Ah how I love writing this story. I forgot how much I loved it until I wrote this chapter. I have no idea why, but I just did and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did while imagining it. Longer chapter full of fluff and ininteresting things but hey, who cares? It's a long chapter.
On the previous chapter :
""if you asked me to choose between my kingdom and you, know that I wouldn't even need to think about the answer." He smiled and Reyna could see blood on his teeth. "I would always choose you. And I hope you would always choose me.""
Chapter 6.
Tiara of Crystal
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"The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space."
― Marilyn Monroe.
It's over.
The taste of those words – of this miracle – was like pure honey on Reyna's tongue, like silk on her skin, like the much needed warm touch of her lover. It was beautiful. It was heaven.
But the sight of Percy, lying in a pool of his own blood, pale and shaking transformed the honey into a rotten and sour taste that made her stomach heave.
He was immediately fed ambrosia and nectar, a cloth pressed against his deep wound to stop the bleeding and after a few minutes he was back on his feet, still looking frail and pale but Reyna knew how strong and stubborn he could be. He would refuse to stay here and rest.
So she joined him on the back of his black and massive horse, circling his waist with her aching arms, tightening her grip just to make sure he was truly there – that it wasn't the fruit of her strongest desires. But he was really there, exhausted and hurt, but there. She could feel the way his body was giving up, the way his muscles were relaxed as if he was going to fall asleep at any moment.
"You going to be okay?" She asked, her lips barely touching the top of his ear. She felt a shiver course down his back and she smiled with pride at the effect she had on him even in his state.
"Don't worry about me." He hit the horse's flanks with his ankles and the animal obeyed its king's order, starting to race forward. "I'll be fine." I always am, aren't I? The words weren't pronounced but she could hear them underneath his tone.
And she couldn't not believe him. He had always overcame every single obstacle, every battle and every wound with bravery and strength. How could she not believe him?
She placed her forehead against the back of his neck, seeking the comfort of his body against hers, searching for the warmth of his skin. She wanted to feel him – everywhere, absolutely everywhere – she wanted to be weak just this once. She wanted him to be strong for her just for a little while so she could rest her mind and her tortured body. So she could forget this war and the last few months too and simply focus on the body against hers and the lips of its owner. She wanted to feel like a girl again; not a soldier, not a Praetor, not a future queen but a simple girl in love with a simple boy.
She remembered his words before they left the battlefield – I know there are parts of me you still don't know about, but I will learn to hide them so you can love me better – and wondered what he was referring to. But it didn't matter. She knew who he was, who he had been before they met and even before her birth. She knew all that, she had seen the darkness inside of him, she had touched it and feared it. She knew what kind of monster was sleeping in him and back then, she had been afraid of it. But she wasn't this girl anymore. And she had already learned how to love them. She loved every part of him, dark or light.
She couldn't see Percy as a monster; a monster isn't one anymore when you love him.
She watched the sun set behind the green hills, its color – orange and deep yellow – giving the impression that the grass and the trees turned into a liquid gold, beautiful and comforting.
It's over.
They had won. They had defeated a goddess, a Primordial, the earth itself and they had saved the mortals' world.
They were free. They were alive. They were victorious.
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She barely registered it when she was laid out on a soft mattress. She could feel the silk under her fingers but she had no idea where she was and how she got there. Her mind and body was too exhausted to open her eyes, to try and understand what was happening. A second before she had been sitting on a horse's back and dozing off, trying to stay awake no matter how strong the exhaustion was hitting her. She felt the mattress sinking under someone else's weight and she smelled a light perfume – of fire and wood, of horse and sweat – but undeniably his perfume.
A little moan escaped her lips when his found the flesh of her neck, so warm and so welcoming. She lost herself in the sensation, the feeling of want and need mingling with her blood and making her heart race as fast as it could without exploding. She felt him chuckle against her skin and it felt so good to hear it, she could almost taste his laughter on her tongue.
"Missed me?" His voice was hoarse with desire – to have her close. To have her, period.
"Can't tell," she answered smiling at him when he looked up at her. "Did you?"
He kissed her cheek then her brow, her forehead, the tip of her nose and smiled back, letting his lips linger against hers without ever touching.
"What would do if I didn't?"
"I'd cut your heart out and feed it to your wolf."
He kissed her then, feverishly, entirely, deeply. Not letting a single millimeter undiscovered. And she moaned in his mouth when his body mingled with hers, and he savored the taste of it, the taste of her voice, of her pleasure along with the consequences it had on his body. It felt as if every cell of his body was electrified; high on ecstasy. Pure bliss. It was the most beautiful thing.
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"What are you doing?"
"Taking it off, obviously," he replied while taking the bandage which encircled his abdomen in his fingers before unrolling it. "I can't breathe with this thing." It was off before she could open her mouth and a long scar appeared, still red and sore. She let her fingers hover over it, wishing she had the power to make it fade away. "It's okay you know, I have a lot of those."
She knew that. His body was a map of scars, each one different, and each one painful to see. And she had kissed every single one of them. The ones on his back, from the time Gaia had cut his wings off and the other ones. The one on his chest and abdomen. The one on his arms and neck. She knew each one and had caressed them with her lips. His body was a world of scars she wished she could travel.
"I know," she finally answered and kissed the new scar, provoking a sharp intake of air from Percy, "They are a part of you. So I'll learn to love them."
He lied back on the bed, turning on his side to face her and resting his hand on the curve of her hip.
"As I'll love each one of yours." He replied while tracing the pattern of an old scar on her upper arm. "If not already."
She smiled fondly at him before turning to lie on her back and gazing at the golden ceiling stretching above her. She retraced the drawings and forms carved in it with her eyes; every corner and every flower, every wing and every star.
She loved his room and the fact that it was too dark and too wealthy. It was so different from the room she had occupied at Camp Jupiter for many years.
It was hers now too.
"Will you be here when I wake up?" She asked quietly as if afraid the shadows might hear her. Might hear her weakness.
"Promise," he rested his forehead against her temple, slowly breathing her in, "and tomorrow too. And the day after that. And for the eternity, if such is your wish."
She imagined waking up next to him until it became something common; something that wouldn't surprise her any longer and she realized that she couldn't imagine it. It was not something her thoughts could fathom. Because Percy was everything but common and being next to him was like magic coursing your veins and igniting your every senses. It couldn't become something ordinary.
Nothing about her love for him was ordinary.
"I wish Chaos would have been here."
She didn't ask why because she already knew the answer. And she couldn't bring herself to pronounce stupid clichés sentences such as I'm sure he'd be proud of you or worse wherever he is, he's watching you. The words didn't sound like a good idea and she would have hated herself if they had left her mouth.
She didn't answer for a few minutes and a comfortable silence settled between the two of them and he watched with intensity every blink of the eye he could see, how the eyelashes fluttered close and opened once again, all that in a heartbeat.
"Who else will be there?" She finally questioned.
"Hmm," he closed his eyes to concentrate, trying to see every face of every important person in his life and to the kingdom's wellbeing. "Not many. My parents perhaps and a few counsellors. Some of my siblings and cousins. Would you like to bring someone?"
"Yes."
She smiled while imagining Jason, Nico, Piper, Hazel and Frank all dressed up for her marriage. For her coronation.
It was a strange thought to think that they had known her as a demigod; as a Praetor; and now they would know her as a queen. It felt intimidating, knowing a whole kingdom was impatiently waiting to catch a glimpse of her, to hear her voice and see a crown resting on top of her black hair.
What a strange world she was going to live in. And what a strange sensation to know this strange world was going to be hers.
"I've seen the crown you know." Percy smiled with pride beside her, "it's almost as beautiful as you."
"Isn't it supposed to bring bad luck?"
"It's the dress," he laughed slowly but Reyna knew there was no intention of mockery in it, "and I haven't seen it."
"When will I be able to?"
"It's yours, you can see it whenever you want to," he ghostly caressed her neck with the tip of his fingers, drawing patterns she couldn't recognize. "I'm not sure they finished it though."
Her heart started racing in her chest as the realization hit her; she was going to get married. She was going to be proclaimed queen of an underground kingdom.
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Percy had been right. The dress wasn't finished. But it was glorious.
Golden pearls and diamonds created flowers and leafs on the transparent sleeves as if they were circling around the arm. The black tissue was an unknown material to Reyna, but it felt as if she was touching the Olympus when it met her skin. It looked like water cascading toward the ground and it was absolute beauty to watch it move. The collar was also transparent until flowers of pearls and tissue covered her breasts and belly. The bottom of the dress seemed to caress the ground with affection and that was what the maids could see in Reyna's eyes; affection. And bewilderment.
"Your Highness," the maid's voice woke Reyna up and she watched as the little woman knelt in front of her, presenting a tiara in her hands.
Percy had been right once again. It was beautiful. It was made of pure crystal, transparent and shiny little pics becoming higher and higher when they got closer to the top. She was persuaded she could kill a man with this. Or impale someone's head.
It was as deadly as it was beautiful. And she loved it.
"Reyna?"
She turned in time to see Piper's braided hair and Hazel's golden eyes before both girls literally jumped on her, hugging her as fiercely as they probably could. It was good to have them close again, as close as they had been before the war. And she felt a wave of relief crashing onto her; to know her friends were alive and well.
"Damn, are you going to put that on your head or going to cut someone's throat with it?" Piper asked as she eyed warily the tiara, now resting beside the dress.
Reyna couldn't help but laugh at her friend's expression even though she had thought the same thing a second earlier. "I think it's supposed to be my crown. But you never know what might happen."
"Ugh, this palace is so huge, we nearly got lost two times. And that, being with guards."
"Yes," Reyna agreed while looking at the wide room she was in, which she presumed was the sewing workshop with long tables all across the room and women running everywhere, speaking in a language she couldn't understand, "it really is."
"Oh and so dark. When you become queen, you have to put some light. So gloomy it gives me the creeps." Continued Piper.
"Well, I kinda like it." Hazel smiled while looking at the room with wide golden eyes.
"Easy for you, you're a daughter of Pluto."
"It's crazy how many gemstones I can feel down here. They're absolutely everywhere," she remarked, ignoring Piper's words.
Hazel looked like a little girl lost in a candy shop while Piper eyed everything and everyone with care and suspicion. It was true that it was her first time in the Kingdom and being underground since the war might not look like the best thing.
"You can relax, Pipes," Reyna offered a little warm smile and gestured them to follow her down a corridor, "you're perfectly fine here."
"I don't like how the guards are watching us. I feel like they could kill me in a single second."
That's because they can. But Reyna didn't say it aloud, afraid it might set her friend ever more on the edge.
In a place that felt new and strange, having Piper and Hazel here felt a little bit more like home. Like she could actually live here, spend her days in the gardens or on a horse's back racing in the cornfields. And spend her nights in Percy's bed.
"Well, maybe we could –"
But Piper didn't have the chance to finish her sentence as Percy appeared at the corner of the corridor, closely followed by five guards. His stony face gave away a bit of its happiness when his eyes met Reyna's and he gestured his guards to stand back while he kissed his future wife's cheek with affection.
"Piper, Hazel," he greeted as he realized Reyna wasn't alone. "Good to have you here."
"My Lord," they both replied, a little impressed by the god in front of them.
Reyna had put this detail aside a long time ago. Percy wasn't a god to her; he was no different than the girl she was. But it felt strange to be reminded sometimes, that the man she was in love with was in fact very different than the girl she was.
He ushered her in a room, opening the first door he found and almost throwing her in it. Before she could be surprised by what had just happened and before she could open her mouth to ask what was going on, his mouth was on hers and his tongue was caressing her lower lip. She gladly opened it and met his warm tongue in between.
"Sorry," he finally whispered after a minute. Or was it an hour? "I missed you."
"You saw me twenty minutes ago." She laughed at his furrowed brow but it died when his mouth crashed against hers. "But you're right," she was cut off once again by his wet lips, "it was much too long."
"Just shut up."
And she did.
Especially when her back met a wall and her legs circled his waist.
She did shut up after that.