A/N: I own the plot. Enjoy!
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The Grand Hall was already normally imposing enough with its polished white marble walls and brilliant crystal chandeliers. When it was empty save for the king's and queen's throne and two lines of royal knights standing guard at the walls, anyone would be intimidated.
Percy drummed his fingers on his throne impatiently as the queen settled down by his side. He had already not been pleased to hear that his great aunt and distant cousin were disrespecting his queen. Coupled with the fact that he had finally been almost able to resolve his bloodlust from overuse of his powers, Percy was ready to throw this brainless cousin to the wolves. The intelligence of the Eldoris royal bloodline had clearly ended a long time ago in the Grand Duchess' generation.
As if to soothe him, the queen grasped his hand. Percy smiled gently and squeezed her hand, acknowledging her comfort. Truly, it should be him comforting her. How she had been able to hold her anger during the tea time with his distant relatives, he wouldn't know. If it were not for the Grand Duchess' blood relation to him, he felt the queen would have kicked out the guests a long time ago.
Lady Ceto was finally dragged in, bound and looking far more rumpled than the colorful peacock she had tried to imitate earlier. When she tried to stand up to fix her hair bow, the knights pushed her to her knees again.
"Lady Ceto," Percy addressed. "You have insulted the queen today, and as a result, have insulted me. You have also committed the crime of trespassing and breaking in. Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"But Cousin- Your Majesty, I have fallen in love with you even from my childhood! Why do you trample my feelings so?"
The knights pushed Lady Ceto down once more, not caring that the delicate noble lady was bruising her knees.
"Lady Ceto, I can understand that you like the king. However, forcing someone to accept your feelings would only force the person away from you, understand? You'd be a nuisance at that point." The queen gently said.
"You stay out of it!" Lady Ceto snapped.
"Impudent!"
Percy's patience snapped. His bloodlust had barely been assuaged so this brat was truly pushing him over the edge.
Fwoosh! All the water from the vases in the Giant Hall flew from their container and accumulated into a large mass over Lady Ceto's head. The guards quickly took a step back. Before Lady Ceto could protest, gallons of water dropped onto her, soaking everything in sight. Now the lady who had taken care to dress herself up in finery and silks was soaked like a bedraggled rat. Percy felt that this was more suitable for his distant cousin's true personality.
"Hopefully this cold water should wash that dirt clogging your brain. Wake up. Who are you? And who is the queen?" Percy spat.
"Oh, my, why do I feel like this look is more suitable to Lady Ceto?" The queen also lobbed a jab in.
"Suitable? Not a single bit of her holds up to you, my queen." Percy held her hand and kissed her knuckles.
The young woman was indignant as she tried to straighten her clothes as best as she could and wipe the water from her eyes. "I don't understand! She's not even as beautiful as I am! Why are you so blind?"
Her eyes glared at the queen.
"In what way can you ever compare to my queen? You do not have a good personality, nor are you knowledgeable in finance, economics, or foreign personality. Even your exterior appearance does not match a single iota of my queen."
This was true. In her damp and wet state, Lady Ceto looked like a pile of rags that a large beast had pissed on. Annabeth was wearing much simpler clothes due to functionality, but her beauty was far more highlighted and elegant.
Finally, Lady Ceto appeared to have some sort of shame blossom on her face as she realized what was happening. But hadn't she been promised that the queen's position would eventually be hers once she first secured a spot as the king's mistress? That person had promised her! The queen was infertile! So naturally, the king should be looking for another woman. Ceto's eyes landed on a pink mark on the queen's neck that hadn't been there at the afternoon tea.
"Lady Ceto will be bestowed thirty whip lashes for insulting the queen, trespassing in the Eldoris Palace, and breaking and entering the sacred Gardenia Palace. She is also hereby demoted to be a commoner for the rest of her life with the next three generations of her descendants to be commoners. Grand Duchess Euryale's title shall remain firmly on her head." Percy decreed. "Lady Hazel and Sir Nico will be given the titles of baroness and baron, respectively."
Percy had already decided that the Grand Duchess title was to die on his great aunt's head. But that would leave Nico, a very trusted knight, and Hazel, a young girl who was an important spy in his relatives' stronghold, in awkward positions. As king, Percy wanted to give them higher positions, but since the siblings were still young and were of illegitimate birth, the baron positions were appropriate until the two continued to rely on their own strength and could ascend to higher status.
Ceto looked shocked and was about to protest when the knights next to her shoved a piece of cloth into her mouth. Soon, even her muffled shrieks soon disappeared from the Grand Hall.
Upon hearing of Ceto's punishment, Grand Duchess Euryale frantically wrote a letter and slipped a maid two gold coins to deliver the letter to Marigold Palace.
Dowager Queen Amphitrite read the letter and immediately tossed the letter into the nearest fireplace. How stupid was this relative of the throne? If Amphitrite had not taken precautions beforehand, the Grand Duchess' actions would pull the dowager queen into the boiling cauldron as well.
At first, Amphitrite had thought perhaps she could use the Grand Duchess to insert someone close to the throne. But after getting to know the Grand Duchess and her granddaughter Ceto, Amphitrite was sure that these two would be fools costing far more than they were worth. When Lady Ceto asked whether she could become the queen after becoming the king's mistress, the dowager queen gave her some vague notion of a promise that really didn't affirm anything.
As expected, the Grand Duchess and Lady Ceto were rash and pushy. Amphitrite would have preferred to use Lady Hazel instead. Though young, Lady Hazel was more intelligent than her wide, innocent eyes portrayed her to be. But all communications to Lady Hazel had fallen through.
"If the Grand Duchess tries to communicate again, ban her." Amphitrite ordered.
She had far more busy things to do than entertain the delusions of an old lady who had fallen from power.
Still, the influence that the queen held over the king was far more powerful than Amphitrite had thought. How had that little whore tamed the king?
It didn't matter. She had planned quite a few gifts for the king in the coming days.
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After washing up, Percy naturally came to visit the queen in her quarters at Dahlia Palace. The maids who were brushing her hair bowed and exited as the king entered. So, he naturally took upon the role they abandoned.
Sitting down before her dresser, the queen glanced up as he brushed her hair, though it was more like he was just enjoying playing with her silken curls. Her hair had truly become more healthy and soft, unlike the dry and limp curls she had when Percy first saw her.
"You're early tonight." The queen commented.
Her head lolled to the side as Percy's hands went to massage her shoulders. The queen was only wearing a silken robe. Percy was tempted to just push the robe down to reveal all of her shoulders and collarbone.
"Well...I was hoping that we could continue where we left off before we were so rudely interrupted."
He had been so close to relieving his bloodlust earlier until that deranged fool had prevented his release. When they were in the Grand Hall, he had to resist the temptation of cutting her head off right then and there.
But now there was a new temptation from his queen who smelled so delightfully of that lemon soap and lavender essential oil that she liked to use. His nose which had been filled with the smells of filth and corruption from cleaning up the scum mucking about under the pretense of nobility was finally cleansed.
The queen reached up one hand and patted his cheek. "As much as I, too, would like to indulge. I'm afraid for tonight and the next couple days, I will be slightly indisposed," she said with a sigh. "My monthly cycle is here."
Percy paused slightly in his massaging motions before continuing. He could control his expression, but he couldn't control the tips of his ears becoming slightly pink.
"Ah, I see. Do you need hot tea or medicine for cramps?"
"It's fine for now. I had some hot ginger and brown sugar tea that helped settle my stomach."
The queen looked up, amused. She had already heard from Sir Nico that the king experienced backlash if he overused his hydrokinesis powers. When the king had used his powers earlier in the Grand Hall, she had been worried that the side effects might be too harmful. Thankfully, the king seemed to be in control of himself, for the most part, that is.
"Go rest," the queen proposed. "You need it."
"Alright, but I'm sleeping here tonight."
The queen glanced at him but didn't say a word as he sank into the soft mattress. The queen's bed was quite familiar to him now, as he had been here every night for the past two weeks.
He resigned himself to a half-sleepless night. Patience, he told himself. Just a few more days.
He had picked up the habit of holding the queen in his arms as he slept. Without her soft and warm presence, he was just reminded of a cold bed at night.
The room went dark as the queen turned off the lamps. The mattress sunk down slightly from her weight as the queen slipped underneath the covers. Percy immediately turned over and embraced her.
Percy felt a funny tingle in his stomach. Though he was used to sleeping with another person now, why did tonight feel different? Ah, that's right. Every night when he quietly crept into bed in order not to rouse her, it would be his arms around her and his chest pressed against her back. Now she was facing him, snuggling a little closer to make herself comfortable.
That meant he had made a little more progress, hadn't he? The queen still didn't open her heart fully, but at the very least, she cared about him. He had to work a little harder until he could break down those barriers.
The queen shifted in his arms, accidentally rubbing her chest against him. Percy sighed in his heart. If he hadn't known that this was an accident, he would have thought that she was seducing him.
Only she was. Percy's senses went on high alert as a slim hand slipped underneath the sides of his robe and headed downwards.
"What...are you doing, my queen?" His voice came out hoarse.
"I heard about the backlash magic users can experience." Her voice was sultry as her lips tickled his ear. "I might be indisposed for right now, but there are other ways that I could help."
Just that voice alone made him half-hard already. Percy wished that she hadn't blown out the light so he could see the expression on her face. Then he was unable to think of anything else but the soft hand that was now gripping his length.
"My queen," Percy groaned as her hands gingerly explored his length.
With two hands wrapped around his hardened length one hand above the other, the pink fleshy head just peeked over her fingers. His own hands quickly found the back of her head, bringing her lips up to his to swallow his low moans.
"Just relax, Your Majesty." The sultry voice was back, sending a flood of desire throughout his body.
There was a light shuffle and her warm hands disappointedly left him for a few brief moments. Then she was back rubbing his length with something slick and slippery. It was some sort of oil that eased the friction of his cock between her warm hands.
Percy found her lips and kissed her hard, trying to muffle the groan that was threatening to erupt. Her hands felt absolutely amazing, though not quite to the feel of when he was inside her. All the blood rushed to his loins and he felt as though there was nothing else in the world but him and her. One hand moved to fondle his scrotum, and he almost came right then and there.
"Fuck, Annabeth." He moaned into her neck. "Oh, my queen..."
His lips found the soft skin particularly irresistible as he worked to slather his pink marks all over her. Gods, he wanted to touch her down there as well, but the queen batted his hands away from touching any area below her hips.
"Not tonight, Your Majesty. Just concentrate on what I'm doing for you."
He settled for cupping her breasts instead. The tender flesh was soon squeezed tighter and tighter when he felt himself getting close to his climax. His hips began buckling forward and backward in a frantic rhythm as her hands worked around his cock. It wasn't too long before he gave a low cry, spilling himself in her hands.
The queen smiled, a self-satisfied smirk that had him reeling with lust again. If the queen hadn't stated that she was indisposed for the the time being, he would have pulled her down onto the bed and buried himself between her thighs until she too, was falling with rapture
Percy wrapped the queen in his arms when the clean up was done, pressing soft kisses to her forehead. The flames in his body had settled down more or less, though a light burn was still there.
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Guido snorted and pawed the ground in his stable. Someone was offering a snack.
The horse sniffed the palm. The palm smelled familiar, though this snack did not. Gently, Guido took what was offered and nibbled delicately. The snack tasted different, like nothing the horse had before. But the person offering it was familiar, so why be alarmed?
When the green herb was consumed, the shadowy figure slipped out of the stables.
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A/N: Sometimes you think a person can't possibly be that dumb, but then they are. I dedicate Lady Ceto to being that dumb person I met in real life.
Happy Holidays everyone, and see you all chapter!