Duty Before Feelings

Hostage

"Where am I?" I blurt, attempting to move against my restraints.

"Welcome to Azgeda. Ice Nation is what you sky people call it," she replies, crouching down slightly to reach my level.

"What do you want from me? Who are you?"

She laughs.

"I am Queen Nia kom Azgeda. You will talk to me with respect."

"Go float yourself!" I spat, earning myself a cold glare from the guards standing at the door.

I was so focused on Nia that I had not noticed a young woman standing across the the room. She slowly walks towards me, her hand gripping her knife.

"You will address my queen with respect," she says cooly.

"Like hell I will."

She brings her knife up to my throat, slowly piercing my skin.

"Enough, Ontari! You are forgetting the power Wanheda holds. I must be the one to kill her," Nia shouts.

Before Ontari could reply, I lean forward and bite her hand with as much force as I possibly could.

"No one is killing me today!" I yell, ignoring Ontari's yelps of pain.

In the corner of my eye, I notice black blood slowly dripping onto the floor.

"You're a Natblida?" I ask, looking directly into Ontari's eyes.

Ignoring me, she turns to Nia.

"Do not be angry, Nia. Our secret is still safe. She will die today, and her knowledge of our secret will die with her," she says, watching Nia for her reaction.

"If you were going to kill me, you would have done it already!" I blurt, saliva spitting out my mouth.

"Because I'm not going to kill you here, Wanheda. I am going to hold a public execution in exactly two hours, for everyone to see. They must witness me kill you with their own eyes," she says with a smile.

Fear shoots through me as I realise her explanation is completely logical and that I was going to die today.

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Lexa's POV

"I will not stand here and let the fear of war dictate our agenda!" I shout, startling the entire room.

Before anyone could reply, Indra bursts into the room with a concerning look on her face.

"Heda, we need to talk in private."

"It is not acceptable to interrupt an important meeting, Indra."

She replies with a worried look on her face. Understanding that whatever she had to talk to me about was important, I dismiss the room.

Indra shuts the door behind her.

"Glenn was found dead on the street in the city, Heda. A sword was driven through his heart."

Realising that Glenn was the guard I assigned to watch over Clarke, concern immediately dawns on me.

"Where is Clarke?"

"We found a rock covered in blood. She was knocked unconscious and taken."

I bang my fists onto the meeting room table.

"Azgeda?"

"We think so."

I turn to the door, but Indra stops me.