"My mind forgets to remind me: You're A Bad Idea." ~ Sparks Fly (Taylor Swift)
Clarke POV:
The next morning I awoke early. I changed into a pair of clothes and walked down to the kitchen to find something for breakfast. I found Octavia eating a piece of toast and sipping from a glass.
"Good morning Princess." Costas said with a smile as he continued to make something that smelt like pancakes, and some sort of meat.
"Good morning Costas, please, call me Clarke though." I said and sat down next to Octavia.
"How you doing?" she asked me, eying me up.
"I'm good. Really." I said assuring her. She shrugged and a plate of fruit was placed in front of me. I looked up and saw Joelle wink at me before she continued to cook breakfast. I smiled and began to eat some berries.
"So I assume there isn't a strict time for breakfast?" I asked. Octavia shook her head and gave me a strange look.
"There isn't a strict time for any meals." she said wrinkling her nose. I felt strange. Why on earth did Bellamy yell at me yesterday then?
"Princess Clarke!" Ella exclaimed, bursting into the room.
"Ella, it's just Clarke." I said with a smile. She gave me a quick smile then continued.
"Prince Bellamy has requested you meet him in the barns at once." she said with a nod of her head.
I smiled at Octavia, grabbed an apple, and waved goodbye to everyone in the kitchen. They wished me luck, and I was off to the barns.
I bit into my apple, and the juices fell down my chin. I smiled and wiped it from my face. I giggled a little and put a bit more pep in my step.
I walked out of the castle to find the sun shining. I smiled and stopped for a minute as I felt it on my face. I wanted to feel it on my face every morning.
I kept on my way down the winding path that was littered with different plants. There were flowers, bushes, and even little trees.
I hadn't been behind the castle yet, and I took note of how beautiful the grounds were. Someone must have gone through a lot of trouble for it to look this beautiful I thought to myself. I wouldn't know anything about landscaping.
Soon my walk ended and I arrived at the royal barns.
Bellamy was leaning against the barn door waiting for, and watching me. I smiled at him, and he gave me a smile back, a genuine one.
This morning he was clad in another pair of jeans, and an old t-shirt. I didn't think he owned these things. He also had those boots on again.
"Good morning Princess." he said smiling.
"Good morning Prince." I said in return.
"How did you sleep?" he asked, furrowing his brow and pushing himself off the door.
"Fine, thank you." I said, and he turned around and walked into the barn. I quickly followed him, not wanting to be left behind.
"So, what are we doing today?" I asked him. He turned sharply, and then down a row of stables. There were at least eight on each side of the row.
"Well, how do you feel about horses?" he asked with a smirk, and a twinkle in his eyes.
"What?" I asked, suddenly not feeling very confident in myself.
"This," he said opening a stable door. "Is Jacks." he said. In the stable was a beautiful horse. He was huge. He had pale brown fur and long cream mane. He trotted up to Bellamy and nuzzled his neck. I smiled and watched Bellamy interact with the creature. It was like something out of one of the story books I would read to the Gophers.
"You wanna pet him?" Bellamy said looking over at me. I smiled and nodded my head. Bellamy walked over to me, and the horse followed. I looked up, the horses nose was almost eye level to me. I felt him breathe and I knew for a fact that I was going to love horses.
I felt locked in place, and moved on co-pilot. I reached up and slowly ran my fingers up and down the side of his face. I felt Bellamy's eyes on me. I moved around to the side of Jacks and slowly ran my fingers around on his body. He was a very muscled creature. I seemed to be in a trance.
"Well." Bellamy said breaking the silence. "How about we take him for a ride?" he said leaning up against him with a smile. I nodded my head with a grin. I sat on a bench, and watched as Bellamy hooked something up to Jacks, it looked like some sort of seat. He occasionally would glance over at me, but he would quickly look away as soon as our eyes made contact.
"Well," he said gruffly. I quickly stood. "This is called a saddle." he said gesturing to the thing he put on the horse. "These are the stirrups, and these are the reins." he said showing me the other parts. "You probably shouldn't ride on your own the first time, so you can ride with me." he said. I nodded my head.
He stepped into the thing called a stirrup and swung one leg over the saddle. I looked at his boot, so that's why they wore those kinds of shoes. For the horses.
He reached his hand down to me, I took it, and he pulled me up. I sat in front of him, and I wasn't going to lie, it was slightly uncomfortable.
He reached around my sides, and tried to avoid touching me, I could tell he was trying. He grabbed the reins and gave the horse a little kick in the side and the horse lurched forward, causing me to sway forward and back into Bellamy. I quickly leaned forward, only to discover that you needed to rock back and forth with the horse.
"Hold on." he said, I didn't know what to hold onto, so I simply gripped onto a horn like structure on the front of the saddle. We trotted out of the barns and down a trail. We went through the woods, and it was something I had never seen before.
This view changed everything.
There were little creatures running all about, and I gave a little laugh at a squirrel who scurried up a tree.
The trail led us out of the forest and into a town. I smiled and watched from upon the horse as people fled the trail and watched as Prince Bellamy and I slowly made our way through the town. People stopped what they were doing and smiled at us, well, I'm sure their smiles were for Bellamy. A few waved, and a few more even bowed.
The children however that knew me screamed my name and waved frantically. I laughed and smiled. I waved back towards them and they all jumped up and down at our presence.
"They really seem to like you." Bellamy whispered in my ear. His breath tickled my ear, and I tried not to cringe away from him.
"Well, I've really grown to care for them." I said sitting up a little straighter.
"I have a few stops to make before we return home to the castle." he said, and with that I returned my attention back to the path. Soon I started to recognize faces, and remember faces.
Bellamy slowed the horse and turned off of the path to a fairly large building. The horse soon came to a stop and Bellamy jumped down. I however stayed sat upon the horse. I didn't know if I was supposed to come with or not, and I certainly didn't want to intrude. Bellamy tied the horses reins to a wooden post.
"You coming Princess?" he asked offering me his hand. I took it once more and slowly slid off Jacks.
"Where are we?" I asked as I patted Jacks on what appeared to be his shoulder.
"An old buddy of mine." he said, and led me into the building. I looked around to see all sorts of technology. I was a bit taken aback. I had no clue that this was where they would store their weaponry. In an average looking building. I suppose that no one would consider looking here, it was a good coverup.
"Dammit Raven, what do you want me to do?" a large male voice said. I quickly side stepped closer to Bellamy, and accidently bumped his shoulder. We both jumped at the contact, and I felt my face burn. I looked at the floor, while he looked at me.
"Wick, shut up and make it realistic." The woman, I assume Raven, yelled back. Soon the woman came into view, she was gorgeous as well, all the women here seemed to be. She had dark hair, longer than Maya's, but not as long as Octavia's. She was in a red jacket, and had a different kind of boot on her feet. Her hair was pulled up, and she had smudges on her face, shirt, and jeans. "Bellamy, what a surprise." she said quickly smiling.
"Hello Raven." he said with a knowing smirk.
"Wick! Get in here!" Raven yelled and quickly turned back to us with a smile. "I'm so happy to see you." she said smiling at me. "I'm Raven Reyes." she said reaching out her hand.
"I'm Clarke." I said smiling and take her hand. It was so refreshing to meet someone like her.
"How long have you guys been in here?" she asked with a forced smile.
"Only long enough to know that my favorite mechanic, and favorite engineer still are deeply in love." Bellamy said smiling as the one named Wick entered our presence.
"Bellamy! What's good man?" Wick said as the two hugged, they seemed to share a bond. A close one.
"I was just showing Clarke how to ride, and I decided to get her a bow." he said looking back and forth between Wick and Raven.
"Well, we have plenty of those here." Raven said gesturing to me to follow her. She started walking, and I looked back at Bellamy. He nodded me on, and I decided it was safe to follow her. I walked behind her as she droned on and on about types of bows.
"Um, excuse me." I said as I caught up to her.
"Hmm?" she said as she opened one of the many doors in this building.
"What is a bow?" I asked. She looked me dead in the eye, and seemed to be reading me.
"Well damn. You don't even know what a bow is? That Bellamy." she said shaking her head.
"Come on, I'll show you." she said smiling and linking one of her arms through mine. We walked together into a room, and I soon discovered what a bow was. It was a weapon.
"Now, you're pretty petite, so we'll start you off light." she said handing me a bow that seemed to be a tad smaller than the rest. "So Clarke, what do you think of it here so far?" she asked as she seemed to fumble around in a drawer for something.
"It's different. I like it here." I said smiling.
"What about the Prince?" she said as she seemed to dig deeper and deeper.
"He's… different." I said trying to avoid this conversation. "What are you looking for?" I asked her.
"These." she said pulling up a bundle of arrows.
"These, are custom made." she said looking at me very seriously. As she handed them to me, I soon discovered there were quite a lot of them. They had little tints of blue designs around them.
I never thought a weapon could be beautiful.
"Be careful with them. Don't use them, unless there is an absolute emergency." she said looking at me sternly. I nodded my head, and she unfurrowed her eyebrows, I never knew how stern someone could look until I met this woman. She may have been tiny, but she certainly had a fire burning in her. I respected that.
She continued to talk to me on the way back to the place where I assumed Bellamy and Wick were. I looked around and soon discovered that all we thought of the Grounder Army was wrong. They weren't behind us in the slightest, if anything they were almost ahead of us technologically. We walked back to Bellamy and Wick, and I saw in Wick's eyes that he was in love with Raven, it made me smile.
"Did you find what you needed?" Bellamy asked with a soft smile. I nodded my head and turned to smile at Raven.
"Thank you." I said seriously. She pulled me to her, and before I knew it we were hugging. I gripped to her tight. If this was what friendship was like on this side of the fence, I wanted more.
"You come back soon okay? I get suffocated with this dummy all day." Raven said into my ear. I laughed and nodded my head. We let go and turned to the men.
"Well, we should get going. We have to meet Lincoln." Bellamy said taking the bow from Raven's hands.
"It was nice to meet you." I said to Wick, who looked taken aback.
"As well as you Princess." he said smiling.
"Please, just Clarke." I said grinning at them. Bellamy took my elbow and softly yanked on it.
"You come back now, you hear?" Wick said. I smiled at him, and with one foot out the door, they were bickering again. I smiled.
"Are they always like that?" I asked Bellamy. He nodded his head.
"They may argue a lot, but they do love each other. They are also the best weapon masters on this side of the fence." Bellamy said as he attached the bow to some sort of hook on the side of Jacks. He then put the bows inside of a pocket, and before I knew it we were back up on the horse and venturing on.
I was feeling more comfortable now, and I felt my body slack a little. As Bellamy reached for the reins, he touched the side of my body and I jerked away and felt my face burn. I should have been sitting up straighter. My pudge was sticking out over the sides of my jeans.
I had something that Harper told me was called a muffin. I didn't know why they called it that, but I knew it wasn't good. She would often point out the larger girls and called them a 'muffin'. I felt my face burn brighter. I didn't want him to think I was a muffin. He coughed and moved his arms away from my body. Oh god, he did think I was a muffin. I blinked away tears that were quickly forming and told myself I was being ridiculous.
A Princess does not cry.
I sat up straight, and shook myself out of that sort of mind. I was a Princess. If anyone had a problem with my body they could kiss my ass.
The whole trot to this Lincoln's house was quiet, and we quickly arrived. Bellamy did the same with Jacks as he did at Raven and Wicks. He tied his reins to a wooden post and soon we were in what appeared to be a training room. I saw several men and women from young to old fighting.
"This, is where we train our soldiers. Our Commander is of course me, but Lincoln is second in Command, which means he takes over a lot for me when I have other duties to attend to." Bellamy whispered in my ear. I swallowed and nodded my head, still a bit embarrassed from earlier.
"Come, I'll introduce you." he said gesturing for me to follow him. We walked into a room to find a shirtless man beating on a bag hanging from the ceiling.
"Take it easy there killer." Bellamy said as the man kicked the thing off of it's chain.
"Like you should talk there ripper." the man said catching his breath and smiling. He had tattoos all over his body, I wondered if Bellamy had tattoos over his. I know I had seen him shirtless once, but it was after a few drinks, and I wasn't really paying attention.
"Lincoln, this is Clarke." he said gesturing to me. The man nodded at me and smiled.
"I would offer you my hand or a hug, but I am quite sweaty your highness." he said smiling. He had a kind smile, but dark eyes. The kind that smiled at you, but always were on alert.
"Please, just call me Clarke." I said smiling at him.
"What can I do for you today?" Lincoln asked as he grabbed a towel and patted his body down.
"Well, I came by to tell you that lessons should be cancelled tonight, as I will be unable to attend." Bellamy said with a cock of his head and an apologetic look. So this Lincoln was someone he didn't want to let down. He must also have a tight bond with this one.
"It's alright sir, the new trainees could use the night off. They were all yapping about how sore they were this morning. Maybe they will be quieter tomorrow." Lincoln said nodding his head.
"Or, they'll be hungover." Bellamy said furrowing his brows, suddenly looking concerned. I watched this interaction carefully, as I had him with Raven and Wick. He seemed to care a lot for his people, and his duties. Those were good aspects a leader is to have. Bellamy shook his head and sighed, he seemed to let it go.
"How is Octavia doing?" he asked Lincoln, who suddenly got a look in his eyes that made me smile. The way people lit up about one another made me happy. I didn't get to see many of those looks in Arkia.
"She is practically better than me, but don't let her hear that." Lincoln said shaking his head and smiling.
"Don't let her hurt anyone." Bellamy said joking.
"She is an excellent trainer, especially with the young girls. She inspires all of them." Lincoln said standing up a bit straighter. This man was also muscled greatly. He also had great feelings for Octavia.
"Will you mention that we stopped by, and tell her that we will be absent tonight." Bellamy said standing up straight and stiff. I looked at him confused, we would be? Lincoln glanced at me and then shot his eyes back to Bellamy.
"Of course I will." he said nodding his head. Bellamy nodded his head.
"Well, we must get going then." Bellamy said and turned to exit the room.
"It was so nice to meet you." I said smiling at Lincoln.
"You as well Miss Clarke." he said bowing his head. I quickly turned and followed Bellamy who was in a quick hurry to exit the training room.
"Come, I'm sure Joelle and Costas are already mad at us for being very late for lunch." Bellamy said quickly untying Jacks from the post.
He hopped upon the saddle and pulled me up behind him. I was barely on when he kicked hard into the horse's side, and we ran off. I flew back into Bellamy and clung to the front of the saddle, hoping I wouldn't fall off. I hit my head hard on his shoulder, his muscles had turn his body to stone, and I could feel a headache coming on.
We rocked back and forth on the horse and I closed my eyes. It felt like I was flying. Soon we slowed and made our way into the stable.
We left Jacks, and made our way back up the path to the castle. My head was throbbing.
We made our way into the kitchen to find Joelle, Costas and Remy yelling at us for being late. Ella walked in as we were eating a lunch of soup and little sandwiches.
"Oh my dear." she said rushing over to me. "Your pupils. Is your head alright dear?" she asked me. I shrugged.
"I have a little headache, it's nothing." I said trying to play it down.
"Oh nonsense, you must rest." Ella said. Bellamy began to protest, but Ella shot him a look that told him to be quiet.
"I'm serious Bushka, I'm alright." I said smiling.
"No no, come on, up to bed. A short nap will do you well." she said seriously. I smiled at everyone in the room, and allowed myself to be dragged up to my tower where Ella tucked me in and told me to get some rest. I did take a small nap, which helped my head. I quick jumped out of bed and walked down to the Gopher room where I found they were all gone, but there was a note.
"Dear Princess," I read out loud. The writing was in blue crayon. "Please, walk out back to the stable. Love, your Gophers." I read. I smiled. My Gophers. Of course.
I quick shoved the piece of paper into my back pocket of my jeans, and quick walked out to the stable. As I walked, I was curious as to what these children had planned. I walked into the barn where I found Bellamy and the Gophers had set up the barn into a romantic dinner.
"What is all this?" I asked softly. Bellamy was in a tux and had a cheeky grin on his face.
"Prince asked us to make a fairytale dinner!" Jerica screamed.
"Oh my." I said.
"Here, we borrowed this. I hope you don't mind." Arabella said with a shrug as she held up my tiara. I smiled and nodded my head as one boy stood on another and placed it on top of my head.
"Thank you." I said smiling at all of the Gophers.
"We're going to go now!" Hunter said pushing all the little ones out of the barn.
"This… this is amazing." I said smiling at Bellamy.
"This is what I had planned the first night you were here." he said shaking his head. That's why he was so upset that night.
"It's beautiful." I said smiling. Soon we were sitting, and eating, and then talking. We talked about everything. From our childhoods, to recent events, to the civil war.
"The burden we carry goes back a hundred years. I don't find that fair to our people now." Bellamy said seriously. I frowned and looked down at my plate. I nodded my head.
"I know, but there are only so many things we can do Bellamy." I said as I was swallowing.
"Clarke." he said softly. I knew what was coming. He was going to try to force me into marriage. I didn't know what to do.
"I don't want you to make any decisions you won't be happy with." he said with the gentlest voice I had ever heard him use. I looked up at him in shock.
"What?" I asked.
"I don't know who you have waiting back home. I don't want you to feel forced to fall in love with me. I don't want to be forced to fall in love with you either." he said, his voice cracking a bit.
"Do you," I stuttered, a bit hurt. "Do you not want to fall in love with me?" I asked dropping my fork and looking down at my hands. How foolish I was to think that this man could be friendly to me. That he could want me. He set this up to make it seem less hurtful when he shattered my heart.
He sighed and dropped his fork as well. Here it came. I knew it would come.
"I don't know what I want out of you Clarke. All I know is that I want you." he said looking at me.
"Don't say that." I whispered.
"It's true Clarke. Can we please just see where this goes? This next month, I don't want us to be tip toeing about each other. I want to see all of you. None of this polite fake crap." he said raising his voice.
"Maybe this is the real me." I said looking up to meet his eyes.
"Bull." he said standing up. I didn't know what that meant, but I was pretty damn sure he was implying that I was lying to me.
"You don't know that." I said standing up and shoving my chair behind me.
"Clarke, none of this is you. The you I know is the one with the bright blue eyes who didn't take it from me. The one who said no one tells her how to be a Princess. The one who leaves notes for Costas to leave you a cookie outside your bedroom after you've gone to bed. The one who is fiercely unafraid to do what's right. The one who sneaks out at night to switch her books out in the library because she can't get enough." he said walking towards me. I was taken aback. I didn't realize he knew that last bit.
"What am I supposed to do? I have to be on my best behavior around here." I snapped, looking up into his eyes.
His eyes nearly matched the darkness of his crown.
"Clarke. You need to be you. I'm falling for you real hard, real fast. I can't live like this. Acting like I'm not attracted to you, because it's the proper thing to do." he said scrunching his nose as he uttered the words.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" I yelled at him, tears forming in my eyes. I hated arguing with him. And over this of all matters.
"I want you to call me yours. I want to call you mine. I just want you to give into this like I have." he said grabbing my upper arms.
"I have!" I yelled back at him. "You're the one acting all high and mighty like you're too good for me." I screamed turning away from him.
"Me?" he yelled back. "You close yourself off from me, and I don't think you even realize it." he said exasperated and letting go of me.
"How?" I asked him, my lips turning into a straight line and my nostrils flaring.
"Like, today." he said turning and giving me a scowl. "When I tried to get closer to you on the saddle, and you flinched away from me. Like I was going to hurt you or something. Is that what you're scared of? That I'm going to hurt you?" he said furrowing his brows with a hurt look on his face.
"No!" I yelled, suddenly understanding that he was hurt as well.
"Then what?" he demanded out of me, his eyes as wide as saucers filled with confusion.
"I thought you were disgusted by me." I yelled back. He looked like I was speaking a different language.
"What?" he said closing his eyes and shaking his head at me.
"Like when you took my plate away in the kitchen the first night saying I wasn't to eat that much. And today on the saddle when you felt my side. I know I don't have the body of a Princess, and I sure as hell don't expect anyone to look at me like I'm Octavia, or Raven." I said waving my hand in the air, as if I was shooing the idea away. "I have pudge. I have to squeeze into my jeans. I have the cheeks of a baby. I am no model, and you clearly thought the same thing." I said tears forming in the corners of my eyes.
"Is that what you think?" he said looking at me like I shot him. I nodded my head and sniffed. I wiped my eyes and my nose as I licked my lips.
"Oh god." he said as one of his hands flew up to his face and he ran it along the top of his forehead, down to his cheek where he shook his head.
"Princess." he said opening his eyes and looking dead into mine.
"You, are the most extraordinary woman I have ever met." he said walking to me.
"Please don't." I said putting one of my hands on his chest as he wrapped both of his arms around me.
"You are. I am so sorry that you have felt this way all this time." he said softly. I didn't say anything. I felt more tears form, but I didn't want to move. I had nothing to wipe them away with. He cupped my chin once more, like he had in the broom cupboard. Only this time I let him lift my head to look at him.
"You're beautiful." he whispered.
Then he leaned in, and I leaned up. He kissed me slowly, and softly. It was something I hadn't expected of him. I expected his kisses to be rough, and harsh. Nothing like what he was giving me right now. I didn't know what to do with my hands so I simply rested them on his chest panes. Soon, I was having trouble breathing so I leaned away from him. I looked up to find his brown eyes were looking directly into mine.
Here we go, I thought to myself.
The next chapter is going to be a series of events, in a way, of what happens while Clarke is in the Grounds! Leave any Reviews you can think of please! XOXO