Revenge of the Duchess

Chapter 15

Annabeth tiptoed up and swung her arms around his neck. 

"Well, I was picturing what it would be like on our wedding night," she whispered.

Unfortunately, her words didn't have the effect on Percy that she wanted. He only wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. 

"You're always welcome to visit my bedroom before then if you're that eager to find out."

Incorrigible bastard! In her mind, she was beating him up.

"You're no fun at all," she complained. 

Couldn't he at least give her the slightest bit of reaction that she wanted or even try to play along?

"Really? I thought I should say the same to you."

They were pressed against each other now. Annabeth recalled back to that night when Percy had hovered over her on the bed, lips over hers and a sneaking hand that left tingles as it skimmed her waist. She had been so willing to let him in her bed with her body so heated up from the aphrodisiac. Now Percy's arms were dangerously low around her waist. His smirk dared her to do more.

Oh screw it, Annabeth thought. It wasn't wrong to be physically attracted to one's future husband. She would give it to him as a reward for finding such a good place for the start of her company.

And so it was Annabeth who took the first step to lightly brush her lips against his. She leaned back to smirk at Percy's expression, only to find it unreadable. She couldn't help but pout a little. Was he not affected in any way?

She was about to give up the lost cause when he bent down to recapture her lips. The kiss was softer but no less determined than when he had kissed her that heated night. Percy's hands stayed obediently on her waist as he slowly explored each curve and crevice of her lips.

Annabeth found his grip on her light enough that she could easily break away if she wanted to. But strangely enough, she didn't want to. She merely tilted her head and let their lips interlock better for a proper kiss. Then she felt a warm tongue swipe across her bottom lip, causing her to shiver. Was a mere kiss supposed to make her feel this affected?

Percy was a better kisser than she had previously thought. Luke's kisses had felt overbearing and perhaps even...bland? Then Percy kissed her harder and all thoughts of her previous husband flew out the window. It would be rude of her to keep thinking of that bastard while a handsome man was currently holding her in his arms.

The sound of voices in the hallway brought Annabeth back to reality. They were at the company, and she couldn't risk setting up a bad image in front of her employees on the first day.

Releasing Percy before any more naughty thoughts appeared, Annabeth began to rummage through the files on her desk, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks. Percy merely hummed, sitting on the edge of her desk and just observing her organize her things. If people hadn't walked outside in the hallway, who knew how far they would go?

Annabeth could feel the heat from Percy's gaze and tried to broach a subject of conversation to distract herself from their previous kissing session.

"Oh, that's right."

Annabeth relayed what had happened with Luke and Kelli earlier. As expected, Percy didn't look surprised since she surmised that he already knew it from his intelligence gathering. But Annabeth was curious for more information. After all, such a thing had not happened before in her previous life, unless it happened after she died.

"What do you think? Do you think the aristocratic faction is planning on supporting Princess Medea as Prince Jason's bride?" Annabeth asked.

"No doubt that that's their plan." Percy confirmed. "But it's still too early to say. Two of the princesses have only just started the bridal training."

Annabeth reached into her memories. There was another princess candidate who had gone missing and was perhaps disqualified in the end. Due to Luke's influence (and manipulation, now that she realized), Annabeth hadn't been too involved in politics. Luke was in the aristocratic faction while the Chase family supported the imperial faction, so Annabeth remained neutral throughout her marriage. But she did recall there was a scandal involving the third missing princess around this time. But what scandal was it again?

"By the way, the last hunting competition of the year is this weekend." Percy reminded her. "Are you going to give me a token?"

"You want a token from me? But you already took my handkerchief from last time when I dropped it."

"Hmm, but I want one that my fiancee has personally made for me."

Annabeth bit her lip. Tokens were usually handkerchiefs embroidered by one's lover. She didn't hate embroidery but it also wasn't her favorite thing to do. Moreover, what should she embroider?

Percy just smiled, watching her thoughts show themselves on her face.

Thalia crumpled up the report she had in her hand before tossing it into the fire. The report had contained details of Medea's developing connections with the head of the White Knight Order and one of the daughters of the Chase family.

Thalia ended up walking over to the game of chess she and Jason had left unfinished yesterday.

How bothersome, she thought as she looked at the chess pieces. She had a suspicion that the aristocratic faction was planning to partner up with Princess Medea in order to install Prince Jason onto the throne. Should they succeed, they would have political power from the court, foreign support from the Colchis nation, and military power from the White Knights Order. They could easily take over the throne.

Though the Cuora nation would benefit from having an alliance with the Colchis nation, there were other ways than a marriage alliance. Plus, the Colchis princess gave Thalia pause for consideration. Thalia could just sense the danger the Cuora nation would end up if Jason took Medea as his bride.

Thalia picked up the black rook and twirled it mindlessly in her fingers as she considered the other candidates. The princess of Inferis nation was sweet and intelligent, and her country was insanely rich with its ores of gold and jewels. The Inferis Princess was a match for Medea in terms of beauty, wealth, education, except for in one area: age. 

Pity Princess Hazel was only thirteen, a full decade younger than Jason. Her elder sister, Bianca, had tragically passed away in an accident, leaving Hazel to substitute as the candidate. Naturally, if Hazel was chosen, the wedding date would be set after Hazel's coming-of-age ceremony. 

But though Jason treated Hazel well, anybody could see Hazel was like a younger sister to him. No wonder society gossiped that the Colchis princess was going to be confirmed as the bride and Jason's main wife. After all, how could a child compare to a mature woman?

The black rook was set down and Thalia picked up the bishop instead. The third princess was rumored to be famous in the Cythera nation for her insane beauty, an unsurprising fact since her mother, Queen Aphrodite of Cythera, surpassed all women and men in all many countries in beauty. Cythera was also quite wealthy, known for blacksmithing and luxurious beauty products. Princess Silena would have been the perfect bride since Thalia's intelligence networks had gathered info that the Cytheran princess was not manipulative nor pulled schemes. But the princess was missing, and all letters sent to the Cythera Kingdom went unanswered.

Thalia felt the letters were being intercepted, but it wasn't like they could send an envoy personally to Cythera to check without going through so many regulations. Cythera was a two week horse-ride journey away. Thalia's intelligence network informed her that the princess had lost contact once she crossed the Cuora border. Should the Cythera nation ever find out, they could take the chance to instigate a war since it was on Cuora land.

So where in the hell was the third candidate? Thalia feared that she was already dead.