I'm so proud you guys have loved this story, and that this is finally a goal completed. CHAPTER TEN! A shout out to all the reviewers out there! A special thanks to The Toast Ninja, who has supported me thoroughly since the beginning of this story. So let's get on with the story.

Reyna felt confused, as a Roman leader should not be.

She wanted to love none, as Jason had Piper and Percy had Annabeth. She felt as if she was intervening too much in too many relationships, and this was not what she did.

The Romans had grown to trust and respect her, after all these eight months of ruling and sorting out political messes alone, she was considered as the most able and worthy of demigods. For anyone who could handle all that stuff on their own two shoulders, heck, one could be nothing but a Roman. And she was a filia Romana. A Daughter of Rome.

Both figuratively and literally. She was a child of Bellona, who was Roman in the pure sense, not quite the counterpart of Enyo, who was nothing but chaos. Bellona was honor and duty. Bellona was loyalty.

Reyna did not feel very loyal.

She was not being loyal to her duty and honor by falling so in love with Jason, almost abandoning her post and refusing to let go of her selfishness. She was not being loyal to Jason, falling so irrevocably in love with Percy, being so fickle and unmindful. But most of all, she was not being loyal to Rome.

Falling in love with a Greek, refusing to sort out matters with strategy and brains, not even forming a worthy alliance with the daughter of Athena. That was not very Roman of her.

And then she'd kissed Jason.

It was like the old days again, as they'd kissed floating in the air, happy and content with each other. The same spark on her lips, the spark of the blond demigod's passion and love. The spark that told her she was still needed by him, that she was still his beloved.

As if he didn't care so much about the Greek child of the love goddess.

Reyna had reason to believe that if Percy hadn't been there, a look of clear pain and betrayal etched on his face, she would be with Jason now. If she hadn't glimpsed Piper's features, contorted in a look of hurt and grief, he would be with Reyna now.

But then he'd punched Percy.

All was fair in love and war, and she thought she played Venus's game for Jason. But she might've fallen for the son of Poseidon harder than she'd thought.

She'd quickly cursed under her breath and prayed to the gods that he wasn't as hurt as she thought; that he was still fine. Reyna had helped him up, anxiously wiping away the red of his blood, hoping against hope that Percy was fine. In her heart bloomed a sudden hate for the son of Jupiter for doing this to him. And that hate had surprised her. Her emotions so quickly ran into each other, like blended ink.

For some crazy reason, that Reyna may or may not know, she sided with Percy when he was punched. Jason technically cheated on Piper when he kissed Reyna, but so did Percy, and even earlier, when he kissed her.

So why?

There was a time. Those eight months, alone and afraid, that the weight and responsibility of handling the Roman civilians, the senate, the praetorship, and the freaking augur, when she thought her world was going to cave in. When she thought that Jason was never coming back, that she was alone, again, that there was no thing to hold on to, no dream to hold on to, no one to hold on to. When she thought she was going to shatter into so many pieces, that not even the gods could fix her up again.

Like Saturn. Deep in the pits of the Tartarus that was hopelessness, condemned by the gods who were the embodiment of incapability.

Then there had been Percy Jackson.

Reyna shook her head violently, trying to free herself from her own thoughts as she held on to the said demigod, guiding him the Praetor's villa, even though she could have just taken him to the infirmary. And that was because of the fact that she wanted to have a conversation with him, privately.

She pulled out a stool for him to sit as she motioned to him that she was going to change. It was her villa, after all, and she made her way over to the walk-in closet as she grabbed a cup of coffee run cold from the breakfast table.

In the closet she randomly grabbed the most comfortable outfit she could lay hands on, which turned out to be sweatpants and a gray t-shirt, not exactly itching to get out of her Roman shirt, which had the gold SPQR emblem printed on its royal purple front.

As her fingers managed to prize open the black rubber band from her raven hair, her other hand held the mug of coffee as she sipped from it, then reaching back to untangle her hair from its caging braid. She quickly prepared another cup of the stuff and entered her bathroom again to find the son of Poseidon sitting dismally on the stool, staring at his hands which were rough from swordplay.

She put the hot cup in his hands and knelt down next to him, grabbing some cotton and rubbing alcohol from her utility drawer and pressing it to his jaw. His eyes, oh so beautiful green eyes, flitted up to her face as he winced, and then moved down, where they stopped abruptly and narrowed somewhat.

When he spoke, his voice was rough, sharp around the edges.

"They're his?"

Surprised, Reyna looked up to find his sea-green irises trained on her dark ones. "What?"

Her voice came out as a guilty whisper.

"Those pajamas," he motioned to the ones she was wearing. "Are they Jason's?"

She frowned and looked at what she was wearing before her shoulders tensed and then fell as she noticed the lightning bolt patterns on the blue cloth. "Yeah." She said slowly, and then turned her attention back to tending to his injury.

"Why do you bother with my bruises? Why not get some nectar and just get it over with?" His voice held accusation and indignation.

"That's a tiny injury. You would combust. Besides," she lowered her voice and her hand, taking his chin in her hands and turning his face so that she was facing him directly. "I didn't kiss him. I thought I wanted it, but…I don't think I would be here with you, would I?"

His eyes stopped searching the ceiling, and moved down to focus on hers.

They froze in silence in that moment, staring at each other, drinking in the sight of them. Percy' eyes were filled with wonder, as if she was the first star he'd seen that appeared in the dark of the night.

His eyes were such a brilliant hue, a mesmerizing sea-green mixed with flecks of sea-blue and sea-gray, some cobalt chips and swirls of parakeet and shamrock and chartreuse. Reyna could stare at them all eternity, get lost in their depth and admire their untold beauty and depths, so like the ocean he was supposed to symbolize. Such beautiful eyes.

Circe used to say that a person's eyes were the windows to their soul. And the daughter of Bellona could see what she meant by her words, as she got lost in the son of Poseidon's smoke and mirror eyes that spoke of loyalty and love, of war and wonder, of loss and luxury. His eyes were those of an enigma's. A mixture of two opposites that were bound as a magnet. Stormy and calm, like the sea he was born of.

And then those beautiful eyes came closer to hers as he leaned in, and when she tasted his lips' salt and chocolate on her own, Reyna could never have been more enraptured.

A/N: So there you go, my loves! Chapter ten! Did you catch that indignation reference I made back there? You know, Logan Lerman's new movie. (Maybe not so new, it was out last July) I hope you like the Preyna kiss in the end. BUT I also have a depressing announcement to make. One of the members of the love polygon will have to die. You guys review who you think it should be, and wait until a few more chappies to find out who. So, until next time, and I love reviews! Review, please? Pretty, Aphrodite pretty please?