Reyna studied the dark red features of the object placed on the golden platter.
Snatches of conversation were coursing through the forum, like the faint buzz the Lars sometimes created.
She could feel the gaze of the seven demigods on her, but most importantly, Jason's.
She was used to that feeling, of how he would train his eyes on her, but now it seemed, foreign.
Like the Greeks had somehow taken him and brainwashed him.
"He's back you know? With a girlfriend," Hylla's words echoed in her mind. "I'm not going to say 'I told you so', it's a fact neither you nor I can't change. But, I've seen how you act around him, cringing like a nervous puppy. I won't let him hurt you, not anymore. He must pay."
She had trailed Hylla, once she left her house, finding her in the Kitchen of the wind spirits. She had taken out a blood red vial from her pack, dousing the single apple with it.
"You know what to do," Hylla whispered, without turning back. And now? Turning the red in her hands, she let go of all her hurt and resentment, there was more than just her emotions.
"-the ancient lands- the Mare Nostrum"
Those were the enemy, not him. She set the apple down. Reyna told herself that she was letting go of her feelings for the greater good, not for Jason Grace.
But somehow, she knew that she would never hurt him, no matter what he had done. Not then and certainly, not now.