A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!
Kelli paced in her room so often these days, it was a surprise that she didn't wear out the carpet. Her room was a mess, due to her throwing her jewelry box on the floor and kicking the blankets on her bed. If anyone were to see her now, they would be shocked that Kelli was a Baroness. But Kelli didn't care about that.
Right now, nothing was going her way. Princess Medea was treating her coldly, and even contacting Luke was getting more difficult. The gossip that Count Castellan was getting engaged to Lady Soleia had quickly swept through the social circles. Kelli had coaxed, wheedled, and in the end screamed, but Luke could not give her a concrete answer on his pending engagement. He'd even told her he couldn't communicate with her for a while!
Damn those Castellans, Kelli swore. All the Castellan elders wanted was money and power, so they looked down on her as the potential wife of Luke. Even worse, Luke's uncle had insinuated that Kelli be better off as a concubine instead. How humiliating!
The once envious eyes that looked at Kelli were now turned to those of laughter and amusement, as though Kelli was just the newest source of entertainment. She refused to be embarrassed like this. All those people just wanted her to be crushed underneath their feet, but she swore that they would be bowing down before her instead. Once Princess Medea was Queen of Cuora, Kelli would be elevated into a higher position, and all those who looked down at her would receive their comeuppance.
So why hadn't anything gone to plan? Princess Piper was supposed to get the salty tea, and the maid Kelli had bribed seemed to be capable and willing after being given gold worth a year's salary. Something had happened in the midst, but try as she might, Kelli could not come up with any theories.
And now Princess Medea was demanding to see results. Kelli's mind seemed fuzzy whenever she was around Medea, as though she needed to do whatever it took to please Medea.
"I have given you a title, jewelry, and gold. So why can't you accomplish such a simple task?" Medea had said.
Kelli had no choice now. She had no marriage to rely on, and her benefactor was pushing her to take action. Kelli laughed bitterly. She should have known from the moment Princess Medea had shown up to her door and pointed a sword at her throat that she was playing with fire.
Kelli stopped her pacing and stared out at the window. If all went well with today's plan, her life would be back on track. If not...her neck was on the line.
"Goodbye! Goodbye!"
The children's voice rang out in a chorus as Annabeth and Piper waved at them from their carriage. They had visited the children in the orphanage again, braving the chill of the winter.
Annabeth touched her cheek where one little girl had given a kiss. If her darling daughter had lived, would she one day embrace Annabeth like that? Annabeth sighed, thinking of how she had never even gotten to name her baby.
Thinking that her sigh was because they were leaving the orphanage, Piper gave Annabeth a sympathetic smile.
"Let's come back soon," Piper said to Annabeth.
"Yes." Annabeth gave a soft smile in return.
The carriage was making its way back to the royal palace on the long road when the wheels suddenly shuddered. Annabeth had to steady herself on the carriage walls before she fell out of her seat.
Piper and Annabeth looked at each other.
"Broken carriage wheel?" Piper guessed.
"Maybe." Annabeth answered.
She suddenly had a bad feeling. Her fingers inched towards her concealed dagger, hoping it would give her some comfort.
Annabeth opened the carriage window. "Is something wrong?" She called out to the driver.
Whizz! She quickly threw her head back in. Embedded just a few inches from her face was an arrow.
"It's an attack!" The carriage driver cried out before he went under an assault of arrows.
"Protect the princess!"
For ease of movement, they had only taken up four guards. Now there were only these four up against what seemed to be a crowd of ten or so assailants. The carriage had been stopped on the long road surrounded by thick woods, so she doubted anyone would be able to come by and help. The odds were not in their favor, Annabeth thought grimly. She quickly drew out her dagger.
"Your Highness, stay in the carriage."
With that, Annabeth threw herself outside and quickly assessed the situation. The assailants had killed the horses first, preventing them from being used to escape.
Annabeth ducked as one masked assassin swung his sword at her. He seemed to be trained quite well much to Annabeth's dismay. But Annabeth had the element of surprise on her hand. Perhaps the assassin was not expecting her to fight back for he stumbled when Annabeth caught his sword on the hilt of her dagger. Using his confusion, Annabeth kicked him in the groin and stole his sword.
The sword's long reach made it much better to fight with. Annabeth immediately used the sword to slice an arrow into two. But the situation was still bad for their side. Out of the corner of her eye, Annabeth saw an assassin enter the carriage.
"Piper!" She cried out.
There was nowhere in the carriage to hide, and as far as she knew, Piper didn't have any weapons on her. If she could not protect the princess, they were screwed. Before Annabeth could enter the carriage to help, a masked assailant blocked her way.
Annabeth gritted her teeth and engaged in battle. There was no more time to think as her opponent charged at her. Clang! Their swords clashed and met again in a dance of life or death. Annabeth could only hope that some of Piper's luck from when she had survived her days in the forest remained. Then she had no more time to think as the sword jabbed at her over and over again.
Piper did not intend to stay still in the carriage waiting for her death, or else she'd be known as the most idiotic princess in history. The walls of the carriage felt like both a haven and her coffin. The moment the door swung open, Piper was ready.
"Halt." She ordered, working fascination magic in her voice.
Her voice had the same urgency as when she was being chased in the forest. It was the main reason how she had survived for so long.
The attacker's face was masked but his eyes clouded as Piper's magic washed over him.
"Serve me." Piper commanded.
Without another word, the attacker turned right out the carriage and began attacking his own comrades, much to their confusion.
There was a loud ripping sound, and Piper felt a thin slice of heat flash on her neck. Startled, she turned to see a sword had burst through the velvet walls, nearly taking off her head if she had been to the right just a few inches. The carriage had been compromised.
Gritting her teeth at the pain, Piper scrambled out the other side and found herself once again with a sword pointed at her neck. Before either of them could do anything, Annabeth was there, swinging her sword at the attacker's back. The assailant was well trained however and quickly turned to dodge. The sword only managed to draw a thin red line, cutting through the black clothes.
"Thanks," Piper managed to get out before Annabeth was distracted by the attacker.
The one assailant that Piper had used her magic on had been taken down by his own colleagues. Piper turned her attention to the nearest person she could use her magic on which was the enemy Annabeth was fighting.
Through the rush of adrenaline, the battle felt like a flurry of seconds, though most likely it was a few minutes. In truth, Piper thought they were done for. They had far too few numbers on her side, and Piper could only manage to control no more than three or four people at once.
A large hunting horn blew off in the distance.
"It's the Black Knights Order!" Sir Leo, alive but injured, cried out.
Relief and hope rose up in Annabeth's throat. The sound of the horn still seemed to be far off, but if they could survive just a few more minutes, then they would be rescued.
Arrows whizzed by. For a brief heart pounding moment, Annabeth thought that the arrows were aimed at her and Piper, but the arrows found themselves in their attackers instead. The sudden attack broke the ranks of the attackers and spread confusion.
"Annabeth, watch out!" Piper warned.
Annabeth blocked the enemy's sword just in time, though the impact reverberated up her arm.
"Piper, get out of here!" She cried.
If the princess could just escape and hide out in the woods, their rescuers could come. Already, she could see them galloping closer on horses. But Piper did not run away from the battle as expected. Annabeth saw her point her finger at the enemy Annabeth was currently fighting.
"Protect us." Piper commanded.
The strength of her magic was so strong that Annabeth herself felt the urge to forget everything and protect the princess. The assailant might have been trained in the sword but his mind had no defense for the assault of fascination magic. Annabeth was bewildered at the dark-clothed man who stopped fighting Annabeth and immediately went to duel another attacker.
When did Piper have fascination magic? Annabeth wondered. She quickly deduced that this was how Piper survived those long weeks from her travels from Cythera to Cuora, and probably how Piper had extracted herself from the salted tea situation. But there was no way Piper could have been the one to inflict magic on that maid who had tried to seduce the Duke, since Piper had not been anywhere close to the Duke's mansion then. There was another player who had the same ability.
"Annabeth!"
Someone was crying out her name. Too late did Annabeth turn to see an arrow flying speedily at her. Something heavy tackled her to the ground, and she groaned in pain as her body made contact with the road. The impact was so rough that Annabeth almost saw stars before her vision cleared. Someone was above her, heavy with metal armor that dug into her vulnerable body.
"Percy!" She exclaimed.
But something warm was dripping on her shoulder. Annabeth saw that while she had been saved from the arrow, Percy was not as fortunate. An arrow was embedded in the chinks of the armor just between the chestpiece and the shoulder guard.
"I'm fine." Percy said, grimly.
But his face was turning grey with tinges of green. Poison, Annabeth realized with horror.
Jason was furious as he paced his office. Nearby, Frank could barely hold a calm expression. The Cuora prince rarely showed anger outwardly, so the news that the princess had been attacked was a testament to how incensed the prince was.
"How is she?" Jason prompted.
"Her Highness, Princess Piper, is safe and now being escorted by the Black Knights Order back to the palace. All four knights were injured, and one is in critical condition. His Grace, Duke Jackson, was injured by an arrow and the future Duchess is tending to his wounds."
Jason closed his eyes. He thought that she would be safe with the four Imperial guards to protect her. They had been traveling in a royal carriage, and everyone knew that to attack upon the carriage was tantamount to an attack on the Cuora royal family. If it weren't for the Black Knights Order that he had especially tasked to keep an eye on the Cythera princess, who knew what could have happened.
For some reason, the White Knights Order was missing from their normal duties of patrolling the wooded area where the attack occurred. Otherwise, such an attack could not have happened.
It seems the White Knights could no longer be trusted, Jason decided. Of course, the royal family had never trusted fully the White Knights ever since Count Castellan, a staunch supporter of the aristocratic faction, became the head. But it was disappointing that Jason could not use them to entrap the one person who was the mastermind behind the strings. Even Princess Medea was just a simple cogwheel in the political scheme.
Frank shifted uncomfortably. He had kept the worst news for last, dreading Jason's reaction. "Your Highness. Princess Piper was injured in the attack. It was only a scratch on the neck!" Frank quickly added when Jason's face turned dark. "She is being treated for any poisons as a cautionary."
Jason didn't say anything for a while, but anger boiled beneath his skin. The last time he had felt this angry was when he had gotten word that the Cytheran princess had disappeared on her travels from Cythera to Cuora. He had hated seeing how bone thin and exhausted the princess had been when he had found her in the woods. Right then and there, Jason had made an internal promise that Piper would not suffer a single scratch under his protection, but he had failed that promise by underestimating the enemy. They were beginning to be desperate after he provoked them by publicly favoring Piper at the tea party.
A feather pen snapped in Jason's hand, but he didn't seem to care about the ink staining his hand. He wished to see her, to make sure that he was safe and sound. One smile from Piper seemed to melt all his anxiety and frustrations away.
As Jason opened the door, he discovered another person was already standing there.
"Hello, Prince Jason," crooned Princess Medea.
Her voice seemed to wash over him, commanding him to her presence.
A/N: You know, I am honestly surprised at the dearth of Percabeth M stories. There's always a lot of Percy x harem stories :0
RIP Fanfiction did the thing where you can't see the reviews for a few days. Wow, I did not expect that we would accumulate over 300 reviews since the posting of the previous chapter! Thanks for the love, and see y'all next chapter!