Chapter 9

Reyna dropped her head into her hands, exhaling longingly she had been string at the screen for a half the day now, Rebecca had brought in some food for her earlier but it sat there untouched, Reyna had been too focused to really take anything in. She looked at all the notes she had written down from the information on the laptop, Damien was right he had been a great singer back in the ancient Greek times, but he was big headed and believed himself to be greater than Apollo himself and he was not afraid to share that opinion with all of Thrace.

When he was confronted by the god Apollo himself, he challenged the god to a competition to find out who the best singer was in all the cosmos and taunted the God, exclaiming that his people would choose him, the muses were with the god and they laid out the rules of the competition, the people of Thrace would decide, being the Prince of Thrace Thamyris thought her would have the peoples vote as well. He was so confident in his own abilities that he demanded that if he were to win he could marry Euterpe, just to flaunt his winnings, the muse agreed and they swore on the river Styx.

Though Thamyris was an amazing singer it was nothing compared to the beauty and purity of Apollo's voice, the people chose Apollo and for his hubris the god planned a humiliating punishment for the prince, it was too simple just to lay waste to him, no the god had something else planned, he spoke with the muses and they agreed with the plan.

They took away the only thing that Thamyris truly cared about, they took away his talent, he could no longer sing or play the lyre, couldn't write the poetry that had made him so popular, they took away something more important to him than his life, nothing much was heard of Thamyris after this encounter, it said that he ran away, ashamed of what had become of him.

It would make sense that he would be the one behind this but there was a problem, he was just a mortal, he had died back in ancient times. Reyna ran a hand through her hair, this was the only lead they really had and it seemed impossible for him to be the one behind this.

She glanced at the clock, Damien had been locked way by himself for 5 hours now, she should really go and check on him and bring him some food if Hazel hadn't done so already, but she hadn't heard from the daughter of Pluto. She pushed herself away from the desk and walked out of her office,

"I will be back in a while Rebecca" she said as she made her way down the corridor

"Of course Praetor"

Reyna made her way upstairs, keeping an eye out for anything out of place or anyone like Toni hanging around, but she saw nothing, as she neared her door she listened for a moment, no sound came from the other side. She took her key and slowly unlocked the door, taking another glance around just to be sure before entering, her eyes instantly scanning the room for Damien, finding the demigod slumped over on the desk, she was about to panic but saw his torso rising and falling with slow breaths.

She closed the door behind her and relocked it, she moved over to the desk and watched him for a moment, looking at peace once again. Then something caught Reyna's eye, a piece of paper underneath his arm, she gentle pulled it from under him so she could see it properly, her jaw dropped as she gazed at the page.

It was a portrait done in pen, a portrait of Reyna, she ran a finger over the smooth paper, the detail on it was amazing, she couldn't believe he had done this from memory alone, the portrait showed her with a slight smile, Reyna looked happy in it.

"NO!"

Reyna jumped back slightly, startled by Damien's sudden outburst, she dropped the drawing and looked down at him, his face though still sleeping looked almost terrified

"Damien?" she said shaking him slightly "Damien wake up"

His body began to quiver, his breathing becoming ragged, his fists clenched on the desk top

"No…" he grunted through gritted teeth "I won't"

Reyna started to shake him more forcibly trying to wake him "Damien wake up" her voice was louder

"Damien" she said again worry in her voice, it must have been the son of Morpheus plaguing his mind again, to see him like this it was breaking Reyna's heart, to see the man who always seemed so full of light so full of fear in his own mind.

She needed to stop it, she raised her hand and brought her palm down hard against his cheek, his eyes flew open and he forced himself back, but in doing so he tipped the chair back too far and fell to the floor with a thump, his eyes looking around the room wildly, Reyna came to kneel beside him, hands grasping his face forcing him to look at her

"Damien it's okay it was just a dream" She kept him still, her voice soothing "You're here with me, it's okay"

His golden brown eyes were wide and confused, not knowing if this truly was the real world or just another sick dream that Elliot had concocted. He looked at Reyna felt her hands on his face, thumbs stroking his cheeks, he prayed for this to be real, but he had to be sure, his eyes dropped to where Reyna had her dagger attached to her belt, in one swift move he grabbed it.

Reyna realised what her was doing but she was too late to disarm him, he rolled back with some speed out of her reach, her instincts took over and she lunged for him as she saw him run the blade along his forearm, blood seeped out as she collided in with him.

She then found herself on top of the son of Letus, looking down into his eyes as they lay on the floor together, he had dropped the dagger and his hands were now on her hips, hers either side of his head, Damien's features looked a little surprised at the way she had lunged at him, but she could see his eyes soften as they watched her, their faces close together, feeling each-others breath across their skin, the pair of them silent and unmoving.

Neither heard the door unlock until Hazel cleared her throat, both demigods snapping their gaze up to her as she stood there with a tray full of food

"Well…" she began "Nice to see you guys hard at work" not even trying to supress the smile that was plastered over her face

Reyna's cheeks flared red as she pushed herself to her feet and backed away from Damien, who stood quickly and excused himself to the bathroom to clean his new wound.