The Tribute (Clexa)

Chapter 22

could feel a slight tremble coming from the omega sitting in front of her as Baman trotted into the city. The hard-packed dirt road they had been traveling on transitioned into an ancient, paved road. The alpha had always found the sound of horseshoes clomping on the pavement soothing, but she had a feeling that the noise it added to the already loud city might be adversely affecting the omega.

Lexa was proud of how her people kept they streets maintained. She had never asked how it was done, but should the roads ever develop a crack or a pothole, workers were out in the streets the next day filling them. As Heda, it was, perhaps, in her best interest to know how this was done, but that was a worry for another day. Right now, she was more concerned about Clarke.

The omega shivered strongly against her.

"Are you okay?" Lexa asked, concerned it was starting to be too much for the omega.

Clarke had ridden into the city, sitting tall, and affecting a neutral face. She portrayed strength in the way she sat, but as the crowds thickened, and the drums beat harder, she could feel the omega's façade starting to crack.

People were yelling and screaming. Chants of "Heda Lexa" could be heard from all sides of them. The crowd pushed in close to them, but as promised, none tried to touch Lexa or Clarke. Most stared in awe of the pair.

Lexa couldn't help but smile at the thought that they must have made a handsome couple riding together on her horse. Clarke was light to Lexa's dark. As it was, hair the color of Clarke's was exceedingly rare among the people. She would need to remember to get the blonde a hooded cloak so that the omega could hide her brightly colored hair if she wanted to. She knew Clarke was going to hate the attention she got until the fervor of having the skai omega in the city died down.

"I am okay," Clarke whispered. "I promise."

"It won't be long now. We won't stop until we get to the Tower. We will go up and rest. I know I said we will be meeting with Heda Malachi and Titus soon, but I will make sure you have as much time as you need before we go see them." Lexa wanted Clarke as comfortable as possible before meeting Malachi. She'd barely gotten a glimpse of the man before she had tripped on the stairs during that fateful meeting and had literally fallen into the arms of one of the Masked Gona.

Lexa could tell that Clarke was frightened by the crowd, but the omega was doing a valiant job of fighting her fears. Still, she wanted to give all the time she needed.

She hoped that one day Clarke would see just how incredible she was. She had been on the ground just less than a month, but in that time, her growth had been nothing less than astounding. If they had arrived in Polis even a week ago, the omega would have been reacting very differently than she was now. Lexa wasn't entirely sure that if their trip had taken place earlier that the omega wouldn't have shut down.

Even she felt tense with the way the people crowded them, and if that was how she was feeling, she could only imagine what Clarke felt.

Since entering the city, she had been pouring out soothing pheromones, and she hoped it was helping. She thought it was. Not once had she scented any kind of distress coming from Clarke. Except for the minor trembling, Clarke was doing extraordinarily well.

She gave Clarke a reassuring squeeze, because she was about to do something that she didn't want to, She didn't want accolades or the extra attention it would draw to her and Clarke, but she lifted her hand and waved at her people. She had to play the part. She was Heda now. Her people expected acknowledgement. They deserved it, so with the lift of her hand, she gave the people what they wanted, and they roared.

"Heda. Heda. Heda."

Just as many were screaming in delight at getting their first glimpse of Clarke.

Another tremble from Clarke had Baman increasing his pace. It was as if the animal could sense that the omega's anxiety was climbing.