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Part of Jonathan wishes he never goaded Jace into taking the Seelie drug in the first place. It was done to prove a point, to assert his dominance over Jace in the situation the two found themselves in, forced to coexist at the insistence of Clary… but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. And that certainly doesn’t mean he has to accept it willingly. Something isn’t right. Clary can’t tell, too blinded by love, by her desire. But he can, and the moment Jace is relaxed enough to lose that tightly wound control he clung to so desperately Jonathan is going to find out exactly what he’s hiding.
The drug and drink are ideal for that… but they are ideal for putting Jace in a condition to submit to Clary’s every whim, too. She’s a girl who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it, to claim it as her own, and normally that’s a quality he admires in her. But not now. Not when it’s with him.
Jonathan stands to the side, watching Clary slide herself up and down against the Herondale boy feeling sick to his stomach, but aware he’s at least partially to blame. If it weren’t for his insistence Jace would still be brooding off to the side of the bar, or at the very least showing more restraint than he currently is, lips locked and hands roaming, guard entirely dropped in a room full of Downworlders who likely want him dead for the role he played with the Soul Sword.
Instead it’s Jonathan who is left brooding to the side of the room, alone, hardly able to enjoy the silver drug coursing through his own body. Not that it effects him nearly as much as it does Jace and Clary - this isn’t his first time here, and it isn’t his first time taking it. He knows what to expect… and he may have activated an extra rune or two prior to coming in to keep himself focused. After all, he’s on a mission. Jonathan put on a show of nonchalance so that Jace would underestimate him and it worked, but he’s no fool. He’s more alert than the two of them combined, watching, waiting for the first sign that Jace isn’t dedicated to their plan.
It takes all of his self-control to focus on Jace when his gaze keeps drifting to Clary. The way her hand runs through her own hair as she dances, teasing with the motion of dropping it back down over her shoulders. He imagines himself in Jace’s place - to see that devotion and need in Clary’s eyes directed at him. He wants nothing more than to be the thing she desires the most in this world, the way she is for him; to be good enough all on his own and not as a secondary companion. Why can’t she see that Jace will never care for her - for all of her - the way that he does? Jace may love her but he doesn’t respect her, he doesn’t treat her with the reverence she deserves. It should be Jonathan with her now, and always . It should be his hair she runs her fingers through, his hands around her waist keeping her safe in his embrace, their lips meeting to--
--what is that? The gleam of something on Jace’s hand draws his attention immediately, refocusing his thoughts. Jonathan was watching every move their hands made in case Jace tried to grab Clary’s knife and arm himself, or in case Clary decided to go against his orders to wait until the last moment to give Jace the seraph blade. The glint of silver he expects to see is the flash of a weapon, not the shine of a ring suddenly visible that wasn’t there a moment ago. And not just any ring - Jonathan recognizes the etchings, he’s seen them before.
Jace is wearing a Seelie ring, and Jonathan would bet his life that someone at the Institute has its partner.
Clever. Smarter than Jonathan gave him credit for, but not smart enough.
Instead of anger, Jonathan smirks, and his eyes light up in the darkness with maliciously rooted glee. This is exactly what he hoped for. This is exactly what he needs to put an end to Jace once and for all - to expose him as a traitor to Clary and rid himself of Jace’s presence once and for all.
Out of the corner of his eye he spots the Seelie guards on the move with the Queen and knows his time to bask in this victory is over. Now he needs a plan - a new plan, because he cannot risk allowing Jace anywhere near the Seelie Queen, not if he might only be here to warn her of the danger she’s in.
He has just the thing.
Crossing through the crowd Jonathan doesn’t say a word before grabbing Jace’s shirt, lifting it up to access the irtaze on his stomach to clear his system of any drug-induced haze. Jace pulls back immediately. Jonathan then turns to Clary who submits under his touch willingly with the ease of instinctive trust, exposing the side of her neck where her own iratze is marked. The cloudy haze behind her eyes is gone but the smirk remains.
“Sorry to interrupt the fun, but Her Highness is here.” Jonathan can’t say anything to Clary now, it’d put everything in jeopardy. He wants Jace dead, but not at the cost of losing the Queen.
“It’s time to get what we came for,” Jace says, eyes on the target, ever the dutiful soldier now that he’s in his right mind again. Back to playing his part, none the wiser that Jonathan is aware of the ring.
“Yes it is,” Jonathan agrees, his gaze shifting to Jace as the final details of a plan fall into place in his head. He came here to capture the Seelie Queen, but getting rid of Jace in the process is going to be the icing on the cake.
He catches Clary’s eyes on him and smiles.
Tonight, Jonathan is going to get
everything
he wants.