CHAPTER TWELVE - CRACKS AMONG THE THRONE

            ONCE CLARKE AND BELLAMY had reached Arkadia after searching for a hidden bunker that could possibly help their people, Clarke and Bellamy had headed towards the Chancellor's room. Clarke looked down at the list with several names already scribbled down, an unbarring guilty weight felt like several hundred tonnes weighing down her shoulders as she sat down at the desk with a pen in her hand.

  Her blue eyes looked down at the paper, adding a few more names onto the long list, people who she thought were worthy due to their skills that would help them in the years to come, years that they would be trapped within the walls of metal. A breathy sigh slipped out between her lips as a name that she knew so well, a name that was loved, had been loved and is loved- but was she important to risk a spot for? She had other names-skilled engineers already written down.

  Clarke looked down at her sheet, where she had three spaces available for three more eligible people. Sighing, her mind flashed back to when Bellamy had clearly stated that he wouldn't be inside, and suddenly found herself wishing that life had been different down here. She couldn't condemn four hundred innocent people to die in two months; people who were risking sleep just to help rebuild a ship that they believed would be their salvation, only to not realize that not all of them would be inside.

Tears began to brim the ocean blue waves of Clarke's Iris's as her gaze switched from the list and towards the figure that was sleeping on the couch, his hand on his stomach as he slept peacefully. Clarke's hand came up to rub at her forehead as she silently broke down, sniffing slightly as she contemplated what to do. She was out of options, running out of time rather quickly.

  When Bellamy had heard Clarke's soft cries of defeat flooding the room, his weight shifted on the couch and his brown eyes fluttered open. His head turned towards the blonde who was hunched over the desk, head in her hands as she cried softly. He frowned and quietly stood from the couch and walked towards her.

"Clarke-" Bellamy began while his brown eyes gazed down towards the piece of paper, suddenly realizing that she had written the list of names that would be on the inside of the doors when the death wave hit. His brown eyes caught sight of the handwriting, and his name written on the second last spot. "If I'm on that list, you're on that list," Bellamy told her in a stern voice as his eyes refocused back on the distraught blonde.

Clarke shook her head as the tears began flowing down her cheeks, a few droplets of salty tears fell upon the paper, staining it. "I can't." Her voice coming out as a shaky distraught cry, a hint of wavering indicating that she deemed herself to be unworthy of the final spot. How could she put her own name down?

With the same frown on his face, but only appearing more deeper than before, "write it down," he demanded, not wanting to hear the protests any longer. He needed her on the same side of the door when it closed, in a way, she was his rock that kept him sane. "Write it down, or I will."

  Clarke shook her head, which lead to Bellamy taking the blue pen from her hand and pulling the distressed paper towards him. A breathy sigh escaped his lips as the ball point touched the paper, spreading ink in a circle until his fingers started working. In a neat scrawl, Bellamy wrote 'Clarke Griffin' in the hundredth and final spot on the list.

His eyes had only lifted from her name, wondering a few names up, hoping that he would see Dakota's name written down at the end but he did not.  Not thinking anything of it, assuming that her name had taken a spot further up, he put the pen down and faced Clarke.

But what he didn't realize was that the Azgeda Queen's name was not present further up on the list, and would not be.

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       Dakota laid awake with Roan's arm over her bare waist, her eyes staring toward the bare wall, over at the table which had her belongings laying on-top of it. The steady breathing of the man sounding through the silent room had her calm, despite the news that she received and she wasn't sure if she believed it either.

    Dakota's mouth parted slightly as her voice got caught in her throat. She had just done something that she shouldn't of done, she was confused, and maybe a bit angry. She had frequently thought that her and Roan was just a fling of lust one night, which turned into a couple times now.

From behind her, she felt Roan move and then begin tracing the many scars upon her back. The pad of his rough fingers had her eyes moving downwards slowly. "You know, Azgeda looks at scars as a triumph. It means you were stronger than what tried to hurt you." He told her while she felt the stubble of his beard rest on her shoulder and the light feather kisses that followed down the curves of the black ink that stained her shoulder.

Dakota let a shaky breath escape from beneath her plump lips as she felt his fingers dip lower into the orange fur that laid over her body, his calloused fingers searching her soft skin and resting them on the bone of her hip. Once the movement stopped, she took the courage to turn her body around to face him, his strong blue eyes were like the waves of the ocean, warning her to not look too long or she would get sucked in and drown within them. She loved the endless blue hues in his eyes, and the fact that she could see what emotion his face was not giving. She could see Roan, the banished prince - now King- for what he really was.

She could see just how troubled his soul was beneath the shades of light blue in his irises. She could see the resemblance of how similar both of their situations were with their parents. Dakota had never questioned him about his family life, nor about his father. His mother, she knew of about what she saw. A women so driven with hatred and power for nothing but her own crown.

Roan watched her brown eyes flicker back and forth with curiosity, her usual hardened face had now grown slack and her features were not troubled anymore. She was pretty, there was no denying that but what he was doing- doing to her for his own benefit- made him sick to his stomach.

"How are you feeling?" Roan's raspy voice cut through the comfortable silence that hung between them while his hand came up to caress her cold shoulder.

Her brown eyes had stopped wondering across his features and her pink plump lips pursed in her own thought at his question and suddenly, she felt herself become distant at the mention of how she was feeling.

Was she suppose to know how exactly she was feeling? Was she suppose to tell the king that she possibly could be pregnant with his or Bellamy's baby. That was just like writing her own death sentence. She might as well chop her head off right here and now.

Roan's hand slipped from the comfort of her warm body as Dakota bent and lifted herself off the bed, taking some orange fur with her and holding it close to her bare chest. Roan watched her with a crease in his eyebrows, his blue eyes traveling down the lash marks, and the number of kill marks he didn't feel like counting on her back.

"I'm fine." She told him with a confident voice, hoping that he couldn't hear the emptiness that she was feeling. "Infact, I feel like asking Echo to a sparring in the throne room." She felt the thick fur stick to her clammy hands as she tugged the pelt closer to her.

Roan's eyes traveled back up to her messy brown curls that cascaded around her head like a lion's mane. He found her response questionable since she usually would train when she was angry, her slashes would be full of anger, strong and predictable as she blew off the steam but keeping it bottled inside.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he began to voice his concern for her wellness and her shoulders tensed up at the cost of him telling her what she should and shouldn't do. "you shouldn't push yourself after this morning."

Dakota felt herself biting back a remark and instead rolled her brown eyes since she knew he couldn't see her. "I'm fine." She told with again and this time more firm than before. Her head turned to look over at him, his elbow propping up his upper body. She could see the way he looked at her, his blue eyes boring back into hers with concern but she was certain that there was nothing to worry about.

She managed to shoot him back a small smile before getting off the bed while pulling on her thick robe, walking over towards the big mirror that sat in the corner of the room. She then began to pull her hair back on the sides, braiding them back towards her skull and pulling the rest of her hair back into a voluminous ponytail. Her brown eyes left her frame and back towards Roan's reflection in the mirror who was staring back at her with a small smile on his face.

He watched her as she started lining her eyes with a black charcoal paste, painting her lids and blending them out made her look more fierce. Once she was finished, she got off the chair and started gathering her clothes from the stool. Roan watched her with curious eyes, his gaze going down towards her stomach; where he had hit her.

His lips went into a thin line when his eyes caught view of her slightly swollen stomach as she moved to the side to slip on her black undershirt. "I'll see you in the throne room." Dakota told him as she grabbed her black Commander's coat and then her sword. He wasn't sure what to think about everything, he wasn't the kind of man to question her well-being, but seeing how distant she had grew since this morning had him questioning her.

Dakota took his silence as the motive to leave him behind her, and she walked forwards the door and closed it behind her. The guards were standing near the lift where Echo had stationed them to be.

Dakota slipped her jacket over her shoulders as she walked towards the lift until she heard a voice that made her stop in her tracks. "Is it worth it?"

She turned her head at the sound of her right hand behind her. Her eyebrows rose on her forehead as her body jumped from surprise, not prepared for someone to be hidden behind her. Her head turned towards the noise and caught the frame of Herminius, his hand placed tightly against the handle of his sword while he looked down at her.

"Excuse me?" She blinked back while her body fully turned. Herminius took a few more steps towards her, "Sleeping with the King." He asked, his eyes casting downwards in question, "what do you gain from that?"

Dakota went into defense mode almost instantaneous, "and what makes you think that it's for gain?" She asked him as her brown eyes suddenly turned cold.

Herminius noticed how her body language began to change, her brown eyes were now two lumps of black coal staring back into his soul. "Forgive me, my Queen. I wasn't trying to insult you." He apologized and bowed his head to her in a polite manner.

Dakota chewed on her bottom lip as Herminius rose his head back up. "I think you should learn to keep your tongue quiet about matters that you know nothing about." Dakota sneered up at the man in front of her, who looked down at her with an intense stare. As Dakota moved her head to the side to walk away, Herminius grabbed hold of her arm quiet tightly. His fingers dug into the soft flesh, making her let out a yelp of pain from the tightness of his fingers around her, and her head turned back around to look down at his hand tightly wrapped around her.

Herminius bent down to her height as his green eyes glared back with so much fire that she thought she was burning. "You put me into your service to help protect you, that is what I am doing." He snapped back at her in a whisper. "You may have everyone else here fooled, but i can see a woman who is deceiving everyone here." His voice had gotten lower as his other free hand went towards Dakota's stomach, pointing down at it.

     Dakota blinked back and her jaw tightened. "Putting your hands on your queen is punishable by death." She sneered and grabbed her arm back from his hold. "Do it again, and you will no longer have a hand." Her eyes were set aflame as she stared up at the man before her, the man she put her life in- her safety - and he had the audacity to put his hands on her. Herminius blinked back a couple times before he backed away from her slightly. "I request Echo's presence in the throne room, immediately."Dakota told him, taking one last glare at him before she fully turned around and started walking towards the lift, pulling her coat on while she walked. Once she pressed the button, her head turned to look over where Herminius was standing to see that he was now nowhere in sight.

She swallowed as the lift behind her opened and she stepped inside while the guards yelled for the men that was working the elevator to lift it to the top floor. Her brown eyes were staring right ahead, towards where Herminius was standing. As the doors closed, she let out a shaky breath and found her hand carrying itself towards her stomach. She felt a wave of emotion suddenly hit her as she felt the elevator jolted and started moving upwards.

She didn't want to feel as weak as she was feeling in this moment. It wasn't a physical type of weak, it was mentally. She felt as her head wasn't screwed on right and just dangling on her shoulders like a thread. Perhaps it was just the weight of leading that was on her shoulders. The horror that she witnessed at the burned village and the people that began flowing in the streets of Polis looking for refuge.

As soon as the door opened Dakota sniffed and closed her eyes tightly, letting the tears fall from her cheeks then her sleeve came up to wipe them away. Her brown eyes were now glossy as she looked ahead at the guards that were stationed outside the narrow hallway, all beginning to bow their heads as she started walking forward.

        "Ai Haiplana" One of the guards bowed their head as she walked past, the train of her coat following behind her as her head turned to look towards the voice. A young man with white face paint stood in-front of the throne room, blocking her way inside.

Dakota's brown eyes gazed up at the man, "When Echo get's here, let her through." Dakota told him as he moved to the side and she opened the large doors to the throne room. Dakota began to slide her coat off her shoulders as she proceeded to walk further into the room, putting her coat onto the floor next to the throne, taking a seat into it.

Not a second later, the doors opened revealing a curious Echo staring back at her. She looked at her with question, her eyebrows raising up on her forehead. "You requested my presence?" She asked while stopping an inch away from the throne.

Dakota smiled over at her, her arms lifting her weight off of the throne. "I need to train," She told her while looking over towards the table with a pair of duel wield swords on-top of it. "and i need you to help me."

 Echo's head bent to the side ever so slightly, "And you can't ask some other capable warrior to help you train?" She scowled back at her, feeling that this was a waste of her talents to help her train, when they're was several other warriors, that was honored to help her train.

 Dakota's back was turned towards Echo as she walked towards the small table that sat next to the throne, picking up the sword that laid on top of it and feeling the weight of the blade. "I could, but I requested you personally," she told her while her head turned to look over her shoulder, towards the woman that stood with her arms resting on her back. "you should be honored to help serve your Queen, Echo." 

 Echo blinked a couple times, her mouth feeling slightly drier than normal. "I am honored that you picked me to help you, but that is a waste of my services. I should be helping you by walking the streets of Polis." She replied in a simple tone, her icy eyes staring back at her. 

 Dakota began to nod with her head, her head going to the side once again as she laughed. "Yes, well.. I don't want you out on the streets of Polis, I want you to help me train and you will."

 "But I-"

 "It wasn't a request Echo. It was an order." the brunette shot back towards the spy, her own brown eyes growing dark as she stared down the royal spy. 

 Echo's jaw went slack at her command, but who was she to refuse a command from the Ice Nation Queen?

   Roan would have her killed.

 So with a gesture of her Queen's hand, Echo stepped forward while the brunette had grabbed the other sword from the small table. She watched as she tested the metal in her two hands, her wrists twisting as the blades sliced through the air. 

 Dakota lifted her chin and smirked over at her, "Don't you want the honor of throwing your Queen on her ass?"

 Echo's eyes went wide, while a smirk played on her lips. "I won't lie and say that I wouldn't be pleased at the thought."

 The Queen let a smirk of her own grace her plump lips as she watched Echo pull her sword from it's sheath, but before she could react Echo sent her sword flying directly towards her face. "Quick, but not quick enough," Echo smirked over at her and thrust her sword again, but this time the ring of metal sounded through the throne room.

 "I think I'm quick enough, Echo." Dakota replied as she held her sword up to block her, but Echo also had to watch out for the blade threatening to cut into her thighs as the metal flew out but she pushed Dakota out of the way with her sword as she swung herself. 

 Dakota blocked it as well with her other sword, smirking over at the spy, who had smirked back. Dakota had noticed that Echo's strikes were equally as quick as her strategic mind which was liberating for her; since the warriors she had fought lacked the latter. 

 Soon, it had started to feel like they've been fighting for ages, the older woman slowly started to grow tired as her swings started to lack strength which only had Dakota's heart pumping faster - making her senses grow sharper. 

 Running on borrowed time, Dakota's heart started beating faster inside her chest and her hits started to get more deadlier the more tired she was getting. One very forceful strike against Echo's hand had her sword swinging towards the floor with a loud clank. Echo's eyes widened as she felt the fury of the wind against her white knuckles as the Queen's blade was brought down. Gaining the advantage of the distraction of loosing her own blade Echo ducked under her other sword that came swinging forcefully, and her arm came out to swing at Dakota's feet.

 With a loud smack, the back of her head hit the floor and Dakota yelped out in pain as she bit down on her lip- blood gushing out from the new wound. Feeling triggered Dakota almost growled before fastening her movements, kicking Echo's boot forcefully and fall to the floor. 

   As Echo was just about to reach for her fallen blade, the doors to the throne room had opened rather harshly and in walked in the King. 

 Dakota's own head flew towards the door which opened, interrupting her sparring training with Echo. Her eyebrows furrowed as Roan walked through his hand on his sword, and his eyes looking deadly. 

 "My king," Echo quickly stood up from her kneeling positon and straightened out her back as he walked further into the room, the sounds of the door and their harsh breathing filled the quiet throne room. 

 Dakota blinked back as she took in his distraught features. "What is it?" She questioned but immediately regretted opening her mouth as he angrily sat up on his throne.

 Roan swung his hand down on the throne, his fist banging off the metal of the chair. "The flame has been stolen."

YES HELLO. YOU DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE ME SO SOON HUH?

This book is still on a indefinite hiatus, but this chapter was pretty much already finished, and i just sat down to finish it. I've been feeling quite inspired lately since I've been watching Game Of Thrones, and been quite active on Tumblr; so if you haven't checked out my tumblr, you should. I post things almost everyday. 

 Anyways, I hope you liked the filler chapter; as always, leave a comment. It really helps me in this writers block that I have.