War of Hearts 》Bellamy Blake

E I G H T E E N

Clarke walked towards the woman who dismounted her horse as the two met in the middle, talking so quietly that the other watching strained to hear the conversation.

'Lincoln, this is Brinley.' Octavia gestured to the grounder, who glanced at her but didn't say anything.

Brinley swallowed back her revulsion of the grounders, for Octavia, she reminded herself. 'Hello Lincoln.'

'Hello, Brinley.'

Octavia smiled at the two, knowing they were trying, for her.

'Her name is Anya.' Lincoln spoke quietly to Finn and Brinley.

'You started a war that you don't know how to end.'

Brinley looked up sharply, anger in her expression.

'What? No, we didn't start anything. You attacked us for no reason!' Clarke sounded both surprised at the accusation and angry.

'This isn't good, this isn't good at all.' Brinley muttered.

'Give it time.' Octavia tried to reassure her but Brinley shook her head.

'You knew we were here when you sent an armed raiding party to capture one of us and torture him.' Anya sounded angry and Brinley glanced at Lincoln, who met her eyes realising what she intended to do.

'Don't-' He warned her but she shoved his arm away.

'And you,' Brinley walked forward towards Clarke, raising her hands to show she had no weapons, but continuing to look at Anya. 'Speared one of us, tied him to a tree as live bait and left him to die the second you had a chance.'

Anya's eyes narrowed at Brinley and Clarke looked worried.

'These are all acts of war.' Anya spat and Brinley laughed.

'Acts of war? We're in your territory, unarmed trying to come to a peaceful agreement so that no more life is lost, this is not an act of war it's an act of peace.'

'Lincoln said there are more of you coming down, warriors.'

'The guard. Yes. But also farmers, doctors and engineers. We can help each other, but not if we're at war.' Clarke had a pleading expression on her face.

'Can you promise that these new arrivals won't attack us? That they'll respect the terms you and I agree on?'

Brinley knew Anya had them there, once the guard came down they would have no more control over anything.

'I promise I will do everything I can to convince them to honour the terms that we set.'

Brinley knew that Clarke's promise wouldn't be good enough even before Anya spoke.

'Why would I agree to an alliance that your people can break the moment they get here?'

'If you fire the first shot, those people coming down won't bother negotiating. Our technology... they will wipe you out.' Clarke warned gently.

'They wouldn't be the first to try.' Anya seemed almost amused, her body oozing confidence.

'Clarke! Brinley! Run!' Both Clarke and Brinley looked startled as Jasper appeared out of the trees, beginning to shoot upwards away from the bridge. Brinley realised almost immediately what had happened.

They'd been tricked.

Anya went to stab Clarke with a hidden knife but one well-placed bullet from Bellamy sent her reeling back. Brinley turned quickly, catching sight of the shock on Lincoln's face and she realised that he hadn't know what they were walking into. We can trust him, she realised. Octavia and Finn had been right about that, at least.