Love & Arrows (Shadowhunter Series #1)

Chapter 24

EDITED - 04/05/19

__________________________________________________________

'The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from enemies,

it comes from those

you trust the most.'

- XXXTentacion

__________________________________________________________

YVANNA

  I decide to check on Lydia as I didn't see her after the wedding. Alec is heading to the ops center to check on something. Even on a wedding day, we Shadowhunters never rest. I enter Lydia's office to see her on the ground. "Lydia?" I yell in shock before rushing towards her. I place two fingers on her neck to check for a pulse.

  I grab my stele before running it over her iratze rune. I hear two pairs of hurried footsteps, I look up to see Viv and Magnus. "Go get help." I state as Lydia's eyes flicker open. "Hodge," she mutters weakly and my eyes widen. What about Hodge? I stand up to notice an empty shelf.

  Lydia was supposed to hide the Cup in her office, why isn't it here? Realization suddenly hits me, what if Hodge took the Cup? Why would Hodge take the Cup and what would he gain? What if...he's still loyal to Valentine? What if he was the one who told Valentine about Ragnor Fell's location? I don't want to jump into conclusions but I can't help it.

  I hurry back to Lydia as she tries to gain consciousness. I hear footsteps and I look up to see Raj. He carries her to the infirmary and I follow. "What happened?" He asks before laying Lydia down on a bed. "When I entered her office, she was already unconsciousness. It must have been awhile." I explain before looking at Lydia.

  I hope I'm not right about Hodge, but he is an ex-Circle member. So is Maryse and Robert, but they wouldn't betray us...right? "You're gonna be okay Lydia." I mutter to an unconscious Lydia before Magnus walks in. He starts checking Lydia before looking at me. "She's stabilized, I'll do what I can to help her." He explains and I give him a weak smile.

  I give him a nod before walking out of the infirmary. I head towards the ops center to see Alec, Clary, Jace and Viv crowing around Izzy who is in front of a computer looking through the camera in Lydia's office. "How's Lydia?" Clary asks as I near them. "Better. Magnus is doing what he can to help her, but it's bad. And the Cup is definitely missing." I explain and Jace looks at me.

  He takes in a deep breath. "So is Hodge." He says before we look at the footage. "Maybe he was attacked too." Izzy suggests, I hope so too because I don't want to be right about Hodge. "Maybe he's the one who attacked her." I don't want to admit it but I have to agree on Clary about this.

  Izzy looks at her in shock. "Hodge? No way. We've known him our entire lives. He would never do that to us." She states, I want to believe that I really do. She brings up a footage of Lydia's office, she fast-forwards it and we see Lydia holding the Cup before being attacked. The Cup falls and Hodge appears before picking the Cup up.

  My eyes widen, so I was right. "I led him right to the Cup." My brother says in disbelief. "We treated him like family, how could he do this to us?" Viv asks in betrayal. Izzy brings up a footage of the infirmary where Jocelyn is, Hodge appears and it appears he's talking to someone. "That's how, what is that ring?" Clary asks.