Jason Grace was having a hard time. The hunters were just using him as a slave. For God's sake, he was a god. It was not his job to do laundry that too of female clothes. The only one who trained him in combat was his sister. The rest of the hunt stayed clear of him. The goddess of the moon acted like Jason was not even present.
Lady Juno had asked him to win the heart of this goddess. How was he supposed to do that when the woman was not even there? Today morning after doing all the work that those worthless girls who did not even look at his attractive features much less get attracted to, Jason found himself training with his sister. Now Jason wanted to say he easily defeated his sister but such was not the case. Jason could barely hold himself against her. Thalia was an unparalleled fighter. She had all the makings of a champion fighter.
It was like if Thalia and Jason fought then it was Thalia would win six out of ten times. After another hard session, Jason found himself covered with bruises and cuts. Both he and Thalia were panting.
"You are improving little brother." Thalia said with a smile."
Jason nodded his head and spoke, "I would do better if I were not to be treated as a slave."
Thalia raised an eyebrow "Be grateful Jason, My Lady does not allow men into the hunt."
She wanted to say more but was cut off. "Thalia please come and join me. I want to have an important conversation with you." The goddess of the moon said.
Then she turned to Jason "Boy go and tend to the hunting wolves. They are restless." Jason wanted to yell at the goddess for calling him a boy but if he had to impress this goddess he had to act polite. He nodded and left to go to the wolves. He knew that the wolves would not be happy to see him. The goddess motioned to Thalia to follow.
Once they reached a place where no one could overhear them Artemis asked Thalia to sit down on a nearby rock. After both were comfortably seated the goddess began "Thalia, the things I am going to tell you now are something which I should have told you way back but it is now that I have gathered the courage to tell you. Do you know the reason why your brother has been sent on the hunt?" Thalia quickly nodded her head "So that we can train him to be a god milady." "No Thalia that is not the reason behind It." said the goddess.
Thalia looked a bit puzzled "Then why is he here milady?" to tell the truth Thalia was so happy that she had her brother back that she did not care about anything else. The goddess took a deep breath "I think I should tell you things from the beginning. Just a few days after the Titan War our father called me to Olympus. When I got there he told me that for the future of the gods I had to end my oath."
Thalia was truly shocked "Milady!?" the goddess continued "he gave me time one week after the summer solstice to find a suitable husband failing to do so he will choose a husband for me himself." Thalia recovered a bit "That is outrageous" she almost yelled in anger.
"What does he think? It is an oath you have kept for eons. What does he mean by the future of gods? What about the hunt?" the goddess tried to maintain a neutral expression and spoke "his idea is set and it cannot be changed now.
I have to find myself a husband and I have no choice. As for the hunt, the father has his plans. When Perseus was offered immortality father was convinced that he would accept it. Father planned that after that he would make you a goddess as well and no other god would question that. But to his disappointment Perseus refused and he could not go with his plan. " Thalia looked a bit surprised.
Her father wanted to make her a goddess!? The goddess of hunt continued "he has a plan that once I am married you are to become the goddess of the hunt."
Thalia could not speak. She was torn between her loyalty to her mistress and the excitement of becoming a goddess herself. What is she supposed to do?
The goddess was paying less and less attention to Thalia "Our father thinks that Jason needs a bride. By putting him along with the hunt he expects me to fall for Jason." This brought Thalia out of her trance "What!? He expects you to fall for Jason! If you don't find a husband then he plans to make you marry Jason?" she said.
The goddess nodded "I do not want to marry Jason. He is more like our father. He is a womanizer. It is no doubt that he will turn out to be an unfaithful husband. Besides I have already fallen for a man."
Thalia looked at her mistress "You found a man suitable to be your husband?" the goddess nodded and spoke "Yes but there is a problem he loved and still loves a girl who is dead and is not ready to let go of her, he is not ready to accept the fact that the daughter of Athena is dead. He still subconsciously is holding on to her. He is not ready to move on."
When the goddess said daughter of Athena Thalia understood that the man Artemis was talking about Percy Jackson. She knew how deeply Percy loved Annabeth. To lose her made Percy lose his mind. Annabeth would want Percy to move on in life and not waste away. It would be best for Percy and the entire world for him to marry Artemis.
"Milady, Percy is still in a coma. How do you expect him to accept you as a wife? What can we do so that he wakes up?" the goddess smiled a teary smile. Thalia had accepted her choice of a husband. She had always been the one who hoped that Percy would wake up soon and find a good girl for himself and move on in life.
"Thank you Thalia but there is more I need to say." Thalia nodded for the goddess to continue "You remember I told you about the theft of Eros's arrows?" Thalia nodded again "Well I found out who commissioned the theft."
Thalia could not stop herself from asking who. The goddess answered "It was Rhea the titan queen. She wanted to have fun. You know that I still owe Perseus for saving my life. So I felt that the best way to repay him would be to bless him with the knowledge of archery. Just the night before that dreadful day I went to see Perseus. He was sleeping in his room so not wanting to disturb him I sneaked into his room. At that precise moment, Perseus woke up due to a dream.
The titan shot the arrows of Eros at me and Perseus. One hit me and five went through Perseus." The goddess was now in tears. Thalia had already guessed what had happened. The goddess continued "I was so afraid that before Perseus could come to his senses and blame me or worse blame himself for what happened, I erased his memory put him to sleep, and ran away." The goddess was shaking now. Thalia put an arm around her mistress and tried to pacify her.
Thalia now heard the small voice of her mistress speaking "After he went into a coma I found out the result of that night to be in my womb. Ho Thalia, what will happen to my child? I do not want to lose him or her. I want my child safe. "
Thalia was now completely in shock. She had almost forgotten to breathe. Her lungs screamed for air and only then she started to breathe again. She was too shocked to say any words. Her mistress who had been a maiden ordered to marry was now with the child of one of her best friends, the man who was in a coma. Percy was not the one to be unfaithful it had taken five arrows of lust to make Percy betray Annabeth. The arrows had been used on both sides therefore making the magic even stronger and impossible to escape.
Thalia took a lot of time to gather herself. Annabeth was gone so she had to think of those who were alive. If her father found out about the child he would try to kill it. If Percy ever wakes up and learns about it then it would lead to World War Three. The only solution was for Percy to wake up and before Zeus could do anything have Percy marry Artemis.
She finally made up her mind "Milady, the only way out of this is for you to marry Percy. There is no need for Percy to understand things completely. You only have to make him marry you. It will be easy if he remembers what happened that night and the fact that he is the father of the child. His flaw is loyalty he will go to any extent to secure his child. Once the matter cools down there are hundreds of ways to make a man fall for you."
"Do you think that will work Thalia?" the goddess asked.
"Yes, milady. It is the only way. You can easily use your magic to slow down the child's growth rate and make it look like she was conceived after the marriage. I know that you can easily make the child have golden ichor to flow in the vein rather than red blood to flow in the child. Trust me milady this conversation will remain secret. "
The goddess nodded "I will go and visit Perseus and see if I can give that memory back to him. I can only pray that he accepts me. I will be going now Thalia, thank you." The goddess hugged her and then teleported away. Thalia sat there for a while to compose herself. Then she went back to training Jason.