Chapter 66

"I'm going to miss this," Piper said softly, looking out at the ocean. The day after tomorrow she was set to begin the journey home, and most of the next day was set aside for farewells with the king and lords of the court, all ending with a feast on par with the one that had been thrown when she arrived. She was fairly sure Poseidon was trying to make up for what had happened with Percy and Annabeth by overcompensating a bit with the festivities. Whatever the reason, this was really the last night of freedom Piper had in his kingdom.

While she was excited to go home, she was going to miss the beauty of the ocean and kingdom around her. And she would miss the friends she'd made of course. So that was how she was spending her final night of freedom, walking along a path that overlooked the ocean with Jason.

"Me too," Jason agreed, looking over to smile softly at Piper as they walked.

"Do you mean that?" Piper asked, stopping to turn and fully look at him. Jason did the same, and her eyes searched his face as she waited for and listened to his answer.

"Of course," Jason replied, looking back at her, still smiling "I've really enjoyed spending time with you, and though I know you must be eager to return after so long away, I'm sad to see you go."

"What if-" Piper hesitated. She had been hesitating on this subject ever since Percy told her his intentions. She had known it was only a matter of time before she was called back home. The idea she was about to propose had come soon after that realization, and really she should have brought it up sooner but every time she had started to she had found herself to hesitant about what his answer would be. Now there was no pushing it off though, no tomorrow to wait for "What if you were to go with me?"

"Back to your kingdom?" Jason replied, and Piper could see the surprise cross his face at the idea of it, but, to her relief, he didn't seem instantly opposed.

"Yes," Piper agreed, nodding a bit as she said it "If you want to. I just- Hazel is planning to leave with Frank to seek out other druids part way through the journey, and it would be nice to have a friend on the way back and in the castle."

Of course, she did have other friends at the castle, but it wasn't the same as with Hazel. Or as it was with Jason. How when she had been stressed over the last few weeks he was the one she'd wanted to talk to. How easy it was to talk to him, almost as easy as with Hazel. How much she looked forward to the walks they went on. How she wanted an excuse to kiss his cheek again, but so far hadn't found one and Jason had been to gentlemanly to even mention it, which was sweet but god did part of her wish he wasn't.

"And I think it could be good for you too," Piper added quickly, not wanting to make it seem like this was a purely selfish idea, though if she was being honest a large part of it was "I've told you before that my kingdom is small, and as a result there are far less nobles. Which means that the rules around knighthood are much more lax. In fact, a man who's been the personal guard of a prince and has the endorsement of the princess herself would be in a prime position to train to become a knight, regardless of his parentage. And I told you that if Percy and I ever went on any trips I would make sure you were with us, so it only seems proper I offer to bring you along. And-"

"Piper," Jason cut off, and for a moment there was a fond smile, one of amusement, before he let it fall as he continued "You don't have to convince me. I like the idea, if for no other reason then because I want to spend more time with you. To have more in depth conversations and walks where you tell me which plants would kill me if I ate them. It's just…"

A smile had been spreading on Piper's face as Jason spoke, which froze when he said 'just'. "Just what?"

"Leo," Jason replied, sighing a bit at that "I don't want to just be gone when he eventually tries to come back."

"I think Leo is clever enough to figure out where you've gone," Piper replied, giving him a small. Without really thinking about it she reached over to take his hand, squeezing it gently "And besides, it seems to me that it would be a lot more likely for him to show up at a castle where he wasn't an escaped criminal, wouldn't it?"

"You're right," Jason agreed, though he still seemed hesitant.

Piper looked over at him for a moment, before gently adding "Besides, if Leo returns and finds out that you turned down the opportunity to become a knight in order to sit around and wait for him to show up he'll give you hell."

God, it sounded like she was just trying to talk Jason into it, but she honestly wasn't. Piper hadn't gotten to spend nearly as much time with Leo as she would have liked, but it had been enough to make her almost positive that what she was saying was true. Luckily, it appeared she was correct, because Jason smiled, and even laughed slightly as he said "Yeah, he would."

There was a moment of silence, Piper just looking at Jason, who in turn shifted to look out at the ocean again. When he finally turned back to her, he smiled and nodded once "It would be my honor, and more then that my pleasure, to accompany you back to your kingdom."

Piper couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit at the formality of his words, but she was grinning as he spoke. There was slight teasing in her voice as she replied "And it would be my honor and pleasure to have you with us."

She was glad to see there was a smile on Jason's face, and he even laughed a bit again at her words. He raised an eyebrow and motioned towards the path, grinning more then Piper thought she had ever really seen before "Now that the serious conversation is over, shall we continue on our walk, my lady?"

"We shall," Piper agreed, smiling at the teasing, but she didn't move to start down the path right away. Instead she moved closer to him, pushing herself up on her tiptoes for just a moment and kissed his cheek, a bit more lingering this time then it had been before. Somehow Jason's grin seemed to have gotten even bigger when she pulled away.

It was only as they turned to head farther along the path that Piper realized they were still holding hands. However, she found that she didn't want to pull her hand away, and it didn't seem Jason wanted to either.

It wasn't until the moon was far into the sky that they finally reached the castle again. Much of the early night was spent just walking along the path and looking out at the ocean, with occasional stolen kisses, neither of them pulling their hand out of the other's.