Scintilla~Chain of Gold; The Last Hours | on hold

18

There had once been a time where silence did not exist between the two. Where left alone they were full of laughter whispers and secrets. Now silence was all they had. Minus the incessant tapping of Seren's foot against the carriage floor and the placid snores of James Herondale. It was obvious she wanted out and Matthew couldn't blame her. The tension was suffocating and no matter how hard he tried to think up what to say all that came to mind was sorry and he seemed to choke on the word as soon as he went to speak it.

The tapping stopped and Seren leant over James, her fingers brushing his dark curls from his face, "He looks like he's fought his way through hell and back." Seren said seemingly to herself, still Matthew peered over to watch her crouched down in front of James. His head was resting on the interior wall of the carriage and the gaze in her eyes full of sorrow. "Though I suppose heartbreak is a type of hell. It shatters the dreams of what could've been and burns you in the process but unlike the 9 circles it comes to an end."

A breeze blew through the window as gentle as a child's breath, causing the dark-haired boy to stir. She drew the curtain closed, in order to block out any future winds. Then began to fumbling with the silver button of her cloak. Once it came undone, she cast it over James's sleeping figure swaddling him like a babe. As she returned to her seat the scent of her perfume moved with her - Vanilla orchid and orange blossom; it made Matthews's heart lurch.

"Does it?" the boy asked, more so for his own sake than James's.

Seren looked up at him, her expression slightly dazed - she hadn't thought that he was listening to her mumblings. If it weren't for the vulnerability in his voice she might've felt embarrassed

"Does it end ?" The blonde repeated. He'd heard the story of heartbreak too many times to count - it was the muse of every poet and playwright; they spoke of the joy of loving and the pain of losing but never of its end. He'd half accepted that his heart would always bear the pain of the wound she'd left. Even if she hadn't known she was doing it, when she asked him to be her parabati his heart had broken a little bit. And watching her go on with her life with him only a shadow in the background, had only served to shatter it further.

"You don't have to worry about James. I know the Herondales speak about only loving once but he'll pull through. We spend all this time training our bodies we forget the heart is a muscle too. And just like any other muscle in our body, it needs to be tested in order to become strong. At the end of all this suffering he'll only love stronger."

"Wise words."

She shrugged off the compliment, "Too wise to be my own. I read it somewhere."

It was only words that touched your heart in some form, that sat at the front of your mind. Matthew wondered who'd hurt enough for those words to resonate with her. He thought back to the missing ring on her finger and the way her smile faded at the mention of France. As sad as it was her return had sprinkled up a tiny speckle of hope in the boy's heart. And from that all the old feelings he'd tried so hard to push away start to blossom up again.

Seren looked at Matthew his expression was plaintive, of course there were the rare occasions where the muscle ruptured beyond repair, but she knew better than to mention it.

"Can you die from a broken heart ?"

She let her head fall back against the velvet cushion of the carriage and closed her eyes against the memory of blue lips. The utter stillness of death. And her mothers auburn hair.

Three kicks to the side of her foot ripped her from thoughts.

She half opened her eyes, too aspirated to give the boy her full attention- not that he was deserving of it anyhow."What do you want Fairchild ?" she said flatly.