined the Circle, he’d dropped his love of the Sex Pistols just as quickly as he’d trade his leather jacket and frayed denim for the dull black uniform that Valentine favored. Still, Céline had spent the last couple of years studying mundane TV, just in case."

...

"Céline knew Amatis, Stephen’s wife. At least, she knew enough. Amatis was sharp-tongued and stuck-up. She was opinionated, argumentative, stubborn, and not even that pretty."

...

"Then she spotted something that actually did interest her: a Silent Brother, gliding toward the booth in that disconcertingly inhuman way they all had of moving. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the robed Shadowhunter studied the jewelry display with great care. What could someone like him possibly be looking for in a place like this?"

...

"This stuff is all junk.” Yes, that I can see. But I am looking for something particular, something I’ve been told I can find here only. A silver necklace, with a pendant in the shape of a heron."

...

"It was a delicately carved heron, sparkling in the moonlight, the perfect gift for a young Herondale proud of his heritage."

...

"He was different than the other Silent Brothers she’d seen, his face young—even handsome. His jet-black hair was threaded with streaks of silver, and his eyes and mouth were sealed, but not sewn shut. Runes sliced viciously across each cheek."

...

No one could help her. Even as a child, she knew that too. The Montclaires were a respected, powerful Shadowhunter family. Her parents had the ear of the Consul. If she told the Brother who she was, he would only bring her home. If she told him what waited for her there, what her parents were really like, he probably wouldn’t believe her. He might even tell her parents she was spreading lies about them. And there would be consequences. She’d thanked him for the crêpe and skittered away."

...

"Nearly two hundred years before, the Shadowhunter Tobias Herondale had been convicted of cowardice. A crime punishable by death. The Law, in those days, was not just hard, it was merciless. Tobias went mad and took flight before he could be executed, so in his absence, the Clave meted his punishment out on his wife, Eva."

...

"Many, many decades ago, Zachariah had learned the truth behind this tale. He had met the warlock who saved Eva’s child—and then, after the mother’s death, raised that child as her own."

...

" That child had sired a child, who had sired a child, and so forth: a secret line of Herondales, lost to the Shadowhunter world. Until now."

...

"The lost descendant of Tobias Herondale had fallen in love with a faerie. Their child—and all their children’s children—was part Shadowhunter, part fey. Which meant Zachariah wasn’t the only one seeking. He strongly suspected, however, he was the only seeker who meant no harm. If an emissary of Faerie was willing to attack not just a Shadowhunter, but a Silent Brother—willing to break the Accords in the most egregious of ways—simply to stop his search, then surely the search was imperative. Surely the danger was mortal."

...

The man named Crow, who most assumed to be a mundane with the Sight, known as savvy but untrustworthy, a man all too satisfied by life in the shadows. Zachariah had learned of the pendant first—it was a Parisian warlock who’d heard about his search and contacted him with confirmation. She told him his suspicions were correct: the owner of the pendant, whatever he wanted to call himself, was a Herondale."

...

"he had sharp instincts, but also self-control—and arrogance, grace, and loyalty, and the capacity for great love, and a laugh that could light up the sky. He had come to Paris looking for the lost Herondale. And he had found her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You are the Herondale. Not your husband. You. The lost heir to a noble line of warriors."

...

"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.”

...

"My proposal: you stay silent about what you’ve learned here and allow events to proceed as I intend, and I will deliver you Stephen Herondale on a silver platter.”

...

"It got harder every year. There had been moments, over the decades, when the Jem she remembered truly broke through. Once, during one of the mundane world’s innumerable wars, they had even stolen a kiss—and almost more. Jem had pushed her away before things could go too far. After that, he’d held himself more distant from Tessa, almost as if afraid of what might happen if he let himself near the brink. That embrace, which she thought about almost every day, was more than forty years ago now—and every year, he seemed a little less Jem, a little less human."

...

"Jules and Lisette Montclaire stood silently, heads bowed, as Robert Lightwood and Stephen Herondale testified to their crimes. Their daughter, Céline Montclaire, was not called upon to speak."

...

"If Valentine said he could give her Stephen Herondale, he meant it. Céline did not doubt this. He could do anything, and that included finding a way to force Stephen Herondale into her life and her arms. But even Valentine could not make Stephen love her."

A kötet megvásárolható szeptember 11-től az amazon oldalán is.

Az elektronikus úton megjelenő még két rész várhatóan október 9-én, valamint november 13-án lesz elérhető, a The Land I Lost, valamint a Through Blood, Through Fire címmel.