Beauty/Tragedy | Percy Jackson

Mortals know No Love

To my failed loves

Not a day goes by
that I don't wish
I could have been what you wanted.

I wasn't Monogamy
or Hierarchy,
but I wasn't casual either.

No, I loved you,
all of you, each of you,
with all that I was.

I shared secrets,
my dreams, my soul,
but with many.

It still hurts
knowing you loved an idea
when I loved you for you.

I die inside
remembering your pain
even if it was inevitable.

For no one
should have to pretend in love
or live a lie.

You were beautiful,
you still are,
our incompatibilities aside.

Forgive me, loves,
for loving in the plural
and breaking all our hearts.

The journey back to Aristo was quiet.

They all avoided meeting each other's eye, glancing away so fast that it was a surprise they did not get a whiplash when their gaze caught.

Berenice made sat on the stairs of the deck. The air was chilly, and she rubbed her freezing hands, shivering in the cold.

Agatha was a place that did not know cold weathers. The sun always provided them warmth and summer months were the months of celebrating good crops. Large feasts were organized where all of the citizens were invited.

It was all so full of life, so lively. Berenice thought she did not like that place and here she is, at the verge of drowning in her tears at the loss of familiarity.

True; people don't realize the importance of things until the circumstances forced them apart.

Gods, it had been a day and she already miss her home, she misses her mother, her father, the familiar walls of her bedroom.

She drew her knees close to her chest. She choked a sob, before going quiet and stealing her nerves. She would not cry at a place that was not her home, where she was surrounded by strangers who could not care less.

Footsteps echoed. Perseus stood on deck, looking out at the sea. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he wore an unreadable expression on his face.

Then, he turned and marched back inside.

Berenice blinked.

A son of Poseidon... He must be able to feel the waves, it's every lift and every crash. She wondered if it was a peaceful feeling.

So, she stared out at the vast sea, trying to find her Agatha.

(She had never seen the world outside the Capital of Agatha.

It scared her how much she had missed.)

"Here." She jumped, startled out of her thoughts.

A blanket.

Perseus Poseidonson handed her a simple woolen blanket. It was a little worn at the sides, but warm to touch. A warm color decorated the fabric.

"Thank you."

He just nodded.

None of them said anything. Berenice wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, drawing it down to her freezing hands and tightened her grip on it, clutching the woolen fabric.

The next words slip out of her mouth, and she has no control over the damage those bitter words can do, "I'm sorry."

Perseus is too calm, "Don't be. I don't blame you."

Somehow, she doesn't understand. She cannot believe this man. "The prince told me I can call him Kallias." Her heart sank, "The first thing he told me, he promised that I will be loved. He promised me a home in a foreign land."

"It is not a foreign land. Lady Berenice, you will be the queen of it one day." He was not looking at Her, but she knew that his eyes were the same, harboring no anger.

Tears were gathering in her eyes, "Then," she held back a sob, "He told me to leave him alone."

Harsh words were not something she was used to. She blamed her father again; he did not let her see the world. But gods she also missed him.

"I wish to go back."

In the vastness of the ocean, where anything could get lost so easily, he seemed to have no fear. "I understand. Sometimes, I wish the same."

(She had dreamed of love.

Her father had called love just another name for tragedy for tragedy.)

"Don't worry." He told her. "You're going to be okay." And, with a small smile that did not reach his eyes, he left her alone.

(Was this sadness worthy of all the time she had spent praying to the goddess?)

The sun peaked from the shade of the clouds; it was looking for answers. Same as her, it could fond none. Yet.

Kallikrates had smiled and so softly told her to call him Kallias.

She found out that his father, King Ariston did not like that name. She got to know that his mother, The Queen, always called him by it with affection. He told her that Perseus was the first one other than his mother to call him by the name that meant beauty.

It felt like she was evading personal space just by thinking about him as Kallias.

He promised that he will love her one day. Berenice knew it was not any vow. Perseus Poseidonson would come first, then, her choices will be considered.

Of course, because how can it happen any other way? She had known the Crown Prince for one day and they had been Kallias&Perseus for years.

She was a bridge between two kingdoms.

A bridge; it denoted alliance, diplomacy, peace, power. A bridge: it can only be built with the strength of mind and game of politics.

(A bridge was a non-living thing.)

Gods.

She clutched the blanket tightly around herself and stared at the horizon.

Did the world tip off after that into the oblivion? No.

"This is just an arranged marriage. I will not die."

*

With this chapter we come to the end of the prewritten part of the story.

Berenice: *panicking and overthinking*
Percy: *helping her when Berenice thought he would hate her*
Berenice: 😳

*

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