Courtly Love (a Percy Jackson AU)

In Sickness and in Health

***Annabeth***

       I felt myself being shoved into a dank, small cell and hissed at the burly guard, but he avoided my fists and locked the door to jail cell. I fell to my knees and sobbed. Everything was wrong. I had been embroidering in my room to pass the time, while reminiscing over my time with King Percy when Luke had arrived at my room, telling me that King Percy wanted to go horseback riding. 

     I had naively believed him. When I had arrived at the English court a little over two years ago, Luke had befriended me. He was one of the few people at court who spoke French and we had bonded over stories of our childhood and our dreams of the future. When I arrived at the stables, however, I was attacked by Luke, who stuffed a handkerchief in my mouth to prevent me from screaming like a banshee. Now, I was alone is a dirty, undignified cell with a stench worse than a full chamber pot and a spider crawling over a large cobweb. I shuddered; I hate spiders.

       I heard a swish of robes and looked up to see Princess Rachel, her face smudged with dirt and her finely woven garments torn. Her eyes were almost as red as her vibrantly hued hair. I could see her protruding stomach and hear her heavy breathing. I realized that she due any day and felt a wave of compassion sweep over me. "How long has thou been kept here?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

       She frowned. "I am not certain," she said, sitting down beside me. "I have been here for so long that I cannot tell anymore. Lord Octavian told me I'd been here for a month, but I'm not certain when he said that."

      "Thou has been here for far too long!" I exclaimed. "What is Lord Octavian keeping thou here for?"

      "My husband is keeping me locked up until my father is dead-just like my poor baby brother," she said bitterly.

     "Lord Octavian killed thine brother?" I asked.

       She nodded, her green eyes looking like a limp, lifeless leaf. "He had my brother poisoned," she said, her voice shaking. "He'll have my father assassinated next and then will claim the throne."

       "That sinful bear!" I cursed. "I should like to see him burn in-"

         I broke off as I heard heavy footfalls. Rachel got up and smoothed her skirts. I got to my feet as I saw Lord Octavian flanked by Luke and the guard who had roughly pushed me into the cell earlier. I scowled at him, not curtsying like Princess Rachel did. "Why doth thou think that the French princess refuses to accept my authority, Bryce?" Lord Octavian asked.

        Bryce Lawrence sneered, making his crooked nose look uglier. His green eyes looked sickly, but were shining in excitement. "The French princess doth not know of thine authority," he said, grinning widely. "Doth thou give thine permission?"

     Luke stepped forward. "Please, lay thine hands off of her," he said as Bryce grasped my wrist. "She is of French royalty. She may be useful to us."

      "I know that," Lord Octavian said. "Thou art an imbecile, Luke. I always have a plan."

       He looked at Princess Rachel and I, taking in our disheveled hair and torn clothes. "I would have thought that the king would have chased a comelier maid," he drawled. "Even her lady-in-waiting is comelier. No clever lady has comelier servants than herself."

       I marched up to the cell door and slapped him through the bars, causing him to jump backwards. "Why, thou art truly a she-wolf," he growled. "Thine temper rivals that of my wife."

     "I'll not be thine wife forever," Princess Rachel retorted.

     Lord Octavian snorted. "Thou can hardly get a divorce," he sneered. 

     "I'll have an annulment, then!" she shot back.

     "The Pope will never grant thou an annulment," Lord Octavian replied, "and I will never allow thou to even attempt to do so. Besides, what good are thou as a bride now? Thou art not a virgin. Marrying thou was a good deed of mine; I saved thou from being an old maid."

      "Better an old maid that thine unlucky wife!" Princess Rachel hissed back, though her voice was faltering now and I realized that she was thirsty.

     "Lord Octavian," I said, attempting a curtsy I would only do for the sake of my companion. "Can thou please give thine wife some wine to slake her thirst?"

       "And why should I do that?" he asked, twirling his dagger. 

       "Thou took vows to protect her in sickness and in health," I said sharply.

      Lord Octavian smiled. "Thou art right," he drawled. "Perhaps I should give her a treat. Luke, stay here to guard the women."

     Lord Octavian left, along with Bryce. Luke looked at us warily and unsheathed his knife. "Do not attempt to escape," he growled.

       I looked at him, trying to see traces of the man who I had befriended-the man that made me smile when I was crying and eased my homesickness. He had been the first man I ever longed for. Though I tried to see the same gentle man, all I saw was a stranger wearing the face of my beloved Luke. "Luke," I said. "Why did thou betray me? I counted thou as one of my closest companions."

      He looked at me and I flinched to see the anger in his eyes-like fire burning over a lake. "I told thou already," he snarled. "My father left me with my peasant mother. He left me-even though she had fits and would speak in trances. My father abandoned me to marry a lady at the king's court. I've been longing for vengeance for years, Princess Annabeth."

     "But King Percy is of no fault," I protested.

    "His father was," Luke growled. "He dangled a comely lady in front of my father's reach to tempt him back to court. My father abandoned me and never returned and when I finally arrived at court, he fled to his fine manor."

     "Thou has not exacted any vengeance on thine father," I said candidly. "Thou has only hurt thine companions. "

     "Thou doth not understand!" Luke shouted.

     "I do, thou art a coward and a traitor," I shouted back.

      Luke glared at me, his face red and his breathing hard and rapid. "Thou art a princess," he said with a sneer. "Thou has a life of luxury. Thou has fine clothes and fine food. Thou doth not have to worry about famines or high taxes or rabbits destroying thine crops. Thou has never suffered like a peasant has-tied to their lord's land for their entire life-little better than the slaves of Rome."

      "I have not known that," I admitted, "but I did not cause that and King Percy is trying to help the country."

     "All monarchs vow to help their people," Luke said bitterly," but they never keep their promises."

    "And thou thinks that Lord Octavian will?" I asked. "He allied himself with Lord Gabe, who forced King Percy's mother to couple with him."

    "Lord Gabe has died," Luke said in a monotone voice.

   "How?" Princess Rachel asked in surprise.

  "Lord Octavian poisoned him," Luke said dismissively. "He desires to neutralize any threats to the throne."

    "That will include thou one day," I warned him.

    "I am loyal to Lord Octavian," Luke growled.

   "And I thought that I could trust thou," I said, in tears now. "When thou befriended, I thought that thou would be my companion forever. Thou vowed that thou was my family."

     Luke's face went slack. Suddenly, his anger was replaced by horror as he looked back at me. "What have I done?" he asked, stumbling backwards in horror.

    "Thou made a promise, Luke," I said. "Now is the time to choose who thou will be loyal to."