And again, it has been months since I've updated. I finished my first semester of college. Yay! Can't wait for next semester because I am head over heels in love with college. It's been a blast. Anyway, enough about my life. Here's the chapter. Love y'all and please review!

Sickly News

"Today?"

Naomi nodded. "Yes. Hera should be here any moment. I've already told Luke that you were getting your dress fitted for the upcoming ball and not to bother us."

Annabeth looked up from the bowl of vomit in her lap.

"Yeah. I was I was getting a nice dress fitted. What ball?"

"Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you. It's the twins' birthday in a few days."

"Seriously?" Storms began to brew in the Princess' eyes. "There is a war and they are spending time, energy, and money on some boys who seemingly showed up yesterday. They don't even do anything except lay around all day and play with swords." She threw up in the bowl again. The idea literally sickened her.

A knock at the door startled them both.

Naomi stood up quickly. After a quick exchange with Luke, Hera and Naomi returned to the washroom, where Annabeth was throwing up again,

"Oh, dear. You have some bad morning sickness," The older lady exclaimed.

"No duh. Now lets get this done," Annabeth snapped.

An hour later, Hera was packing up her bag.

"And remember to drink plenty of water and if you need me, send Naomi for me."

The Princess nodded as she sipped a cup of water.

Naomi helped Hero out. As she did so, Annabeth had a moment to think about what just happened.

She was pregnant. The midwife confirmed it, if the morning sickness from the last few days wasn't enough. Hero had given her some tips that might prove helpful.

Honestly, the Princess was terrified. She was going to be a mother and she wasn't sure she'd be able to see her fiance any time soon. A baby in months. She would need to ask Piper about it when she saw her next.

If she saw her.

"Annabeth."

The blonde scrambled to her feet from the bed,

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth asked Luke. At least she was dressed. The peasant clothes Naomi had lent her were nothing near the dresses he usually saw her in.

"I just came to check in on you since Naomi went to walk the seamstress out," The guard said, pointing to where the two had left moments before.

"I don't need someone to constantly be watching me," Annabeth said, turning away from the man and starting to walk towards the washroom so she wouldn't have to deal with her skin prickling from his gaze. It was then that a wave of nausea overtook her. She crumpled to her knees and willed herself not to vomit everywhere.

"Your Highness!" The guard dropped next to her and put his arm around her,

"I'm fine," Annabeth stuttered, trying to stand, but she was too weak to move much.

Luke was so worried about his Princess. She was on the ground, so obviously ill that it hurt him to see her like that. She tried to get up again, but couldn't. Luke resorted to helping her. He scooped her up into his arms and gently laid her on the bed.

The blonde immediately curled up as her stomach began flipping.

Luke, clueless to what was going on, sat beside her.

"Your Highness?" He asked. "Please, Annabeth, are you alright?"

She was shaking. The washroom was so far away, especially with Luke right there. She wanted to run and empty her stomach, but not with those eyes watching her. She couldn't run the risk of a palace docot coming in and announcing her pregnancy.

She would never get out.

"I'm okay. . . Just leave me alone."

Luke watched as a tear rolled down her cheek. She was so obviously in pain. It hurt that he didn't know what to do. He grabbed her hand to hopefully assure her that he was there to help.

Annabeth was too weak to pull her hand away as he held onto her tightly. His skin was so cold and the feeling she got from him was nowhere near warming.

"Your Highness!"

Annabeth had never been so relieved to hear Reyna's voice.

Luke took his hand away and stood up rigidly.

"There seems to be something wrong with Annabeth," He said quickly, his voice breaking a little as he said her name.

"I couldn't tell," Reyna replied, sarcasm oozing in her tone. "And sir, you are reminded to address the Princess properly. I'll take care of her. You may leave now."

The guard nodded and dashed from the room.

"Get me a bowl," Annabeth said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to be sick."

The maid ran into the washroom and returned with a clean bowl.

"What's going on, Annabeth?" Reyna asked as the Princess vomited into the bowl. Annabeth grabbed the girl's collar and pulled her close.

"I'm pregnant," She whispered into her old friend's ear. "No one can know"

"Of course."

Both girls fell into silence. They were remembering back to a year before. When Reyna was in on every single secret. She knew practically nothing about the young women sat in front of her. In her heart, she felt love towards the Princess. She had always wanted what was best for Annabeth, even though that meant Reyna leaving her last year. She felt close to the Princess once more as she shared this part of her, which only a handful of people could know. Reyna felt joy that Annabeth trusted her as she did and knew that if Annabeth got out, she would try to leave with her. Until then, she would give her as much as she could.

Reyna silently slipped out when Naomi returned, apologizing profusely for taking so long.

"Naomi. I never want that man in here again."

Naomi looked back at the door, the guard standing right behind it. The maid had seen the looks that the man had given the Princess. She had pushed them to the back of her mind since she had other things to worry about. As Annabeth told her about her suspicions with Luke, Naomi knew that she couldn't take anything he said or did for granted. She knew that he had a complicated past in the guard, the other maids gossiped quite a bit. Some had even slept with him. They mentioned his background in the prisons with the female prisoners there and also how emotionless he was when it came to his job.

Naomi always bit her tongue when they asked about him since they knew how closely they worked. The guard had flirted with her quite a bit when Annabeth first arrived. His advances were very similar to how he came on the other maids. Naomi tried to ignore his grabs at her skirts and teasing. As her time with the Princess continued, the less attention he gave to Naomi herself. He began asking question after question about Annabeth and Naomi attributed it to curiosity, since she had many of the same questions. She never really answered him and he used to just pout about it. Recently, his questions got more personal and his reaction was more rage. He never hit her, but he sure seemed like he wanted to.

"Do you want me to move into that room?" Naomi nodded to Reyna and Hylla's old room. It was meant for maids anyway, or consorts if Annabeth had married Percy before she ran off the year before. It was the subject of many of Luke's questions. "Safety reasons" he would say, but Naomi was starting to think that it was probably something else.

Annabeth smiled at the question. "I couldn't ask for anything more."

Luke listened to the girls chat inside. He couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but he could definitely tell the Annabeth was sounding better. He couldn't get over the fact that he actually got to hold her hand earlier. Her skin was so soft and warm. He remembered her smile and laugh from when she and Naomi would talk. The image of her eyes were burning so vividly in his head.

His dreams were very simple recently. They were all happy. Luke kept seeing himself with Annabeth. Not just near her, but with her. She was his and his alone. She took his hand, she laughed with him, she looked at him. It was everything he could imagine. In fact, it was everything to him. He wished with everything in him that it could be true some day.

He didn't dare say it aloud, but Luke Castellan was in love with Annabeth Chase. He basically lived off seeing her everyday. Gods knew what would happen if he could spend all his time with her.