Soli Deo gloria
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Infernal Devices. Hello, this is my first story for this fandom. Hopefully you will like it! :)
There was a great, sort of indescribable feeling going through the entirety of the Institute. It was obvious to everyone why it was there, but it seemed more pronounced than it might have been.
Tessa was sure that Will was the main reason there was a buzzing through the air. That itself was strange, for Will was one never to cause excitement like this. He was the one who provoked everyone into a wildly amused state, but not one like this. Sophie had to constantly reprimand him for poking fun at Gideon, but the Lightwood didn't mind. He was getting married in about a week, and he found a brotherly amusement in seeing Will so hyper and about.
"I love weddings, you know," Will said excitedly one morning. Everyone was settled around the breakfast table, dining on scones and eggs and sausages and muffins, the usual breakfast spread. The sound of Bridget's mournful singing was coming through the door, and everyone was taking great care in clanging their silverware against their dishes as much as they could to drown her out.
"You never told us that," Tessa said.
"He probably finds more joy in wrecking them than in relishing them," Gabriel said from his spot next to Cecily. Cecily, who had never seen her brother at a wedding but was sure that Gabriel was right about him, didn't say a word to scold or agree with him.
"Gabriel," Charlotte said from her spot at the head of the table. Despite being petite and short, Charlotte looked more the presence than she usually did. And for good reason, for she was expecting little Charles Buford Branwell in less than a month and was, as Will had previously whispered to Tessa with a sort of evil grin, like a blown up whale. Tessa was sure that if Henry heard Will say such a thing, he would blow up as much as Henry could blow up.
"I won't ruin this one, I believe," Will said. He shot a look at Gabriel. "Though, you may have a target on your back now."
"Will, I will not have you ruining my wedding," Cecily said pleasantly as she spread jam on a muffin.
Will raised an eyebrow. Gabriel nearly choked and Gideon set to pounding on his brother's back with a helpful fist.
"Are you quite all right, Gabriel?" Tessa wanted to know.
Gideon shrugged in response and said, looking to Tessa, "He'll be fine. He's been through far worse."
"How horrible would it be to die by choking on a muffin. It'll be perfectly shameful looking on your gravestone, Gabby," Will said. "'Gabriel Lightwood, 1870-1889. Source of death: choking on breakfast.' I knew Bridget's cooking was deadly when you hired her, Charlotte. We should have taken care, for Gabriel's sake."
Charlotte could only let out a rueful, "Will," when there was a knock at the door.
"Goodness, the Silent Brothers are fast. They must have heard you," Will said cheekily, earning him a light shove from Tessa, who couldn't help but crack a tiny smile at his great childishness, as Charlotte called out, "Who is it?"
Their new maid, a young maid with a Cockney accent with long wispy hair, opened the door. Her name was Lucy. She said, "The we'ing dress fer Miss Collins is 'ere, ma'am."
Charlotte looked relieved to have a diversion in the conversation. She turned to Tessa and Sophie and suggested that the two go to Sophie's room for her to try on the dress.
"Want me to hold Gideon down for you?" Will inquired as they all stood up.
Charlotte frowned. "No, I have a matter for you and Gideon to attend to. Two demons have been sighted; come along to my study for details."
"And where will Gabriel be in all of this?" Will wondered as he quickly crossed the room to open the door for Tessa. She placed a slender hand on his arm in thanks.
"I have a training appointment with Cecily in the training room," Gabriel said, almost matter-of-factly, as they all started to drift out of the room.
Will started on letting out a raspberry and his objections as Tessa caught Sophie's hand, exchanged an excited grin with her, and darted down the dark halls of the Institute to where Sophie's new Shadowhunter room was. She had moved all her things from her servants' quarters to her room, which was bare in a sense of having no personality of its own. She had fixed it up with her own clothes and bits and pieces of things from her past, from her ancient photos to dried flowers along with her gear and stele, which she kept mostly in her room. She was still in training and didn't feel ready to use her steleso frequently.
The room, as dark as usual, was also bright with light from the crackling fire and a great amount of witchlights all set about in their torch-like holders scattered about the walls, creating shadows. But perhaps what shone the most was the gold of the wedding dress that the dressmaker was laying about carefully over the bed.
Sophie put a hand over her heart and tried to keep the tears from running over her eyes. She had never seen, never mind owned, such a dress. It was long, with golden lace intertwined at the edges. The sleeves were slightly puffed, with bronze running around the bodice of the dress. There was golden and cream colored petticoats that were light to the touch and upon handling were understood to hardly weigh a thing. The girl ran a hand along the dress, as careful as if it was a newborn babe, to touch it with her still red hands, horrified that she would ruin the perfection of it.
Tessa, however, was very excited as she talked and looked awed at the dressmaker, who explained her craft about taking up the task of designing, making and finishing the dress. This dress looked a great deal better than it had in the sketches Sophie, Tessa, Charlotte, and even the slightly interested Cecily had helped to make and critique and praise.
"Jessamine would have been pleased, anyway," Tessa said excitedly. "This fabric is so light; I can only hope that you don't have it ruined in dealing with demons. Ichor could be hard getting out of it. Though, I'm sure Lucy could save it, though I say there will be no reason for her to do so. Your wedding will go along splendidly. Don't you think it'll go well, Sophie?" She turned back to look at the girl, who looked overcome with shock and awe. Tessa chastised herself for not realizing the thoughts of Sophie and gently grasped her arm, smiling broadly, saying, "Shall we have it on you, Sophie?"
"Yeh, let's gert it on ya," Lucy said, and Sophie was fairly speechless as within the hour, she was displaying the most beautiful dress she had ever seen on herself. Tessa was on a step stool finishing up her hair, which she had wanted to do. Sophie had allowed her, seeing as Tessa seemed most set on doing it, and her hair had never been set in such a delicate and caring manner.
"There," Tessa said, pleased, as she put the brush down and stepped off of the step stool. "If that doesn't have Gideon itching to run down the aisle to catch you, he isn't worth your while."
"Tessa," Sophie said, blushing. She could hardly think of anything but of the sincere smile on his face. That aisle would be so long to walk down, she was sure. Gracious. Suddenly, she had a fit of inspiration to hurry to Idris that moment to be paired with him. But, of course, Sophie knew, as she straightened, that wouldn't be able to happen. Sometimes she truly was too sensible for her own good. If she wasn't so, she could hardly imagine how Will and Tessa would be controlled. They were too madly in love to be sensible, and so she had to provide the sensibility for them all.
Lucy tutted and said that she looked like an angel, making both the girls exchange looks, and then there was a rapid fall of footsteps across the floor that made the two's faces change. Tessa immediately went to the door and yanked it open and stuck her head out into the hall.
Before her was a not too surprising sight. Cecily, her hair all about and not tied back as she usually had it styled, was pulling the arm of Will, dragging him down the hall with a stony glare on her face.
Will was loudly protesting, and Tessa said, "What has happened?"
Cecily stopped dragging and let go of Will's arm, making him instantly go to grasp his wrist and then glance back at Tessa. His face was covered with a light sheen of sweat, dampening the black hair around it.
Tessa tried to calm her rapidly beating heart and turned to Cecily as she stalked up to her brother's fiancée, looking as if she wanted to tattle on him.
"Tessa," she said in a calm voice, "please tell my brother that demon scratches are not very much minor at all, and that we have to call a Silent Brother."
Will's ears perked up, and he looked excited. His eyes lit up with an unexpected glow. His entire countenance seemingly picked up life. He explained his surprise to Tessa: "I—I forgot about them coming along."
Tessa shook her head. As if Will would do such a thing as that.
"He just didn't want to be encumbered with having his time being spent in the hospital room," Cecily went further on to explain.
"It's horrible in there, you know," Will pointed out.
"They can do the application of medicine in your room, Will," Tessa also pointed out.
Will brightened still more. "Right you are, Tessa."
Tessa nodded and stepped forward, gently setting a hand on his arm. Her other went to his wrist, removing the hand he had on it, to reveal a dark, long scratch. There were four claw marks, mixing skin with ichor and his own blood.
"That's nasty," Tessa said, looking up to meet Will's eyes, the very things that could hold her gaze and cause her to lose power to remember anything else.
"Yes," Will said quietly. "I know."
Tessa smiled at him and reached into her pocket to pull out a fine linen handkerchief. She gently set it against his skin and dabbed at the wound. "You may lose your arm."
"How unfortunate," Will said. "How am I supposed to be able to play cards now?"
"Your life will never be the same. I might win for once," Tessa said.
Will cocked his head, chuckling. "As if that would ever happen."
Tessa gave him a mischievous smirk. "You sound as if there are doubts in my abilities in you, Mr. Herondale."
"I hold your card playing skills in high esteem, Miss Gray, but I can hardly say they compare to mine, even with me to be soon one-armed," Will said.
Cecily let out a wailful groan. "The flirting has to stop, or else you may just lose that arm, Will. Come along or Charlotte will fret," and she grabbed Will's arm once more and started him down the hallway. He looked hardly like he was protesting now, though, with the thought of maybe Jem coming along to see him.
Tessa turned back to Sophie's bedroom, which had the door slightly ajar. Sophie peeked her face through slightly, wondering, "Is Gideon there?"
Tessa shook her head.
Sophie let out a breath. "What has happened?"
"Will has managed to get himself scratched by a demon," Tessa said bluntly.
"Goodness, then you must go to him," Sophie said. She flushed. "It's awfully frivolous for me to put on this dress in the middle of the morning. I shall change with the help of Lucy. Go along, Tessa."
Tessa nodded and picking up her scarlet colored skirts, she hurried down the winding hall and came across Gabriel coming along to the hospital room the same time she was.
"What has happened?" Gabriel wanted to know.
"Will was being clumsy, as usual," Tessa said, her voice soft and filled with an admiration for her fast, fearless Will. She gently opened the door and walked into the hospital room, which was set with the light glow of the blue-white glow of the witchlights that were set about the entire room. She saw Cecily pulling all her weight down on Will's arm in order to settle him down on one of the neatly made cots. Tessa quickly took to his side as Cecily straightened and put her hands on her hips.
"Are you fine, Cecily?" Gabriel wondered, sounding strangely concerned. He put a hand on her arm, making her turn to him.
"I'm fine," Cecily said. She turned from his sharp green eyes and looked sternly at her brother, who was discarding his gear with the help of Tessa and looking very pleased with his actions as only he could. "Will has gone and hurt himself with a demon scratch."
Gabriel seemed to ignore this information. "So you're fine, then?"
"Don't make me repeat myself," Cecily said teasingly. She said to Will in a stern manner, "I'm going to go tell Charlotte. She won't be pleased. This will distress her."
Tessa looked to Will at that. He looked a little guilty. Poor Charlotte had been sworn in with many different papers and things she needed to do as Consul. She was always stuck in her study poring over matters that gave her incredible headaches and back pains. (This last was mostly due to the oppressiveness of little Charles Buford Branwell.) Everyone, even Will, felt bad about bringing more stress on her. She, of course, in the usual Charlotte way, bore it the best she could, but the lines and bags around her eyes told them more of her health than she did.
"Do we really need to tell Charlotte of this-" he began, but Cecily said furiously, "She is the Consul, Will, so don't think of defying her. You know how mad she'll be if she finds out that this happened without any of us telling her. She will think we don't trust her or are withholding important information from her, and I don't know about you, Will, but I'd rather that not be the case," and Cecily turned on her heel, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and stalked out of the room, her shoes smacking against the floor and making the most satisfying tapping noises that had ever beset that room.
Everyone stared back at her, so her effect could be considered quite good and Gabriel may have rated it a seven, maybe an eight for the hip swinging.
Charlotte, contrary to what she may have ever thought before, had never had so much paperwork to do. She had thought that just being the Head of the Institute had been hard enough, with files and reports and the children to watch over (they were still children, no exceptions). She was now waist-deep in letters to finish reading and replying to, and the baby bump she had on her body was keeping from her stretching out and dipping her quill in the inkpot, making her sufficiently annoyed and her hair frayed.
She let out a sigh and was about to stand up to walk about and try to defuse her swollen ankles when someone came crashing through into her study. She knew who it was instantly. Cecily Herondale never knocked, because she never had the thought to. Charlotte had tucked this fact into her brain for times such as this as she looked up from her too-tight shoes and said, "Good morning, Cecily."
Cecily nodded respectfully. "Charlotte."
Charlotte saw that the girl looked a bit frazzled and a little bit furious, and so she cautiously asked, "What is wrong? Has something happened?"
"Will has gotten a demon scratch and needs the Silent Brothers," Cecily said, "for it is quite deep, and an iratze would not be able to do much for him."
Charlotte closed her eyes for a moment. Will. He had taken back to his reckless ways, though not as violently as before. She was sure it had to do with the fact that there was no more Jem to watch behind him and make sure he didn't fall off the top of a tall building. He had gotten himself up right again after the loss of Jem and the defeat of Mortmain, and despite her sigh over his no watch for his help, it did make her feel as if he was coming around to himself again, and that lightened her heart a bit.
"I shall send for the Silent Brothers. Please go be ready to receive them," Charlotte said.
Cecily nodded and Charlotte walked across her carpet to her chair behind her desk. Taking her seat once more, she looked back up to see Cecily heading back to the door, and so she quickly said, "Cecily?"
Cecily turned on her heels. "Yes?"
"Did they kill the demons?" Charlotte wondered.
Cecily gave her a very vehement nod, and then turned about and closed the door in an almost careful-like manner behind her.
Charlotte let out another sigh as she looked at the amount of mail around her. Just another issue to add to her long line of things to take care of.
Poor Charlotte: :( Thanks for reading!