Shadowhunter Short Stories

The Ballroom

This is my take of Matthew and Cordelia's first meeting in Chain of Gold, from Matthew's perspective. I'm a huge Fairstairs shipper if you guys couldn't already tell lol. I used a lot of the dialogue between them from Chain of Gold in this one shot. Hope you guys like it :)

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Matthew Fairchild looked around the ballroom and tried not to feel bored. He hadn't really wished to come to this ball but, of course, James had forced him to and Matthew usually listened to what his Parabatai told him. The ball had started off better than Matthew had thought; he had gone straight up to Lucie and had asked her to dance and of course she had said yes. It would have been considered rude for a lady to reject a dance offer but Matthew also knew that Lucie would not refuse. Matthew's heart fluttered a bit at the thought of James' younger sister; she had looked very beautiful tonight and he recalled the way she had laughed as they had danced together.

Matthew and Lucie had parted ways after the dance had ended and now Matthew was left to entertain himself. He spotted Thomas and Christopher laughing with one another, and Anna Lightwood speaking to Uncle Will and Aunt Tessa. Finally, Matthew saw Alastair Carstairs standing with his mother and hatred ran through Matthew like wildfire. He had not seen Alastair in quite a few years and gazing upon him now caused a whirlwind of emotions to blow through him. That boy was the cause of all of Matthew's pain and he hated him for it. He hated Alastair Carstairs for making Matthew hate himself. On instinct, Matthew pulled out his silver flask and took a long sip. He was about to join Thomas and Christopher when something caught his eye.

It was James walking off of the dancefloor, leaving a confused Cordelia Carstairs to stare after him with wide eyes. She looked helpless and utterly shocked and Matthew felt a pang of pity wash through him. He followed James with his eyes and sighed to himself when he saw where his Parabatai was headed -- straight to Grace Blackthorn who had just arrived. That devil of a girl, Matthew thought bitterly to himself. He hated the way that Grace played with James' emotions, and Matthew knew that she had a heart of stone. Matthew glanced back at Cordelia Carstairs and saw now that she looked very panicked and humiliated; no one had yet noticed what James had done and Matthew felt himself instinctively moving towards Cordelia.

Without thinking too much about it, he grasped her arm and spun her around, and then they were dancing. The dance was a waltz and Matthew held her in an expert grip; he himself would admit that he had always been a talented dancer.

"That's right." Matthew smiled down at Cordelia. "Just-try to smile, and no one will notice anything happened. James and I are practically interchangeable in the public consciousness anyway."

"James-left," Cordelia said, in shock.

She was looking up at Matthew and he studied her for a moment. He had only seen Cordelia Carstairs once before and it had been a very long time ago. She had been visiting the London Institute, when they had been thirteen, and Matthew had seen her standing with Lucie. He remembered her to be a tall girl with long red hair and a face that would one day be beautiful. Matthew, it turned out, had been correct; Cordelia was indeed very beautiful now. Her brown skin was clear and free from any imperfections and her dark eyes seemed to twinkle with something he could not place. It was not often that Matthew was astonished by one's beauty, but he found that he was memorized for a moment by Cordelia Carstairs.

"I know," Matthew replied finally. "Very bad form. One should not leave a lady on the dance floor unless something is actually on fire. I'll have a word."

"A word," Cordelia echoed. "A word?"

"Several words, if it will make you feel better?"

Matthew knew that he indeed would speak to James about how he had just left Cordelia; it was unlike James to do something like this. Cordelia looked as if she was becoming angry, and Matthew searched to find something to say, but Cordelia beat him to it.