A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!
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Annabeth lay asleep on the bed. Color was beginning to return back to her face, a sure sign that most of the danger had passed. Percy sat beside her, one of her hands firmly clasped in his. The doctor had just left, leaving words of relief that Annabeth would wake up soon with little to no side effects.
A knock on the bedroom door, and Grover entered.
"I'm here to report on the results of the investigation."
Percy nodded tiredly for him to continue.
"As expected, the flowers were the cause of poisoning. The Cuora palace gardeners couldn't identify the type of flower, but they state that the flower is not something found in the Cuora nation."
Percy's brows furrowed. "Not from Cuora? Then where?"
"From the Inferis nation," Grover answered. Then came the words of even more surprise. "Princess Hazel of Inferis was the one who identified it."
Percy mulled over the words. A deadly flower from the Inferis country? To his knowledge, Inferis and Cuora were currently in talks for an economic alliance where the bridal candidacy was merely a ruse. It seemed highly unlikely that Inferis would deliberately cause the harm of another princess on another country's soil.
"What did Princess Hazel say about the flower?"
"Princess Hazel knew about the flower because the production of the flower is highly restricted in Inferis. The flower is called the Nightwalker, an even deadlier cousin to nightshade. The Inferis nation use it as an ingredient for a type of insomnia medicine, but only after it's been thoroughly processed. However, if one breathes in the flower's raw spores for a few days, symptoms such as psychosis, dizziness, and infertility will eventually occur. But in the case of Lady Chase's case, crushing the flowers in such close proximity caused the spores to be released quickly, resulting Lady Chase to faint. As a result, the Inferis nation bans their citizens from growing the Nightwalker and highly regulates their growth."
Percy's stomach churned. He looked back at Annabeth, who was still peacefully sleeping off the effects of the poisoned flower. It was lucky that she had only breathed in the spores for a while.
"So it seems someone was smuggling in these Nightwalkers."
"Princess Hazel is cooperating to the best of her abilities to see if the Inferis nation has had a break-in or smuggling attempt of their Nightwalkers."
On the outside, Percy's face was calm. On the inside, he was boiling in a sea of fury.
Hearing the facts, there was no doubt that Princess Piper of the Cythera kingdom was the target of a malicious assassination attempt. But Annabeth had been hurt as a consequence.
Percy sat up, reluctantly letting of Annabeth's hand. He brushed off some wayward curls on her face so they would not disturb her rest. In all honesty, he had not expected to feel such turbulent emotions at seeing Annabeth harmed once again. He had failed to protect the person he cared for once again, and the stinging in his heart was all too obvious.
It was time to go to the palace and find out more about who was behind all this.
He would not let off a single perpetrator.
***************************************
"Marquis Ares."
Percy addressed his relative with a nod of acknowledgement, hiding his annoyance. He was on the way to meet Jason when he encountered the Marquis.
"Your Grace," the marquis greeted. But Percy thought he detected a hint of sardonic flippancy in the marquis' eyes.
"So sorry to hear about your fiancee's health condition." The Marquis continued in an oily tone.
"Thank you for your inquiry. She is all recovered now." Percy answered stiffly.
With Marquis Ares, there was always something hidden behind that scarred face and bright red eyes. Something that always put Percy on edge whenever he had to face this distant relative.
"That's good to hear. Although there are concerns that the future Duchess..." The Marquis let his voice drawl. "The future Duchess may not be able to conceive."
Percy let his green eyes show of his dislike. "I suggest that you be more concerned of your own affairs than mine."
"As your relative, I am only concerned that the Jackson line may have trouble continuing. We are...family, of course."
Percy nearly scoffed out loud. "There is no need. You've forgotten that my brother, the future Grand Duke Triton, will be a new father, if the Marquis is worried about the continuation of the royal line. Besides, Prince Jason is in the middle of the bridal candidacy, and Crown Princess Thalia will be selecting a prince consort soon." He stepped closer to the Marquis, staring eye to eye with the repulsive man. "But as you've pointed out, I am of the Jackson line, born from a mother who is a commoner, which you've so often delighted to point out and said I was of unworthy blood when I inherited the dukedom."
The Marquis laughed, as if laughing could fling away the years of barbed insults and insinuations of the past away. "Ah, forgive my past musings as a concerned elder. You were but a young sprout with no experience on handling a dukedom, much less become a Black Knight at that time. Your Grace has, of course, proven yourself to be worthy of the title of duke. So let me as an affectionate elder just offer some words of advice. In order to pass down the title of duke, one would of course need to have a suitable partner. My daughter, the beautiful Eris-"
As if one cue, a young lady with curly black hair stepped out into the hallway and curtsied daintedly. "Your Grace," Lady Eris said, shyly.
This time, Percy laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of the situation. It was not the first time Marquis Ares had offered his daughter's hand in marriage. "As you have said, we are family, Marquis Ares. And so I must decline you and my...cousin," Percy said, hardly even sparing a glance at the young woman. "I don't plan on intermarrying when we share the same blood, you see, nor do I plan to abandon Lady Chase. There is no one more suitable for Duchess than her, and I will have no other women beside me than her."
The Marquis' demeanor didn't change, as though he was expecting Percy's answer. "What a loyal response. As expected of such a fine Duke," he said, almost mockingly. "But if I may-"
"Pardon me for interrupting, but I really must leave on business. Good day, Marquis Ares."
Tired of hearing more shit fly from the Marquis' mouth, Percy strode off. But a feeling of unease had come upon him as he felt the Marquis' eyes on his back.
As Annabeth had fainted in front of the palace gates, there were plenty of witnesses who could spread the news of her fainting. Marquis Ares knowing of it was no surprise. But he had let slip that Annabeth could not conceive, revealing that the marquis knew more than what he was letting on. There was either a leak in the palace's tight reigns on information or the marquis was in on it. But there was no link between the marquis and the flowers or of the tea incident. Was there?
Percy knew Marquis Ares. There was no way Ares would let slip such a valuable clue that he knew more than he should.
Unless it was a threat.
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"He seems very adamant in not liking me, Father," Lady Eris said, softly.
"There is no worry, my dear." Marquis Ares soothed. "He will come along sooner or later."
"Then what was the reason for this meeting?"
"To test him. To look for any weaknesses."
And he had succeeded. For a man like Ares, people were expendable to him, even his own daughter. He would willingly throw his daughter to the bed of a bastard, even when he formerly criticized that bastard's suitability to the dukedom.
If it were not for the birth of that bastard, Are would have been next in line to that Dukedom, after killing or exiling anyone in the way. But Grand Duke Poseidon had cleverly hidden his bastard son away, quietly tutoring him and sending him to battle until Perseus Jackson had become a decorated knight, hero, and businessman, that it became nearly impossible to find his blind spot. Until now.
Marquis Ares sneered. Love was useless to him. Love made people weak. Love made them blind. And blind did it make Duke Jackson. Ares just needed to get the obstacle named Annabeth Chase out of the way, and all the puzzle pieces would fall into place.
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Jason gripped the young man's chin in the interrogation room, pondering on what he should do next.
"You're late." Jason murmured.
Out from the shadows stepped out Percy. "I met Marquis Ares."
"Oh?" Jason let go of the young man, whose head dropped back onto his chest. "What happened?"
"He wanted to offer his daughter's hand in marriage. Not the first time he's done so."
"Even knowing that you're already engaged?"
Percy frowned. "He seemed to know about Nightwalkers and their symptoms of infertility."
"It seems we'll have to keep a tighter watch on that bastard." Jason moved on to the woman bound next to the young man, prying up the woman's eyelids as her eyes were closed.
"I'll have my best men on it. So who are these two?"
"This man is a gardener, who is supposed to be the one who ordered the flowers by disguising them as gardenias. And the young lady is the maid who brought them to Princess Piper's room. And what do you suppose the link between all of this was? Both of them are the siblings of the maid who accused Princess Piper of salting Princess Medea's tea."
Percy's eyebrows raised.
"Yes, that very same maid who put salt in the tea. I suppose their motive seems to be revenge."
In fact, Jason was currently imprisoning that very maid to keep her alive from assassination attempts while they tried to cure her of the fascination magic still fogging up her mind. If they could do so, then she would become a very important witness for a future trial of eliminating the filth that was residing in the Cuora palace. But to the maid's siblings, apparently they were convinced that the maid was being held under false charges despite the maid admitting that she had done the deed. Their testimony was that they only wanted to threaten the Cytheran princess a little, but not to kill her.
"Both are victims of fascination magic, I assume?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
The pair were asleep under the hypnotizing spell placed on by the court magician, but the fascination magic was proving tricky to be removed.
Jason balled his fists. He already knew who was responsible, but all the evidence was circumstantial. If they didn't play their cards right, then they would risk a war with all three countries. Colchis, for accusing that Princess Medea was the main culprit of the assassination attempts. Inferis, as the Nightwalkers had been smuggled from their country into Cuora, and Cythera, for their princess had been almost harmed on Cuora land once again.
"What a mess," Jason murmured.
The "accidentally" forgotten White Knights Order watch on the day of the carriage attack, the tea party incident, the attack on the Cytheran princess while she was travelling to the candidacy, and now the additional malicious attempt on Piper. There were some kind of connections here, Jason surmised but he didn't have all the information needed. He needed to get closer to the aristocratic faction to gain more knowledge.
"If these two only wanted to threaten Princess Piper, there are many other ways to do it. Much more simpler ways, too. And it seems their target was just to cause Princess Piper to be infertile. How did they even get Nightwalkers when it's banned from commoners in its home country?" Percy posited. "Someone powerful must have been shielding their movements."
As Jason's and Percy's eyes met, they landed on one possible answer.
"You know, we've been viewing Marquis Ares and the aristocratic faction with Princess Medea as two separate entities. I think it's time to view all of them as one collective threat."
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Annabeth was already awake when Percy came back late from the palace. She had already been checked by the doctor and fussed over by the maids and staff that she felt almost smothered.
As soon as she heard word that Percy was back, she hurriedly ran down to meet him to escape the attention of the staff.
"Hey, shouldn't you be resting in bed?"
Percy pulled her in for a hug, but not before carefully inspecting the color of her face and her forehead temperature.
"I'm fine now," Annabeth insisted.
"Are you sure you're feeling all right? No dizziness? No pain? You're dressed so thinly. Why didn't your maid give you a shawl?"
Annabeth shook her head exasperatedly. Another mother hen in the making.
"No, I'm feeling all right. There's no need for more clothing, so don't glare at my maid so. The doctor came by earlier and said I'm all ready for work."
She rubbed her face on his chest. He was slightly chilly from just coming from the outside where snow was drifting in soft piles.
"No." Percy said, sternly, poking her on her forehead. "No working. You're going to take the week off. I should find another doctor. What kind of quack would put someone sick to work the next day."
Annabeth set her chin stubbornly. "Leave Doctor Solano alone! He said I only needed a little rest. So one day."
She stared right back at Percy. Perhaps after knowing her workaholic nature, Percy only relented somewhat. "Three days of rest, and you have to let others take on some of the work and work in the office with me so I can make sure you're all right. Or else."
"Or else what?" Annabeth laughed.
"Punishment," Percy whispered in her ear. "You won't be able to leave the bed all day."
Annabeth slapped at his arm teasingly. "Stop saying such ambiguous words."
Percy only grinned wider, but it was evident he was relieved that she was feeling better.
Annabeth buried her face in his arms again. In truth, she had been worried earlier, overhearing the details of what had happened to her. Particularly when Doctor Solano had mentioned that one of the symptoms had been infertility. That had sent a knife into her heart, as if she was being suffocated again that night so long ago in her past.
She had married Percy on the contract that she would give birth to an heir three years into their marriage. She had never worried about the details on the contract before, and those words now hang like impending doom to her. Percy seemed to be happy with her now, but would he abandon her if she could no longer fulfill that contract?
"Don't worry, Annabeth."
Percy seemed to notice her dampening mood. "Everything will be fine," he said. A gentle kiss landed on her forehead. "I promise you. I'll be your side no matter what."
Annabeth felt his arms tighten around her.