A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!
Annabeth stepped down from the carriage holding the king's hand. Years of being an intern and then moving up the ranks in an architect company had taught her how to navigate social and business circles.
She had a feeling that she would need to throw in everything she had learned to survive. A simple mistake here such as not holding the king's hand would have people speculate that the relationship between her and King Perseus was not pleasant. And unfortunately, both of them were relying on each other so such rumors would be detrimental.
As Annabeth walked towards the entrance of Gardenia Palace on a red carpet that seemed to be placed specifically for this occasion, neat lines of maids and butlers were formed on either side of the carpet. When the princess and king passed, each bowed or curtsied in uniformity.
Again, Annabeth was impressed with their unity and protocol. But she also felt that there was a sense of tension in the air. It was as if anyone made a mistake, the consequences could be deadly. This must be the true image of the Eldoris palace under King Perseus' control, Annabeth thought. Disciplined and unaccepting of mistakes. Her own spine straightened. Maybe she shouldn't curse out loud so often.
Surprisingly, the king himself gave Annabeth a tour of Gardenia Palace. There was the Grand Hall where guests were received and the King usually held court. There were the private meeting rooms the king used. Large banquet rooms were in the side wings of the palace.
"This is your living quarters for now." The king swept his arm at the west wing of the third floor. "Dahlia Palace, where you will be residing in, is still being renovated."
Dahlia Palace was behind Gardenia Palace. It was slightly smaller but just as grandiose. How strange that the wife and husband didn't seem to live together in this story. She'd heard of separate beds in the same bedroom when a couple disagreed on the softness of mattresses or even different bedrooms but in the same house if one partner snored too much. But never separate palaces. It could be seen as a testament to the wealth of Eldoris that their royal palaces were separated for each family member and their statuses.
Annabeth's ears perked up at the renovation of Gardenia Palace though. Perhaps she could design the reparations herself. Her architect mind began running. Those statues by the front door were so tacky, all with the same face and too many jewels in the crown. And who the hell thought of placing five whole fountains in the front? Just one or two was enough. No wonder the king wanted to renovate the palace.
Seeing her enthusiasm, the king thought that the Kiran princess was excited at having a whole palace to herself. As he had imagined, she must have lived in poor conditions her whole life. Did she even get to have a room to herself?
As they walked, Annabeth felt that the king was personally escorting her around not because he had the spare time but because he was showing others that she was not to be taken lightly. Annabeth added a point in the king's favor. If other people knew that the Kiran eldest princess was soft or not favored by the king, they might see her as a stepping stone and try to oppress her. Who in the royal palaces wasn't ruthless?
A man with brown hair and a woman with curly red hair approached. They appeared to be knights judging by their uniforms and sheathed swords.
"Let me introduce my personal aides. This is Sir Grover and Sir Rachel."
"It is an honor to meet you both, Sir Grover, Sir Rachel," Annabeth said with a smile.
Each bowed and returned their greetings. Annabeth recalled that Sir Grover in the manuscript had been mentioned quite a bit by the Eldoris King's side. This man's fate was just as unfortunate as the king he served, dying a painful death in the king's arms. But this female knight…
Annabeth looked at Sir Rachel's uniform and sighed inwardly. Sir Rachel's knight uniform consisted of a dark blue jacket with gold trimmings, bright white trousers, and oh gods, yes, were those flat boots? Annabeth thought ruefully of the dress and high heels she was made to wear and was jealous of the other's far more comfortable looking garb.
Would the Eldorisian King approve of his queen wearing pants? Well, it didn't matter, Annabeth thought. She was going to find a way to get some pants in her wardrobe, or at the very least find some nice flat shoes like the ones she wore back at her job. Fuck these heels. These high heels were torture on her tour of all the Eldorisian palaces.
Mistaking Annabeth's observant expression for jealousy at a beautiful woman close to him, the king smiled on the inside. Yes, Annabeth would prove to be an effective deterrent against the women sent by his enemies who wanted to crawl to the position next to him.
"Your Majesty." Sir Grover bent closer and reported in the king's ears.
"Very well. Princess, it seems that I have state matters to attend to. Please forgive me for not finishing the tour." The king apologized.
"There is no need for an apology. You've already given me much of your time," Annabeth smiled back.
King Perseus nodded. "I will leave the knights and Lucy to attend to you. I shall see you at dinner tonight."
The king and his aides went back to Gardenia Palace while Lucy took Annabeth on a brief tour of the rest of the royal palaces. Camellia Palace was the palace where royal children lived. The king had lived there in the past, as well as his younger brother. But now Prince Triton was being cared for by his birth mother, the dowager queen, at Marigold Palace.
Lucy lowered her voice. "Marigold Palace is an auxiliary palace. Marigold Palace is usually where the king's mistresses would live. But Dahlia Palace is reserved only for the queen."
Annabeth's eyebrow raised. So this was telling Annabeth that not only did the king not have a good relationship with the dowager queen, he would also not have mistresses? Did the king want to renovate Dahlia Palace to remove traces of the former queen? Or did the king only let Annabeth live in a wing of the Gardenia Palace because he did not view her as a true queen or because he wanted to keep her safe by having Annabeth close by him? It looked like both of them would have to work on trusting each other. Either way, to stuff the dowager queen into a palace originally meant for mistresses must be a huge insult to the former queen.
How complicated this palace life was, Annabeth mused. But she was grateful that the king had assigned Lucy to guide her, even with subtle hints. Intelligent people never needed anyone to say more than they should. If Annabeth was just a dull beauty like the original Kiran princess, she was sure that the Eldoris King would have categorized her as just an ornament in the royal Eldoris family, only kept alive for the sole reason to not start a war with Kiran.
"I see." Annabeth indicated that she understood. "I will work hard for my responsibilities as Queen then."
Hearing this, Lucy's smile grew more sincere. Even a young girl like Lucy had to be complex if Percy had entrusted her to Annabeth.
"Then this way, Your Highness."
An expensive porcelain tea set was swept onto the floor.
"That bitch is still alive! How could this be?"
The king of Kiran raged as he paced in his office. His other daughter, the one he favored the most in the Kiran empire, stood forward to soothe him.
"Father, please calm your anger. Remember that mother's health became impacted because of her anger. Besides, surely Prime Minister Alexander must have an explanation for this, right, Prime Minister?" Princess Alana sweetly turned to Prime Minister Alexander who grimaced.
The Prime Minister had no explanation for this. It had been his plan to cut trading unexpectedly with Eldoris and then pretend to offer the eldest Kiran princess as a bride as an apology. Yet none of the Kiran knights or hired mercenaries who were sent to kill Princess Annabeth had been seen since they crossed into the Eldoris border. Even Dame Lune had disappeared without a trace. But their Eldoris contact and conspirator had been furious to report that Princess Annabeth had been received into the royal Eldoris palace. Not to mention, the Eldoris King had not been insulted that his bride was not Princess Alana and seemed to favor the half-blood princess.
How could they start a legitimate war with Eldoris then? Alana would have preferred that Kiran straightforwardly invade Eldoris, but her father was prideful and did not want to leave a reputation of being a tyrant, hypocrite that he was. Besides, invading one country without a reason would invite other countries to be on guard and cut off relations with Kiran.
Still, Alana sneered, there was no huge loss without some small gain. Prime Minister Alexander was one who held great power in court, ranked third after the King and Princess Alana herself. While it was a pity that Annabeth had somehow survived, Alana could still use this failure to pull down Alexander's influence. Hearing her father yell at his prime minister was music to her ears.
Finally, Alana used her sweet words and exerted some light magic to calm her father. Light magic was useful not only in healing but manipulating someone's thoughts. Soon, Alana thought. The throne of Kiran would be solely hers.
Alana left the king's office in another hour and headed towards the queen of Kiran's rooms. Queen Circe was constantly resting after being in poor health eight years ago when she had fallen and nearly drowned in the lake. In truth, Alana had caused this and managed to blame the drowning on Annabeth whom had brought out to the lake as a maid to serve as amusement. Annabeth had been punished by severe beatings and locked in the dungeons for months as a result.
"Mother, I am here." Alana announced.
Queen Circe's blue eyes blinked frantically, staring blankly at the ceiling. The queen could only eat and sleep, but not talk or move. Her body was deteriorating slowly, although no one but Alana knew this.
"Don't worry, mother, everything will be alright." Alana cooed. "Or should I say, my dear daughter?"
Alana, or Circe rather, laughed as she patted the hand of the body on the bed. Circe was a powerful light wielder who had caught the attention of the Kiran King. Her status as a count's daughter rose rapidly as queen. Having tasted power and wealth as the Kiran queen, who would ever want to give it up?
So Circe hatched a brilliant plan. She would use her magic to transfer her soul into her blood born daughter's body and trap her daughter's soul in her old, original body. That way Circe would not only live forever but stay eternally beautiful with her powers intact. Now Circe was Princess Alana, taking on her daughter's personality and mannerisms.
She had even gotten rid of the King's eldest daughter, ensuring that this one daughter would be the only heir to the throne. Then she would forge marriages with surrounding kingdoms and swallow them up as well. She would continue to give birth to daughters and switch their souls to continue an eternal cycle of youth, beauty, and wealth. Should anything go wrong, Circe had ensured that her soul would be safely transplanted back to her original body while her daughter would face the consequences of whatever Circe did in Alana's body.
"Well, my dear, what should I send as a wedding gift for your poor sister?"
Circe's, or now Alana's, blue eyes glinted coldly.
A/N: To clarify in case it was a little confusing, Circe (current queen of Kiran and Annabeth's stepmother) devised a plan to live forever and have immortal beauty and wealth by transplanting her soul's with Alana's, trapping Alana in Circe's body. Circe plans to keep on doing this with the next generation of her daughters (in Alana's body). Wicked queen, am I right?
So everything that "Alana:" has done is actually just Circe running around in her daughter's body. And to the male leads of Clarisse's novel, the male leads have really just been doing Circe, a MILF. This story is dark, after all. Part of the reason why it's rated M isn't just because of the explicit scenes that will happen much later, but really for the dark stuff that I've inserted here and there... If anyone recalls the original title of Clarisse's story, it truly is a tragedy for both Kiran princesses since the title didn't specify which Kiran princess.
Anyways, thanks for all the reviews! Perhaps this will be the fastest story in my repertoire to hit 100 reviews?
To also clarify some questions in the reviews:
Yes, in Clarisse's novel and in Annabeth's understanding, she still thinks that Percy is in love with Alana because that's what's written. But I hate having couples misunderstand each other when all they need is communication in a healthy relationship so don't worry about this misunderstanding.
Clearly, Annabeth and Percy are not in love with each other. (Yet hehe) Both are using the other for survival. But it'll be fun to see how their relationship develops! Who falls for the other first, place your bets!
If there is anything confusing, drop them in the reviews! Some of you readers may be able to answer other fellow readers' questions.
As always, see you next chapter, which will be dropped on Sunday!