Silver Threads ↠ Matthew Fairchild [1]

EIGHT

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N O S T R A N G E L A N D

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"Woah!" Matthew exclaimed as he bumped into the young Herondale girl. He was quick to catch her, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her back up onto her feet where the two suddenly found themselves face to face.  The blonde blinked once before whispering, "I apologize, mon coeur. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and—"

He fell short as his eyes roamed down her body and the blue dress she now found herself in. His eyes instantly shot back up to her face and he gave her an unreadable expression as he muttered, "You changed."

Willa's head had gone a bit fuzzy at the sudden closeness to Matthew, but she somehow managed to swallow back her nerves and give him a small chuckle as she whispered, "How very observant you are, Matthew."

The blonde was silent, his eyes flickering over her face before he suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing and released the girl. Matthew took two steps back, his eyes lingering on the Herondale girl for a moment longer before he turned away.

"I came here with pressing news and I do not appreciate the distraction, mon coeur," Matthew said, his words not fully clicking in Willa's head until he had already moved on. "Anna, you won't believe—"

Matthew stopped abruptly once he caught sight of Cordelia, his eyebrows furrowing together before he asked, "What are you doing here?"

The question and tone was quite rude in Willa's opinion and she was quick to frown and move over to Cordelia's side. She placed a hand on the red head's shoulder and gave Matthew a disapproving look before saying, "We were just having tea. What are you doing here?"

Matthew blinked in surprise, but Willa knew he had figured out how rude he was being for he immediately sighed and began looking around the room. "As I said a moment before, I have some news. I don't see Anna," the blonde commented, sounding a bit astonished and suspicious.

"She's in her bedroom," Cordelia explained, her voice cold and her eyes narrowed a bit. Willa could tell she didn't like the way Matthew had talked to her and was quick to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly.

"Alone?" Matthew inquired.

"Matthew!" Anne yelled out in a bit of annoyance. "Don't be awful."

The blonde let out a small huff and leaned against Anna's bedroom door. "I have already had a maddening day," Matthew insisted. "James has been slandered by Tatiana Blackthorn and my rotten older brother is backing her up to the hilt; James has gone off to rendezvous with Grace." Willa's eyes widened at that but the blonde shot her a look that said to hold back her questions and concerns until the end. "I remembered what Willa had said about having tea with you and am here to get squiggly and try to forget what a foolish thing my parabatai is doing. Also, Willa and I have to be at Fleet Street by midnight."