Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"THEY'RE GOING TO KILL HIM," Taylor rushed out, Clarke nodding absently as her attention drifted off toward something behind them. Finn was approaching fast, and Clarke's eyes widened as she commanded the guards to shut the gate on the Grounders waiting just outside, presumably for them to hand Finn over.
"That's why we can't let it happen," she mumbled, grabbing Finn by the arm and lowering her voice even further. She told him quickly that he couldn't be there. At that point Abby had approached with Elara in tow and their fellow people were demanding to know what was going on.
Abby wrapped her daughter in a quick hug and asked her quickly, "What did she say? Is there a chance for a truce?"
Everyone gathered around Clarke with bated breath, Bellamy and Taylor exchanging uncomfortable glances. There had to be a way around it. There had to be.
"Yes," Clarke replied, trying her best to steel herself for the backlash that would come with the decision. More so from the people that were closest to him. Taylor, for one, was not ready to just sacrifice one of her closest friends to his certain death.
"What's wrong?" Finn questioned, knowing that Clarke wore the look she always had on when she was about to deliver bad news she didn't want to deliver.
"They want you," she revealed without missing a beat, staring at him directly. Bellamy looked down and Taylor looked off to the side, the torches of the Grounders on horseback still glowing near the gates threateningly. "If we want a truce, we have to give them Finn."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Raven interjected, looking confused and mostly in denial.
"That's their offer," Clarke affirmed. She was fully detached now. Or trying to detach herself from the situation. Taylor knew the feeling well.
"That's not an offer —" Raven began, only to be cut off by Finn.
"It's a punishment," he realized. "For what happened at the village. Blood for blood."
"If we refuse?" Abby ventured, raising her eyebrows.
"They attack," Clarke told her.
There was no way out. They had done it, gotten their truce, but at what cost? Taylor shifted nervously next to Bellamy and her mother caught her eye, which she quickly glanced away from.
"I say we give him up!" someone from the gathering crowd around them called. More people screamed in agreement, and Taylor felt her stomach lurch. Mob mentality was one of the worst kinds of mentality she had ever seen.
