Will POV
The next few days, we tried to ease Nico into the rebellion. I noticed Reyna didn't let either of us go anywhere alone, and if we tried, she sent someone to follow us. I couldn't blame her; neither royalty nor members of the army seemed like they would join the rebellion innocently, but it was rather annoying that I couldn't get a few minutes completely to myself.
I began to purposefully fall asleep last because of it. It gave me a few minutes to be alone, surrounded only by people who were asleep.
At many of these times, I looked at Nico. His face revealed at night what it didn't during the day—stress and fear and anger. He never made a sound, though, even as his face contorted into a look of pure terror or as tears streaked down his cheeks. He was once again the silent soldier we had met that first night.
He always woke up before me, which was no surprise considering the nightmares, and for this reason I found myself purposefully positioning myself in a way that might look attractive before I fell asleep in the hopes that in the morning he might look over and notice. Was it futile? Probably. Did that stop me? Of course not, you heathen.
By morning, all signs of Nico's nightmares were always gone, replaced by relaxed shoulders and happy eyes. I had plans to talk to Thalia about what she does to help Reyna, but she seemed to be helping Reyna cope with a battle that another rebel camp had gone into—and failed miserably. We were unable to send help without risking giving away our own positions and supplies, so all Reyna could do was send letters and invite them to stay with us when they needed to.
Meanwhile, word spread of a spy among us, probably the reason of Reyna's distrust of me and Nico. Perhaps her distrust was even the cause of the rumors—I wouldn't be surprised if the so-called spy everyone was talking about ended up just being a cover for their disbelief that a prince could be among their ranks. I mostly ignored the rumors, but I kept a lookout for anything unusual.
It didn't help to motivate me though when my boyfriend (maybe? We did almost kiss, but that was it and neither of us has asked) and I were the only two suspects. I mean, come on. Surely there are others out there who are more suspicious than us. So no, looking for a spy was not my top priority.
As we talked about it at lunch, Nico looked at me. "Actually, why are you here? Like...isn't the rebellion kind of against everything you are?" When I didn't answer at first, he quickly backtracked. "I'm sorry, I overstepped again. It's none of my business. I'm sorry."
I smiled. "No, hey, it's alright. I just...I don't know, I guess I just feel like I'm here for the same reasons as all of you are."
He raised an eyebrow, doubtful. "You were kidnapped before your execution could happen and now you're staying for the heck of it?"
I waved him off. "Everyone but you. I think the king is unfit to rule. I think the wars he's raging are unnecessary and too costly, considering the number of soldiers we've lost. And I think a lot of institutions and organizations that are run by the king need to be revamped—for instance, the army."
He tilted his head. "Are you allowed to say that? I feel like this is all very illegal, especially for you, Princey."
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Yes, Nico. This is all illegal. That's kind of the point. We're done living under the king's tyrannical rule, and we're going to overthrow him when we get the chance."
He looked at his plate thoughtfully. "You all talk like Percy."
I had no idea who Percy was and Nico didn't elaborate. We finished eating and once again went down to the beach (Nico seemed even happier at the beach in the sun and he said they hadn't been allowed to stay long in the army, so we went often now to make up for it) but I noticed once again, we were followed. I rolled my eyes and whispered "There they are again, making sure us spies don't do anything" to Nico, whose eyes and nose crinkled when he smiled.
We laid out our things.
Octavian, a rebel I had yet to know very well but who I knew was higher in the ranks, maybe even near Reyna, approached. He plopped down on the sand on the other side of Nico, who was basking in the sun. I'd been hoping one of these days he might take his shirt off—can you blame me? This guy was an angel—but he seemed resolute that just taking off his jacket was enough and that he was plenty cool.
Octavian nudged me by reaching across Nico. "This the soldier they've been talking about?"
I looked at Nico. "Uh, yeah. Why don't you ask him yourself? He's literally right there."
Octavian ran his hand through the sand. "I don't talk freely to soldiers. Don't trust 'em."
Nico opened his eyes. He looked at me, then back at Octavian. "I mean, you're still basically talking to me. What's your name?" He asked.
Octavian looked at him with a disgust that made my blood boil. "I thought you're not supposed to talk to your superiors, soldier."
He made a face. "I'm not supposed to talk to anyone when I'm in form, but—"
"Well what are you doing then? Get into form. Hurry up."
Nico's expression darkened as he quickly complied, slipping back into that kneeling that he does after any fight breaks out, every morning, and every time I enter the room after having left.
I narrowed my eyes at Octavian. "I'm sorry, who do you think you are?"
He glowered right back. "I'm Reyna's right hand man, and if you ever step out of line I'll happily let her know you're the spy. I—I know you are, your majesty," he spat the words like he was swearing at me, "and I'm only letting you know so that you'll show some respect for me in the future. And, you're going to do exactly as I say."
I shook my head. "Octavian, I don't know what you think you know, but I'm not a spy. I know being a prince in the rebellion looks strange, but—"
"Oh, yeah? Then explain the letter from your father that came today."
I raised my eyebrows. "I don't know about any letter. Do you have it with you?" I realized Nico was still in form. "Oh, shit, uh, you don't have to stay in form, Nico. Sorry." He shook his arm out and was about to sit back when Octavian grabbed his shoulder.
"No, stay in form. You will stay in form while around me, you hear me? You need to respect me." He shoved Nico forward, and Nico caught himself from falling before quickly resuming the kneeling position. I continued glaring at Octavian, who removed a paper from his bag.
It was not English. It didn't look like any real language, actually, except maybe some sort of more modern form of hieroglyphics. I took the paper.
Octavian looked smug. "We intercepted it on the way here, but we should've just followed you into the woods tonight. We would've gotten a hold of it either way. It's written in royal ink—you can see the golden flecks—and whatever the message was written in, it's to someone with a four letter name: Will."
I looked at it again. Most of what he was saying was true—it was from the castle and therefore probably my father. The first line had eight symbols with a space halfway through, which would logically lead one to assume the first four mean "Dear" and the second four mean a name.
I shook my head. "You don't have anything meant for me, Octavian. If those four letters were my name, wouldn't the symbol for the L's be the same? They clearly use certain symbols for certain letters—the 'O' in the 'Apollo' that my dad signed off with is also present in the name. Whoever this was intended for, it's not me. Also, my father calls me William."
He bit the inside of his cheek, doubt crossing his face for the first time since he'd claimed we were the spies. "Maybe—maybe the letter system they used is different than ours. In which case, you could still very easily be the spy. And actually," he tilted Nico's chin up to inspect his face, "you could be them, too. Four letter name. You worked in the army."
I sighed. "Octavian, you're grasping at straws. We realize we look guilty, seeing my heritage and our pasts, but you can stalk us all you want; you won't find anything, because there's nothing there."
Octavian was angry we had disproved his theory. People were beginning to join us on the beach, listening to our argument and some even outright staring at us. Octavian's eyes moved to them. "People, are you just going to let him get away with this?"
Annabeth came down the beach and shrugged as she approached, hands in her front pockets. "I think we just don't believe they're the spies, Octavian. Or, at least we don't believe that letter you have condemns them yet."
Octavian sat down. "I'm not moving until I get a confession—which means Nico isn't breaking form until his highness here admits it."
Luke stood up from behind the guy, angry. "Do you know what a dickhead you're being right now? You're leveraging his trauma so you can use it to your own advantage. You know what a fucking horrible thing that is to do?"
Octavian looked at him without flinching. "It's not trauma. He was in the military, so what? I'm his superior anyway, I'm basically the only one here following the army's rules. It probably soothes him."
Luke had his hand on his sword, which hung from his side. "I was in the army, Octavian. It was traumatizing—I'm not exaggerating—and I'm sure Reyna would agree so unless you're brave enough to fight her, me, and every other former-soldier at this camp then you better shut your mouth and get your ass out of here right now."
Reyna was at the edge of the beach now, approaching with Thalia who must've gone to get her. Her expression was grim and Thalia's was apprehensive. Octavian stood up when he saw her. "Reyna, these—"
"If anything even mildly derogatory about being a soldier or being queer comes out of your mouth, Octavian, I will not hesitate to quickly clean my sword with your blood, so choose what you're about to say carefully," she interrupted quite epically, in my opinion.
Octavian looked away for a moment before continuing. "I was just about to say that these men are guilty of spying on us, Ma'am. I have a letter from the king."
She raised her eyebrow. "And you decided to take it into your own hands rather than bringing it straight to me."
Octavian's mouth formed an 'O.'
I swallowed, hoping Reyna would back me up before whispering to Nico that he could break form again. Octavian glared at both of us but didn't dare disrespect a soldier in front of Reyna, especially when she was already very clearly upset with him.
"Give me the letter," she said. "Let me see it."
She opened it up and tilted her head. "Luke, come over here." Luke joined her. "Logically, we know the letters D, E, A, R, P, O, and L from the words 'Dear' in the greeting and 'Apollo' in the sign-off. Decode the rest of it, Thalia can help you." She handed it off to him and he and Thalia walked away from the beach, though not before giving one last nasty look at Octavian for being such a prick.
Reyna addressed Octavian one last time, "And you, sir, will not disrespect another soldier so long as I'm in charge, do you hear me? I don't know if they are spies or not, but your behavior is unacceptable and ignorant and I'm not going to stand for it. While they cannot be proven guilty, they are our guests and a part of my troop, so any move you make against them I will expect to be brought to me as an act against the rebellion. Do you understand me, or was that too many words for your little mind to understand?" Her voice was calm and cool, but her words left the beach visitors frozen.
Octavian did not look at her. "I understand, Ma'am."
She nodded and turned around, calling "You better" as she left. Octavian stormed off in the opposite direction, seething.
I took Nico's hand. "Are you okay?"
He didn't look at me. "I'm fine. You?"
I blew out a long breath. "I'm okay, too. And I'm also much more appreciative that we have Reyna on our side. And that she's a former soldier."
He laughed nervously. Everything about him was nervous. "Yeah, me too."
Word count: 2167