A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!
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Count Castellan bowed before the Crown Princess and the Prince of Cuora. Thalia leafed through the papers of the investigation before throwing the papers in front of the head of the White Knights Order's face.
"You claim someone stole your seal and faked orders to abandon their duties in guarding the palace road?" Thalia stated, her voice cold and deadly.
"Yes, Your Highness." The count could only say.
"You fool," Thalia scoffed. "How could you have let something so important be stolen? Do you know what could have happened? Princess Piper could have been seriously injured, causing a major international incident. Is that what you want? For war to occur?"
Count Castellan kept his head bowed, so his expression was unreadable. "I apologize, Your Highness. I will do everything in my power to investigate."
"See that you do, or else. But I'll also be sending members of the Imperial ministers to keep a watch on the investigation. Now get out of my sight."
The royal siblings waited until the count had left the throne room for a few minutes before turning back to a chess game placed in front of them.
"Here is your chance to take revenge on Princess Piper's behalf." Thalia mused as she played with the white Queen piece. "As well as an excellent opportunity to pull down the members of the aristocratic faction."
"Yes, there is no need to tell me a second time, my dear sister," Prince Jason answered.
"Good, because Father is secretly pushing for the Inferis Princess, since this alliance brings the most benefits to Cuora."
Jason looked at his sister sharply. "We have a deal, Thalia."
"Yes, yes, I know. In exchange for not fighting for the throne, you will get to marry the princess of your choosing and the chance to leave the palace. You'll give Father a heart attack if he ever hears of this. But think of this from the perspective of a royal family member with the responsibilities of providing peace and economic stability to our citizens. That is our duty to the people we govern in exchange for living a life of luxury and wealth. What can Cythera provide with us?"
Logically speaking, a marriage with Inferis, the wealthiest of the three nations, provided the most benefits. Both the prince and crown princess knew this.
Still, Jason merely stood staring back at his sister. "Then you marry the Inferis prince then."
Thalia laughed. "I hate the thought of marriage. Besides, Prince Nico already has a fiancee. Oh, you don't have to look at me like that. I have no intention of backing down from our deal. But you know Father is still king, and his words carry more weight than you think."
She moved forward to capture one of Jason's bishops.
"I have no idea why you're so dead set on the Cytheran princess, but you better not fail since you have made your choice." Thalia's blue eyes stared piercingly back at Jason. "Checkmate."
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Annabeth groaned and ducked out of sight behind a pillar when she spotted Luke Castellan walking the hallways of the royal palace. Why was he here of all days when she was visiting the palace? For the past few months, she had done all she could to avoid her former husband as much as possible. So far, Annabeth had succeeded, only having to occasionally see him once or twice at formal meetings that she could not avoid due to her duties as a noble. Thankfully, sending Lady Soleia to to Luke's mansion seemed to help in distracting the count.
Percy had also let her know that the White Knights Order had misguided from their duties in guarding the wooded road leading up to the royal palace. Since Annabeth doubted it was Luke's doing, she immediately landed her suspicions on Kelli. What a sloppy plan. Did Kelli really think such a plan wouldn't be traced back to her?
Annabeth tsked. Her cousin seemed to be the black sheep in the Chase family in every way, including being not very intelligent. How the hell did she ever fall prey to Kelli's machinations in her past life?
"Annabeth."
She nearly jumped out of her skin, grimacing at the deep voice. Shit, so he had seen her. Why was he talking to her?
"Count Castellan," Annabeth greeted coldly.
Luke's blue eyes stared down at her. He was obviously displeased at something, though Annabeth didn't care to know what he was unhappy about. In fact, the more her former husband was unhappy, the happier she was. Call her petty, but the man did try to kill her after all.
"Still Count Castellan, I see." He said, grimly.
Annabeth took a quick glance around the surroundings but there was no one there. Still, it was better for them to not talk so clandestinely in case someone would misunderstand the situation. She quickly took a few steps forward to emerge in the middle of the corridor.
"I'm not sure we're close enough for me to call you by any other name." Annabeth retorted.
Her grey eyes flashed with impatience. What did this man want from her now?
"Oh?" Luke's golden eyebrows lifted. "We were supposed to be engaged. I think we were quite close because of that, Annabeth."
"That's Lady Annabeth to you, and soon to be Duchess Jackson. I hope you haven't forgotten your manners, Count Castellan. While our families discussed a formal engagement, we never were engaged, so I hope you stop bringing this matter up, especially since you have Lady Soleia now by your side."
A dark expression came over Luke's face. "Duchess Jackson? I should have known what kind of woman you were, Lady Annabeth." Luke spat. "The moment a man with a higher title comes along, you open your legs like a-"
Slap!
Crimson anger flooded Annabeth's mind, like flames rushing through her palm until it connected with Luke's scarlet cheek.
Luke clutched the side of his face, shocked, but Annabeth was too furious to care about the consequences of what she had just done or about the stinging of her hand.
"I don't care what you think about my upcoming marriage with Percy," she seethed. "All I know is that I refuse to marry a man who sleeps with another woman knowing he's about to get engaged. And you call me a gold digger?" Annabeth laughed scathingly before jabbing her fingers into Luke's chest. "I could say the same to you, you hypocrite. My family is one of the wealthiest in this nation. Why would I pursue more wealth? You're the one who's coveting both money and other women at the same time."
Annabeth turned away from Luke but felt a harsh tug at at her arm.
"How dare you!" Luke seethed. But the realization of what Annabeth had said dawned on him. "You knew all this time?" Shock laced his voice.
She didn't bother confirming the affirmative. Let him think what he wants.
"Let go of my arm immediately, Count Castellan. Is that how a knight should act, manhandling other civilians?"
"Annabeth?" A voice called down the hall.
Piper's voice, Annabeth realized with a relief. She furiously tore her arm away from Luke before storming off to meet Piper. She would make sure Luke regretted everything in due time.
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Luke stood in the same spot for a few minutes, still bewildered at what he had discovered. At first when he had seen her form walk down the palace corridors, he had been take aback by her beauty. It was different than Kelli's, a more cool and elegant form of beauty. He had always preferred Kelli's more vivacious and curvaceous features.
Perhaps it was the headache given to him by Kelli's doing that made Luke walk over to where Annabeth was. But who knew that the woman had already known about his affair with Kelli?
All the Chase women were no good, Luke thought with a bark of harsh laughter. He had thought Annabeth, with a legitimate line to Baron Chase's wealth, was easier to manipulate, but she had effectively cut off all ties with him. Duke Percy Jackson was not someone Luke could easily interfere with. If it had been another man, then perhaps Luke could have dragged Annabeth back to his side.
Spirits even lower than before, Luke turned away.
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"Come in." Percy answered the knock.
He was in the midst of unbuttoning his shirt when Annabeth walked into the bedroom. She quickly turned around, but he had enough time to see her face redden.
"Are you insane? Why would you tell me to come in if you're undressed!"
Silently laughing, he walked up to her and embraced her from behind.
"What? It's not the first time you've seen my bare chest," he teased.
"Oh, shush. How's your wound?" Annabeth asked.
Percy nuzzled the top of her hair under his chin. "Getting better. I just took the bandages off. Have you taken a bath yet?"
"No. Have you?" She squirmed in his arms as he pecked her lips.
"Not yet. Why do you smell so good if you haven't taken a bath though?"
An idea popped into his head. Percy began walking backwards towards the bathroom while distracting Annabeth with soft kisses on her neck. He could never be tired of that soft skin.
"Percy, where are you walking me?"
Damn, caught.
"Let's take a bath together." Percy proposed as he tugged her into his bathroom. The bath, which was like a small pool set into the floor so one could simply walk into it, was already prepared by the maids, steaming the bathroom.
Annabeth frowned at him. "This is highly inappropriate."
"Help me take my bath, then. It's hard to lift up my shoulder where my wound is," he whined.
"Lies. You just said that your wound is getting better-Perseus Jackson!" She yelped as Percy made the motion to drop his trousers.
"What? No one takes a bath with his pants on."
Annabeth responded by taking a pail of water. "Fine, you want my help? Here you go, my lovely fiance!" She chirped before deviously pouring the pail over Percy's head.
Unfortunately for her, Percy responded by pulling her towards him in all his wet, bare glory. The front of her dress was immediately damp.
"Perseus Jackson!" But Annabeth couldn't help but laugh when his hands tickled her sides. "That's not fair! You know I'm ticklish." She yelped.
"Whoops," Percy said cheerfully.
With the tickling distraction, he managed to walk them into the bath. His lips ghosted the curve of her ear as he started to unlace the ties at the back of her dress.
"Percy," Annabeth sighed.
His lips moved on to her now exposed shoulder. Mmm, such soft and delicate skin. He hadn't been able to see her like this ever since that night when his bedroom had been laced with aphrodisiac candles. Frankly, Percy hadn't been meaning to do anything, but the moment Annabeth had walked in, his mind got muddled.
His fingers tugged the falling dress lower until the tops of her corset was showing. Percy lifted her up until her legs were wrapped around his waist and he was eye-level with her chest.
The dress was now dangerously low, but Annabeth didn't seem to notice. Her hands were around his shoulders, holding on so she wouldn't fall. Percy's gaze met her grey eyes, now beginning to haze over with lust.
"Can I?" Percy asked hoarsely.
His fingers gently stroked over the curve of her spine. Annabeth moaned as she nodded. The top half of her dress was soon discarded and lying around her waist in a gathered heap of wet cloth. Percy made no hesitation as his mouth wrapped around one nipple hidden behind her corset. Slightly frustrated that the cloth was still a barrier, Percy bit lightly.
"Oh!" Annabeth's fingers dug into his back, but he find the painful tingle delicious.
Percy moved to tug her corset lower so he could gain access to what he truly wanted. Then his eyes landed on the bright bruise on her arm.
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"What's this?" Percy suddenly stopped his actions.
"W-what?" Annabeth had to blink a few times to clear the fog out of her mind.
Her eyes followed Percy's gaze to the reddish purple splotches on her arm. The edges were already beginning to turn yellow. "Oh, I didn't even know this was there."
Percy delicately turned her arm over, checking the extent of her injury. Annabeth winced internally as she noticed some of the bruises looked like they could match fingers. It must have been from when Luke had grabbed her arm so forcefully. She hadn't even felt the pain because she had been far too angry at him.
"It doesn't hurt much," she was quick to say.
"Who did this to you?"
Annabeth shivered as his low voice somehow made the steaming hot room feel suddenly feel chilly. She gauged his face before deciding her answer. Percy looked like he would automatically murder whoever she said right now that even the air was suddenly hostile and stuffy. While she would love to see Luke be knocked down several pegs, it was a rash decision. It was already impulsive of her to reveal what she had known to Luke earlier.
"If I tell you," Annabeth said slowly. "Will you promise not to get yourself in trouble? Or do anything reckless?"
"No promises," Percy immediately returned.
Ah, that was probably a bad question, since Percy was quite reckless at times when he let his emotions get the better of him. Annabeth poked at the furrow between his eyebrows.
"I won't tell you then. Don't worry, I'll get my own revenge on him without getting you involved," Annabeth said, softly.
"I don't like it," Percy scowled. "I'm your fiance. I should know when someone hurts my future wife."
Annabeth kissed him gently. "I'm flattered but nothing good will come out of you recklessly charging in and swinging your sword everywhere."
"I'm not going to do that," Percy complained. "I don't know what the hell my knights were doing, not escorting you around."
Annabeth leaned her head against his shoulder. "It's not their fault. I told them not to follow me in the royal palace."
In his position and status, Luke wasn't someone knights could just easily touch, and she hated having escorts around everywhere. But she supposed having one or two wouldn't be too bad.
Percy was still angry though, judging by his tense shoulders. Over time, Annabeth had picked up a few tricks from Percy while learning the best ways of distracting him. She turned her head and lightly kissed his neck before smoothing her way to his jawline. Just a hint of stubble was beginning to show since it was the end of the day.
His Adam's apple bobbed as her lips grazed over his. Displeased with the speed of teasing, Percy pressed one hand gently on the back of her neck and directed her mouth more firmly on his. Hot, velvety lips captured hers greedily, stealing her breath and sense of reality. A little naughty nip on her bottom lip caused her to gasp and open her mouth, ripe for the taking as Percy subdued her tongue.
"So it was someone from the royal palace, I see. Well, if you won't tell me who dared to grab your arm," Percy whispered into her ear. Her body shivered at the huskiness of his voice. "I think I'm going to have to check every inch of your body for any more bruises until I'm satisfied."
Somehow he had unlaced her corset. Without a further moment's notice, he tugged the falling corset down.