Brothers by Blood (Alec Lightwood twin)

Chapter 68

ALEC'S POV

Sebastian and I had just gone upstairs to the main level after speaking with Luke, when a very flustered looking Isabelle came up to us.
"Thank the Angel. I've spent ages trying to find you." She exclaimed. We both frowned.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Ben's awake and he has some stuff to tell you." She told me. What?! Why wasn't I told about this earlier?
"Why wasn't I told earlier?" I demanded.
"Because you were in a meeting. I couldn't exactly drag you away from that." Izzy explained.
"I'm going to close the meeting because we are going to get nowhere after Luke's attempt on Valentine's life." I said. "I'll go and see Ben afterwards." Both Sebastian and Izzy nodded at this and Izzy walked off, obviously going to see more time with our brother.

I walked back to the room in which the meeting was being held and sat back down.
"Is everything alright?" Meliorn asked.
"I think we should close this meeting for this evening." I said.
"Why?" Raphael asked.
"Luke just made an attempt on Valentine's life, and I have to figure out a way to get him out of it." I explained. All three of them frowned, but nodded nonetheless.
"I will go back to my Queen and relay the events of tonight to her."
"I'll speak to my Clan." Raphael stated.
"And I'll tell Luke to speak to his pack." I said. We all then stood up and made our way out of the room.

*A little while later*

JACE'S POV

Clary had gone to speak to Simon about what happened at the Seelie Court, whilst I headed back to the Institute to report our findings back to Alec. Honestly, I didn't really want to talk about it, but I knew that we wouldn't have much choice sooner or later. I should talk to either Alec or Izzy about it. They'll know what to do.

ALEC'S POV

Jace and I were talking around one of the tables in the Ops Centre about his findings at the Seelie Court after all the Downworlders had left. I was standing, leaning against the table, whilst Jace was sitting opposite me.
"So the Seelie Queen didn't help Kaelie, it was actually a Seelie Knight, who is now dead." I said, summarizing what Jace had just told me.
"Yeah. The Queen's hands are technically clean in this one. I think there's more to it." Jace said.
"Well, what makes you say that?" I asked.
I don't know. Call it a gut feeling." He said
"OK. Well, I'll have the Clave keep a closer eye on the Seelies." I stated.
"Right." He said in a tone that made it seem like he wasn't really paying attention.
"Are you alright? You seem distracted." I asked seriously. Jace looked at me with a look that screamed, "I am not ok", but I knew that he was going to try ad brush it off.
"No. I'm, uh I'm fine." He said almost dismissively. I knew he wasn't "fine". I could feel that he wasn't "fine", the look on his face screamed he wasn't "fine", but instead of pressing the matter, since I knew he didn't want to talk about it, I decided to let it slide for now. I was not going to forget about it though.
"Oh, on a happier note, Ben is awake." I told him. Jace perked up at this.
"How is he?" He asked eagerly, desperately wanting to hear about the wellbeing of his older brother.
"He'll be ok. He also revealed some stuff about Kaelie that is worth hearing." I told him. Both of us got up and headed towards the Infirmary to visit Ben.

Ben was reading when Jace and I walked into the Infirmary. I guessed that Izzy was training Max, but I wasn't quite sure where our mother was. Ben looked up at the sound of our footsteps and smiled when he saw both of us.
"How was the Seelie Court?" He asked Jace. Jace looked slightly uncomfortable but responded nonetheless.
"Clary and I learned that a Seelie Knight helped Kaelie, but he is dead now, and the Seelie Queen's hands are technically clean, but we still don't know her reasoning behind the attack." Jace replied. I knew there was more to what happened there, but he hadn't told me and we had other things to worry about right now.
"I can help with that." Ben said. Jace perked up at this comment but didn't say anything, so Ben continued. "Right before she attacked me, she said 'Shadowhunters need to feel what it's like to lose someone they love. My brother Samuel was all I had in this world, and now he's gone thanks to your brother Jace.' It was revenge for the Downworlders who died in the attack at Valentine's attack on the Institute, her brother especially." Ben revealed.
"Well at least that is somewhat of a lead." Jace said. "Thanks Ben."
"Are you alright?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Jace answered quickly. In truth, his answer sounded a little bit too quick.
"You don't look it." Ben added.
"I'm fine Ben, just leave it." Jace said. Both Ben and I sighed in unison. We both knew that neither of us were going to get Jace to talk unless he wanted to.