That's why I..

Chapter Forty Two

Clarke POV

I don't know what to do. I'm suspended 100 floors above the ground and am only held up by my frail arms. I haven't slept much in 3 weeks and haven't eaten anything. By my calculations I'll have to let go within the next 10-15 minutes. The build up of lactic acid in my arms will be too much to my body to handle.

Pike has clearly drugged Lexa otherwise she would be awake and fighting by now but what I don't understand is how the rest of the building haven't heard my screams, or the merchants down below. Surely they'd be able to hear it if not see me hanging over the edge of the balcony. It is at that moment that I smell it. It's the gas the Mounon (mountain men) used to make you fall unconscious. Pike would have known that Mount Weather had it but it would have taken medical knowledge to know how long everyone would be unconscious for. Mum. I cannot believe her. I try and think back in my memories to what she said to me last and then I remember she said that she loves Pike and wanted me to feel the pain of him being killed. This was her idea.

Then all of a sudden one of my hands start to slip. I have lost focus on the task at hand. Keeping myself from falling. I readjust my grip and focus on my breathing and the feeling of my heartbeat.

I can't see anything that's happening with Lexa but I can hear. It doesn't sound like anything is happening. I can hear rustling like someone is walking around but the steps are too light to be Pike's they must belong to a woman. Lexa.

The next thing I know there is a figure standing on the balcony right in front of me. It's Lexa. Thank god she's okay. She couches down so that she can talk to me and grabs my wrists. I think she is going to pull me up so I loosen my grip to make it easier for her but she just holds me there. She looks me dead in the eyes and says "Sometimes you have to concede a battle to win a war Clarke. I told you that. I cannot end up like you. One of Pike's toys, used and discarded once they aren't any use anymore. If I die the coalition will be jeopardised. I hope you know that I do this as part of my duty. I am Heda and love is weakness"

At that moment she let's go of my wrists and I am falling to the ground. Fast.