✓ | Silent Shadows ⋆ Will Herondale [1]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: WOUND

◤You do not need to tell Consul what to do. It is his and his decision how he will treat his daughter.◢

⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼⎼

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: WOUND

warning: mild violence

MARIE Wayland was familiar with the procedures that followed Shadowhunters' missions. After arriving, she would go to her own room, change into regular clothes and then walk straight to the Drawing room. There was nothing unusual or confusing about the routine; it was done in order to discuss how the task went. It was nothing special, really.

Up to now.

The door of Charlotte's room was ajar, serving as a sign to the young Shadowhunter to enter. Her footsteps echoes against the stone cold floor, breaking against the high ceiling.

The moment Marie stepped inside, she could feel it in her bones - something wasn't right. Almost as an unpleasant cloud of tension had entered alongside her, shoulder to shoulder. Marie took a moment to herself before turning around.

A group of Shadowhunters occupied the room. Marie assumed that most of them came to rest a bit after the exhausting battle with vampires, and she was mostly right. She was able to recognize the majority of people that were seated around the long table, the Lightwoods included.

But there was one face that Marie couldn't stand; one face that made her feel exposed and vulnerable all over again. And she hated him for it.

"Good afternoon, daughter," the raspy voice tickled Marie's skin in an atrocious way. It reeked of thick, English accent and injected fear into the younger Wayland's bloodstream.

Josiah Wayland stood tall and proud, dressed in his elegant Consul robes. His blue eyes were as piercing as ever. His white hair was longer than Marie remembered it to be, but then again - she hadn't seen him since forever.

"What is the meaning of this?" Marie furiously turned to Charlotte, not even bothering to spare a look at her father - Consul Josiah Wayland.

"Marie, please calm down," Charlotte signaled with her arms, but the woman knew she had made a terrible mistake the moment she sent a letter to the Consul.

The younger Wayland was aware that it wasn't fully Charlotte's fault her father was present. There was a slight possibility that the woman had sent a message to him to inform him that his daughter was back, but it wasn't her fault. It was a reasonable action and anyone would have done the same thing. Therefore, Marie decided not to direct her anger toward the closest person she had to a mother. She didn't want to insult the person who saved her from the cruel hands of her father.

"Mrs. Branwell is quite right, young girl. You should have learned by now how to behave and that it is rude to question the decisions of those who are wiser than you," Consul uttered, eyeing his daughter.

Part of Josiah Wayland wanted to believe that the tall, brunette girl - woman - in front of him wasn't his daughter. He didn't want to believe that that was the same bundle of joy that used to be carried in the arms of Eveline Wayland. He didn't want to believe that his only child had grown and intellectually developed so much that Shadowhunters began addressing her as the most promising diplomat of her age. He couldn't have missed that. He couldn't have possibly passed on the opportunity to watch his daughter become a strong, independent woman. A leader.