"Wouldn't you do anything for the people you love?"
"I'd do almost anything for you," Simon said quietly. "I'd die for you. You know that. But would I kill someone else, someone innocent? What about a lot of innocent lives? What about the whole world? Is it really love to tell someone that if it came down to picking between them and every other life on the planet, you'd pick them? Is that- I don't know, is that a moral sort of love at all?"
"Love isn't moral or immoral," said Clary. "It just is."
"I know," Simon said. "But the actions we take in the name of love, those are moral or immoral. And normally it wouldn't matter. Normally -whatever I think of Jace being annoying- he'd never ask you to do anything that went against your nature. Not for him, not for anyone. But he isn't exactly Jace anymore, is he? And I just don't know, Clary. I don't know what he might ask you to do."
Clary leaned her elbow on the table, suddenly very tired. "Maybe he isn't Jace. But he's the closest thing to Jace I've got. There's no way back to Jace without him." She raised her eyes to Simon's. "Or are you telling me it's hopeless?"
There was a long silence. Clary could see Simon's innate honesty warring with his desire to protect his best friend.
