The Ones On The Ground (sequel to The One Who's Fallen)

Chapter 108

I hold out my hand to Lexa and raise an eyebrow, a small smirk playing on my lips. "Care to dance, ai hodnes (my love)?"

Lexa's eyes flicker from mine to look down at Des' hopeful face and then returns to me. A smile spreads across her face as she rests her hand in mine. "How could I ever refuse?"

My smile grows and we stand from the table we've been eating at. I gesture for Madi and Destiny to come with us. Together, with the four of us, we dance. Perhaps with the exception of me, I don't think any of us actually know how to dance. Lexa's moves are stiffer, less fluid, but I can tell that she's at least having fun. Destiny is adorably trying to copy dance moves that she saw Raven doing, while Madi switches between attempting to copy me, Lexa, or Destiny. With all of us together, it's a hilarious mismatch of dance moves that somehow works.

After a while, Artigas and Ryan approach. I pause my amazing rendition of the robot and smile warmly at them.

"Hey," Artigas greets us. "It's starting to get late, and we were thinking of heading up. Are you okay with us taking Madi and Destiny now?"

I look to Lexa and then nod. "Yeah, that's okay. Are you ready for bed, girls?"

Destiny and Madi agree easily. Lexa and I give them both tight, loving hugs. Well, once Madi gives us the go ahead.

"We will see you both tomorrow." Lexa promises as she pulls away from Des.

Des nods. "Luh oo, Clack an' Lessa!"

"Love you too, Des." I say softly.

Madi gives us a smile. "I will see you tomorrow... Nomon and Nontu (Mom and Mom)."

I feel my eyes fill with tears for what feels like the fiftieth time today and I smile back at her, clasping Lexa's hand tightly. Madi and Destiny wave as they walk away with Artigas and Ryan.

"Ai houmon (my partner/wife). May I have this dance?" Lexa asks.

I nod and we move so we're together, swaying slowly along to the beat of the music.

***

Once our feet are sore from standing and dancing for so long, Lexa and I head hand in hand to the Hedas Tower. People that are coherent and paying attention enough to notice us offer us congratulations as we pass them.

The elevator ride up to our floor is silent, with my head resting against Lexa's shoulder guard. It shudders to a stop and we exit, making our way to our room. The guards bow their heads to us and open the door for us. I hang back for a moment to let them know that no guard will be needed here tonight. They give me an understanding nod as I walk through, the door closing softly behind me. For the first time in a while, I lock the door. I don't want to be interrupted tonight.

I turn around to see Lexa standing before me, beautiful in her ornate armor. She always looks gorgeous, but now, as she's illuminated by the soft glow of her numerous candles, she looks like a goddess. The sight makes my heart skip a beat and I inhale deeply as she takes a step towards me.

Her gentle eyes meet mine and we're barely a breath apart, barely an inch of space between us. Lexa rests her forehead against mine and she beams at me.

"You are my houmon (partner/wife) now." Lexa breaths out like she can't quite believe it.

"And you're mine."

Lexa chuckles softly. "I have been yours since the day we met, Clarke Griffin."

I can't stop myself from kissing her anymore, the temptation too strong. I press my lips against her and we move together. Her hands rest on my waist while I rest one against her lower back to pull her closer and one against her bicep. The kiss is unhurried, like we have all the time in the world. And to be honest, we do. Now that our souls are intertwined like this, we will find each other in every life and have time to be together for as long as humanity exists.

Before the kiss can deepen, I pull back slightly so that our eyes can meet once more.

"I think this night would be much improved by the removal of our clothes." I murmur, absentmindedly tracing Lexa's bicep tattoo.

Lexa chuckles again and pecks my lips. "You want to hang up our armor."

"Mm. You see right through me," I laugh softly. "They look really good right now, and I don't want it to end up a heap on the floor."

"Clarke, this means you can no longer tease me when I want to fold up our clothing when we take them off," Lexa jokes.

"I'm never going to stop teasing you, babe."

Lexa's smile is fond as her fingers expertly unbuckle my shoulder guard. We've gotten really good at helping each other out of our clothes over the time we've been together.

Lexa removes my shoulder guard and presses a kiss to my cheek as she moves past me to my wardrobe where I usually keep my armor. My main armor takes up the bulk of the space, but we both have little areas in our wardrobes that are meant for spare pieces. We may have to build another wardrobe to store the armor we're wearing so we have a special spot for it.

Lexa hangs it up and seems unsurprised when I come up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. She leans back against me and turns her head so that she can kiss me. She doesn't let the kiss distract her from her goal for long. Lexa breaks it after a moment to turn around in my arms and begin to undo the rest of my armor. Luckily, this armor is put on and taken off in a very similar way to my own armor, which it, of course, was modeled after.

Next chapter we get to the good stuff ;) And holy crap, guys, I can't believe how long it's been since I've had time to write a chapter for this book! I thought I would have time when I was dogsitting, but these dogs didn't know how to chill and didn't like to sleep past 5:50 am (I may be super tired rn haha)! I go back in like two weeks, so things should pick back up then! Oh, and I had someone say that Nontu means father. And sure, it does in the translator, but my Grounders are more gender-neutral! Nomon and Nontu are basically used to differentiate between two parents! If they have more parents like Lucas does, that parent typically comes up with their own title ;) Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!