"Where did I go wrong?
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life"
-How to Save a Life, The Fray
*****
When Finn's body is nothing more than a pile of ashes on little pieces of wood, the two groups move to a more private room where their alliance will begin with a feast.
Why a feast will signify the beginning of the alliance, Ash does not know.
But the food gathered on the very large table that divides the two sides looks very appetizing, so she won't question it.
All of the food has been prepared by the Grounders, and Kane, unwilling to show up to a feast unprepared, hands a bag containing a bottle to Lexa. "Please accept this gift, Commander," he says. "We drink this on special occasions. I believe this qualifies."
"Moonshine," Ash murmurs with a sigh, longing curling in her chest. Unity Day feels eons away now. She wants nothing more than to grab that drink and drown herself in it—to blur the edges of the last few days, to forget, even for a night.
Before she can reach for it, the man next to Lexa, Gustus, as she's learned, plucks the bottle from Kane's hands, his suspicious gaze never leaving the Sky People as he uncorks it. Without hesitation, he pours the liquid into a cup and takes a long sip. Only after a few tense seconds pass does he hand the bottle to Lexa.
"Thank you, Marcus, of the Sky People," Lexa says, her voice measured, unreadable.
"You're welcome, Lexa kom Trikru."
Lexa raises her cup. "Tonight, we celebrate our newfound peace. Tomorrow, we plan a war. To those we've lost." Her eyes flicker toward the remains of Finn Collins. "And to those we will find."
Ash barely lifts her cup to her lips before chaos erupts.
Gustus gasps, choking on his breath, his body seizing as he collapses to the ground. The room erupts with shouts as Indra's blade flashes, pointed at them before Ash even registers the accusation.
"Poison!" someone roars.
Instinct takes over. Bellamy knocks the cup from Ash's hands before she can react, the liquid splattering onto the floor. Her fingers tighten where her knives would typically be as she steps between Indra and Clarke, blocking the sharp steel aimed at her friend's throat.
"Why would we try to break a truce we need to save our people?" Ash demands.
Indra's gaze burns with distrust, her knuckles white around her weapon. "Search them."
Hands grab at Ash, rough and unrelenting. She doesn't resist, standing still as they pat her down, checking her for anything that could've been used to poison Gustus. The same is done to the others, each search yielding nothing.
Until they reach Raven.
Ash's stomach knots at the sight of the vial clutched in Raven's trembling fingers.
Lexa's expression hardens, betrayal flickering in her eyes as she turns toward Clarke. "Gustus warned me about you," she says, her voice sharp as a blade. "I didn't listen. Tell me, Clarke, when you plunged a knife into the man you loved, did you not wish it was mine?"
Clarke doesn't answer. She doesn't even look away. That, more than anything, seals their fate.
"No Sky Person leaves this room!" Lexa commands.
The Grounders leave without hesitation, sealing the doors behind them. The tension in the room thickens, pressing against Ash's ribs like an iron cage.
Silence stretches until Clarke finally turns to Ash, her voice flat. "Do you think she did it?"
YOU ARE READING
somewhere | b.blake ✔️
Fanfiction"somewhere there's peace, they just have to find it." in which a girl whose smile is the brightest of them all finds herself falling in love with a curly haired boy on a planet that isn't supposed to be survivable. [SEASONS ONE TO TWO COMPLETED] hig...
