Artemis POV
I woke up the next morning with an unfamiliar weight around my waist. I was then greeted by a faint scent of the salty sea. I opened my eyes and realized that Perseus had his arm around my waist. How in Tartarus did this happen? I thought to myself. I tried to carefully remove his arm, but he just tightened his hold around me.
"5 more minutes Annabeth." I felt my chest squeeze.
"Perseus. Wake up." I said gently shaking him. He turned and faced away from me.
"5 more minutes." He mumbled sleepily. I shook my head and stood up to get ready. I used my godly powers to make myself look presentable.
"Perseus wake up!" I shouted. "It's time for breakfast!" He just groaned in response. I suddenly got an idea. "Perseus, I have blue cookies." That did the trick. He got out of bed in a flash.
"Cookies? Where?" He asked. He then looked at me while I was rolling on the ground laughing. "it's not funny to joke about having blue cookies." He said scowling. I stood up and glared at him. He paled and flinched which caused me to laugh again.
"Y-your f-face w-was h-h-hilarious!" I said still laughing.
"It's not funny." He declared while pouting.
"Right it wasn't funny, it was hilarious!" I said still laughing.
"Come on, you said it was time for breakfast." He said. I nodded.
"Yeah let's go." We swam outside through the hallways till we finally found the dining room. Aunt Amphitrite and Uncle P was already sitting down and eating breakfast. "Good morning" I said while sitting down.
"Good morning Artemis, Perseus." Said Aunt Amphitrite.
"Morning." Said Perseus, already filling his plate with food. Triton walked in looking very sleepy and tired.
"Good Morning everyone!" He said still half asleep and still in his Finding Nemo pajamas that Perseus also had on.
"Hey Triton, Perseus you guys have amazhang Finding Nemo PJs." I said. They both looked down and blushed while I snickered quietly.
"Oops…" Perseus said while everyone, save Perseus and Triton Started laughing. Triton rolled his eyes.
"Ok, ok you guys can stop laughing now." He said. We calmed down and started eating. A few minutes later, an Iris message appeared. Thalia's worried face appeared.
"Lady Artemis! Where have you been? We've been worried sick!" She said. I sighed.
"It's alright Thalia. I'm safe. But can you please tell the other hunters that I won't be there in quite a while." She nodded.
"But if I may ask, what happened?"
"I'll tell you all later. For now, take the hunters to Camp Half-Blood for I will be gone for a few weeks." I told her. She nodded.
"Alright, take care sister." I smiled.
"You too." I said before I cut off the Iris Message. I looked up and saw everyone looking at me. I raised an eyebrow. "What?" They shrugged and continue eating their food.
"So Perseus, how long are you staying here?" Asked Auntie Amphitrite. Perseus looked up at her.
"Um maybe for a few days? I'm not sure yet…" He said gaining a sad expression on his face. Amphitrite nodded.
"Hey Perseus, why did you leave?" asked Triton.
"I-I just needed to get away from camp and take a break." He said sadly. Luckily, Triton didn't push on the matter. A few minutes later, Perseus excused himself from the table.
"What happened to him dad?" Asked Triton. Uncle shook his head.
"He can tell you that himself." And Uncle and Aunt excused themselves and went to do who knows what. Triton looked at me with his eyebrow raised. I shrugged and left.
Percy's PoV
After I excused my self from the table, I went outside to walk, er swim, around the palace. I found the stables where Father keeps his hippocampi, several gardens, training grounds, and the soldiers' barracks. I was currently walking to one of the gardens when I saw Lady Amphitrite sitting on one of the benches. She looked like she was deep in thought. I decided to make my presence known.
"Lady Amphitrite, are you alrght?" I asked. She spun around.
"Perseus I didn't see you there. I am quite alright." I nodded.
"Okay. Just checking." I said. She nodded.
"Well, I better get going Perseus." She said.
"Wait!" I shouted.
"Yes Perseus?" She said with a questioning look.
"I'm sorry." I said. She looked at me questioningly.
"For what?" She asked.
"For being here. I know it must be hard to have a reminder of your husband's unfaithfulness, and I wanted to say I'm sorry for existing. If it makes you feel better, I could leave the palace." I said. She looked at me in shock. Lady Amphitrite then did something that surprised me. She hugged me.
"Thank you Perseus. You are the first one out of your many siblings to say something like that. I really appreciate it." She said and let me go. I smiled at my stepmother.
"Your welcome. I just thought it was unpleasant to have me here." She smiled warmly at me.
"I don't mind you staying here, Perseus. You can stay here as long as you'd like." She said.
"Thank you, Lady Amphitrite." I said.
"Please it's just Amphitrite."
"Then, it's just Percy." I said. She smiled.
"I'll see you later, Percy." And my stepmother swam away. I was glad that I was on good terms with my father's wife. It would have been a shame for my stepmother to hate me. I sat in the garden for a while until I felt someone sit next to me.
"It was kind of you to say that to Auntie." Stated a soft voice. I turned and saw Artemis looking straight forward.
"Yeah, I just wanted to apologize. It would have been a shame if she hated me." Artemis nodded. We sat in silence for a while until I broke the silence.
"How did you get my father's blessing?" I inquired. She looked at me and sighed.
"It was years ago. Ever heard of Orion?" She asked. I nodded. "Well, he was my friend at the time. I thought he was a good male but then found out that he was a rapist and tried to rape one of my huntress. I killed him before he could do the heinous act and put him in the sky with a scorpion as his eternal punishment. I was grieving one day because I thought he was a good friend. Uncle Poseidon then came and apologized for his son's behavior. After that, he became my father figure and allowed me to breathe underwater and come down here whenever I wanted." I nodded.
"So, you didn't actually like Orion?" I asked her.
"No. Since I put him in the sky, the mortals thought I had feelings for him. I never actually liked the douchebag, just impressed by his archery skills." She said. I felt a huge weight lifted of my shoulders when she said that. I felt happy. Why am I so happy to know that she doesn't like Orion? I wondered.
"Oooohhhhhh, Ok got it." I said.
"You had the right to know. He was your brother after all." She said looking at me. I shook my head.
"He may have been the son of my father, but he is no brother of mine." I stated. Artemis smiled.
"Your nothing like Orion. If you were, I wouldn't be here talking to you. I also heard you have horrible archery skills or lack of them." She laughed at the last part. She looks so beautiful when she laughs. I thought in my head. Wait, what?! Did I just say that Artemis the MAIDEN goddess was beautiful?! Said another part of my brain. But she is beautiful. With her lush auburn hair and kissable lips- What the heck am I saying?! I shook my head to clear my head.
"I'm not that bad at archery." I said pouting. She raised an eyebrow. "Okay fine. I'm horrible at archery, but you can't blame me. I just lack the skills." She laughed at me trying to defend myself. I once again found myself staring at her beauty. I need to stop doing that. The last time I felt this way was with her.