"Sea and land may lie between us, but my heart is always there with you"
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Perseus Jackson was a Merman, wanting nothing more than to explore the surface.
Annabeth Chase wants to be i...
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Annabeth enjoyed the boy's silence. It gave her room to think.
The loud court with overlapping voices and contradicting opinions seldom did. Especially with her mother not keeping her courtiers in check.
Chaos run rampant and Annabeth would find her ideas tossed into a pile of others, soon to be forgotten. It annoyed her to no end.
"I'm going to meet my brother's today. Would you like to come? Might do you some good to get out of the palace for a while," she asked the boy, who sat beside her on the garden bench.
The boy nodded, stifling a yawn. She'd knocked on his door at 7 in the morning and woken him up.
"Great!" Annabeth smiled, glad to have some company, "We'll leave in two hours. I'll have the carriage brought around," she remembered his time on horse back.
The boy had fainted about 10 minutes after he got off the horse. It amused Annabeth to think about it now.
And two hours later, true to his word he was ready. Or in his case, his lack of words?
She pushed the thought out of her mind as they rode in her carriage, the boy looking with wonder at everything outside.
"Have you ever ridden in a carriage before?" she asked him. He shook his head. No.
So he might've been a commoner. Annabeth didn't necessarily feel the need to ask.
They soon arrived at her father's estate. It was a huge structure, with a massive garden which housed various topiaries thanks to her step mother Helen's interest in gardening.
"This is my father's estate, he was one of my mother's main consorts earlier in her reign. And since he was the first to give her a female heir, he inherited this place. The crown of Athens can only be passed down from female to female," Annabeth explained to the boy.
She didn't even know why, she just enjoyed talking to him.
The boy nodded, motioning her to continue as they rode through the gardens.
"And if a Queen just bears sons, the proxy crown automatically goes to one of the daughters of Queen Artemis. And until one of her son's bears a daughter, it'll remain with a daughter of the moon kingdom," she finished.
The boy tilted his head, finally taking his eyes away from the window. He did their signal. What about a husband? he seemed to ask.
Annabeth repeated the question, and he confirmed that's what he asked.
"A Queen of Athens can of course have a husband. It's just not that common considering how busy we are. But...if we want to, we're free to love and marry. Our spouse will also be allowed to enjoy the same level of comfort we have."
What about you? the boy asked. He pointed to his heart, asking if she ever wanted to find love.
Annabeth was taken aback by the personal question.Because no one ever asked her what she ever believed it. Or what she wanted.
She decided to answer his question.
"I...I don't know. I would never be opposed to finding love, I just don't know how to even go about it," she answered him, his eyes peering into her as if reading the depths of her soul.
"Look! We're here," she said, pointing out the window to where her younger brother's stood, waiting for her and her mystery guest.
The boy gave her a lopsided smile, extending his arm out to her as she descended from the carriage. Her hand hummed when she touched his. She nodded in thanks.
"Is this the person we found on the beach that day?" Bobby asked, with absolutely no regards for manners.
Annabeth resisted the urge to facepalm, "Bobby!" she scolded her younger brother, throwing the boy an apologetic look.
The boy just nodded. And Annabeth told the little ruffians that he couldn't speak.
"You look better than you did last week Mister," Bobby said, "You have better clothes now."
"Yeah, it's not a potato sack. You look like a prince now," Matthew laughed, high-fiving his brother.
Annabeth smiled at the boys antics. However she noticed, through the corner of her eye how the boy stilled at the mention of the word prince.
That was odd, she thought. But shook it off as nerves.
They spent a good amount of time with her family. Bobby and Matthew had decided to throw darts. And the boy and her joined them, she of course winning.
Her father had a servant summon her to his rooms, so she left the boy alone with her brothers as she went to his room.
"Father," she greeted, closing the room to his study behind her.
The general was waiting for her, facing the window which overlooked the gardens. He asked her to come near him and she did.
She was the silhouettes of the boy and her brothers. The boy was doing some actions and her brother's were hysterically laughing. She hardly ever saw them like this and it brought a smile to her face.
It seemed she wasn't the only one fascinated by the boy.
"There is unrest in the kingdom, you should be on your guard," her father told her. She asked him abet he meant and he explained in great detail. Unlike her aunt, had father believed her ready to rule.
Which is why he supported her....cause.
After that conversation, which got on Annabeth's nerves, they played a round of chess, with Fredrick explaining the idea behind every move.
And once he decided she was done for the day, It was Annabeth's time to leave.
"They're all on your side," he whispered to her, making sure no one could hear despite them being in a locked room.
"Thank you father, it must not have been an easy feat," Annabeth felt a sense of relief bloom in her heart. A knot of tension eased itself away. The army was on her side.
Fredrick just shook his head, "If your mother had been here, she would be on your side as well. As for the guard, with all their pay cuts, it was quite easy. I did make some promises however," he told her.
Annabeth nodded, "Thankyou."
The father and daughter exchanged a quick embrace. Hushed whispers. And after that, Annabeth made her way downstairs.
"Hello, Annabeth dear," Helen greeted, her step mother.
Her father married Helen many years after she was born. They courted each other for almost 10 years before they got married.
She had a good relationship with her stepmother.
"Hello Helen, I love your dress," she complimented. The two exchanged some polite conversation before she left.
"Time to go," she told the dark haired boy, who was still throwing darts with her brother's. He looked tired, but in good spirits however.
He nodded, waving goodbye to her brother's as he left them. They whined more about it than they did for when she left.
It amused Annabeth. And the boy too.
"Let's go?" she asked him, as someone brought the carriage around.
Home? he signed.
She nodded, "Home yes." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
