Matthew keeps a secret from James in new ‘Cast Long Shadows’ snippet

Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan’s second short story in Ghosts of the Shadow Market celebrates its release day tomorrow so Cassie took to her social media to share another Cast Long Shadows snippet.

Nooo, tell him, Matthew! He’s your parabatai and you can trust him.

Furthermore, Cassie answered a few fan questions about The Last Hours and one question about The Infernal Devices in the lead up to Cast Long Shadows:

A lot of the people i know are just angry at Alastair, but i want to believe in him, like, i think he’s just a kid with bunch of problems, and he’s just acting like that because he’s just trying to cover up the things that make him sad or angry. Was Alastair always like that? Like, did he make fun of Cordelia, or even now, he cares about her? I’m really curious about the relationship between them.

C: Alastair definitely has a bunch of problems–as many of my characters do, but it’s the choices they make, and how they act on their sadness or anger, that defines who they are.

Alastair and Cordelia had a difficult upbringing, and are very different people who express themselves in wildly different ways, which will cause clashes between siblings in the best of situations, and their situation certainly isn’t the best. Growing up, their relationship had ups and downs, but it certainly disimproved when Alastair came back changed by his experiences in the Academy. Nevertheless, I’ve mentioned before that Alastair, a prickly individual, likes only four people in the world. Those four people are his mother, Cordelia, Charles–and one more. He detests everyone else. Both Alastair and their mother Sona are pushing Cordelia to make a good marriage, and even if they’re activated by concern for her in dark times, that’s a huge concern for a girl in that era, whose whole future could be shaped or shadowed by marriage.

I really love Henry, and, when reading the part of TFTSA where Matthew says he needs to take care of his father bc Lottie can’t and Charles >won’t<, I started to think about how their relationship might be and my thoughts were ‘not that positive’. And I would be so pissed if Charles dismissed Henry in any way, bc Henry wanted him so much! Could you tell us a little more about the Fairchilds after TID?

C: Henry and Charles have a complicated but ultimately loving relationship! Henry loves Charles a lot, and is very proud of his political prowess–in the same way he’s proud of Charlotte’s brilliance–and Henry never thinks Charles neglects him. He’s all ‘Charles Buford WILL be Consul one day! Charles Buford is interim head of the Paris Institute, I understand not one word of his letters home, it is so impressive.’ (Henry calls Charles “Charles Buford” affectionately, though Matthew copies him to tease Charles.) Sometimes Charles is embarrassed by Henry, who is not ideally diplomatic, but well, parents do embarrass their kids sometimes! Charles is a more conventional person than Matthew or Henry, and Shadowhunter society looks down upon Henry’s type of intelligence. Which is not to say that Charles looks down on his father: he just doesn’t see the extent of Henry’s genius, and is thus often puzzled by his behavior. Along with many other Shadowhunters.

Matthew is also a natural caretaker in a way Charles is not–he does not just look after his father, but as we will see, he tries to cosset Charlotte and feed her when she seems particularly stressed by Clave business. He collected Christopher, who blows up stuff, and small sickly Thomas, when they were little, and as soon as possible he collected James, who has what most Shadowhunters regard as infernally tainted blood. Charles can’t really be blamed for not having that instinctive tenderness–it’s a rare quality and often not valued in men–and yet Matthew can’t understand people not feeling it. So many failures to get on are failures of understanding!

I have a question about Cecily and Gabriel: why they children Alexander was born many years after Christopher? There was no contraception in 1903 we can think they would have a child earlier.

C: There actually was contraception in 1903. The first rubber condom was produced in 1855. There are cave paintings of men using makeshift condoms. In ancient Greece, they used goat bladders. Later there were condoms made of sheep innards, which could be tied on with ribbons of various colors — very festive! Throughout history, like everybody else–before Clary Fairchild, our hero for this and many other reasons, came along with the contraception rune–Shadowhunters did various things to try to stave off having kids at inopportune times. Sometimes they worked great, sometimes they worked not at all. Shadowhunter women have to be even more careful than other women, because many Shadowhunter women (definitely Sophie and Cecily, who were both very keen to be Shadowhunters!) are fighters, and fighting demons while pregnant is risky, and in the later stages of pregnancy extremely difficult. At the same time, Shadowhunters often die young, so they have kids early with hope that even if they die, the next generation will carry on their legacy and their fight. (Valentine’s Circle all had their kids at a very young age–not that the Circle are role models, but that’s the way it often goes down in Shadowhunter society–they have the kids, and then continue the fight. As we see in Born to Endless Night, Alec wanted to have a kid young, and only worried that he wouldn’t be able to because of the Clave’s prejudice regarding his sexuality.)

The time in between TID and TLH is a time of relative calm and happiness, which is a first for me: each of the other series were preceded by tumultuous events and fragmented families! In TLH, we see more of how the Shadowhunters as they traditionally work as a society, when not shattered by the events of the Circle, or the aftermath of Sebastian’s Dark War. Shadowhunters have kids young, and hope: but also, nobody can keep fighting forever. When a Shadowhunter woman is ready to give up or at least scale back fighting, or when her partner feels ready to give up or scale back on fighting, they often try for a last child, who they can bring up with both parents very around and very involved. And often with Shadowhunters, that child comes. It’s seen as a happy, lucky thing for Shadowhunters, a blessing from the Angel–a sign you both lived! For instance, you may have noted Jem’s parents had Jem young, and then never any other kids. But if they had survived, I think they definitely would have tried for another kid. It’s just that they didn’t live. That’s a common tragedy for Shadowhunters, and the later-in-life kid is thus a rare and beautiful thing, a sign of an enduring happy ending. Cecily and Gabriel, with Anna and Christopher almost grown and rather splendid, and with London and Idris both in a time of almost unprecedented peace and prosperity, decided to scale back on fighting, and try for a last child. Thus, Alexander! Alexander is much adored and cosseted by both his parents, though with the instinct kids have for trouble, baby Alexander is often to be found toddling after his big brother Christopher and risking having test tubes of bubbling liquid upset on his tiny head.
This answer may lead to more questions–are any other ladies we know likely to have a child? It’s entirely possible. 😉 Remember, we can’t trust the family tree… (x)

in Clockwork Princess it mentions Will buried the dagger “that Jem had given him,” so I was wondering when Jem gave him that dagger? It didn’t mention Will taking it with him on his journey to Cadair Idris – does he always carry it with him?

C: You can actually trace the history of the knife through Clockwork Princess.

From the prologue of CP2:  “Here Will was, looking at Jem Carstairs, a boy so fragile-looking that he appeared to be made out of glass, with the hardness of his expression slowly dissolving into a tentative uncertainty. “You are not really  dying,” he said, the oddest tone to his voice, “are you?” 

Jem nodded. “So they tell me.” 

“I am sorry,” Will said. 

“No,” Jem said softly. He drew his jacket aside and took a knife from the belt at his waist. “Don’t be ordinary like that. Don’t say you’re sorry. Say you’ll train with me.” He held out the knife to Will, hilt first. 

Charlotte held her breath, afraid to move. She felt as if she were watching something very important happen, though she could not have said what.Will reached out and took the knife, his eyes never leaving Jem’s face. His fingers brushed the other boy’s as he took the weapon from him. It was the first time, Charlotte thought, that she had ever seen him touch any other person willingly. “I’ll train with you,” he said. 

Will often carried the dagger with him after that. Certainly he would do so when Jem sent him away to rescue Tessa, when Will was stuffing his saddlebags with “all the weapons that would fit”.

From Chapter 15: Out of the saddlebag he took the knife Jem had given him: a narrow blade with the intricate silver handle. In the shadow of the oak tree, he cut the palm of his hand and watched as the blood ran onto the ground, soaking the earth. Then he knelt and plunged the blade into the bloody ground. 

From Chapter 23: The light in Jem seemed to burn now; it was a distant light and a lonely one, like the light of a star. “You don’t need me, Will.” Will looked down at himself, at the knife at his feet, and remembered the knife he had buried at the base of the tree on the Shrewsbury-Welshpool road, stained with his blood and Jem’s. 

And from the epilogue:  The dagger was there among the roots of the trees, which had grown around the hilt. Tessa had had to cut some of them away, and dig at the dirt and rocks with a trowel, before she could free it. Jem’s blade, stained dark now with weather and the passage of time.  

As far as we know Tessa still has it — we even glimpse it in After the Bridge:

But the one Jem had picked up and was staring at was a slim silver knife, its handle darkened by many years of burial in the dirt. She had never had it cleaned, for the stain on the blade was Will’s blood. Jem’s blade, Will’s blood, buried together at the roots of an oak tree, a sort of sympathetic magic Will had performed when he thought he had lost Jem forever. 

…and it may yet turn up again some day. (x)

Ghosts From The Shadow Market books will have someone on its cover or will it be an illustration like the covers of the tales?

C: The print version of Ghosts From The Shadow Market will look like all the other Shadowhunter books you find in stores. It will look like Bane Chronicles or Tales. The illustrations you’ve been seeing are for the e-books only. They may show up in the print books as illustrations but they will not be covers.

I have a question about James and Cordelia, along with Grace and Christopher. I know James and Cordelia eventually get married, but does he actually fall in love with her? I know she loves him very much, but I would hate for it to be a one-sided marriage. And what about Grace and Christopher? Does Grace actually love him? Or is it a convenient marriage?

C: I definitely cannot tell you who ends up with who, or falls in love with who, at the end of the series, because it is my policy not to give big evil spoilers. 😉 I can talk about where the TLH characters are when we begin the book, and won’t go much beyond that. You all know the family tree is very deliberately misleading. Some things on it are right, but you don’t know which ones: indeed, we already know Lucie’s birth date is wrong. Many other dates and facts are incorrect, though not all. I’m not even guaranteeing that the recorded marriages are correct: it’s entirely possible that there was some confusion and Grace actually married Thomas. It’s meant to tease at various possibilities! At the beginning of the series, James is romantically interested in Grace, Cordelia has a huge crush on James, and Christopher and Grace have not met. Cordelia and Grace both come to London and shake everything up–everyone gets to know each other better, and many new feelings develop! Even a marriage may not be permanent. In Cast Long Shadows, we see Matthew seriously worry about Charlotte leaving Henry. Shadowhunters have an easier time breaking up marriages than mundanes even in the Edwardian era, because their first calling always has to be devotion to demon-hunting. For instance if a Shadowhunter man was stripped of his runes, his wife divorcing him to be with and have kids with a good Shadowhunter warrior would be considered a very praiseworthy action on her part.

Marriages of convenience happen (Shadowhunters don’t do “arranged” marriage, but people can marry for all sorts of reasons that aren’t love). Real marriages happen. Christopher is an oblivious soul, and so all the talk of a beautiful, life-ruining minx with whom James is smitten flies right over his head. He constantly addresses Grace as Gertrude and Gloria, and Grace is deeply vexed, but all that only applies to the beginning of the book, which is all I can tell you about! Likewise James is very impressed by Cordelia in a variety of ways, and Cordelia meets several other fine prospects…

So my answer is… who knows, friends, who knows. 😉 You’ll have to read the books to find out! When you read Cast Long Shadows, you’ll have some new ideas about where various characters are romantically–and of course when Chain of Gold comes out, the whole game changes. (x)

You can find other Cast Long Shadows snippets here, here and here.