✓ | Silent Shadows ⋆ Will Herondale [1]

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: CHEER UP

◤Really? You don't think that I can see past that pretending of yours? You think I cannot notice these walls you're so keen on building around yourself? We can have a discussion where you deny all of this or we can skip that and you can just tell me what happened. What made you sad?◢

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: CHEER UP

IF someone had asked Marie Wayland who of all the people she had expected to find seated near the window of the Library room, Gabriel Lightwood would have been her last guess.

"What are you doing here?" Wayland girl took a deep breath as her teeth bit hard into her lower lip, preventing any unintentional sobs from escaping her mouth.

"Well, you certainly seem happy to see me here," the Lightwood boy commented, his arm leaning against the surface of the couch he had occupied.

Of course, Gabriel thought that everything was a joke, not that the brunette could blame him. He couldn't have known what she had just witnessed. He couldn't have known just how much her heart had broken in a matter of few short moments.

She didn't want to appear moody, but it was just stronger than her. Sometimes, her emotions really got to her. That, however, wasn't an accurate excuse for her impolite answer; Gabriel did nothing wrong to deserve her careless attitude.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that-" Marie started, but was immediately interrupted.

"Marie, I was simply joking."

"Oh," Marie's head fell down, her eyes searching for something nonexistent on the faultless, marble floor. "I'm sorry."

"Enough with all the apologies, please."

After an eternity of hesitation and unspoken words, Marie met Gabriel's eyes. Maybe it was because she had never been as close to the older boy before, or maybe it was something else entirely - but, for the first time ever, Marie truly saw Gabriel's eyes. They were almost as green as a wild forest in the early spring, and she wondered how it was possible for her to notice it only now. Not to mention a speck of melancholy that managed to sneak into them.

It wasn't possible to get lost in someone's eyes, unless of course, they belonged to a certain Herondale. Or so Marie thought before gazing straight into magnetic, green irises of the Lightwood boy.

It was unusual to see Marie's bright spirit missing, even to Gabriel. She would usually make a comment or at least try to point out something to him - that he was wrong, usually - but now, it was all somehow gone. And that appeared odd to the boy; he knew that something had been wrong and he had truly wanted to make her feel better. It was, after all, a hard day for the both of them. They had discovered that their fates were to be joined unrightfully, but maybe - if they tried hard enough - it didn't have to be so bad. Maybe they could help each other, save each other from their pasts and add to a brighter, happier future.

"Forgive me for asking and perhaps appearing as rude to stick my nose where it does not belong, but I cannot help myself but wonder - did something happen?" The boy was careful in approaching the girl, his steps light and slow, almost as if he was afraid that if he were to walk differently - Marie would get scared and run away. And he didn't want that.