"I hope not," said Gabriel. "I hope hes dead. "
Tessas hand tightened around the knife. "You mean that, dont you? What did he do to your sister to make you hate him so much?"
"Why dont you ask him?"
"Gabriel. " Gideons voice was sharp. "Shal we get to the instruction, please,
and cease wasting time?"
Gabriel glared at his older brother, who was standing quite peaceably with Sophie, but obediently turned his attention from Will to the days training.
They were practicing how to hold blades today, and how to balance them as they swept them through the air without the blade point drooping forward or the handle slipping from the hand. It was harder than it looked, and today Gabriel wasnt patient. She envied Sophie, being taught by Gideon, who was always a careful, methodical instructor, though he did have a habit of slipping into Spanish whenever Sophie did something wrong. "A y Dios mio," he would say, pul ing the blade from where it had stuck, point down, in the floor.
"Shal we try that again?"
"Stand up straight," Gabriel was saying to Tessa meanwhile, impatiently.
"No, straight. Like this. " He demonstrated. She wanted to snap at him that she, unlike him, had not had a lifetime of being taught how to stand and move; that Shadowhunters were natural acrobats, and she was nothing of the sort.
"Hmph," she said. "Id like to see you learn how to manage sitting and standing up straight in stays and petticoats and a dress with a foots worth of train!"
"So would I," said Gideon from across the room.
"Oh, by the Angel," said Gabriel, and he took her by the shoulders, flipping her around so she stood with her back to him. He put his arms around her, straightening her spine, arranging the knife in her hand. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck, and it made her shiver-and fil ed her with annoyance. If he was touching her, it was only because he presumed he could, without asking, and because he thought it would irritate Will.
"Let me go," she said, under her breath.
"This is part of your training," said Gabriel in a bored voice. "Besides, look at my brother and Miss Col ins. She isnt complaining. "
She glanced across the room at Sophie, who seemed earnestly engaged in her lesson with Gideon. He was standing behind her, one arm around her from the back, showing her how to hold a needle-tipped throwing knife. His hand was gently cupped around hers, and he appeared to be speaking to the back of her neck, where her dark hair had escaped from its tight chignon and curled becomingly. When he saw Tessa looking at them, he flushed.
Tessa was amazed. Gideon Lightwood, blushing! Had he been admiring Sophie? Apart from her scar, which Tessa barely noticed anymore, she was lovely, but she was a mundane, and a servant, and the Lightwoods were awful snobs. Tessas insides felt suddenly tight. Sophie had been treated abominably by her previous employer. The last thing she needed was some pretty Shadowhunter boy taking advantage of her.
Tessa looked around, about to say something to the boy with his arms around her-and stopped. She had forgotten that it was Gabriel beside her, not Jem. She had grown so used to Jems presence, the ease with which she could converse with him, the comfort of his hand on her arm when they walked, the fact that he was the only person in the world now she felt she could say absolutely anything to. She realized with surprise that though she had just seen him at breakfast, she missed him, with what felt almost like an ache inside.
She was so caught up in this mixture of feelings-missing Jem, and a sense of passionate protectiveness over Sophie-that her next throw went wide by several feet, flying by Gideons head and bouncing off the windowsill.
Gideon looked calmly from the fal en knife to his brother. Nothing seemed to bother him, not even his own near decapitation. "Gabriel, what is the problem, exactly?"
Gabriel turned his gaze on Tessa. "She wont listen to me," he said spiteful y. "I cant instruct someone who wont listen. "
"Maybe if you were a better instructor, shed be a better listener. "
"And maybe you would have seen the knife coming," said Gabriel, "if you paid more attention to whats going on around you and less to the back of Miss Col inss head. "
So even Gabriel had noticed, Tessa thought, as Sophie blushed. Gideon gave his brother a long, steady look-she sensed there would be words between the two of them at home-then turned to Sophie and said something in a low voice, too low for Tessa to hear.
"Whats happened to you?" she said under her breath to Gabriel, and felt him stiffen.
"What do you mean?"
"Youre usual y patient," she said. "Youre a good teacher, Gabriel, most of the time, but today youre snappish and impatient and . . . " She looked down at his hand on her arm. "Improper. "
He had the good grace to release her, looking ashamed of himself. "A thousand pardons. I should not have touched you like that. "
"No, you shouldnt. And after the way you criticize Will -"
He flushed along his high cheekbones. "Ive apologized, Miss Gray. What more do you want of me?"
"A change in behavior, perhaps. An explanation of your dislike of Will -"
"Ive told you! If you wish to know why I dislike him, you can ask him yourself!" Gabriel whirled and stalked out of the room.
Tessa looked at the knives stuck into the wal and sighed. "So ends my lesson. "
"Try not to be too put out," said Gideon, approaching her with Sophie by his side. It was very odd, Tessa thought; Sophie usual y seemed uneasy around men, any men, even gentle Henry. With Will she was like a scalded cat, and with Jem, blushing and watchful, but beside Gideon she seemed . . .
Well, it was hard to define. But it was most peculiar.
"It is not your fault he is like this today," Gideon went on. His eyes on Tessa were steady. This close up she could see that they were not precisely the same color as his brothers. They were more of a gray-green, like the ocean under a cloudy sky. "Things have been . . . difficult for us at home with Father, and Gabriel is taking it out on you, or, real y, anyone who happens to be nearby. "