Note: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I've just been a little too lazy lately, but I somehow found time to fit it into my schedule. Once again, thanks for the reviews, they do help me continue, but also my ideas do. If you haven't noticed, I've been reading the new book.


Long after Reyna was sure the mud that passed her ankles could cover at elephant she found herself all the way across camp. It turned out her usual daily run had come in handy, and it had turned out to fit it into the schedule today.

She was standing in mud, probably what the younger kids might have played in, now that the Roman's expectations loosened up. And the mud, well, if it wasn't very obvious already, was part of a long forgotten road, that they had used back when they sported buggies.

She lowered herself into the dirty mud and took no notice to that she was still wearing a dress. She promised herself she wouldn't cry. Certainly that kind of behavior would make her loose her job for good.

Unfortunately, she couldn't hold herself back and tears sprung freely from her eyes. Who knew Valdez could be such a jerk? But of course, everyone was a jerk to her. She could still smell the uncanny smoke that the ship had caused.

For seconds, she felt unsteady, precarious, that is. She was sunken on her knees, her tears that stained her face were already drying. And now that she couldn't hear her sobs she heard something else.

A muffled movement made it to her ears, it seemed to come from behind her but she didn't dare look, for fear it was Leo. Her friend, only her friend. He somewhat felt like the only friend she would ever have. Jason, he was too distant with Piper, and Frank, Hazel, Percy, Annabeth. She'd hardly call them her friends, only colleagues. Why did she even call Valdez her friend? Well, maybe it was because he would actually listen to her, listen to her try to speak with reason, or just for fun. She'd never talk like that around her people. She only talked with power, because she never urged herself to speak with anything else. Usually it got around fine.

She tried to feel strong and found herself standing up, then staring down at her filthy wiggling toes. They're a bit too dirty, eh? What if anyone saw her, without shoes, without her dignity, without strength? Well, she could of course fake it, like how she tried to fake she was in charge. But even now it was getting harder to compete against Octavian, and his own persuasive words.

She gulped, her tongue astounded with the sudden sensation of a sweet, yet bitter tart, like her sense was trying to tease her. Next was her smell, she smelt the mist, something that smelt astoundingly good, fresh flowers. Her eyes watched as some fog rolled in, after suddenly she could feel the decrease in temperature. But it looked so pretty, tempted to roam for miles. Hear, she could hear a faint Mariachi band, playing, like she'd heard all the time in Puerto Rico, usually for a festival, or just playing for money. Lastly was her touch, she had brought them up to study them after noticing all the new things that connected to her senses, like something was trying to trick her. In her hands, materialized a red flower, with thorns running down the stem which she had dropped for exactly that reason.

Holy Juno. She stumbled back and for a second she felt like she was dying, before a gentle hand pressed against her back trying to keep her steady. When she was about to use self-defense the gentle hand was accompanied by a soft voice. "Oh don't worry honey. I just thought you'd want some company. You know, other than Aphrodite. She had some other matters to attend to."

"Who are you?" She asked but a moment later she landed on the ground with no support. She looked over her shoulder but as far as she could see (which wasn't very far) there wasn't anyone. It was almost like the wind carried him away.

Then suddenly, as Reyna was slowly collecting the wits to run, they scattered away. "Oh, Reina I've been waiting for this day." A moving voice announced. Just by hearing it, she could tell the speaker was incredibly handsome.

"Who are you?" She repeated, resisting the temptation to find the young speaker. Or at least, she thought he was young.

"Oh, you haven't heard of Cupid before, have you? I've come to speak about love. Love of course, is what you want?"

She couldn't help but feel angry quickly, and she tried for her feet but just as suddenly as the rose appeared in her fingers, she was pushed off her feet. This felt like a game. "Love. I don't want it."

A loud, mischievous chuckle broke the hostile love air so that a waft of -Axe is it?- drifted towards her. "That's not what is important. You need love. Didn't you figure that out when you found young Leo? And he just doesn't get it, now does he? But who ruined it in the first place? Who made him think you betrayed him?"

Rey sat there befuddled for a couple of seconds. Maybe, he was right, maybe this was something of jealousy, maybe someone was mad at her, maybe someone wanted revenge. Could it be a person of authority? Or perhaps, someone much different. "Octavian."

"Wrong!" Cupid called out with another laugh, like this was all just a game. "Someone you might not expect . . . But for the same reasons."