Lexa found her in the garden.
It was rare to see the Polis Commander out of armor. Rarer still to see her without guards. But this morning, she walked barefoot across the damp stones of the small garden hidden behind the Flamekeeper's temple, green vines coiling around crumbling stone.
Kira sat on the edge of the old fountain, head tilted toward the sunlight. It painted her in gold. Lexa stopped a few feet away and said nothing.
For once, they didn't have to speak first.
"I used to think the war would end when we won," Kira said, eyes still closed. "But now I think… it just changes."
Lexa stepped forward. "We fight. Then we rest. Then we fight again."
"And the cycle goes on," Kira murmured.
They were quiet for a while.
Then Lexa said, "You've been avoiding me."
Kira opened one eye, smirking faintly. "Me? Avoid you? That's suicide."
Lexa didn't smile.
"You know why."
Kira sighed. "I do."
Lexa took a slow breath. "Do you regret coming back?"
Kira blinked.
The question settled between them like ash.
"No," she said. "But I regret how much I had to change."
Lexa sat beside her. "You didn't change."
"I did. I became someone who lies to his friends. Who keeps secrets from the one person he—" She stopped. Jaw clenched.
Lexa's voice softened. "From the one person who what?"
Kira looked down at her hands.
"You should know," she said. "Before everything else happens. Before it's too late."
Lexa didn't breathe.
Kira finally looked up. "You're the only reason I didn't go mad in the past."
Lexa blinked.
"The only reason I still believed this world was worth saving," Kira continued. "When I woke up back here… when I realized I had a second chance… it wasn't the Flame or the fight or even Clarke that made me stay."
"It was you."
Lexa swallowed hard. Her voice was barely a whisper. "You love me."
"I never stopped."
Lexa closed her eyes. And in that moment, the steel dropped from her expression. She wasn't a Commander. She wasn't a leader.
She was just Lexa.
And she leaned forward, pressing her forehead gently to his.
"I was afraid," she said. "Afraid you'd disappear again. That I'd lose you like the others."
Kira smiled, a little broken.
"I'm not going anywhere."
Their hands met. Fingers interlaced.
And for a moment, in the silence of the garden, there was no war. No betrayal. No prophecy or Flame or strategy.
Just two people, holding each other steady.
Later that day, Raven met Kira in the lower corridor near the war room.
"Found something," she said, holding up a scrap of metal.
Kira frowned. "From where?"
"Inside the Council chamber. Hidden under the stone near the Azgeda chair."
Linh joined them, laptop in hand. "Not just metal. It's a transmitter. Short-range burst relay. Meant to piggyback off your tech."
Kira's expression darkened. "Someone's been leaking data."
"To who?" Raven asked.
Linh hesitated. "If I had to guess… someone who knew about the Shadow Protocol."
Kira's blood ran cold.
"Is it active?"
"Not yet. But soon."
Raven crossed her arms. "You need to tell Lexa."
"I will," Kira said. "But not before I find the source."
Linh closed the laptop. "You already suspect someone, don't you?"
Kira looked back at the corridor.
And whispered, "I think the sleeper agent is one of the ambassadors."
That night, as the sun set in red and amber over the Polis skyline, Clarke stood on the highest balcony. The wind tugged at her hair. She held the memory of her mother's face in her hands—an old digital photo retrieved from the wreckage of the Ark tech.
She didn't cry.
She couldn't.
Kira joined her without speaking.
"Do you think she'd still do it?" Clarke asked.
Kira didn't lie.
"Yes."
Clarke nodded once. "Then we can't trust anyone from the old guard."
"No."
She looked at him. "So who do we trust?"
Kira answered without hesitation.
"Each other."
In a distant forest clearing, far from Polis, a hooded figure knelt before a holographic emitter. The image of a shadowed man flickered into view.
"The Flame remains active."
"Is the target in place?"
"Yes," the agent replied. "Polis will fall from within. All it takes is one spark."
The man in the hologram smiled coldly.
"Then burn it all."
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