My favorite chapter by far. Enjoy! :) Celina's POV
I was expecting Marc to say, "What? No, Celina, you can't join them!" Instead, he looked down on the rugged floor to avoid looking in my eyes and said, "Why don't you join them? It'll be great for you."
"Yes, Celina, becoming a Hunter will be wonderful. You will be as a daughter to me and fight by my side for eternity." assured Artemis.
"Eternity? You mean, I'll be immortal?" I quietly asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes. All you have to do is foreswear romantic love, any contact from men, and you'll be an eternal maiden, free of responsibilty." persuaded Artemis.
"Thank you for your kindness, but I don't wish to join you." I spoke carefully.
Artemis gave out a disapointed sigh and said, "As you wish."
Artemis stood up and said to Marc and I, "My Hunters and I shall escort you to the camp. After that we must leave." Artemis headed out of the tent and began instructing some Hunters. Marc followed her out of the tent and looked at me, silently saying, "What did you do?"
As I was about to follow them, Thalia grabbed my arm and spoke, "Let me talk for just a sec.
I turned and answered, "Okay."
"I know why you turned down Lady Artemis."
"I didn't mean any disrespect-"
"It's because of the boy, Marc."
I stood frozen in amazement. I barely knew this girl for five minutes and she already knows.
"I was once given the chance to be a Hunter. At that time, I was traveling with my friends, Annabeth and Luke."
"When they asked me, I almost accepted. But then I'd have to leave Luke. Artemis' lieutenant, Zoe, warned me that I would make a mistake choosing love instead of maidenhood. And she was right." Thalia explained, a tear or two sliding down her cheek.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
"You seem like a very powerful demigod, Celina. I don't want you to make the same mistake I did."
"But, Marc's just-"
"A friend?" Thalia finished for me. "I used to like Luke that way." She headed out of the tent and I silently followed her.
Ebony ran to me and mentally said to me, "You turned down the Hunters for Marc?"
I groaned. Apparently, everyone knows it's because of Marc. I responded, "Tell you later. Have you seen Marc?"
She turned towards the Hudson River. There was Marc, standing on the rocks by the river. His hair was being gently tousled by the soft breeze that was blowing. He was staring ahead of the river, whose silver waters had turned light gold from the setting sun. I headed towards him and asked, "Beautiful sunset, isn't it?"
He turned his head towards me and answered, "Yea, it is."
I stood only a few inches next to him, watching the sun set.
After a while, Marc gently whispered, "Why?"
I asked, confused, "Why what?"
"Why did you turn down the Hunters?"
"Well...immortality isn't...really worth... giving up everything." I responded, trying not to look at him.
"Oh really? You used to tell me how much you wanted to be a goddess because of immortality. Hunters are as close to goddesses as you can get."
I hesitated, unsure of what to say.
"Yet you didn't seem to care when they asked me." I said a little harshly.
His voice suddenly came to my ear in a soft whisper, "I didn't want to stop you because I wanted you to be happy even if it would hurt me."
I could feel his hand gently move on my shoulder and brought me to look at him. My eyes moved up to meet his. His eyes were the same as before, but with an emotion I never saw in his eyes.
I swallowed nervously and asked, "Why would it matter to you if I were gone?"
He steadily held my gaze and moved his face down so close to me that I could feel the warmth radiating from him. Our eyes and lips were perfectly allined.
He answered, "Because I don't want to lose you. You've always been with me and I can't imagine what I'd do without you. The truth is, Celina, that I love you and will always love you even if you wouldn't love me back."
"Yet I love you too." I admitted.
He closed the distance between us and kissed me. It was my first kiss and I'll always remember it to be a perfect one. His warm lips were soft and he kissed me gently in case I would pull away. His hands moved down to circle my waist and my arms moved from my sides to wrap around his neck to pull him closer. I had waited so long to do this and none of me wanted it to end.
Sadly, Marc slowly pulled his lips away, but his arms around me kept me close.
"I've always wanted to do that."
"And you did it well."
"Then I'll do it again when we're definitely alone. Right now, we're surrounded by eternal maidens that would rather feed me to the wolves instead of escort us."
I laughed and said, "I'll be looking forward to it."
He reluctantly released me and walked towards our tent. I noticed Ebony looking at me with an "I told you so" look. I grinned at her and said aloud, "Oh, be quiet."
Aww how cute. PLease review as always