The Demigod King; Book 2

"It Will Take Time"

WARNING: This chapter contains some very crude and offensive language. You can skip it without losing the storyline if you want. The language is used in context of the 1940s and is very much condemned by the author in normal use.

Jason POV

Terrified of his own powers, and his own emotions. 

He remembered thinking those words back when he and Nico had encountered Cupid. He could distinctly recall everything about that day from the waves of anger and despair that rolled off Nico to the way the boy had expected Jason to attack him after his secret was out. And most of all, he remembered thinking Nico was the bravest demigod he'd ever met after that day.

Nico had shadowtravelled them into the same place where it had happened. Everything looked the same, but they were all so different. Last time they'd faced Cupid, the god had claimed Nico had risked nothing for love. Now, that couldn't be any further from the truth. The demigod had come so far. So why was the encounter clearly still weighing on him?

Jason felt a presence moving towards him. He automatically lashed out with his sword but missed. 

A cruel laugh filled the air, echoing dauntingly. Nico stiffened, looking around nervously. Harry looked incredibly confused and fingered his wand anxiously.

"It hasn't been very long," Cupid observed, his voice still bodiless. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon, Nico di Angelo. Eager to share another truth with me?"

"Leave him alone," Jason said firmly, trying to be confident. "Whatever payment you want, you can have from me instead."

Cupid laughed near Jason's left, so he swung there, but once again met only air.

"Not as fast as you once were, son of Jupiter. But no, I want nothing from you. I'm afraid you have no secret truths that interest me. Your love life is quite straightforward. And this flimsy mortal you've brought is also quite...unexciting."

Harry looked like that was the first time anyone had called him boring but didn't seem upset at all by it.

"No," Cupid said, materializing fifty paces away from them. "I think I will require payment from Mr. di Angelo once again. But what is it you want from me this time?"

"The stygian iron chains," Jason declared boldly.

"And why is that?" Cupid inquired, red eyes laced with malice.

"To stop Ouranos," Harry said calmly. 

Cupid raised his perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "Indeed? Well, that is a very expensive item. It will require a very expensive truth. Are you prepared to make that trade, Mr. di Angelo?"

Nico gritted his teeth. "Bring it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. You don't scare me, Cupid."

Cupid laughed. "And I thought we decided to cut the bullshit. Of everything you've ever faced, son of Hades, I scare you the most."

"No."

"No?" Cupid replied angrily. He smacked Nico, sending the younger boy flying into marble.

Harry lurched forward, but Jason reached out and pulled him back. He knew this was Nico's fight, and they could not do anything to help.

"What if I take my true form as you see it?" Cupid turned to Harry and Jason as his hair began to shorten. "Did you know," he told them, shrinking down an inch, "that I reflect the ideal male image, just as my mother does with women?" His skin turned darker, becoming a rich tan. "What do you think of your friend now," his eyes became sea green, "that you know his ideal man?"