Bride of the Sea God

Chapter 4

Brother, Triton had called this man. Annabeth could sense the same godliness exuding from this man. Her senses were still on high alert.

"Perseus." Triton frowned, but he moved away his weapon. "Why do you protect the offspring of Athena? She could be an agent sent to surveil our realm for nefarious purposes!"

"She is not much of a spy. Athena would not be a goddess of wisdom were she to send a child of hers directly into a realm where they are surrounded by all sides of water."

"Please. I implore you, what is going on?" Annabeth murmured.

She had no energy to struggle anymore as her mind grew dizzy and her lungs gasped for air. The man's face who held her became a fuzzy image. The fatigue of the day's events and the waning of her adrenaline had caught up as she slipped into unconsciousness.

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Percy held the limp woman in his arms, replenishing the blessing that allowed her to breathe underwater. She had most likely fainted from the lack of oxygen as the spell wore off. Yet, who had given her that blessing to survive under the seas in the first place?

"Ione, Doris, take her back to my palace and give her what she needs. Sustenance, clothing, medicine."

The two Nereids stepped in and took away the fainted woman.

"Perseus, this is a matter of the most importance." Triton protested. "An agent of Athena trespassing in our realm?"

"I recognize that. However, I heard you say earlier that others have come before. I know that I am not often in the seas, but I have not heard of you taking humans as consorts." Percy said calmly.

Triton's tails lashed in agitation. "That matters not right now."

"Once the woman wakes, I will bring her to Father to discuss her parentage and her entrance to our realm. However, judging by her reaction, it seems that she herself does not know of her own lineage."

"Tch. A likely story." 

"Regardless, she first fell into my palace, and therefore she will be my responsibility."

"No, she wasn't supposed to fall there in the first place! I don't know how she got away from the whirlpool-"

Percy lifted an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I–" Triton closed his mouth.

Percy pieced things together quickly in his mind. "Have you been deliberately luring all the pharmakos towards your territory, brother?"

Triton glared at Percy with a baleful gaze. "Never mind," Triton muttered. "Just make sure she doesn't escape. It would be an embarrassment."

"You have no need to worry about that. The only embarrassment would be the one who let her escape from your enchantment in the first place." 

"I didn't let her escape---" Triton was about to protest more, but a shark swam up to his side. Lady Amphitrite requires your presence, Lord Triton.

"Fine, tell Mother I will be right there." With one last look at Percy, Triton strode off.

Percy watched him leave. "Come out of the seaweed now, before I turn you into shark fodder."

My lord. A nervous tuna emerged from its hiding place.

"What were you doing in my palace?"

I apologize, my lord! Lord Triton asked me to retrieve the women who come from above the surface, but I did not expect this one to fall in your palace. Please forgive my transgressions!

"How many others?"

The tuna shivered. I-I do not recall as I was only tasked with this one duty recently, but I heard from my predecessors that one woman would appear every decade or so. Maybe this one is the ninth or tenth?

Percy studied the tuna. It was telling the truth. "And what of the women that you've retrieved? What happened to them?"

They are f-fine, my lord. Lord Triton treats them well.

Classic. Gods playing with the fate of mortals until they were tired of their playthings. Percy suddenly felt a sense of tiredness wash over him.

"Fine. If I ever catch you in my palace again, not even my brother can save you. Understand?"

The tuna bobbed its head up and down. Y-yes, my lord! I will never do it again, my lord! Thank you for your generosity, Lord!

"Then leave. Do not let me see you again."

The tuna was out of sight in seconds.

When he was sure that no one was around him, Percy took out the dagger that he had taken from the woman. He knew this dagger very well but thought it had been lost to history from the destruction of that battle so many years ago.

The dagger was made of Celestial bronze, around the size of his forearm. The hilt was still leather gripped, and its edge wickedly sharp.

Even all these years and plagued by his dreams, he still remembered just how sharp it was when the hilt was in his hand and the blade pierced through her.

Her death, all their deaths, were still stained as brightly red in his memories as the day her blood had dripped from the blade.

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A/N: Why is it with every medium to long length project, my stories get darker lol? Athena once mentioned that Percy's flaw was personal loyalty. To save the people he loved, he would sacrifice the world. Well, I wanted to explore a little of that tension of having to harm, perhaps even have to kill, the people he loved in order to preserve the world. But, heh, not everything is what it seems.

Ta-ta, my lovelies. Thanks for reading as always, and see you all next chapter!