Chapter 10

Asterion opened his eyes. Much to his disappointment, he couldn't wake up with Sonia in his arms; or at least not yet. When she's his queen, everything will be so much easier. But for today, he wasn't allowed to see her. Now that's gonna be hard to do. Maybe a little paperwork could get her off his mind?

Reluctantly, he pulled himself away from his bed. A pretty comfortable and impressive bed if he says so himself. It was the only furniture that didn't need to be replaced to be accustomed to his huge size and weight. It was so big and sturdy, you could fit two Asterions in it and it would still have room for one more. It wouldn't even make the slightest creak under all that weight too. King Minos sure liked big beds.

He sat down on a chair to work on the giant pile of scrolls his royal advisor piled onto last night, not bothering to put on any clothes and deciding to work in his underwear. The door was locked anyways so nobody could see him. If he was gonna bring his chaotic city order, he was gonna have to do A LOT of organizing and that much organizing could take him all day. What was Sonia doing?

Sonia opened her eyes, the light coming from her window causing the wake up. Much to her disappointment, she couldn't wake up with two big strong furry arms wrapped around her. But when she becomes queen, all that will change.

For now, she had to get ready because as soon as Asterion told one living being that he was gonna get married, everybody knew it.

Reluctantly, she pulled herself away from the bed wearing nothing except her bra and panty. She sat down on the chair to face the mirror strapped to the wall. As usual, her hair looked absolutely horrible in the morning. Good thing she had a cool ancient Greek hair brush made out of smooth light brown wood at her disposal.

As she smoothed out her hair, future events plagued her mind. Who would she be spending time with? Maybe with some of the maids she helps cook and clean with? Very unnatural for a future queen to do those things but she wasn't gonna to be any ordinary queen. What kind of presents did she have to give to the people upstairs? A piece of her hair? Pretty weird gift if she says so herself.

Somebody was knocking on the door. Crap. She hasn't even changed into her robes yet!

About two minutes later of changing, she opened the door.

Standing there was her best friend, Amelia, a hyperactive girl with brown hair and a face that looked liked the combination of Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus. "Hey there, Sonia! Breakfast is downstairs waiting for you!"

Sonia rubbed her tired eyes. Okay, time to get started.

Asterion rubbed his tired eyes. Next to him was a big uneaten platter of food he sent a servant to deliver him and in front, big brown map of the city etched with black ink. Circled on the map were free spaces perfect for new houses and old houses that needed some serious reconditioning he planned to focus on. All this for those who don't have homes for free. What a nice guy.

However, that wasn't the only thing he was doing for his people. The city's tax rate was ridiculous! 35% to be exact. So he changed it to something more sensible; 3%. He had a lot of money anyways.

He picked up an apple from the platter and inspected it; shiny, red, and so small he could definitely eat it in one bite.

Sonia once told him, "You're so big and strong, you'd make an excellent player in football." Football was something unknown to him , but he got the meaning. He can easily pick up a man and throw him farther than Hercules can.

A huge headache was coming on. Maybe it was time to take a break and start eating some food? His rumbling stomach was a supporter on the idea.

Sonia stood in the kitchen, eating her plate of food while listening to her gossiping friends. They were all saying things like, "Have you seen that guard who's stationed by the entrance, he was totally looking at me!" or "I'm pretty sure I saw the god Zeus try hitting on that poor homeless girl in the slums!" You know, usual girl talk.

But when they realized they weren't hearing anything from their future queen, they focused their attention on her. "Hey what's wrong Sonia?" one of them asked, "Ran out of stories to tell when you were with our new king?

She shook her head. "No, it's just that all this Greek marriage stuff is confusing. I'm not exactly from here. What the hell am I suppose to give to a god?

"Well," Amelia started "I'm not married yet but my mom told me on the first day you can give pretty much anything to the gods as long as its nothing inappropriate of course."

"Sounds simple. What kind of god am I offering to?"

"Aphrodite or Artemis."

"Aphrodite? You mean the goddess of sluts?"

In the corner stood two old ladies sweeping the floor. One was laughing her ass off with the group while the other bared her teeth. Unbeknownst to anyone, these two were Athena and Aphrodite. You can probably guess who the pissed off one was and who the amused one was.

"I can not believe she would say such a thing in front of me!"

With some effort, Athena finally managed to stop laughing and said, "Oh calm down, sister. I am sure she was just joking. Although, she does have a point."

The goddess of slu- I MEAN love aimed her glare at Athena. "A POINT!" she yelled as quietly as she could. "What do you mean point! I am not a slut!"

"Oh? Then how many mortal men have you slept with?"

The embarrassed goddess looked away blushing. "Three," she lied.

Athena was not convinced. "Riiiiiiiiiiiight," she said sarcastically.

By the time everyone was having lunch, Asterion had finally made it to the complaint list. Some of the complaints were ridiculously ridiculous like, "There's this cat that keeps meowing at night" or "My brother won't stop annoying me" and "The ghost of my father keeps haunting me."

Being a ruler was stressful. Being a ruler without a queen was even worse.

After a good luck feast for dinner, Sonia stood in front of a huge marble temple that looked like the Supreme Court building except there weren't exactly any walls; just pillars. The only thing that blocked out the outside world's starry night sky was the triangular roof and nothing else.

At the end of the temple stood a shrine. The shrine had two mini pillars with a small green stone bowl in the middle.

In her hands was a small kopis, a one edged curved blade that she borrowed from the armory. Okay, time to make a sacrifice.

By the time Asterion finished all the paperwork, night had fallen a long time ago and there were bags under his eyes. Three empty platters of food had nothing but crumbs on it. Has he even left his room?

The minotaur blew the candle, darkening the room , and went off to bed.

However,despite how tired he was, he couldn't sleep; no matter how hard he tried. A figure was plagued in his mind. Not seeing her for an entire day was starting to affect him badly.

To hell with the rules of marriage! He was gonna see Sonia and sleep with her in his arms.

Maybe he didn't need to find Sonia because as soon as he opened the door, there she stood, hands behind her back and giving him an innocent look that said, "No problem here."

"What are you doing here?" he exclaimed, "You're not suppose to see me today!"

"Yeah, about that. You see, the today you were referring to earlier is actually yesterday because It's probably past midnight so that means today isn't the same today you mentioned earlier."

He cocked his head sideways. "What?"

"It's a new day, dumbass."

No further explanation was needed. He scooped her up in his arms, kissing her as he carried her to his bed.

With Sonia in his arms, he could finally fall asleep. Although, he had one question to ask. "What did you offer to the gods?"

She snuggled deeper into his fur. "Just some strands of my hair. It seemed okay enough. Now lets sleep. I'm beat."

In the throne room, Asterion's royal advisor was talking to a strange man with curly brown hair, curly brown sideburns, and a curly brown goatee.

"So you wish to prepare the bath for Future Queen Sonia?" Mr. Why So Serious asked him.

"Of course," the man said proudly, "My mom told me too."

"Only females are the ones who prepare it but I guess a male can too, but beware, she is already in love so don't try anything," he warned.

"I won't be doing anything to the future queen of course. I'll let my looks do it for me."

"What is your name again?"

"Well my dear friend, I am the son of the goddess of slu- I MEAN love, Aeneas," he said with smugness. He was so confident of making the beautiful Sonia his instead of that beast Asterion.