𝑶𝑭 𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑹𝑨𝒀𝑨𝑳

Ꮨ ᎠᏘRK RᏋFLᏋᏨTIᎧᏁ

Jace sighed before answering. "Since the day we went to Idris. Apparently, Robert is the one who informed him of it and advised him to keep his mouth shut and not tell anyone."

Alyssa had a look of disbelief on her face. "Are you kidding me? Jace, did either of them even consider the fact that the Seelie Queen might already know? That she would definitely tell the other Downworld leaders just to prove her point that the Clave are liars and can'tbe trusted?"

"How would the Seelie Queen..."

"Dammit, Jace. Do you not remember what the Queen said to Simon when he commented on her already knowing he was a daylighter?

Amara has eyes and ears everywhere, not just in the form of Seelies under disguise but also in the form of the natural world.

If you remember, she told Simon that everything in the natural world, the trees, the animals, even the bugs are all in her service."

A look of realization formed on Jace's face as he understood what his wife was saying.

"For heaven's sake, does Alec even realize he just gave her more ammunition to turn the Downworld against Shadowhunters and the Clave? When he formed the Downworld cabinet, he promised them bare honesty, no lies or sugar-coated words to hide the truth.

He just went back on his own words by keeping the truth about the Soul Sword from them." Alyssa ran her hand through her hair in frustration. "I have to go talk to him."

"Wait, Lys, are we good?" Jace asked as he stood up from the bed, fearing he'd angered her yet again. Alyssa smiled, knowing what Jace was asking, knowing what he was fearing. "I didn't want to keep this from you, and I told Alec that. But I also couldn't..."

"Jace, baby, I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?" Jace asked hopefully. Alyssa stepped towards him and kissed him.

"No, but Alec, on the other hand, that's another story. Speaking of which, you need to get back to work while I go talk to him."

Unable to help himself, Jace pulled her to him and claimed her lips in a passionate kiss, which turned into a heated make-out session. One thing led to another, and soon, they were on the bed, shedding their clothes.

The Office

Alyssa entered just as Alec sat down at his desk with a dejected look on his face. She closed the door behind her, causing Alec to look up at her.

"Judging by the look on your face and the fact that I just met Magnus storming out of the institute before he questioned me about whether I knew about the sword, I assume my lecture on you keeping such a secret is not needed." She said, walking towards him and leaning forward, placing her hands on the desk.

"Look, if you're here to tell me how I screwed up then you can save your breath. I already got the message from Magnus."

"Okay, fine. I won't tell you that you screwed up, but I will tell you that you messed up big time." Alec shot her a look. "I'm sorry, were you expecting me to be soft and sweet? I thought you trusted me, Alec."

"I do trust you."

"Oh really? Is that why you told Jace, Clary and Tony to not tell me about the Sword being missing?" Alec let out a sigh. "Maybe if you'd talked to me as your sister and your co-head of institute, you'd have know that I already had my suspicions about the Sword when the Inquisitor was resorting to torture to get the information about the Cup's whereabouts from Valentine.

Maybe if you had talked to me, I would have let you know that keeping it a secret from the Downworld Cabinet is not a good idea since the Seelie Queen has eyes and ears everywhere. We're supposed to be a team, Alec."

"I know that, Lyssa."

"Then why would you do this? Amara was already looking for something to use to get the downworlders against you and the Clave, and you just handed her that on a silver platter. You also just royally messed up things with Magnus. He's never opened himself up to anyone the way he did with you."

"I know, Lyssa, I know. And I know you're also mad at me for not telling you about the Sword."

"I'm not mad, Alec. I'm just sad and disappointed that you couldn't trust me enough to talk to me about this."

"But I do trust you."

"But not enough to tell me the truth. Because if you did, you wouldn't have told Jace and Tony to try and keep the secret from me, especially when you know how I feel about secrets. Does Izzy even know about this?"

Alec let out a sigh as he avoided her eyes. "Yes, she does." Alyssa let out a humorless chuckle. "She was the first person I told when you guys returned from Idris." Alyssa nodded as if she understood something.

"So basically everyone knew except me, and I wasn't going to know if I hadn't asked Jace. Good to know." She said, then left the office before Alec could say anything.

Alec sighed in frustration and sat back in his chair, thinking about everything that had transpired during the day.

Kitchen

Izzy entered the kitchen to get something to eat and found Alyssa sitting at the table with a mug of coffee in her hands, but she wasn't drinking.

"Hey." She said. Alyssa looked up at her slightly, then looked back down.

"Hey. How did training with Max go?"

"It went well. I asked Simon to help me out." Izzy said, taking a bottle of water from the fridge and sitting down next to Alyssa.

"I guess that's a start."

"You and Alec were right. Max is ready and it's time I stopped coddling him. I had Alec speak to the Clave to have Max's first mission ready tomorrow."

"That's great." Alyssa said, though her tone wasn't an excited one. Izzy bit her lip and decided to broach the subject that she knew was responsible for the other woman's current mood.

"Alec briefed me on everything that happened today."

"Oh, did he?" Alyssa finally looked at Izzy, with a blank expression.

"Yeah. He also told me that you know about the Sword now."

"Yes. And it turns out I'm the last to know. My only comfort is that Sebastian, whom you all, except Alec, have decided to trust, didn't find out before me."

"Lyssa..."

"I don't care that I'm the last to know. What bothers me is that he wasn't even going to tell me until I forced it out of Jace. That you weren't going to tell me."

"It wasn't my secret to tell, Lyssa."

"Izzy, this wasn't some kind of personal secret that if you'd told me it would be a betrayal to Alec.

This was something that not only concerns me but the entire Downworld, of which my father, my brother, the man who raised me and some of my friends are all a part of.

Izzy, you are my best friend, my sister. You're not supposed to keep things like this from me. You of all people know how I feel about things of this nature being kept from me.

You and Alec saw how I reacted to last time and how it almost drove me insane. I thought you said I was a part of your family."

"You are."

"Last I checked, family doesn't keep secrets from each other, especially knowing the damage it can do. It's because of secrets like this that my relationship with my dad is not what it used to be.

I thought you both cared enough to know that. Guess I was wrong." Alyssa got up and walked out of the kitchen.

"Lyssa, come on. Alyssa. Alyssa, please." Izzy pleaded, but the hybrid was already gone. Izzy could only stare in the direction she left, feeling sadness.