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The Price of Peace	By : Looneyluna Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 19166 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Chapter Eighteen –

Fire Nation guards surrounded the traveled carriage as it pulled into the outer courtyard, weapons drawn and menacing expressions on their faces. Azula’s husband clasped her forearm in warning through the heavy cloth she had been forced to wear to conceal her true identity.

“Stay hidden,” Qiang commanded as he brushed past her.

“It’s a trap,” hissed Azula. “I know it is.”

Qiang chuckled as he climbed out of the carriage. “Do you not think I could fight my way out of here? Even if I was detained in the deepest bowels of the Fire Nation’s renowned dungeons, I would be able to escape.”

“Your arrogance will kill us both, one day,” the former princess chastised him from behind her dark veil.

“And your paranoia will keep us from greatness,” the general returned sharply.

Azula scowled, wanting nothing more than to tear off the layers of fabric and the veil. She feared for the safety of her lover. With the number of guards training their weapons on them, even she wasn’t fool enough to take them on by herself. She watched as Qiang reached inside his tunic and extracted the parchment with the royal seal upon it.

It wasn’t as though she didn’t trust him, but there were times that his bloodlust and ambition blinded him to the sound strategies of war…much less the subtle art of survival.

Licking her dry lips, Azula scoffed at her thoughts. She was surviving. She had landed in Qiang’s camp and had adapted, at first using the Earth Kingdom’s attraction for her to her advantage. She had fanaticized about returning to the Fire Nation and taking her rightful place, but she had gotten used to Qiang. The life he afforded her was exhilarating. He offered her a glimpse of life without the rules and boundaries that had been taught to her – not that she had ever adhered to them.

She never was a very good student, for she always preferred to do things her way.

Upon seeing the royal seal, the guards backed away and hastily motioned for them to proceed. Her husband stood on the lip of the carriage as it lurched forward, going deeper into the twisting turns of the road to the royal stables.

--

“They are here,” Iroh announced, his gravelly voice carrying across the small room. Two guards, who carried awkward bundles, followed him. “I want both of you close to me when the time comes. Qiang is being treated like the Fire Lord is thinks he is to become. There is a female with him. Her identity is hidden. If I were a betting man, I would say the woman is Azula.”

“You are a betting man, Uncle,” stated Zuko, his voice rough from lack of sleep. He glanced at Aang, who stood next to him, and rolled his eyes. “He plays Pai Sho all the time.”

Aang nodded, covering his nervousness with idle chitchat. “I know. I’ve played with him before.”

The gleam in Iroh’s eyes brightened. “Yes, we are equally matched, for you use a strategy that is old, but effective.”

Bowing, Aang grinned. “Thank you, General Iroh.”

Zuko rubbed his hand across his face in a manner befitting his aggravation. He never should have mentioned Pai Sho. His uncle was like a child at times, easily distracted. The Avatar was not much better. Zuko approached the Fire Nation soldier on Iroh’s right and grabbed the bundle of the uniform out of the man’s arms. “I take it these are for us.”

Iroh sobered. “Yes. I want you both close should things go poorly.”

Aang chuckled mirthlessly as he took the uniform from the guard on Iroh’s left. “Of course things are going to go poorly. This is Azula were talking about. Remember?”

“What are we waiting for, Uncle? Why not arrest them now? There are witnesses.” Zuko could feel his growing anger threaten his calm.

He still had difficulty believing Aang’s claims that Azula was alive. But the picture the Avatar had painted upon his arrival of the torture that Lao Bei Fong had suffered was enough to convince him of the horrendous truth.

His sister was alive. The world was an even more dangerous place with Azula in it. Any lingering doubts he may have had concerning Katara had been put to rest.

He wanted to kill Qiang and Azula, not arrest them. Yes, there was only circumstantial evidence against them in the attempt on Katara’s life, but in his gut he knew they were responsible. His gut told him Azula was plotting something bigger…something more grandiose than claiming the throne to the Fire Nation.

She and Qiang were responsible for the raids, raids that had been blamed on the Fire Nation – his personal honor. As much as he wanted to kill them, he knew he could not. He needed them alive to appease the factions of the Earth Kingdom. He needed to keep the peace…to maintain the balance between the elements.

“Patience, Zuko,” Iroh replied softly. “Like Pai Sho, we must play the perfect host and wait for all the players to arrive.”

--

Safe within the confines of their suite, Azula tore the veil from her face and glared at her husband. “You’re a fool,” she spat, verbally attacking him before he got too comfortable.

Reclining on the pillows that lined the floor, Qiang smirked.

“Do you honestly think we are going to waltz in and be welcomed with open arms?” the Firebending prodigy questioned her reckless captor. “We will be held accountable for the villages that we raided. We –”

With the speed and strength of a tiger, Qiang pulled Azula down and silenced her fiery temper. He forced her lips open beneath his, demanding compliance. He could tell she was still angry. This was not going to be easy.

Chomping down on his lip, she moved to slap him, but he was her equal. He anticipated her nervousness and anger. He fed off of it. He enjoyed the high of raw emotions. To march into the lair of one’s enemy was a fool’s errand, but this lair would soon be his. Azula would deny him nothing once he secured the Fire Nation throne for their future.

She would give him another child and silence any opposition to the rule of the Fire Nation. He would have dominion over resources beyond his wildest imaginings. He would rule as regent. He would never have to go through the bureaucracy of Earth Kingdom politics again.

Qiang growled, the taste of his own blood on his lip. He caught her wrist and forced her palm open. “Temper, temper, my love.”

“There will be a price to pay for our crimes, Qiang,” she huffed and struggled against him. He was a large man, double her weight and deadlier than a venomous snake.

Rolling Azula beneath him, he slid his thigh between hers and tugged her earlobe between his teeth. “There is always a price, Azula. Are you willing to pay it and give me what I want?” He palmed the clothed flesh of her breast suggestively.

The Fire Nation princess tried to throw him off, but struggled in vain. “Unbelievable! They can strike at us at any time, and you’re thinking about sex!”

Rubbing himself against his concubine’s thigh, Qiang growled huskily. “I’ve never seen you afraid, Azula. Why are you afraid? Do you honestly think they will enter our suite and assassinate us? Do you not trust my men to protect us? I have spies in the palace, my love. They assure me that Iroh tires of his responsibilities daily. Apparently, the old general can’t seem to get enough of his newest concubine. Rumor has spread that she is even pregnant.” He nuzzled the graceful arch of her neck.

Azula clamped her thighs around his. “No,” she hissed.

“Yes,” he whispered, licking her neck with a long forceful stroke of his tongue.

“Never again!” she spat, feeling his fingers snake past her underwear and into her female lips.

He pinched her clitoris cruelly, plucking the delicate flesh in retribution. “If you do not, I will serve you up to your uncle on a platter,” he promised angrily. “My men will testify against you.”

She could see the threat clearly in his eyes and knew it to be true. The bitterness of betrayal coursed through her veins like an all-consuming fire. She knew it would be a difficult story to sell to any jury, but she had no doubts that her ruthless husband could pull it off. After all, he had convinced her that he actually loved her. She was beaten. Her survival instinct dictated that she acquiesce to his demands.

Closing her eyes, she turned her head away from his ardent kisses and relaxed. Once she was in a more strategic position, she would kill him. “Someday, I will step out of your shadow and kill you,” she stated softly.

Qiang chuckled, quickly tearing clothing and armor away. He settled his weight in the crux of her thighs, pointedly going slow as he consummated their union. “I would expect nothing less, my love.”

--

TBC

A/N – Please accept my deepest sincerest apologies for the lack of update. My right hand has gotten much worse. Writing is no longer enjoyable. It’s just downright painful. Unfortunately, the doctor cannot give me a magic pill or shot and make it go away. So, surgery is on the way! Yipee! (Note sarcasm.) We are waiting for insurance approval for the surgery. It will probably be around the end of the month or beginning of next month. I would love to get another chapter complete before then, but I doubt it will happen. The pain has gotten to the point where the pain pills aren’t touching it. On that note, I will stop typing.
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The Price of Peace