Ark Kingdom: The Magic Within (Bellarke)

Chapter 4

“Why do you have clothes with you? I ask Bellamy as he helps me get over the rubble. We are careful to stay away from the glowing, green edge.

“I brought them for Octavia.” He doesn’t look back, just continues marching towards a covered area. The boulders are getting bigger as we are close to the side of a mountain. We’ve only gone back a couple hundred feet from where we were.

“Why did you have them with you? You couldn’t have known about this.” I hold out my hand so that he can help me over a jagged rock. His gloved hand holds mine tight until I’m on solid ground and then he drops it as if I’ve burned him.

“It doesn’t matter.” He stops abruptly. “You can change here.”

“Excuse me? It’s completely open here.” I look around. If anyone walked our way they would see me.

“No one will be coming our way. We’re inside the veil. I won’t look. Just hurry.” He shoves some clothes into my arms.

“Fine.” I shimmy out of my slip and pull on a pair of pants. They fit a bit snugger than I am accustomed to wearing, but they will be better than the dress. Next, I try to pull my dress down so I can so I can slip the tunic on without being completely bear. I yank at the cords in the back of the dress and they don’t budge. I can’t twist my arm enough to get the knots out. Why do they have to make these so hard to get out of?

“Bellamy?” I whisper as I turn around and he is staring at me. His eyes are dark.

“Yes?” He coughs out.

“I need help. I can’t get the dress off. Could I use a dagger?”

“No!” He bellows. “I mean no, I can help you. You’d probably cut yourself.” His voice goes back to the normal bitter one. The one that makes me want to slap him.

“I won’t. Just hand it over and this time don’t look.”

“No. Turn around. I’ll undo the backing. I’ve helped Octavia with dresses before. I know what to do.” He steps closer to me and raises his eyebrow. I let out a puff of air in annoyance, but finally turn around once I realize that he won’t give in.

“Such a princess.” He teases. “First, hold my gloves. They’ll get in the way.” I hear him slip the leather off of his fingers and hold my hand out behind me. He drops them in my waiting hand. They are surprisingly warm in my grasp. I hold them in both hands and let my thumb caress the inside. They feel like a cloud. I slip them on my hands. They are too big, but I don’t care.

I jump when I feel Bellamy right behind me. He picks up my long, blonde hair and gently drops it over my shoulder. “It was in the way.” His breath is on my neck.

I feel the tugs on the cords as he works at the knots. He grunts a couple times, but soon I feel it start to loosen. He continues to work at a couple other knots. Then, I reach back to hold the dress in place as it starts to fall. It’s on the edges of my shoulders now and I can feel the chilly air against my back.

“Thank you.” I turn to face Bellamy. His eyes come up to meet mine. They are nearly black. There is just a small golden circle around the darkness in them. They are beautiful.

“Do you need any more help?” He asks with a deep voice I haven’t heard from him before.

“No, thank you.” I break eye contact and can feel a blush engulf my face. “Can you turn around now?”

“Can I have my gloves back?” He gives me a mocking smile.

“Yes, here.” I tug them off of my fingers.

When I hand them over my pinky touches his palm. I gasp as the familiar rush of power courses through me. I can’t stop myself as my consciousness shoots forward. The colors all swirl around me as I feel my head hit something hard. There is a pressure on top of me, but I can’t move it. Before I can figure out what is going on everything stops spinning. I blink a couple of times and see a grey sky.

It’s hard to breathe so I try to sit up. I can’t budge, so I look down at my chest. Bellamy is lying on top of me. His eyes are closed and he looks peaceful. I tug at my arm to pull it out from under his sprawled out body. I shake his shoulder until he starts to rustle.

“Clarke?” He says as his confused eyes meet my own. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. Can you get off of me though?” I wave at my still covered body.

“Sorry. Here.” He rolls off of me smoothly and then helps me sit up. He is kneeling in front of me. I grab the sides of my dress as it starts to fall off of my shoulders completely

“Where are we?” I ask, terrified once I look around. I don’t recognize anything. We are in a meadow that is surrounded by trees on all sides.

“I don’t know, princess.” He shakes his head.

“There they are! Grab them! Don’t let the girl escape! Kill the man if you must!”