Silver Threads ↠ Matthew Fairchild [1]

PROLOGUE

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P R O L O G U E

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Shadowhunter Academy, 1899

Willa Herondale had never been so nervous in her life and that was saying a lot since she rarely grew nervous from things. The last time she had been even close to the state she was currently in had been years ago when she encountered a duck for the first time.

Vicious creatures they were or at least that's what her father had told her. She hadn't even seen a duck, but the many stories her father had told her were enough to make the girl gain a phobia of the birds and not even seeing one in real life was enough to calm her fears. She could thank her father William Herondale for that one.

However, her nervous state now was not due to a duck of any kind. In fact, she wasn't quite sure if the nerves were because she was currently on her way to the Shadowhunter Academy with her twin brother James where they would be separated from their family for a whole school year or because her father had to borrow Uncle Gabriel's new carriage without his permission.

Willa took in a shaky breath and tried to calm herself down as the carriage jolted underneath her. Her eyes flickered over to her right where her father was currently humming happily to himself as he watched the horses trot in front of them before she looked just past him and locked eyes with her brother who looked as if he may be sick.

James and Willa both shared a look, but Will had just happened to see it as they did. "Don't look so serious, you two," Will teased before murmuring a Welsh word that made the horses trot faster. "Gabriel would want us to have the carriage. It's all between family."

"Uncle Gabriel mentioned last night that he had recently had the carriage painted. Many times. And he had threatened to summon the constabulary and have you arrested," James reminded his father before giving him a taunting look, his gold eyes flashing in the sunlight. "Many times."

"Jamie is right," Willa said in a sing song voice as the corner of her mouth twitched up in amusement. "This might just be the time Uncle Gabriel actually follows through with his words."

"Gabriel will stop fussing about it in a few years," Will assured the kids before winking a blue eye at them. "Because we will all be driving automobiles by then."

"Mother says you can never drive an automobile," James commented. "She made the two of us and Lucie promise that if you ever did, we would not climb until it."

"Your mother was just joking," Will insisted, but the twins sharing another look told him otherwise.

"She made us swear on the Angel," the twins announced before shyly grinning at their father who shook his head in amusement.