A/N: Enjoy and leave a review!

Chapter 1: Before the marriage

The tension was so thick in the tent that Jason could cut the air with a blunt knife. If the strained atmosphere didn't get any better, he might accidentally set off a lightning bolt. Neither the Roman or the Greek side would appreciate that. Not now during the solidification of peace and alliance negotiations.

The five centurions of each cohort in his legion stood behind him as guards. Octavian, the little annoying shit stood directly behind, muttering to himself about the lack of trust in the Greeks.

"Quiet, Octavian." Reyna said. Even without her dagger, her eyes were sharp. Octavian took the hint and the augur finally shut up.

The Greeks were due to arrive in only a few minutes. Jason tried to keep the nervousness down to a minimum. He was supposed to be the fearless leader. Now act like it, he thought to himself.

The battle hours earlier had been a temporary collaborative effort when the surge of monsters consisting of cannibalistic centaurs, Laistrygonian giants, and empousa started taking advantage of the Greek-Roman war. And now the Greeks had sent word that they wanted to negotiate a more permanent peace treaty.

Perhaps it was for the best. Jason personally thought that both sides were suffering too many losses. So many soldiers had to be pulled to the battlefront, leaving other borders weak. Reyna was more conservative in her opinion, but she was fair and agreed to give a chance for negotiation. Then there was Octavian...

With Octavian's silver tongue, the negotiations could go quite sour. Jason's hand crept for the sword always tucked by his side, then remembered all weapons were left outside the tent. Precautions so no one could attack each other should the negotiations actually go sour. It was a show of good faith by the Romans. If only the Greeks kept their word as well.

The flap of the tent opened and the first Greek came in.

Percy Jackson.

Jason had heard many stories of the son of Poseidon. He had once wiped out half a legion with his ability to control water. Though his stance and facial expression were neutral, his sea green eyes were sharp and wary. Jason had battled alongside him earlier, combining his wind powers to create a mini hurricane that destroyed a whole column of nasty Laistrygonian giants. A formidable ally, or a formidable enemy. Percy scanned the Romans before his eyes landed on Jason. He grinned in greeting and Jason smiled back.

A blonde woman entered next. Her blond hair was a nest of wild curls, held back by in a long braid pinned into a chignon. Blond Greeks were rare, but those grey eyes and sleek blond strands definitely designated her a daughter of Athena. Jason had no idea who she was, but he had caught glimpses of her fighting next to Percy. Her strong posture and the calculating air in her piercing gaze marked her a strong leader.

Jason noted that the pair tried not to stand too close to each other, as though fearing to touch each other. Interesting.

Then came the Oracle of Delphi followed by the son of Hephaestus. All the Romans, even Octavian, bowed their heads slightly in respect to the auburn-haired mortal. Though the Oracle possessed no heritage of the gods, Jason had seen what the power of the Oracle could do. It was the Oracle who had first approached the Romans for the initial temporary peace treaty. The green mist that had come out of the Oracle had been dark and mysterious. Not evil, but spoke of a deity so ancient, so powerful that one would be stupid to ignore the summons.

The son of Hephaestus merely grinned. His fingers played with the folds of his white tunic, as if aching to be crafting. After seeing (and smelling) the son of Hephaestus's work, Jason had gained tremendous respect for the son's wily ways.

Then the flap of the tent opened once more. Jason's breath caught in his throat.

It was not that he often was tongue-tied in the presence of beautiful women. The centurions behind him shuffled in nervousness. Even Reyna's back had stiffened.

The woman with the dark brown hair appeared, her features graceful and lithe. Her hair, pinned in a simple chignon, had feathers braided in. She seemed so different out of the battlefield, her bronze armor removed, revealing a slender figure that belied her prowess in soft eyes searched the room before she came to stand quietly by the son of Hephaestus. Though she wasn't exuding her power to induce lust, Jason still felt drawn to her somehow, as though he had known her a long time before. His skin was buzzing, almost alight with an excitement that was foreign to him. And yet he still couldn't figure out what color her eyes were.

She turned to gaze at him, a quizzical look in her expression. Jason felt his cheeks warm, and he tried to tamp the feeling down. He hadn't meant to stare so blatantly.

"Ahem," Reyna coughed discreetly. Oh gods, she had caught him staring, too. "Shall we begin?"

Both the Romans and Greeks gathered around the table. Attendants poured wine in their cups, but no one drank. Out of nervousness or fear of being poisoned, Jason wasn't sure. No doubt trust still had to be built.

"You've looked over the treaty? Is everything found to be agreeable?" Percy asked.

Jason nodded. While the short-term goals were to become allies and defeat the hordes of rampaging monsters, the long-term goals were to leave each other side alone, unless to establish trade routes. No more battles and pillaging would be performed by either side.

The conversation continued on for a while, straightening out loopholes and kinks in the treaty. The daughter of Aphrodite remained quiet for most of the conversation, except to speak up during times of tension in the tent. Jason observed that her words had a calming effect. Charmspeak? Surprisingly, the woman, who he now knew was named Piper, did not use her charmspeak to negotiate more favorable terms for the Greeks.

It was a point in the Greeks' favor, at least to Jason's view. They were being fair and quite amicable.

Octavian tried to interrupt a few times. Reyna was a leader of the armies, but Octavian's silver tongue was menacing in dangerous situations like these. Thank goodness, the Greeks didn't appear to be too affected, not even falling for traps when Octavian made snide remarks about the Greeks. A few sentences from Piper's melodic voice and Octavian would falter. Unfortunately, the augur just wouldn't shut up forever.

Finally the negotiations came to an end. Jason sliced his thumb, letting the blood seep around the flesh. When he pressed his thumb to the paper that decreed the Roman-Greek alliance, his fingerprint stayed, outlined in scarlet red. The others followed suit.

It was only when the Greeks left did Jason take a deep breath. It would be a new era.

Piper wandered in the town alone where the Greeks and Romans had deigned to make their encampments. The town was one of the lesser ones pillaged, where the two rivals had combined their armies in order to stop the monsters from raiding the innocents just in time.

Children ran along the streets, no longer afraid to roam. Hawkers yelled their wares, offering tasty morsels or a delicate trinket. Delicious smells of fresh bread filled the market, reminding Piper that she hadn't eaten since that morning. She had been so nervous for the peace negotiations that she hadn't eaten lunch in case the contents of her stomach made an appearance during the deliberations. That would have been humiliating, though Leo would have probably laughed and made some kind of joke.

Speaking of Leo, Piper had been walking with him earlier but separated when he ventured into the blacksmith's. Leo could get quite into crafting, and she wasn't about to intrude in one of his crafting sessions. Especially after the fart bomb incident.

A squad of Roman soldiers passed the streets before her, and her thoughts sobered. The presence of soldiers and the atmosphere of the town reminded her of her own hometown. She hadn't seen her hometown in more than a decade. Or her father.

Piper looked up into the sky with its azure color and pillowy clouds floating by. How could the sky look so beautiful when her father was dead?

Tristan McLean had once been a handsome man, handsome and talented enough to attract the attention of Aphrodite. Piper had been Tristan's pride and joy, with her gift of song and her unmatched beauty, second only to the gods. Piper had always hated beauty and being the center of attention since those days. While Tristan loved the limelight, he had attracted the wrong sort of people at times. And they coveted her. Her father had done his best to seclude her as much as possible. It was only now that Piper realized that Tristan so often pushed himself in the spotlight so he could protect in the shadows, hiding her beauty from the greed of other men.

"Run, Piper," her father had pleaded. The look in his eyes were wild.

But Piper couldn't understand at the time. She was only twelve, still a child. How could she understand how cruel humans could be?

It was too late. The flimsy door came crashing down and men came pouring into the derelict cottage the McLeans lived in.

"Get the girl."

Those cruel words cut the air. Harsh hands grabbed at her, tearing her clothes. Piper tried to kick, bite, punch her way out, but earned resounding slaps on her face for her efforts. A man grinned, his eyes cruel and hard. She was scared, her legs trembling.

Piper didn't know then but would soon learn enough what lust was.

"Fresh bread, miss?" His voice broke Piper from her past, her heart still hurting.

One baker displayed his tray, full of sweet-smelling bread. Piper's stomach growled and the baker's grin grew wider. Piper reached for her money pouch, only to realize that she had left her money pouch back at camp.

"Oh, shoot," she muttered. Ten years ago, she might have used her charmspeak to convince the baker to give her some bread for free. But she wasn't that person anymore. That person had died.

A hand appeared from her side, holding two copper coins. "Two breads please," the familiar male voice said.

Piper turned around to face sky-blue eyes and closely-clipped blond hair.

Jason Grace was a head taller than her and he smiled down at her. A small scar was on his lips. He handed one of the breads to her. "Here."

"Um, thank you." She took it gingerly, making sure not to touch his hand. "I'll pay you back when I can."

The Roman shrugged. "It's just a piece of bread. I'll see you around...Piper."

Piper watched as he walked away and disappeared into the midst of the crowd. This was the fifth time that she had met him, and four of those meetings had been within the last month.

The first time was when she had been enslaved in his household.