A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!

Princess Medea, all dolled up, was carrying a tray of tea. Her smile would have blinded many men, but Jason felt nothing but disgust and unease at the woman before him. If he married her, he felt like she would stab him in the back the moment he let his guard down.

"Your Highness," Princess Medea said in a low, throaty voice. "I thought you must be tired from all your busy work. Won't you have a cup of tea? I promise, no salt this time." She teased, her red lips curling up.

Had Jason not been pissed off or wary of Medea, his mind would have easily allowed the magic to wash over him. He clenched his hands, letting his fingernails dig deep into the skin and almost drawing blood. The momentary pain helped to flush the wooziness from his mind.

Jason resisted the urge to flip the tray of tea over. It was the woman before him who had given the orders to hurt Piper. It would take a while to gather all the evidence, but Jason knew that the Colchis princess was the one who gave the order.

No, he had to be patient, he reminded himself.

"Thank you for your concern, Princess Medea." Jason said politely but firmly. "Unfortunately, I have some matters to attend to. I would also like to remind you that it is not appropriate for anyone to walk in without an appointment."

"Oh, I apologize, I didn't know that. The guards let me come up when I said I was bringing tea." Her eyelashes fluttered, giving a forlorn look.

A wolf in sheep's clothing. In other words, she probably used fascination magic on them. Even now she was using it, a flash of confusion and anger in Medea's eyes when she realized Jason was resisting the magic.

"Frank," he ordered. "Exchange those guards immediately, and escort Princess Medea back to her quarters. I appreciate the thought of tea, Your Highness, but the candidacy rules must be kept."

Before Medea could say or do anything else, Jason swept out of the office after giving Frank a stern look.

Frank immediately ushered Medea out. The Colchis princess looked angry, but Jason was in no mood for further politeness.

As Jason walked away, he heard the sound of footsteps following him. Despite Frank's best efforts, Frank could not dare to lay a single finger on a foreign nation's princess to prevent her from following.

Jason rounded the corner where he was out of sight before dodging behind a particular tapestry. Part of his inheritance as a main royal family member was the knowledge of the various secret passages in the castle. In their childhood, Thalia and he had explored every inch of the secret tunnels, hallways, and doors, which had been useful in escaping attacks from various assassins.

By the time, Princess Medea had arrived in the same hallway with an exasperated Frank behind her, Jason was already moving through a narrow passageway to Piper's quarters. He had manipulated the princess' living arrangements so Piper would live where there were secret passages connected. It would be easy to use in case she ever needed to escape.

Minutes later, Jason emerged, brushing off any dust that had landed on his clothes. But Piper was not in her quarters.

"She's with Sir Leo in the infirmary," her lady-in-waiting explained.

Sir Leo, the knight, was a good friend of his from childhood, and Jason entrusted Leo to protect Piper. The fact that he was also severely hurt made Jason angry as well. Leo had put his life on the line to protect Piper with the best of his abilities.

When he arrived at the infirmary, Piper was sitting beside Leo. Leo was lying on the hospital bed, his face pale as he slept. His chest and shoulder were all bandaged. Jason made a mental note to call the royal physician as blood seemed to be bleeding through.

Her head snapped up when she noticed him standing at the door.

"Your Highness," she said, surprised.

Despite her wisps of dark hair escaping her braids, Jason found her breathtakingly beautiful.

"Princess Piper. How are you feeling?"

There was white cloth bandaging her neck. Jason grimaced as he saw her slender neck swallowed up by the cloth. It would be best if she never went out of the castle again, but doing so would be trapping her in a birdcage. He had a feeling that the princess would find some way to escape the palace walls, and he would also have Lady Annabeth giving him an earful. The king had done so to Jason's own birth mother until she had gone crazy from his smothering, excessive love and from the Queen's incessant jealousy. Jason had sworn to never treat his lover that way

Piper looked embarrassed as Jason stared intently at her neck. She moved her dark hair from behind her shoulders to cover the bandage.

"I'm fine. It's just a scratch, nothing too serious."

"If it hurts in any way, don't hesitate to call for the physician."

"I will, thank you for your concern." Piper said softly.

Her hand reached out and brushed his hair. A cobweb was between her fingers. It must have been from when he used the secret passages in the castle.

"Ah." How embarrassing.

Wordlessly, Jason took out his handkerchief and wiped the stickiness away from her hands. Piper squirmed but she didn't pull her hands away.

"I'm sorry," Jason finally said.

"What for?"

Those kaleidoscope eyes searched his face.

"It seems that you have been getting into incidents the moment you stepped into Cuora," Jason answered. "I promised that everyone would be protected, but you were still harmed in the end."

"It's not your fault. I made the choice to come here, anyways." Piper looked as though she was looking into the past.

It was then that Sir Leo's voice broke the atmosphere. He had not been asleep at all. "Your Highness, you are so whipped." Leo said, dryly.

If Leo hadn't been Jason's close friend, there was no way he could have spoken to Jason in such a manner.

"Be quiet so you can get better."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Only if you two stop flirting over my dying body."

"You don't seem to be at death's door yet if such trash is coming out of your mouth." Jason returned.

"No, I'll probably die of loneliness as a single knight first," Leo groaned.

"I'll introduce you to some suitable ladies."

"I'll hold you to that promise, then."

Jason poured Leo a glass of water.

"What do you think of today's attack?"

Leo frowned as he sifted through his memories. "They were definitely trained, but what seems weird is that fighting them seems almost…familiar."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't mean that I've fought them before. It's just that their fighting techniques were similar to how I've been trained."

"You're saying that they were possibly trained as knights." Jason let his words sit in the room. "Imperial knights or one of the Knight Orders."

"Yes."

The pair looked at each other. Out of all the possibilities, they both landed on the White Knights Order.

Luke was not in a good mood when he returned from the royal palace. When it was discovered that the White Knights Order had not been patrolling along the road leading to the palace, the royal family was furious. Luke's salary had been cut, the White Knights punished, and he had been given a deadline to investigate what had occurred.

Inside he raged. It truly wasn't him who had ordered his White Knights to abandon their guard duties. Someone had taken his seal and impersonated him to order the Knights away. He had an inkling of who it was.

In truth, the aristocratic faction was thinking of ways to get rid of the Cythera princess, but they would have informed Luke of the plan since it involved those under his command. Such a shoddy plan, too. It appeared that the aristocratic faction had no hand in this since a man from Marquis Ares had stopped him coming out of the palace to demand an answer. If the plan to kill Princess Piper had succeeded, then perhaps it would be okay. But since the White Knights Order was implicated, the aristocratic faction was worried their military power were being halved. Adding insult to injury was the fact that the Black Knights Order was the one to rescue the princess.

So how could have Kelli been so stupid? Kelli was the only one whom Luke trusted in his office. She could have easily taken his seal. He just couldn't understand why she would have attacked the Cythera princess. Unless…

Luke recalled that Annabeth was also in the carriage when it was attacked. Was Kelli so out of her mind that she wanted to get rid of Annabeth so impatiently? Luke wanted to deal with that Chase bitch in a more patient and formidable manner, but Kelli had destroyed such plans because of her jealousy. Of course, this was not the case, as Luke did not know it was Princess Medea who had ordered Kelli to do such a heinous act.

Perhaps Kelli was feeling unsettled that Lady Soleia was now living in the Castellan mansion undergoing training as a countess. According to his father, Lady Soleia excelled at the training and would make an excellent countess. Luke privately agreed that Soleia was a much more appropriate woman for his official wife on paper, but Kelli refused to be put as a secondary wife. Luke and Kelli had many arguments over this, and her letters were often so bitter and angry that Luke unconsciously felt himself distance from her.

But Luke also did not plan to be the third husband to pass away. Soleia's movement was restricted to her side of the mansion. Sometimes, she would send up snacks or tea through a butler. Luke would always ignore the food.

A knock sounded on his door, and his butler walked in with a tea tray. Once again, the tray contained snacks sent from Lady Soleia.

"We had it tested as usual. There seems to be nothing wrong. Shall I put it away, sir?" The butler asked.

Luke almost said yes, but paused. In the cacophony of the day's events, he hadn't had a bite to eat. The sandwich and steaming cup of tea looked inviting.

"Just put it here."

He doubted the food was poisoned. Soleia would gain nothing if Luke was poisoned and died before they married.

Percy lay in bed while Annabeth fussed over him. The poisoned arrow had only just broken his skin due to his armor protecting him. The poison was working through his system, but his prior immunizations had protected him so he only ended up with a light fever. By the way Annabeth was checking over him before she went to sleep, one would have thought he had lost a limb or something. For that, he would have gladly taken a hundred more arrows for her.

"I'm fine, Annabeth," Percy said patiently for the hundredth time. "Come lay down next to me."

Annabeth gave him a suspicious glance.

"I got hit by an arrow. I doubt I can do much to you." Percy pointed to his bandaged shoulder.

The injury really wasn't big at all, but he pretended that it was much more serious. He had had far worse injuries before. If any of his knights had seen this scene, they would be askance at their leader.

"But…" Annabeth ventured.

"We'll be married soon, anyways. Just think of it as practice." Percy winked.

His fiancé rolled her eyes in exasperation. She probably would have punched him, too, if he were not hurt.

"Then wear a nightshirt," Annabeth said, eyeing his bare chest.

"I sleep without a shirt," Percy returned. "It's for practice, remember?"

While she didn't punch him in the shoulder, she did take his pillow away and hit him the face with it. But with a little more coaxing, the pink-faced Annabeth settled down in the bed next to him. Percy tugged her closer and pulled the covers over them.

"Won't I hurt your shoulder?" Annabeth asked, worriedly.

"Not like this."

Using the arm connected to his good shoulder, Percy tucked Annabeth underneath his chin. Both of them had taken their baths, but Annabeth smelled lovelier than him. Her hair always smelled of citrus and flowers.

"Were you scared today? You looked so fierce, fighting off those bastards." Percy asked.

His knights had been tailing the princess and Annabeth. When Percy had gotten word that they were attacked, he had grabbed the nearest horse and thundered down the road to the scene. Percy had been in time to see Annabeth fighting off the assailants. But his heart had been in his throat whenever the attacker had jabbed at her with his sword. His body had reacted on instinct once he saw those arrows were pointed at her.

"No," Annabeth answered truthfully. "I was only thinking about protecting the princess."

Percy flicked her on the forehead. "Princess or not, you should think about yourself as the first priority."

"You would have done the same," she said.

"But I'm a knight. It's part of my official duties to protect the citizens and guests of this country," Percy reminded her. He would take a sword for the main royal family if he had to.

"Were you scared?" Annabeth probed.

Percy gently kissed her on the forehead. "Very."

Though he would take a sword for the main royal family as part of his duties to the nation, Percy now thought he would take a sword for Annabeth first. It was a dangerous thought.

"I kept hoping that you weren't harmed and could hold on until backup arrived. You did well fighting them off."

"I am a pretty good fighter," Annabeth said, teasingly. "You should take me as a Black Knight."

He'd seen the uniforms the female knights often wore. Percy's breath caught in his throat as he imagined Annabeth in one of those uniforms, her golden tresses caught up in a ponytail that exposed the nape of her neck.

Speaking of the nape, Percy conveniently took advantage of that patch of skin by planting soft kisses there. "Well, I suppose if you want to be a Black Knight, then I'll personally train you."

"Wait, you said you wouldn't do anything," Annabeth accused before gasping when he suddenly nipped her skin.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop." Percy laughed as Annabeth pinched his sides.

He gave her a last soft kiss on her forehead before settling down to sleep. His hand slowly patted her on the shoulder in a soothing pattern until Annabeth lay quietly sleeping in his embrace.

The day's events had been tiring, but Percy couldn't fall asleep right away. His body tensed when he recalled how close he was to losing Annabeth that afternoon had his knights not been secretly tailing her. He had almost failed in his duties of protecting the people close to him.

Oh? Percy paused as this new thought popped into his head. When had he started being so concerned about Annabeth? He had never expected to fall in love in marriage.

Yes, that must be it. He was simply in love with this brilliant and courageous woman.

Listening to Annabeth's steady and calm breathing, Percy let himself be lulled to sleep.

A/N: I've been asked when is the wedding...yeah it's gonna take a while. But good things come to those who wait! Like I've also mentioned before, I'm extremely busy with other writing, so please be patient. It may take days or weeks for my next update, but this story will be complete before 2021 for sure lol.

Happy Father's Day and to those who are like father figures!