Read a full summary of Chain of Gold, book #1 of Cassandra Clare’s new series, right here! This page is full of spoilers, so beware. If you are wondering what happened in Chain of Gold, then you are in the right place!

Author
Cassandra Clare

Ratings
4.7 stars on Amazon
4.50 stars on Goodreads
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The Last Hours Series
#1 Chain of Gold
#2 Chain of Iron
#3 Chain of Thorns

***** Everything below is a SPOILER *****

What happened in Chain of Gold?

Demon activity has been quiet in Will and Tessa’s London as they’ve raised their children. James and Lucie have grown up in a calm, loving environment, much different than that of their parents and their parents’ friends. For the most part, their friends are the children of their parents’ friends: Carstairs, Fairchilds, and Lightwoods, to name a few.

Battles with demons aren’t absent but are certainly few and far between. There’s no war looming like it was when their parents were their age. Until now.

A few things have changed for the better for James. In particular, two girls he has ties to have arrived in London: Cordelia Carstairs and Grace Blackthorn. Cordelia’s father Elias has been imprisoned in Idris for mishandling a demon attack, and his family has arrived in London to try to make allies in the fight to clear his name.

Cordelia’s brother Alistair doesn’t seem too concerned about making a good impression, but Cordelia will go to whatever lengths necessary to save her father, even if it means forming an alliance to a strong Shadowhunter family through marriage. There’s no one she’d rather marry than the boy on whom she’s had a secret crush for ages: James Herodnale. His sister Lucie will be her parabatai soon, and she’s shared a long-term friendship with James.

When Cordelia overhears James and his parabatai Matthew discussing the arrival of his long-term crush from out of town, Cordelia is stunned to realize he returns her feelings. Her hope soon vanishes when James leaves her stranded on the dance floor during the ball to welcome the Carstairs family in favor of another girl who has arrived in London: Grace Blackthorn.

James and Grace have had a secret relationship since they were thirteen, spending as much private time together as possible when the Herondales visit Idris on their semi-annual trips. They’ve corresponded by letters between visits and have shared their thoughts and dreams—as well as a few kisses—during the past few years. James greets Grace and proceeds to dance with her, with all thoughts of Cordelia seemingly forgotten at Grace’s surprise appearance.

A demon arrives during the ball, and James’s cousin Barbara is attacked. She claims she just passed out, though, and everyone assumes it’s because her corset was too tight. After it’s cut off, she seems revived and back to normal. But James knows differently because he had faded into his “shadow realm” just before the attack and saw something wind around Barbara’s ankle and pull her down.

The demon blood James received from his mother Tessa has manifested in a strange way. He sometimes slips into this shadow realm, a different version of the real world with distorted images of the people and things around him in monochrome colors. Shadowhunters fear his unique power, which resulted in his expulsion from the Shadowhunter Academy a while back. James can rarely control when the shadow power manifests and isn’t sure what triggers it, just as it happens at the ball.

The Shadowhunter teens go on as normal since most don’t know James slipped into the shadow realm nor that Barbara was attacked. Thus they have their scheduled picnic the very next day. Cordelia pulls James aside to confront him about leaving her stranded alone on the dance floor, and he apologizes profusely. He’s always felt a special tie to Cordelia even though they only get to see each other occasionally. He used to even have feelings for her that went beyond friendship, when she helped nurse him back to health when he contracted scalding fever years ago. But he was too young to interpret what he was feeling. Either way, he’s sorry for abandoning her for Grace.

As they’re speaking, Grace rolls up to the picnic in a carriage. Cordelia tells James she knows he has feelings for Grace and gives him permission to leave their discussion to go greet her. Cordelia rejoins Lucie, Matthew, and a few other friends. They soon notice a dark cloud and wonder whether a storm is brewing. Something seem unnatural about it, though, and then a demon launches out of the nearby lake. Three teenage Shadowhunters—Ariadne, Piers, and Barbara—are badly wounded, and many of the others sustain slight injuries in the fight that ensues.

The injured teens are rushed to Herondale manor to the medical wing. Everyone pitches in to help patch up minor wounds. Several Silent Brothers arrive to try to heal the three teens most seriously injured. When James gets a chance, he steals his Uncle Jem (aka Brother Zachariah) away for a few minutes to ask about the resurfacing of his shadow abilities. He’s frightened of them, but Jem is convinced they are not dangerous and can serve a purpose once they know more about them.

Lucie shares a secret with Cordelia: A boy she saw as a young girl is back. She saw him at the ball when Grace and her adopted mother Tatiana arrived. No one else at the ball seemed to see him, so Lucie questioned him about it. The boy tells her he’s a ghost, the seventeen-year-old Jesse Blackthorn who died of illness seven years ago. His mother asked Downworlders to preserve his body, so his spirit has remained trapped in the in-between. His mother and Grace can also see him, and he assumed Lucie could only see him as a child. He’s surprised she can still see him six years later.

Lucie wants to go visit Jesse at Blackthorn Manor. She and Cordelia sneak onto the grounds one night. While Lucie slips into the house to search for Jesse, Cordelia wanders into the greenhouse. She’s attacked by a demon and rescued by James, who had slipped into the shadow realm once again. He saw a light far away and moved toward it, somehow knowing that it was the gleam of Cortana, Cordelia’s famous sword. Sure enough, it was Cordelia, and the two of them manage to kill the demon together.

Back at home, Will and Charles Fairchild question James about how and why he was at Blackthorn Manor, but he won’t admit the real reason. He doesn’t want his father to know he his feelings for Grace or that he’s now purposely trying to travel into the shadow realm. Charles says James won’t be reprimanded but advises that he stay away from Grace and her home.

James receives a note to meet Grace. She says she’s in danger.

Cordelia visits Anna, who tells her she’s going to need her help because they’re all in danger and the Enclave won’t recognize it. Matthew arrives to accompany Anna to a Downworlder meeting. Anna wants Cordelia to come, too.

Jesse appears in Lucie’s bedroom to issue a warning. He says the demon James and Cordelia killed in the Blackthorn greenhouse has spawned many times over. Jesse believes the new demons might go after James while he’s meeting with Grace.

Cordelia gains the Downworlders’ respect when she stops a mermaid named Arabella from poisoning their drinks. They will keep their ears out about any demonic activity and will let the Shadowhunters know if anything surfaces.

Lucie runs to James’ close friends to ask for help in finding her brother and Grace. They head to Anna’s house and discover Alastair there searching for Cordelia. Matthew and Cordelia arrive a couple of minutes later, and the others quickly tell them James is in danger. Only Matthew would know where he’s meeting Grace because in her letter, she suggested to meet at the place Matthew and James used to go to practice their balance.

When Grace arrives at the river front, she asks James to forsake his Shadowhunter blood, run away, and marry her. It’s the only way she can escape her cruel mother. James silently considers it but decides there’s no way he can forsake his family, friends, or parabatai. Grace is angry at his declaration, but she’s cut short when a demon attacks.

There’s not just one demon; more are coming toward them. James’ sister and friends arrive with their weapons of choice and help him fight the pack of demons.

The strongest demon recognizes James. He asks why James is fighting against the creatures who worship his own grandfather. The demon calls Tessa’s demon father a prince of hell, which is a fallen angel as powerful as Raziel. James is shocked at the revelation. He lets the remaining demons go in the name of his grandfather as long as they go back to their own dimension. They will do so as long as no one present tells any other Shadowhunters about what transpired at the waterfront.

After they’re gone, Tatiana pulls up in her carriage searching for Grace. James begs Grace to come to the Institute with him. His father will grant her safe haven. Tatiana promises to produce evidence that Grace practices black magic and conjures demons—claims that would ruin her life and reputation—if she doesn’t come home with her.

When they get home, Will is entertaining a guest: Ragnor Fell. Tessa calls Will away to the infirmary, and Ragnor speaks with James and the other young Shadowhunters. He will help them by giving them the name of someone who might have answers: Emmanuel Gast. He only reveals the name after the promise they’ll keep it from the adult Shadowhunters. Tessa returns to the room to report horrible news: Barbara has just died.

Jem comes to visit James at his request, and Will leaves the two alone to talk. James tells his uncle what he’s learned about his grandfather’s possible identity and asks Jem to investigate. Jem knows someone he can ask but makes James promise not to speak about this to anyone until he returns with an answer. They hear visitors arrive and go to see who Will and Tessa are greeting. It’s an injured Shadowhunter, this time an adult. There’s been another demon attack, and someone they didn’t know well has died.

James visits Cordelia to tell her about Barbara’s death and the latest demon attack. They think this attack sounds similar to the others, where the demons seem to primarily want to bite and infect Shadowhunters with something and only kill as a last resort. James asks if Cordelia would come with him to meet up with Lucie and Matthew to visit Gast.

Gast’s apartment is vacant, so the four of them explore it. They find books on other dimensions, a drawing of a box with foreign runes on it, and the remains of some sort of wooden weapon covered in runes.

Then Lucie discovers Gast’s body in his bedroom. Gast’s ghost is there, too, and it recognizes her different blood. She questions the ghost and discovers it was hired by a cloaked, masked figure to summon the demons to London to kill Shadowhunters. He was killed by them as soon as they arrived. The ghost leaves on Lucie’s command once her questions are answered. She rushes outside for fresh air, and Matthew rushes to check on her.

The four head back to the institute and lie to Will and Tessa about where they’ve been. They question Jessamine about whether ghosts can lie to see if Gast’s claims were true. They hear a ruckus outside. Charles has arrived in a carriage, bringing Grace and a bloodied Tatiana to the Institute. Once Tatiana is being treated by the Silent Brothers in the infirmary, Grace pulls James aside to talk to him.

Lucie sends Cordelia after James since he’s been gone a while, leaving her alone with Matthew. She asks him about his drinking since she saw it effect his skills when they were scaling a wall to get into Gast’s apartment. Matthew is flattered that she’s concerned about him but then rushes out of the room in anger when Lucie says she just wants to make sure James’s parabatai is at the top of his game to keep her brother safe.

Grace tells James she’s marrying Charles since James wouldn’t have her. Charles was engaged to Ariadne—and Cordelia knows he has feelings for her brother Alistair—but he’s going to claim they broke off the engagement at her request before she was attacked. James is shocked by this pronouncement, but she won’t reconsider. She asks for her bracelet back before she departs. Something feels oddly, indescribably different when the bracelet leaves his wrist.

Grace finds Matthew and tells him what has transpired. Before she leaves, she seemingly holds Matthew in place with words alone and kisses him. She threatens to tell James about this kiss if Matthew ever breathes a word of their conversation to anyone.

Matthew finds James on the bridge, heartbroken and wanting to drink from the flask in Matthew’s pocket to drown his sorrows. He begins to feel oddly detached from the whole situation. The next morning, James feels like something has drastically changed. He remembers the emotional pain he felt yesterday but only as a memory. The hurt is gone.

Will and Tessa have gone with the Silent Brothers to transport Tatiana and the other remaining wounded Shadowhunters to the Silent City. Grace will be staying with a family near the City to be close to her mother.

Cordelia receives a letter from Charlotte, answering her inquiries about her father. He’s actually already been questioned with the Mortal Sword, which Cordelia was sure would clear his name as it requires the holder to speak only truth. Unfortunately, the demon attack has been erased from his memory, so he cannot clear his name with the sword.

Christopher arrives with the results from the tests he and Thomas have ran on the wooden shards from Gast’s apartment. The wood only has demon residue on one side, and the odd runes are actually old Persian writing, a form of cuneiform which Cordelia can read. They realize the wood isn’t from a weapon but from a Pyxis box.

The friends meet at the pub to discuss the Mandikhor demon from the Pyxis box. The group wants to examine another Pyxis box but know that most, if not all, of the few surviving boxes are in Idris. Cordelia and Matthew remember they saw a box with alchemical symbols on it at Hypatia Vex’s house when they were there for the Downworlder meeting.

The group goes to Anna because she’s the only one Hypatia might give the Pyxis box to, and they really need it to catch the demon. They decide who will go with Anna to the Downworlder meeting and who will go to the Institute to spy on the Enclave meeting.

James walks Cordelia home. Her mother is excited to see them together and invites him in for tea, but Cordelia says he must go. Sona thinks there’s something in the way he looks at Cordelia, but she assures her mother they’re just friends. Cordelia goes to Alastair to gently break the news of Charles’ new engagement to him. Alastair already knew and is not happy when Cordelia tells him she eavesdropped on his recent conversation with Charles.

James, Matthew, and Cordelia accompany Anna to the party at Hypatia’s house. To distract the crowd so Anna can sneak Hypatia away, Cordelia does a storytelling/dance mix that transfixes the whole crowd, James and Matthew most of all.

Christopher and Thomas show up just in time to use their secret concoction to see and hear through the floor into the Enclave meeting below. They discover there have been three more victims that the Enclave has kept quiet. They decide to divide into three groups to investigate the demon attacks: research, night patrols, and day patrols.

Lucie, Christopher, and Thomas overhear that Oliver died from a scratch he received from his fiancée, Barbara.

James and Cordelia make out at the party, at first to explain their presence in the private room but then out of want when the intruders leave. Anna is able to steal the Pyxis box from Hypatia.

The group isn’t sure whether the Pyxis is empty, so they open it in the warded sanctuary room at the Institute. A demon erupts from it. They kill it.

Magnus Bane arrives in the sanctuary right after they kill the demon. He was summoned by Will and Tessa and arrived a bit early. Matthew, who has long admired Magnus, readily explains why they opened the box. Magnus agrees to put a spell on the bridge to keep mundanes away while they try to trap the Mandikhor demon.

Magnus snags James to discuss the dirt James pulled from his walk in the shadow realm the night he rescued Cordelia in the Blackthorn’s greenhouse. James asked Henry to study it, and he’d passed it on to Magnus, who eventually discovered it’s from a different realm, one of a fallen angel named Belphegor. James wonders if this might be his grandfather’s realm if it’s the he’s been transferring to. Magnus has no idea but warns James that fallen angels are dangerous and can only be injured, not killed.

Magnus glamours the real bridge and builds a magical substitute for mundanes to travel across. The young Shadowhunters go onto the real bridge. James can see the shadow realm all around him, and the Mandikhor demon arrives. As they fight it, it births other demons, Khora demons, to be exact.

The Shadowhunters kill the small demons and trap the Mandikhor. It feels a little too easy, though, and their intuition is right. The box soon explodes, and the Mandikhor re-emerges. It tells James there’s no way to kill it because most of its being is in the shadow realm, gaining power. It says all the fighting will be over if James will just travel to the realm with it.

While the demon is distracted talking to James, Cordelia slices through it, injuring it. It disappears for now, and Cordelia is knocked into the Thames. Her friends frantically search for her. Lucie can see bony figures in the water and realizes they’re all ghosts. Jesse Blackthorn rises from the masses in the water and reaches Cordelia. No one else could see how she was rescued.

James explains (most of) the truth of what happened to his parents, and then he goes to the Carstairs house to return Cortana to Cordelia. He tries to spit out how he feels for her and to wade his way through why his feelings about Grace changed so abruptly, but then Alastair bursts in. Alistair doesn’t think his sister should be alone with any man like this. He and James, enemies from their time at the Academy, have words. James leaves.

In his fight with James, Alastair mentioned protecting Cordelia from certain things. Cordelia deduces these things must be something to do with their father. She asks Alastair whether he now believes their father is guilty. He admits the awful secret they’ve been keeping from Cordelia for years: Her father is a drunk. It’s the cause of the “ailment” that has plagued him for years and is the reason he can’t remember the demon attack when touching the Mortal Sword.

Jesse comes to visit Lucie in her room that night. She asks how he summoned all the ghosts who helped rescue Cordelia. He says Lucie is the one who called them. She apparently has a gift for speaking to ghosts. She realizes it must be how she recently summoned Gast and then made him go away at her will.

Jesse also tells Lucie the story of how he died and also the contents of his locket. It contains his last breath, which his mother is hoping to eventually use to resurrect him once she gets everything into place. He was going to use it on Lucie if she went into the Thames after Cordelia. Lucie is touched by this sentiment.

Khora demons attack the Merry Thieves in front of the Institute. Christopher is badly injured. The demons leave just before Charles and Alistair roll up in a carriage.

Cordelia’s mother reveals that she’s pregnant. James arrives to tell Cordelia that Matthew was injured. She changes into gear and then leaves with James to be with her friends.

James gets a note from Jem summoning him to the Silent City and asking him to keep the visit a secret. Matthew and Cordelia accompany him. They head straight to the infirmary to see Christopher, who immediately latches onto James’ arm. Beginning with Christopher, each of the patients—including Piers and Ariadne—begin chanting James’ name. They say he’s the key to all of this.

Jem arrives, asking what in the world is going on. He didn’t send a note to James; it was a fabrication. He asks them to leave immediately because he knows something foul is at work. James reveals to his friends that Christopher’s nails cut into his arm when he grabbed him.

James, Matthew, and Cordelia see a portal as they’re leaving the Silent City. They don’t want James to use it. Matthew says he’ll go with him, but James says not even his parabatai can follow him into the shadow realm.

Thomas and Lucie go to the Blackthorn greenhouse to retrieve the rare plant they need for Thomas to finish the demon poison antidote he and Christopher have been working on. Lucie sees a light on the far side of the garden while she’s standing guard outside the greenhouse. She follows the light and discovers a small structure housing Jesse Blackthorn’s body.

Grace is there talking to her brother’s still form. A demon named Namtar emerges from the shadows and says she must “Put the enchantment back where it was…” Lucie launces at the demon from behind, and a fight ensues. Jesse’s ghost rescues them both by killing the demon. Grace is shocked that Lucie can see him, too.

James searches the shadow realm, with the rope about his waist anchoring him to Matthew outside of the portal all the while. He finally finds who he suspected to see: Belial. He figured out who his grandfather was in the Silent City infirmary when Ariadne robotically spoke about the Prince Thief. And in a recent fight, one of the demons mentioned that Belphegor’s realm had been stolen from him. James knew who the realm thief was from the old Shadowhunter stories.

Belial claims he’s the only prince of hell not allowed to step foot on the earth in his own form. He must possess a body to do so, just as he did with Ariadne in the infirmary a few minutes ago. He says if James lets him possess his body, then he will cure all those who have been infected by the demon poison.

Belial is the one who had kept the demon activity in London at bay until this appointed time. The whole reason he had Gast set them out and about in the human realm is to get to James. And the Mandikhor demon has such a strong foothold in his demon realm that there’s no way the Shadowhunters can destroy him. The only way to bring peace is for James to allow himself to be possessed by his grandfather.

Lucie snaps to the shadow realm for a split second and sees James in distress there. Thomas finds Lucie, saying he found the plant. She says he must go finish the antidote at once and that she must go to James at once. He reluctantly agrees. When Thomas is gone, Lucie asks Jesse to transport her to the Silent City in his ghostly way.

The rope around Matthew’s waist pulls taut. It bangs him against the portal, but he cannot get through it. Cordelia cuts the rope with Cortana before he can be injured. Then she ties the rope around her own wrist, slashes the portal with Cortana, and enters the shadow realm. She finds James and begs him to come back with her. He says he cannot and she must leave.

Thomas goes to the Fairchild house to work on the antidote in the lab. Charles is heading to the next Enclave meeting and won’t let him. Alistair says he’ll stay with Thomas to make sure he doesn’t blow up the lab or house.

As soon as Charles is gone, Alastair demands to know where Cordelia is. Thomas tells him, and Alastair wants to head to her immediately. Thomas says it’ll only take twenty minutes to complete the antidote. Alastair agrees to help him, and then they’ll be off together. 

The Mandikhor demon appears, three times as big as it is in the human realm and dripping with human diseases. James and Cordelia fight the demon, and at one point Belial steals Cortana from Cordelia. James manages to kill the Mandikhor demon. At just the right moment, Cordelia summons Cortana back and plunges it into Belial’s chest. He diminishes and eventually vanishes, cursing them for what they’ve done.

Jesse and Lucie arrive at Highgate Cemetery. Lucie thinks the ghostly way is a strange way to travel. They find Matthew, who is confused and speaking of James and Cordelia. Those two fall from the sky moments later, both battered and bruised. Cordelia insists they see to James first because of how the demon poison is effecting him.

Nothing they can do—not even healing iratzes from Matthew—is helping James. He’s dying quickly. Matthew clutches at the parabatai rune on his chest as James begins to fade. Jesse offers his locket to Lucie, willing to give his last breath to her brother so he won’t die. Lucie hesitates because she doesn’t want Jesse to die either. He insists. She gives the breath to James, and he begins healing, soon completely well and only exhausted. He sees Jesse, too, before he fades away.

James calls Cordelia to him, but Lucie has to heal her broken leg first. James thanks Cordelia for her help and wants to soon read the story of Layla, the strong female warrior she read to him when he had the fever all those years ago, together. Cordelia thinks it sounds very romantic.

Thomas and Alastair arrived with the antidote in tow. Thomas and Matthew head straight to Christopher to administer it. Alastair picks Cordelia up to carry her away. A crowd of Shadowhunter teens and adults emerge from the shadows.

The antidote is successful, and everyone who was infected with demon poison is now recovering.

Grace visit to James, telling him about Tatiana’s planned suicide and the automaton that is set to attack Shadowhunters upon her death. She reattaches the bracelet to his wrist. James is under her spell once again. Grace says she can’t break off her engagement to Charles but requests a kiss from James.

Lucie visits Jesse’s grave and sees him one last time.

Matthew and Cordelia arrive just in time to see James and Grace together. Cordelia notices the bracelet. Grace promptly leaves. James reports she’s still marrying Charles but has asked James to kill the automaton her mother has made. She asked him because of the love they share. He goes to the portal in the crypt at the Institute to get to the Blackthorn house in Idris where the automaton is kept. He asks Matthew and Cordelia to stay behind and re-open the portal in twenty minutes for his return. They get antsy and follow him ten minutes later.

James destroys the automaton, feeling a little silly for hacking away at the metal creation with a sword. He hears a soft explosion as he turns to leave, and he turns to see the metal pieces have caught fire.

James, Matthew, and Cordelia manage to get out without being harmed, and it seems the automaton and all the black magic Tatiana had kept secretly hidden at the manor is destroyed in the fire.

The Merry Thieves plus Lucie and Cordelia meet at the tavern. Lucie brings James, Matthew, and Cordelia new clothes so no one will see they were a part of the Blackthorn fire. They’re glad the wicked old house is gone and will keep the secret among them.

How did Chain of Gold end?

At the next Enclave meeting, where all Shadowhunters are gathered, Charles announces that an antidote to the demon disease was developed in his father’s lab. Tatiana steps forward to accuse James of burning her house down. Cordelia jumps to James’s defense with an alibi: She says they spent that night together in her bedroom. She‘s sacrificing her honor, which is everything for a young lady in this day and age, for him.

James finds Cordelia as soon as the meeting is over and proposes to her. He says they can stay married for a year or so and then divorce. Shadowhunter divorce and remarry more often than mundanes in this day and age, so she can preserve her honor for now and then make a love match in the near future. Cordelia accepts.

Will and Tessa want to see how Sona reacts to the engagement. She’s happy, so they are, too. Will is able to put aside his anger at James for dishonoring Cordelia.

Alastair reports what happened at the rest of the Enclave meeting to Cordelia. Tatiana was sentenced to have her marks stripped and to live with the Iron Sisters in the Adamant Citadel. It’s a relatively light punishment for what she did: seek the help of dark warlocks to engage in necromancy and dark magic after her son’s death. Grace will be moving in with the Bridgestocks. Also, their father was released after the charges against him were resolved. The “whole messy business” surrounding his imprisonment was deemed an accident, and he’ll be returning to London soon.

Tessa throws together a last minute engagement party that looks like it took weeks to plan.

Charles pulls Alastair aside to talk, and Alastair brings Cordelia along. It seems Charles isn’t taking the ‘no’ in the note Alastair sent him for an answer. They argue. Charles says he won’t live on the fringes of society to be in a relationship with him, and Alastair says he won’t live in the shadows.

Grace visits James on the balcony for the last private conversation they’ll have before their separate nuptials. Grace knows he burned down her family home, thus he wasn’t with Cordelia like he claimed. She knows Cordelia gave an alibi and now he’s saving Cordelia’s reputation. James admits his marriage to Cordelia will only last a year. Grace says she might try to drag her engagement with Charles out until then so she can break it off and be with James after the divorce.

Alastair approaches Lucie, Matthew, and Thomas, trying to make small talk. Matthew is rude, and Thomas tries to stop him from being so. Then Matthew tells Thomas about the rumor Alastair spread about his parentage in school. Thomas knew the rumor but had no idea Alastair helped spread it. Thomas says he will remain calm so as to not spoil the party but threatens to punch Alastair if he ever comes near him again.

Lucie sees Alastair turn and leave, tears in his eyes, and asks him to stay for Cordelia’s sake. But he can’t bear it. He asks Lucie to tell his sister not to rush but to find him in the carriage when she’s ready to head home.

Grace emerges from the shadows. She tells Lucie she knows James doesn’t really want to marry Cordelia. She also knows the secret Lucie is keeping for James and that she promised him not to help Jesse. But Lucie isn’t going to listen to her brother on this front. She promises Grace she’ll do everything she can to help Jesse, regardless of her promise to James. This intrigues Grace.

Magnus finds Matthew. He views him as a project, the beautiful, hurting soul, like’s he had so many times before. He knows Matthew is watching Cordelia and James from the shadows. Matthew tells Magnus he’d never be jealous if James truly loved her. Magnus is shocked it’s a false marriage because they look legitimately in love. He thinks he better stick around because this situation is sure to cause drama.

Cordelia looks around and thinks how much things have changed since her first ball in London. James asks her to see this year as a great adventure as good friends. He seems to be looking forward to their time together. He asks her to be happy, too. Cordelia tells herself what she truly sees this year as: a bitter joy being married to the man she loves who doesn’t love her in return. But at the same time, she’ll also get to see her father released and become parabatai with her best friend. She decides to enjoy the year she’d only ever dreamed of as she’s married to James.

Tatiana goes to Jesse’s body at Chiswick House while her brothers wait out front. Belial is there, scolding her for letting their plan to raise James up in darkness fail and for not letting him know that Cordelia wields Cortana. He can’t come to James while Cordelia is near and protects him with Cortana. Belial says the Shandowhunters don’t know about his anchor in the human realm that can bring him back much sooner than the 100 years they think it’ll take him to heal. And Tatiana will be able to strike at the Shandowhunters during her banishment to the Adamant Citadel. It’s a place no one can break into, yet Tatiana is going to be escorted in. Belial says from there, she’ll be able to “strike at the Clave from its very heart.” And then he says, “We will strike together.”

There you go! That’s what happened in Chain of Gold. We hope you enjoyed this Chain of Gold summary with spoilers.

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