Gray ↠ Gabriel Lightwood [1]

TEN

❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀

P A L E K I N G S A N D P R I N C E S

❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀ ~ ○ ❀

As the coach rattled along the Strand, Will raised a black-gloved hand and drew one of the velvet curtains back from the window, letting a splash of yellow gaslight find its way into the carriage's dark interior. "It rather looks," he said, "as if we might be in for rain tonight."

"You say that as if London doesn't always look as though it were going to rain," Elise muttered, her eyes flickering to the window where she could see the cloudy steel gray sky – the usual for London. Men in hats and long dark coats hurried along the pavement on either side of the street, their shoulders hunched against a brisk wind that carried coal dust, horse manure, and all sorts of eye-stinging rubbish in its wake.

"It doesn't," Will retorted, giving the girl a small look from across the carriage. "It was sunny just last month." Elise bit back a smile at that, quickly looking away once she saw Will's teasing grin.

"Is that a church directly in the middle of the street?" Tessa asked, drawing their attention away from each other and to the girl who was staring out the window with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It's St. Mary le Strand," said Will, "and there's a long story about it, but I'm not going to tell it to you now. Have you been listening to anything I've been saying?"

"No one ever does," Elise replied. "You would realize that by now, Mr. Herondale, if you didn't enjoy the sound of your voice as much as you do."

Will shot the girl a glare, Elise just smiling back at him in response.

She needed this, she thought. Arguing with Will was the only thing keeping her from thinking about where they were heading, the only moment in which the terrified screaming of her head was quiet. She had even begun to think that Will might have picked up on that, but seeing as he had no reason to care about her feelings, she quickly shoved that thought aside.

"I was," Tessa said, obviously hoping to break the two up before they started fighting, "until you started on about rain. Who cares about rain? We're on our way to some sort of — vampire society event, and I've no idea how I'm supposed to behave, and so far you haven't helped me much at all."

Elise snorted at that and the corner of Will's mouth twitched upward.

After a long moment, Will finally said, "Just be careful. When we arrive at the house, you can't look to me for help or instruction and you most definitely cannot look to your sister. Remember, Miss Gary and I are your human subjugates. You keep us about you for blood — blood whenever you want it — and nothing else."