Enjoy =)
Chapter Fourteen: Reyna
It was surprising Jason's door didn't have holes through it, what with all the eyes boring into it. Reyna stood, with an impatient Hazel, a fidgeting Leo, a bored Hylla, a teary-eyed Calypso, and a pissed-off-looking daughter of Venus.
Reyna would never admit it out loud, but Piper's threats had scared her. She had no doubt that she would keep her word—and that got Reyna thinking, maybe she had gone too far. She wanted Jason, but maybe she should've done something less complicated. Less painful.
No! Another voice in her head shouted that Jason was finally hers, and she wasn't going to feel regret or guilt over that. Yet the logical part was telling her to confess. There was an internal war raging in Reyna's mind that she didn't notice the door open until she heard Thalia clear her throat.
Reyna's head snapped up, and she met two pairs of icy-blue orbs.
"I know you're all a bit ruffled, but I want you to get to work tomorrow. If you go to the War Room on the first floor, you'll find a list of things each of you guys can do. Piper, Jason, you'll soon be taking over as Praetors, very soon, and I expect your personal issues to not get in the way, alright?" Thalia said, as if nothing had happened.
Piper mutely nodded, her face blank as she glanced at Jason, whose throat worked as he swallowed. "Okay," He said, running his hand through his hair in a way that made Reyna want to swoon.
"Where are you going to be tomorrow?" Hylla frowned at Thalia.
"I'll be bringing Annabeth and a few others."
Reyna noticed Piper perk up a bit, but then her face smoothed out, reminding Reyna of herself. Ha! She is nothing like me!
Thalia walked off, and it didn't escape Reyna's notice when she threw her a stink eye. Hylla followed after Thalia silently, raising a brow at Reyna, and giving a slight nod, as if in approval. Jason, looking distracted, walked up to her. "Is everything alright?" Reyna asked him.
Jason seemed to force his smile, "Yeah. Fine, everything's fine." He stepped closer, pressing his lips to hers. As their mouths heatedly moved against each other, she heard Leo emit a disgusted sound.
As they pulled away, Leo stalked off to his room, visibly shuddering. Calypso headed towards the stairs, looking back towards where Leo was going before heading off her own path.
Reyna turned back to Jason, who was staring at Piper. Eyes on me, Jason! Reyna frowned, the urge to tell someone she was lying to them all was growing stronger, the logical voice in her head getting louder. Piper and Jason seemed to be unable to look away from one another, and when Jason opened his mouth to speak, she pushed her shoulders back, lifted her head, and headed off towards her room. Hazel hesitated before following her, not sparing Reyna or Jason a second glance.
"So," Reyna started. She had to tell Jason. This was eating at her.
"How did you know Piper was cheating on me?" He blurted, frowning slightly.
Reyna blinked. "Oh, uh, well, I uh, I saw them. I saw them kissing. Yeah, kissing, right before they went into Leo's room."
Jason's face was unreadable, which nerved Reyna greatly. But he had no reason to not believe her. Right?
"Oh," Was all he let out.
"Yeah," Reyna breathed, suddenly scared.
Jason exhaled through his nose, slowly. The way he usually did when he was...pissed. He was probably just overwhelmed.
"I have to go. Eat. I'll see you at the meeting tomorrow, Reyna?"
Reyna grabbed his hand, halting him before he turned around, "Can I come to your room tonight?"
He blinked, then nodded vigorously. "Yeah, I think we both need a distraction." He smiled ruefully.
Reyna nearly sighed in relief, "I can't believe all of this drama is actually happening. You'd think we were young children looking for trouble."
Jason smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes, and the panic inside Reyna was back as fast as it was gone.
What did Thalia say to him? "Look, I'm really hungry. I'm going to grab a light dinner before going to my room. Come there in an hour. I'll be waiting for you."
He turned away, walking a few steps until he twisted around to look at her over his shoulder. "And, Reyna, if I were you I would eat something, too. You are going to need the energy to stay up all night." His voice was deep, low, and the panic from earlier faded into desire, flaring inside her.
Reyna swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry.
She took a deep breath, blinking rapidly as Jason smirked at her, his face dark with lust. "I'll see you in an hour, Reyna," His voice was husky, and it did things to Reyna. She watched, standing for a long time staring at the place where he disappeared, turning the hall to get to the staircase.
Reyna's mood was dimmed, however, when her mind slipped to Piper. Jason's room was across the hall from hers, so she wouldn't hear them at night, but surely she knew they were being intimate. Especially with the comment Reyna made back in Thalia's room.
Something small inside her wanted to stop hurting Piper, even though that wasn't even her intention from the start; she just wanted Jason, and she was used to using her method of getting things she wanted. Do whatever you have to do to get whatever it is you want, and get rid of whoever stands in your way, friend or foe. Though those loyal to her didn't get trampled, and Piper was most definitely not loyal to her.
Reyna snorted at the thought. If she hadn't known Piper's mother was Venus, Reyna would've honestly thought she was a daughter of Bellona, or maybe Mars.
No.
Not Mars, maybe Athena? She was intelligent, Piper, she was. Yet again, if Reyna didn't know better she never would've thought her to be a daughter of Venus, either. Reyna snapped out of her head, she would tell Jason tomorrow morning after their night of...fun.
As Reyna headed back to her room, her mind reluctantly wandered to the damage she had done. She had lied to Jason about Piper cheating and lying, and broke those two up right away. About a week later she and Jason accused Leo of cheating with Piper, though Reyna obviously knew he didn't. She just was there to push Jason into doing it himself. Which he did.
After that, Reyna added more gas to the fire when she told Calypso Leo had been cheating on her, and that caused her to lunge at Piper with a knife. A knife. She probably would've managed to stab her either in the heart or the shoulder if Piper hadn't moved out of the way. That would've been bad. Reyna clenched her jaw as she remembered Jason getting on his knees in front of Piper, reminding her to breathe, as if he still cared for her.
Yet it was impossible to not if he had truly loved her, which Reyna had no doubt he did. This time, the guilt won, rushing to the surface immediately.
Reyna closed her bedroom door as she frowned, What had she done?
She broke up two strongly stable couples in love, whose relationships might be ruined even after this cleared up. She turned Piper into something that resembled a damned Roman, her face always blank and her spine stiff and straight. Reyna burned the light out of Jason and Leo's eyes. She broke Calypso's heart in half.
She couldn't tell anyone. What would they do to her?
Reyna had gotten herself into a very bad mess; it was bad. Really, really bad.
The drama was only just now starting. The past week had been a warm-up.
