A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!
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Jason slipped in and out of the crowds. He knew he should be performing his duty by making friends with all the ambassadors sent to the Cytheran Queen Aphrodite's birthday ball.
"Did you hear? The Cytheran's first princess will be hosting her coming-of-age ceremony soon. She's rumored to be the most beautiful in all the nations!"
"Pah, as if she could hold a candle to my country's most beloved Queen. My queen Persephone is so beautiful that our king went to war for her hand!"
"Shush, here comes Queen Aphrodite! My, she's a beauty as well, isn't she?"
Ignoring all the other party attendants, Jason was more focused on weaving between the servants and crowd. He grabbed a wineglass to help blend in.
Tsk, he thought. The assassins were daring this time, to follow him all the way from Cuora to Cythera. His knights had done well to fend them off and not be delayed for the coming-of-age ceremony, but somehow two of the killers had masked themselves in the party.
The killers were most likely sent by one of King Zeus' consorts. A new baby had been born, and Jason's newest half-sibling was rumored to be a prince. The royal child's mother probably wanted Jason out of the way so her child could be in the top line of succession, choosing a time where Jason was out of the palace to be killed and then to blame the murder on bandits.
Jason made a silent note to have the concubine disposed of. The child was still innocent, so he could let it live for now. Perhaps sending the child far away to the slums or paralyzing the child would be the safest and most generous option Jason could give. Jason and Thalia had learned from their now dead mother that being cruel and strong was the only way one could survive the ruthless Cuora royal palace.
And now he had to survive this.
Jason ducked out of sight behind a pillar towards an open balcony. He had to lure the men to a place where there were barely any people around so he could deal with them properly. Since King Zeus had assigned Jason on a mission to Cythera to continue the countries' friendly relations, Jason could not just eliminate people in the middle of the ballroom and certainly not with so many witnesses and diplomats.
As he headed towards the balcony, Jason paused briefly and deliberately let the assassins see him. Excitedly, the two headed towards his direction as if sensing that they had an opportunity to kill him coming up.
Assured that the men would follow, Jason stepped out into the empty balcony. Careful that none of the ceremony attendees had seen him, Jason launched himself off of the second floor balcony. Landing in the soft grass, Jason slipped into the dark gardens, grateful for the cover of night. Even the light from the stars could not reveal his presence.
There were a few guards, but they were paying far more attention elsewhere than the unlit gardens where guests were not keen to go to. Even the guards seemed to be enamored in taking a glimpse of the widely famous beauty of the Cytheran princess.
Jason spotted a maze and let his lips curl up in a sneer. Perfect. The men would not know what happened. He would make sure their dead bodies would be hard to discovered, and then frame the assassins for trying to harm the Cytheran princess instead.
The grass crunched underneath his feet as Jason ventured further and further into the winding maze. The shadows made a perfect place for him to hide and wait for the right opportunity to ambush one of the assassins.
As soon as he was sure that he had put enough distance between him and the killers, Jason crouched in the shadows of the bushes, pulling out a small Cuora gold coin from the inner folds of his jacket. A small toss and Jason found himself wielding a golden sword. It was a rare magical weapon forged by wizards and gifted by King Zeus.
The first assassin rounded the corner and was instantly met with Jason's sword slashing at his throat. Using the momentum, Jason slammed the enemy into the second man. Both bodies crumpled to the ground. The second man could not untangle himself from the limp limbs of his partner he, too, was dispatched by Jason with quick efficiency.
Without a change in expression, Jason wiped the sword clean on the clothes of his attackers before reverting it back to a coin. This trusty sword had protected him from many an enemy, and he thanked his deceased mother for pleading with his father to give him some form of protecting when the fighting for the heir had gotten bloodthirsty. Instead of bodyguards, King Zeus gave the young Princess Thalia and Prince Jason a weapon imbued with magic, claiming that royal children must protect themselves to be worthy of the throne.
Jason stepped away from the bodies, deciding to let some of the trusted men who had followed him to Cythera to clean up the bodies before anyone else noticed. His men, unfortunately not nobility, could not enter the main Cythera palace halls for the coming-of-age ceremony.
It was then that Jason's instincts let him know that he was still not alone in the maze. Jason frowned. A third attacker that he had not been able to detect?
Jason quietly headed towards the direction of the noises and found himself nearing the center of the maze where a fountain and a few lamps were placed. A woman and man stood by the fountain. A couple seeking a secret rendezvous, perhaps, although Jason didn't let his guard down. Female assassins were just as deadly as their male counterparts, he had quickly found out through the many attempts on his life.
"Alright, you said you had something important to tell me. What is it? Say your piece, and then leave."
The female had spoken, and Jason detected hints of exasperation and wariness in her voice. She seemed to be around Jason's age, or perhaps a year or two younger, just passing the boundary from the teens to the twenties.
She turned slightly, and there Jason saw her full profile from the shadows where he was hiding. Immediately, Jason was struck with her beauty. Full lips currently pursed into a frown and skin so soft and smooth like a flower petal's. Brown hair cascaded over her shoulders in choppy waves. But it was her eyes that Jason found the most mesmerizing. He couldn't detect what color they were as they seemed to reflect all the various shades of what a rainbow could be.
In the moment that Jason was briefly distracted by the young lady, the conversation between the young man and woman had turned sour.
"I told you, no! I have no intention of marrying you. Leave now, or you are disobeying royal orders."
"Your Highness, how could I leave you?"
Your Highness, the man had said. The young woman must be the rumored Cytheran princess who would be soon having her coming-of-age ceremony. She was indeed worthy to be titled the most beautiful woman, at least in Jason's eyes.
But the discomfort in the woman's face, and her guarded stature was obvious. But the strange man seemed to not have taken notice and instead lunged forward, grabbing at the woman's shoulders.
"Your beauty is so enchanting that I must have you-"
Jason stepped forward but it seemed he didn't need to act. The disgust in the woman's face had reached an extreme. The probably princess shook off the man quickly and slapped him in the face with enough force that the man stumbled back.
"Leave. Now. Don't ever come near me again. I will have the guards throw you out."
The tone in her voice became richer, more vibrant with the raw anger she was barely holding back. Her words washed over Jason, and he had a sudden urge to turn right back around and leave the maze. Fascination magic, Jason quickly realized. This woman was a sorceress.
The man she had been arguing could not withstand the magic as Jason did. The unknown man turned right on his heels and left, unfortunately stopping when he saw Jason. The man blinked, and Jason saw the cloudiness in his eyes vanish, a sure sign that the fascination magic had been diminished. The princess had startled at Jason's sudden appearance, breaking her concentration of using her magic.
"I...what was I doing?" The man muttered.
"Leaving." Jason curtly answered.
The man scowled. Judging from the richness of the fabric of the man's Cytheran attire, Jason surmised that he was a nobleman of sorts.
"You..." The princess murmured.
Jason noticed that the princess was clutching her wrist, staring at it in shock. Had she been injured by the man?
Jason felt his anger flare up. When he was young, he had often saw his mother grabbed at roughly by other men and women. Even King Zeus had not done anything to protect his mother until Jason and Thalia had shown promise in becoming the next heir to the Cuoran throne.
Before the man could even say another word, Jason shot his hand out and punched the man straight in the throat. The man gurgled before crumbling into the ground.
"You should leave soon before he wakes up," Jason said. "And get your injury checked out."
The woman frowned, looking down at her wrist. But it wasn't red or bruised as Jason expected, but some sort of dark mark had appeared.
"Well, then. I will take my leave, Your Highness."
Jason quickly turned around and left back into the maze. A pity but he had to leave to clean up the two other bodies before they were discovered, and he didn't want her to use her fascination magic again. Hopefully, he was still enough in the shadows that the princess didn't recognize or remember who he was.
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It had been quite some time since the first meeting with Princess Piper. Since the first princess of Cythera had been deemed the most beautiful in all of the countries, Jason had naturally assumed that the princess he had met had been Princess Silena, and had thus invited the first princess to the bridal candidate. Had his information been more complete, he would have invited the correct princess. Still, Princess Piper had arrived regardless. Was it fate, one could say?
After Jason had the two bodies cleaned up and arrived back into the birthday ball, the Cytheran princesses had retired for the night. The rest of the diplomatic trip had yielded no further glimpses of the princess.
But Jason had been able to slowly weasel information about the Cytheran royal family throughout the years. Including the significance of the dark mark he had seen on the princess' wrist that night.
"Are you ready, Your Highness?" An attendant spoke, finishing the last touches on shining the prince's dragon leather shoes.
Jason nodded.
Jason slipped his magical weapon in coin form into his pocket. For some reason, he felt uneasy about tonight. His men underneath him had been stationed everywhere, and the royal knights should be on their utmost duty to guard against any mishaps. Still the second prince couldn't get rid of his misgivings.
Perhaps, the aristocratic faction had sensed Jason's reluctance and distancing away from the Colchis princess as his chosen bride. Information was getting harder to leak from the faction, but they had not tried anything since the debacle of the poisonous flowers.
Just a little bit more, he thought. He just had to hold a little longer, and all this would be over.
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Princess Medea smiled as she read the letter before having Kelli toss it into the fire. Everything was going into plan.
Her mute maid had received Medea's little "gift", and the letter revealed that the special guest had safely crossed into the Cuoran borders by borrowing the authority and protection of a key aristocratic faction member.
"That's enough."
The maids brushing her wet hair stopped. Medea rose from the wide bathtub where she had been rejuvenating her skin in herbs and rose petals.
"We don't want to be too late for tonight's ball, do we? After all, there will be such a beautiful show to watch. I would hate to lose a single moment of what I have planned for so long."
Medea's lips curled up in a sneer.
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The Cuoran royal palace was decorated beautifully. Winter balls held in the palace were always tastefully held, but this year was special with the three chosen princess candidates. For the nobility, it was an opportunity to see if the crown princess had chosen a companion to rule alongside with her, if any power dynamics had shifted to the second prince, and which consort candidate seemed to be more favored by the second prince.
But for one ball attendee, none of the Cuoran politics mattered.
It had been years since he was allowed to see the one he loved. For some reason, his declarations of love had been rebuffed and treated as threats. A simple misunderstanding, he was sure. He would clear this all up once he saw her. Were it not for the Cytheran guards and the princess' residency lying so deep in the royal palace, he would have talked everything out with the beauty and have her as her bride.
Tonight, he would finally be able to see her again.
Talk to her.
Hold her.
Have her.
Yes, his sponsor had promised him that.
"I'm waiting, Princess Piper," the man crooned as he entered the palace hall.