Author's Note: You guys are simply no fun. It would be nice to see some reviews. Thanks to whoever left the anonymous review, feel free to keep them coming, anonymous or otherwise. Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 21: Revelations

Stephen's days at Herondale Manor continued to be blissful. Everything was perfect, and looked to continue to be perfect, until one afternoon Stephen came downstairs to find Jocelyn having tea with his mother at the dining room table. He was surprised to see her, and more so, surprised to see her without Valentine.

"I'll leave you both," Imogen said. She patted Jocelyn on the hand and left the dining room.

"Did you want to see Celine? Or…" Stephen began.

"I'm here to see you. Might we go somewhere… Private?" Jocelyn asked. Stephen walked out of the dining room. He went outside with Jocelyn on his heels, stopped beneath an apple tree, and turned to regard Jocelyn. This pregnancy seemed to agree with her, unlike her pregnancy with Jonathan. Jocelyn's skin radiated warmth. She had the pregnancy glow Stephen always heard about.

"Why are you here?" Stephen asked. "Celine and I are trying our best. I don't know what's taking so long." Jocelyn held up her hand and shook her head.

"I know what Celine told you, about the Circle," Jocelyn said. Stephen remained impassive. He wished there was a code word, or something, that Jocelyn could say, but all Stephen had to go on was that one time, she told Stephen to run and report Valentine. Had that really been six months ago?

"What about the Circle?" Stephen asked. He looked out into the horse pasture. Cimon had been turned out with his mother for the first time today. Stephen had sat beside the fence all morning, like a doting father, worried that the older foals might bully the youngest foal. They hadn't, and Cimon had held his own regardless.

"I know that Celine told you there is a group of people within the Circle, known as the Uprising," Jocelyn said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Stephen said.

"Stephen," Jocelyn said. She grabbed his hand and jerked his body close to hers, then put her hands on his face and pulled his ear close to her mouth. If Stephen moved the slightest bit, he could kiss her on the lips, which wasn't the worst idea he ever had. He always held a place in his heart for the only red head he ever met. "I'm here about Luke. He is alive."

Stephen pushed Jocelyn away from him and ran a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes and opened them; all the while thinking that Jocelyn couldn't have meant what she said. She had to have been lying. Stephen saw Valentine covered in blood. He heard the raw emotion in Valentine's voice the night the Circle laid Luke's memory to rest. Luke had been killed in a werewolf attack. Luke was dead.

"He can't be," Stephen said. "You're lying to me."

"I've seen him," Jocelyn said. "The werewolves didn't kill him, they only hurt him severely. He became… one of them." Stephen felt a wave of nausea come over him. To think of all the werewolves he had killed since Luke's supposed death, and to know Luke could have been one of them… the thought was almost too much to bear. "There's more. Luke became leader of a pack in the Brocelind Forest. They know about Valentine's plan for the Accords. You should expect a battle, rather than an ambush." Stephen rolled his eyes. He had no idea how many people were in the Uprising, but it still felt like the Circle was bigger. Even with the werewolves on their side, the Accords were shaping up to be a bloody battle.

"Valentine knew that Luke was still alive, didn't he?" Stephen asked.

"There is no way of telling…" Jocelyn began.

"Jocelyn," Stephen said.

"Valentine told me about ripping the Circle amulet from Luke's neck. He told Luke to kill himself, rather than become a werewolf. For Valentine's purposes, Luke was dead," Jocelyn said.

"For Valentine's purposes," Stephen said. Never mind that Amatis thought she lost her brother and the Circle lost someone who was a close friend. No, Luke got in Valentine's way, and so Valentine did away with him.

"Stephen. You must not tell anyone, and especially not Celine. From what I know, Celine loved Luke, and the shock of finding out that he is still alive… She can only take so much right now," Jocelyn said.

"I need to see him," Stephen said. "Brocelind Forest, you say?"

"He doesn't want to see you," Jocelyn said. "He knows about you and Amatis…"

"Brocelind Forest?" Stephen repeated.

"Close to the eastern border," Jocelyn said. Stephen turned away from her, debating whether to go inside to tell Celine he was leaving, or to go to the barn, saddle a horse, and light out for Brocelind. "Stephen, there's more." Stephen spun around to find Jocelyn smiling triumphantly. "Expect to have an emergency Circle meeting at any time."

"For what?" Stephen asked. Jocelyn shrugged.

In the end, Stephen went upstairs and dressed in riding gear. Celine was sleeping in bed, having felt ill earlier in the day, so Stephen didn't bother to wake her up. Instead, he kissed her cheek and went back downstairs. He called to his mother that he was going riding, and then went out to the barn to saddle Lysander, one of the Herondale stallions. They took off at a brisk trot towards the east. Once into the woods, Stephen urged the horse faster, and rode at a hard gallop for an hour, to the edge of Brocelind Plain.

Stephen had been there before, with Valentine and the rest of the Circle, the night they killed a family of werewolves and burned a cabin to the ground. The Forest lay across the Plain, which was otherwise an open field broken up by a few trees. This was werewolf territory, a place that Shadowhunters rarely tread. Dressed in gear but unarmed, Stephen was tempting fate by coming here.

Entering the Forest was another move of insanity, yet Stephen rode around, searching for the wolf pack. The Forest stunk of werewolf, which wasn't an unpleasant scent, but was overpowering. There were tracks everywhere, and occasionally, Stephen came across the skeleton of a deer picked clean. Finally, he found a clearing filled with small shelters. There was meat cooking over a fire, as well as a garden a man was tending to.

Stephen dismounted from his horse and approached slowly. The man was shirtless but dressed in ripped pants. His hands dug into the soil, stirring the rich earth up. The man was all muscles and sinew, the body of an animal shoved into the skin of a man. Werewolves had near super human strength, even when they were in human form.

"Excuse me, I…" Stephen began. The man continued working, ignoring Stephen. "I was wondering if you knew if…" Stephen stepped closer, wondering if the man was deaf. "Excuse me?"

A deep snarl came from the man, who leapt up, spun around, pulled his fist back, and punched Stephen in the shoulder. Stephen staggered backwards and fell onto his backside as the man leapt onto him and punched him once more, then kneed Stephen just beneath his ribs. Stephen reached up, trying to fight the man off, but felt fur in his hands. He opened his eyes to see a set of white teeth bearing down on his neck. The man was suddenly less man, and more wolf.

"No, please, no!" Stephen cried. "I'm sorry for what I did! I'm sorry!" He thought he was losing his mind as he watched the wolf's form shift back into that of a man who was bigger and hairier than Luke had ever been. Luke's features, however, were the same. Being a werewolf was becoming of him. "Luke."

Luke wrapped a hand around Stephen's throat, lifted him from the ground, and hung him from a tree branch by the back of his shirt. He pulled out a knife and pressed it against Stephen's windpipe.

"Give me three reasons why I shouldn't put this knife through your throat, Shadowhunter," Luke said. Stephen tried to take a breath but was being strangled by his shirt. "I didn't hear you, Shadowhunter."

"Celine," Stephen said. Luke's face softened just the slightest bit.

"And?" Luke asked.

"Jocelyn."

"And?"

"I don't have another reason!" Stephen cried. Luke pressed the knife into the thin flesh of Stephen's neck. "The Uprising! I know about The Uprising!"

"And?"

"I'm on your side," Stephen said. Luke lifted his knife and sliced the back of Stephen's shirt, dropping him to the ground. He put a knee to Stephen's back and pressed Stephen's face into a soft bed of pine needles.

"And?" Luke asked. Stephen squeezed his eyes shut and willed himself not to cry. He was running out of reasons, or, maybe, they weren't the reasons Luke wanted to hear.

"I'm unarmed. Check. I come in peace," Stephen said. He felt Luke checking his hips, his waist, and the insides of his wrists, all for weapons. Luke pressed down hard on Stephen's back, so that his spine cracked. Stephen cried out in pain.

"And?" Luke asked.

"I'm sorry about Amatis," Stephen said. "It was all part of Valentine's plan… and Celine's. I meant no harm. I'm sorry, Luke. I'm so sorry. I loved her, you must know that." Luke stood up and stepped away. Stephen rolled into his back and sat up slowly. "You violated the Accords, you know, by harming a Shadowhunter." Luke pulled back a fist, this time aiming for Stephen's face. Stephen put his hands up and begged for mercy.

"Why are you here?" Luke demanded. Stephen climbed to his feet. He considered brushing the dirt off his backside, then thought better of it. He was, after all, completely covered in dirt.

"Jocelyn said you were alive and I had to see for myself," Stephen said.

Luke held his arms out at his sides. "See?"

"She said you became a werewolf," Stephen said. Luke nodded. "Celine told me you had a plan for the Uprising, but I shouldn't know about it, because I was so close to Valentine."

"Second in command, so I heard," Luke said. "Not Robert? Or Michael? He picked you?" Stephen shrugged. "He was grooming you for greatness. I shouldn't be surprised. Isn't this what you always wanted? To be known for something?"

"No," Stephen said. "If I could take it all back, I would have never joined the Circle. I would have stayed married to Amatis, moved with her to London…We would have had a son together." Luke nodded.

"Yes, but you can't do that, now can you?" Luke asked.

"I'm sorry," Stephen said. "I wish I had never joined the Circle. I hate Valentine. I just want to kill him. I want to make things right… or as right as I can get them."

"He wasn't so bad, in the beginning," Luke said. "He had a good idea… and the best of intentions. But like you, he got lost along the way." Luke stared down at the ground, lapsing into silence. It was a minute before he spoke once again. "Why did you even come here? I don't want you here. You hurt my sister. You made all the wrong decisions. You say you're going to make it right, but that doesn't make up for your wrongs."

"I'm sorry," Stephen said. "I still love her, Luke. I'll always love Amatis."

"That doesn't help, now that you're married to Celine, now does it?" Luke asked. He kicked the ground with the toe of his boot. "I want you to leave here, and never come back. I never want to see your face again. I don't care if you're on my side or not. I never want to see you again."

"Luke," Stephen said.

"Leave, and never come back," Luke repeated. He turned his back on Stephen and walked towards a collection of shelters, leaving Stephen behind.

Stephen got lost twice on the way home. A storm blew in and pelted him with rain, and the sun was long gone by the time Stephen settled his horse into the barn and climbed the front steps of the manor house. He kicked his boots off in the front foyer, and walked down to the kitchen to find the lights on. Marcus sat at the kitchen table, his hand on top of Celine's. Imogen was pacing back and forth, her face stained with tears.

"Is everything okay?" Stephen asked.

"Stephen William!" Imogen cried. She rushed to him and pulled him against her body, starting to cry. "Where have you been? We've been worried sick!"

"I went…" Stephen began, and the he realized he couldn't tell Celine where he went, because then she would want to go there to. "I went for a ride."

"Where?" Marcus asked. "Where did you go for a ride, for the last six hours? You worried your mother, your wife is a mess…" Celine looked up at Stephen, her eyes vacant.

"I lost track of time," Stephen said. He managed to get away from his mother only to be grabbed by his father and pulled into a rough hug.

"You can't tell us you've done awful things then just disappear! Damnit, Stephen! We thought…Celine told us about the incident with the knife, before the wedding. We thought you were dead, that you… killed yourself," Marcus said.

"No, never. I'm sorry. I just needed to clear my head," Stephen said. Celine covered her mouth with a hand as she began to cry. "I'm sorry, Celine. I didn't mean to worry you. It will never happen again." Stephen knelt beside her chair and took her other hand, which had been resting on her lower stomach. "I'm sorry."

"I'm pregnant," Celine said. Stephen stood up slowly and turned to his parents. It was the second time in his life he saw his father sorry for him.

Author's Note: Okay, now, I know of at least two of you who have been waiting for that moment for a while. So Review! Thanks for Reading! Here's a teaser:

"No. It's been a little while since you saw someone suffer," Valentine said.