Lexa had sent Clarke back into the bedroom to prepare the oil warmers for the upcoming massage while she toweled herself off. The whole situation was becoming much more frustrating than she had anticipated that it would be. It wasn't that she had wanted to embarrass Clarke or torture herself, for that matter, it was just that she couldn't imagine wanting anyone else's hands on her that intimately. But the fact that she wanted Clarke more desperately than Clarke apparently wanted her was driving her insane. She was glad for the brief reprieve from the blonde goddess' presence.

Lexa sat on the small stool at the vanity and ran her butterfly comb through her wet hair before securing it with a dagger shaped hairpin carved from the femur of a deer. It had been a gift from Anya and Lexa treasured it dearly. Standing, Heda took her robe from the hook where Clarke had hung it, then pulled it over her shoulders and cinched it at the waist. She had been so certain that Clarke was going to break. She'd seen her admiring her breasts, her lips. The Skaigirl clearly desired her but not enough to act on that desire. She took a deep breath as she paused at the door to the bedroom. She was going to need all the resolve she could muster to not show Clarke how much her touches and caresses meant. With a glance heavenward, and a renewed determination, Lexa pushed open the door and turned the corner into her bedroom.

And. . . . she nearly choked. Clarke had taken it upon herself to undress. The golden beauty was sitting on her knees waiting for Lexa on the bed wearing nothing but her bra and panties. Lexa stopped abruptly, her mouth agape. It was official, Clarke was trying to kill her!

"Hey," Clarke smiled. "I didn't wanna get this all over my clothes," Clarke held up a bottle of lavender oil. She'd already poured three bowlfuls of the essential oil in the burners but kept the bottle nearby in case she needed to replenish. "I hope this is okay." She gestured to her half-nude form.

'It's more than okay, it's the sexiest thing I've ever seen,' were the words that flew to Lexa's brain, but the words that fell from her lips were, "I can get you a robe."

Clarke frowned. "Okay."

"If you prefer this, though." Lexa managed to breathe though she wasn't sure how. She was never more grateful for autonomic functions because she knew if she had to remind her heart to beat or her lungs to suck in air, she'd never be able to do those things and still keep herself from ravishing Clarke.

"Well, this does offer more freedom of movement. But if it's inappropriate, I'll be glad to dress how you like." Clarke noticed that Lexa had managed to pick her chin up off the floor. She hoped Lexa's reaction had been because she'd like what she'd seen.

"This is perfectly suitable," Lexa answered and quickly untied her robe.

As the blue silk fluttered to the ground, it was Clarke's turn to battle incoherency. She'd already seen Lexa's perfect breasts but was now mesmerized by the soft tuft of brown curls that topped Lexa's mound. But it was more than just the Commander's body that captivated her. It was the sight of Lexa so unguarded. So open. So natural. No body paint, no armor. Nothing. The sheer purity of it made Clarke do something bold. She reached around her back and unhooked her own bra and then tossed aside her panties. "Would this be appropriate?"

Lexa swallowed hard. "Clarke, I . . . I . . . yes. . . of course. . . it's fine." Lexa wanted to tell her how much she loved her, how much she wanted her. But she'd reached out to Clarke before only to be told that Clarke wasn't ready. And then, Lexa had left. Left her to face the Mountain alone. Although she'd apologized and knew that Clarke had, in part, forgiven her. Lexa didn't feel she had the right to proposition Clarke again. No, if they were going to move forward from this dance they'd been performing for the past couple of weeks, it was going to have to be Clarke to take the next step.

"Good. Let's do this, then," Clarke patted the furs.

Lexa nodded and climbed on the bed and lay face down.

With her hair pulled up, her back and neck tattoos were fully visible. Clarke couldn't help but run her finger up the intricate tattoo that ran along Lexa's spine. "This is beautiful."

"I got it when I became Heda."

"And this one?" Clarke fingered the infinity symbol.

"The sacred symbol, the symbol of the Commander," Lexa clarified.

"Infinity?" Clarke new the symbol primarily from math class.

"It's to signify that death is not the end. When I die, the Commander's spirit will live on in the next Heda," Lexa explained.

"You said before when we faced Pauna that your spirit would choose the next leader." Clarke reached into one of the warmer bowls and slathered the hot oil in her hands

"Mmm Hmmm," Lexa answered as she felt Clarke straddled the back of her thighs and then Clarke's hot hands start working on her lower back.

"So, the last Commander chose you?" Clarke continued her line of questioning. She figured talking about something completely removed from the fact that Lexa lay beneath her totally nude was the only thing that was going to get the fact of Lexa was lying beneath her totally nude out of her head.

"That's right." Like Clarke, Lexa found that focusing on the conversation was helping her keep her sanity.

"But you also have to fight for the position, at the conclave?" Clarke's hands moved from Lexa's lower back up to the middle of her back working out the tension.

"Yes, the last living Natblida is named Heda." Clarke's hands were firm and strong. Lexa was surprised to find that Clarke was such a skilled masseuse. "This feels wonderful but you don't really have to massage me. It's more about saturating my skin with the oils."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know," Clarke moved off of Lexa's thighs."

Lexa felt Clark's downy curls brush across her leg as Clarke moved. Her center pulsed at the contact. "Don't apologize, Clarke. You weren't doing anything wrong. I hadn't explained it properly."

"How would Costia do it?" Clarke asked.

"You're not Costia, Clarke," Lexa answered matter-of-factly.

Clarke's face went flush as if she'd been slapped. Tears stung at her eyes. She swiped at them to keep them from falling. The action had been a mistake. The oil burned instantly. "Shit," she cried when she realized her mistake. She rubbed at the eyes harder trying to get the oil out which only compounded the matter. She couldn't see at all, everything was blurry.

"What's wrong?" Lexa rolled over and then sat up when she saw Clarke's distress. "What happened?"

"The oil, I got it in my eyes."

Lexa hurried into the bathroom and grabbed some washcloths and a bowl of water.

"Quit rubbing at them," she ordered when she returned to the bed. She handed Clarke a wet cloth. "Here, wipe your hands first. Then tilt your head back, I'm going to flush your eyes. And, why would you do that, anyway?"

"I wasn't thinking."

"Clearly," Lexa shook her head as she poured the water into Clarke's sky eyes.

Clarke took one of the dry towels and patted her own eyes. She blinked a few times and then tried to see out of them. Her eyes still burned like crazy but her vision was less blurry.

"Do you want me to flush them again?"

Clarke nodded and held her head back.

It took three more flushes before Clarke could quit blinking her eyes in pain.

"I'm sorry, Lexa. Now I've really screwed things up."

Lexa looked out the window. It was afternoon, now. And she still had to get dressed and put the rest of her plan in motion. "You haven't messed anything up. You're doing everything perfectly, Clarke. Well, except the trying to blind yourself part. Leave that out next year, okay?"

Next year? Clarke's heart soared. Lexa wanted her to do this next year? But she'd just told her she wasn't Costia. And it wasn't that Clarke was trying to replace Costia but she didn't want to fall short either. "I promise."

"Here, have a seat. I'll finish with the oiling." Clarke sat at the foot of the bed and soon her eyes were burning with a new kind of fire. Lexa slicked the oil up her toned calves like a painter brushing fine strokes on a canvas. And, even though she felt like a complete voyeur, Clarke couldn't look away.

There was something in the openness with which Lexa worked the oil into her skin unabashedly in Clarke's presence that made Clarke open up to the woman. "It was Costia. Or rather my hang-up over Costia. You said I wasn't her. And, I'm not trying to be her. I'm not. I know that no one will ever take her place. I just didn't want to disappoint you."

Lexa stopped moving her hands over her body and scooted down to the foot of the bed so that she was nearer to Clarke. "I don't want you to be Costia, Clarke. I want you to be you. You don't disappoint me. Can't you see that? Can't you see? You say you can read me and yet you either can't or you don't want to see."

"I'm afraid to see, Lexa. I'm afraid you'll take it away from me again," Her blue eyes pierced Lexa.

"I told you. I'll never betray you, again. Clarke, things are different now. Your people are my people. Don't you see that's why it was so important to me for Skaikru to become the thirteenth clan. I never wanted to have to choose my people over you again. And of course you're not Costia. Because you are you. And that's not just enough, Clarke. It is everything."

"Everything?"

"Yes. to me, it is." And even though Lexa wanted nothing more than to dip her lips down and claim Clarke's mouth as her own, she waited. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long. Clarke climbed on top of her lap and crushed her mouth against hers, tasting the truth of Lexa's heart.

Lexa returned the kiss with matched fervor. She let her hands drink their fill of Clarke's body. She'd been aching to touch the Skaigirl since she'd sauntered into her war tent months ago. Lexa ran her hands down Clarke's back, up her thighs, and over her ass before Clarke even broke the kiss so that they both could breathe.

A million thoughts ran through Clarke's mind but she was afraid if she gave them voice that the spell would be broken. So she pulled Lexa's mouth to her again but explored it more languidly. She could feel Lexa's gentle and loving hands moving up her back and into her hair. Mirroring Lexa, she ran her own fingers through Lexa's thick mane, placing her hand at the back of Lexa's neck pulling her in ever closer.

Lexa hadn't wanted their first time to be rushed but her body demanded release. She could feel Clarke going wet on her lap and it only caused her own center to swell and throb as it grew slick from Clarke's kisses. There were so many things she wanted to do to Clarke's body and carnal images flitted through her brain but she wanted Clarke to have control. She needed to know what Clarke wanted from her. This wasn't about what she wanted from Clarke.

Lexa was able to rend her mouth away from Clarke's hungry lips, "Clarke?"

"Shhh, don't talk," Came Clarke's reply as she pushed Lexa back against the furs. Clarke read Lexa's need in the liquid in her eyes. The tears had surprised Clarke but they had said more than any words could ever have. Lexa loved her. This wasn't like sex with Finn which was as much a celebration of the fact that they had survived than it ever had been any feelings of true love. And it was nothing like the rush of lust that she'd shared with Niylah. This was real. And true. And it was love. Pure love, honest love. A love that Lexa had been cautioned to avoid by her advisers. A love that Lexa herself had forsworn out of grief for Costia. It was a meeting of souls. It was the joining of two hearts that wouldn't be denied.

Clarke lay next to Lexa and reached her left hand down to cup Lexa's sex. Lexa turned on her side to face Clarke and ran her own hand down to Clarke's center. Lexa knew she wasn't going to last long. She hadn't had a lover since Costia. She'd had nothing more than self-pleasure and it had been weeks since she'd even indulged in that. But she hoped to at least last long enough not to embarrass herself. But then Clarke's middle finger sank inside her and she started moving against Clarke's hand.

Clarke was pleased at how ready Lexa was for her. Clarke had been afraid she was the only one who was gushing like a waterfall but Lexa was so wet that when Clarke slid her finger inside her her whole palm was soaked with Lexa's juice. "Show me how to make you come, Lexa," Clarke whispered into her lover's ear as she fingered her. But Lexa was already there. The rhythm of Clarke's finger moving in and out of her combined with the butt of Clarke's hand popping her clit with every stroke sent her over the edge.

"Coming, coming," Lexa panted and tried desperately to keep her fingers moving against Clarke's mound but as she found her release all of her muscles turned to goo and she lost control of her hands.

"So beautiful when you come, Lexa." Clarke kissed Lexa's cheek as the brunette rode out her orgasm.

"Clarke kom Skaikru, what have you done to me?"

"Loved you," Clarke grinned.

Lexa smiled back at her and then found that her hand had recovered enough to bring Clarke the same pleasure that she'd just given.

Clarke relaxed back on the bed and opened her thighs for Lexa. It didn't take long before Clarke cried out her own release.

The next thing Clarke knew, Lexa was shaking her. "We fell asleep, Clarke. And now we have to hurry."

Clarke grumbled and tried to pull Lexa back down to her chest where she had been holding her.

"I'm serious Clarke, I still have to dress and you have to go with Aden."

The festival! The ritual! Clarke had forgotten all about it in her bliss. She sat up. "I'm sorry." She looked out the window. The sun had moved significantly westward. "Shit, Lexa."

"It's okay, we have time. The outfit is there, you'll have to help me into it and then we will go down to the Commander's hut. Aden will be waiting when you get there."

"Aden, where am I going with Aden? I thought as your attendant I had to remain with you all evening." Clarke protested.

"I've got everything worked out. But first we have to get me dressed, Let's hurry."

"Okay, okay, but first things first." Clarke pulled Lexa in for a kiss.

Lexa returned the kiss but spatted Clarke playfully on the butt. "There'll be more time for that later. For now, go get the Amazon Queen outfit."

"Mnmn," Clarke growled her reluctance but did as the Queen ordered.