A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!
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A couple of the younger maids couldn't look either the king or queen in their eyes as they quickly cleaned up the bed, while the older and experienced maids cleaned the room with more composed expressions. Annabeth accidentally caught the glance of one of the younger maids who blushed. The head maid glared at the young maid who quickly bowed her head down.
"This is all your fault," Annabeth said to the king, both now attired in fluffy bathrobes.
"Why me? You started it."
"But you were the one who broke the pillow," she pointed out.
"That's not my fault. I have half a mind to see who provided the pillows. What shoddy workmanship." The king complained. "I'll have to talk to the royal tailors about this problem."
Hearing this but not understanding the true context, the maids just buried their heads further and worked even faster. It would be better if they could pretend they were objects in the rooms.
"Your Majesties, um, would you like to take a bath?" One maid asked. She acted as though the queen's eyes were on her feet.
Annabeth rolled her shoulders and stretched, not knowing that her actions seemed like she was sore from fooling on the bed. "That would be nice."
"One bath is fine," the king interrupted, causing the maid to lower her head even more.
Annabeth looked up at him questioningly, but the king just grabbed her hands and tugged her into the bathroom.
He whispered into her ear. "What would the maids think if there isn't a single mark on your body when they help you bathe? I'm the type to be a generous lover, you see."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. The Eldoris royalty often lived as though they couldn't use their own hands and feet. Annabeth had found it hard to get used to when maids bathed her own hair and rubbed scented oils and lotions into her skin while she laid in the tub like a piece of beef being marinated.
"Do you find me physically repulsive?" The king questioned teasingly at her less than enthused appearance.
Annabeth studied the king who was supposed to be a villain in Clarisse's story. Did all villains have to be this handsome? Perhaps the very first Eldoris king might have been average looking, but generations of marrying beautiful women and men into their royalty had produced princes and princesses of stark beauty. Annabeth had seen portraits of former Eldorisian royalty, all with trademark dark hair and mesmerizing green eyes that pierced into one's soul.
Frankly, every character in the story seemed to have their own distinct charm. She had already met the villain, the female lead, and two of the three male leads. Every single one of them was attractive with their own style, the villain king of Eldoris including. Clarisse indeed had an active imagination.
"Not really," Annabeth admitted.
Smirking at her observation, the king pulled the belt of his robe open and tauntingly dropped the robe on the floor before he went into the large bath built into the stone floor of the bathroom in the size of a pond. There were bubbles and foam floating in the water, so nothing too provocative of his front side was seen.
Ooh, that ass could rival Captain America's, Annabeth thought before catching herself mid-thought. Damn it. Please forgive her, Chris Evans. The king was deliberately seducing her.
He swam up to the edge of the bath and crossed his arms, looking up at her. "Want to see if we're at least physically compatible? I had thought that our kiss from this morning wasn't too bad. Unless my kissing skills were that bad?"
Annabeth snorted. While the story mentioned that King Perseus had no other women beside him after Kiran instigated a war by killing their own princess, she was sure that the king probably had experience with other women.
"I will have to say," the king continued. "The princess' lips weren't too bad. Has the princess learned before?"
Though his words were light and teasing, his eyes had a sharp and observant gaze to them.
When the king had kissed her during the final wedding tradition, he wasn't forceful, but nor was he boring in letting his lips press blandly against hers. Drawn in the moment, Annabeth had accidentally opened her lips slightly and let the kiss deepen. She had forgotten it about now, but she had felt him distinctly clutch her waist tighter.
Annabeth kept an innocent expression as she faced the king's sharp gaze. Perhaps he was testing her again.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about. That was my first kiss," Annabeth said.
And it was the truth, at least in the original Princess Annabeth's body. The king didn't think she kissed Sir Luke before, right?
"Is that so?" The king said.
Annabeth nodded, then let the corner of her lips perk up. "Why? Does Your Majesty want to confirm again?"
King Perseus narrowed his green eyes. "There you go again, calling me 'Your Majesty.' I see I have a long way to go in earning your true trust and sincere cooperation."
Annabeth laughed dryly. It was easy to call people by their first names. But somehow she felt that if she called the king by his nickname, she would be crossing a line that she herself had set.
The king rose up from the bathtub, and Annabeth quickly backed up. Unfortunately, her back hit the wall. Before she could run from the bathroom, an arm was placed on either side of her. She closed her eyes, determined not to look down and see the king's nakedness. A fleeting thought ran in her mind as she recalled some of the Korean and Japanese dramas her stepmother liked to watch. Was this move the king just pulled on her called kabedon? She let out a low chuckle.
"Annabeth..." A low, deep voice called out temptingly in front of her. "What if I want to confirm?"
A gentle hand brushed the side of her cheek. Annabeth opened her eyes. The king was standing in front of her as expected. He grinned, seeing her dumbfounded countenance.
"You know...I changed my impression. That might have been my first kiss, but I think your kissing skills are horrible."
Challenged, the king narrowed his eyes. "Then why doesn't the queen show me what a real kiss is like?"
Annabeth smiled and beckoned him forward with her finger. Whatever, even if this was a contract, she could still get some benefits out of it. Her last relationship ended over two years ago. She knew when to stop him if things went too far.
The king grasped the wrist with that naughty finger and pulled her into his embrace. His lips melted into hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders. His body pressed against her before pulling her into the bath, robe and all. Annabeth gasped, startled at the heated water suddenly enveloping her body.
Taking advantage of her surprise, the king swiped his tongue over her bottom lip, as if asking for permission to deepen the kiss. Annabeth granted it, intertwining her body with his.
She could feel a certain part of his body act up, but the king's hands stayed properly on her waist and the small of her back. He wasn't even trying to untie the belt of her robe.
After a few more moments, they broke apart for air.
"Seeing your flushed appearance like this, I think I've proved my skills, no?" The king said in a low voice.
Before Annabeth could retort anything, his lips crashed down on hers again, swallowing any words she might have said. His tongue danced with hers, drawing every breath out until she almost forgot to breathe from her nose.
Annabeth moaned as he cupped the back of her head, pushing the two together in a tight embrace. The sides of her robe were slipping and she could feel parts of her body press against his bare chest.
He evidently had kissed other people before, Annabeth thought. No one was that good straight from the start. Had he ever kissed Sir Rachel before? A small nip on the bottom of her lip brought her back to focus.
"You're not thinking about other men, are you?" The king asked jokingly.
No...she was thinking about other women actually.
The king moved to her jawline and then began distributing little kisses from her chin to her cheekbone. Moving just a few inches, his lips caressed the tender skin below her ear.
"Mmm, Your Majesty..." Annabeth clutched his shoulders as his teeth grazed over where he had kissed.
He smelled like a light scent of sea salt spray, enticing and alluring.
"Come on now, Annabeth...call me by my name." He whispered in her ear.
The warm breath sent shivers down her spine. She clenched her thighs together where a small warm pool of heat was gathering. If she wasn't careful, she might really find herself giving in.
His lips moved to the other side of her neck and began lavishing attention on the soft skin there. She could barely handle his lips and tongue all working together to excite her senses.
"Percy..."
Annabeth managed to pull him off her neck and hastily placed her lips on his again.
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Percy looked down at his new wife's sleeping face. She was sleeping contentedly from being tired out from a pillow fight and then a heated kissing session in the large bathtub. How innocent she looked now. He had almost forgotten what it was like to let loose for once and forget all the responsibilities he had as king.
But he didn't want to drag her into his world full of treachery. Of course, he knew that she was not as simple as she looked. But her methods of accomplishing her goals were much different than what he used to achieve his. Besides, he could tell they were still wary of each other.
Carefully, he extricated himself from the bed to not wake her up. He quietly pressed a particular stone that soundlessly opened to a small hidden staircase. For the sake of an easier route from Gardenia Palace to Dahlia Palace, an underground hallway had been carefully constructed that connected the two palaces so the king could visit the queen without going outside in the bitter winter cold. The knowledge of the connections was nearly lost to most people except for the oldest and senior staff, people whom Percy trusted. Not even the dowager queen knew of this tunnel as King Poseidon never used it to visit her.
King Poseidon only had a passing fancy with Lady Amphitrite who had a resemblance to Percy's mother. Still, Percy had never forgiven his father for marrying someone so alike his mother on the surface. Who would after all?
There were other secret hallways leading from Gardenia Palace to the palaces set for the mistresses, but Percy's father had them carefully sealed long ago. During Dahlia Palace's renovation, Percy secretly had another underground tunnel leading to the outside for escape, but that was not the one he was planning on using.
Percy slipped into Gardenia Palace into the hidden prison. The maid from earlier had been delivered here, now looking haggard than she had been just a few hours before.
"Report."
One of the prison guards overseeing the maid stepped forward and bowed. "Your Majesty, the maid was originally a kitchen maid who replaced one of the queen's personal maids when the personal maid fell ill."
"And that maid now?" Percy asked.
"She fell sick because of food poisoning. But witnesses say that this kitchen maid was seen delivering some soup to the personal maid for lunch and was most likely the one who put spoiled vegetables in the soup. Then the kitchen maid bribed one of the housekeepers to have her be the replacement. We also found evidence that this kitchen maid was given jewelry from a third party for the bribery."
Percy fingered the confiscated silver and crystal bracelets. It was of mid quality only, affordable to those of high ranking maids or stewards but was certainly out of a kitchen maid's budget. Whoever sent this maid did not choose a sophisticated plan either. The dowager queen's schemes were usually more cunning than this, such as planting a person who would lay in wait for a few years before attempting to kill.
"I wasn't going to kill the queen, I promise!" The kitchen maid protested. "Please, you have to believe me! I'm being falsely accused."
"Then why did you accept the bribe? Did you really think that you could get away with this after?"
She attempted to grab the king's feet to bow and beg, but the guards held her back.
"If you don't tell the truth, then I'm afraid that they really won't live much longer." Sir Grover said gravely. "You have one mother and three younger siblings, no? They all live in that little white cottage with red trimmings?"
Percy smiled darkly. In the year that he had become king, he had slowly purged much of the staff who had ties to the dowager queen or other nobility and replaced them with the orphans who had been living in the charities his mother had sponsored in the past. This prevented the people working in the palace from having fewer outside ties. Of course, this plan wasn't completely foolproof. There were always leaks that had to be plugged up.
Someone had inserted this maid deliberately but did not know that the Eldoris king had used such methods to limit the number of disloyal people. This was potentiall an outside person not from Eldoris.
The maid's face paled. She had no idea that her background would be investigated so quickly.
"I'll tell you what I know! Please spare and protect my family!"
The maid quickly spilled what she knew, trying to describe the masked man who had hired her. She had been picked up from her small cottage eight days ago and bribed to enter the royal palace as a small maid. After killing the queen and running away, the person who had instigated this would shelter her and her family from the Eldorisian authorities. Percy frowned as she described the insignia of Tynan worn on the unknown man's cloak and dagger.
It was strange that this man was masked yet wore identifiable insignias. Whoever had hired this maid deliberately let her see the insignia to throw people off and to disrupt any good relations between Tynan and Eldoris. But whom? The dowager queen wouldn't give two shits unless she thought Tynan would help Eldoris in some way. In his past life, the dowager queen had never connected to Tynan, only Kiran at the most.
The king frowned as he thought of how Princess Alana was engaged to the crown prince of Tynan in his past life. Eight days ago was also enough time for Kiran to learn that their eldest princess had survived instead of being killed in Eldoris.
Percy tossed the bracelets to a prison guard. "Turn this to gold and give this to her family as her funeral costs and have them move elsewhere. See if anyone tries to contact the family members."
The maid cried out and bowed her head, relieved that at least her family would be safe.
Percy left as someone bestowed some poisoned wine, a final toast to her death. The housekeeper who had accepted the bribe would soon find herself regretting that decision. It was never safe to have another master other than the Eldoris king.
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A/N: Some slight spice in this chapter. Like hot cheeto spice level, which is not very spicy to me. There will be a few more spicy moments until the true lemony scenes, hehe.
But I am proud to say I have survived another week of school! Shoutout to all of us for surviving through another week, even if tomorrow is Monday (or Tuesday depending on where you live). Pat yourself on the back. Even if you don't have the confidence, all the little cells in your body are cheering you on to reach your goals, and I am cheering you on as well.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nap. Treat yourself. As always, see you all next week!