Revenge of the Duchess

Chapter 18

A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!

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Piper stood at the second floor balcony, observing the Duke and Lady Annabeth taking a stroll in their garden. Piper wondered whether she could one day be like the couple, still flirting and somewhat shy in their interactions. And then she perished the thought, feeling foolish for even thinking something like that.

It had been three days since Piper had been rescued. Her injuries had been healing nicely, and those that took a little longer were hidden underneath her clothing or were psychological wounds that lay deep in her sorrow. In another hour, Piper would be entering the royal palace of Cuora.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Piper thought grimly. Clearly, someone did not want the Cytheran princess to be a part of the bridal candidacy. But her enemy could be anyone. 

The Inferis and Colchis nations were both highly suspect, for they would have a higher chance of sitting on the throne if Cythera was out of the picture. To protect her, the Duke had given her some of his highly trained guards and maids to replace those who had lost their lives in coming to this country. Why had the Duke helped her, Piper did not know. Was it out of kindness, or was it because she was needed as part of the Cuora political struggle?

Nonetheless, she had been left all by herself in a foreign nation. What little kindness was offered to her, she would accept.

Piper closed her eyes in sadness for her maids and guards who were senselessly slaughtered. She would avenge them, she decided, if it was the last thing she did.

"Are you ready, Your Highness?" Leo, her new guard, asked. He was dressed in the Cythera style of military uniform.

Piper unconsciously rubbed her wrist where the mark had been etched. "Yes, let's go, Sir Leo."

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He watched as the procession from Cythera rolled in from one of the towers. The princess was immediately identified, sitting atop of a roan horse. She was several days late, but better late than never. The nobility would most likely criticize her punctuality, so it would be up to the Cytheran princess to do her best to impress.

Crown Princess Thalia was next to him, also observing in silence. He knew his sister was putting all the stakes on this new princess.

"It's time to go down and give our greetings, brother."

"All right."

Before he went down to the hall, Jason looked back at the procession one last time. The princess seemed to have felt someone looking at her and was now looking up at the tower. She was too far away for him to judge her expression. Whether she recognized him would remain to be seen.

It was time for them to meet again. Soon, he was standing side by side with Thalia next to his father's throne.

The procession from Cythera entered the throne room and gave their greetings to the royals of Cuora. Still recovering from illness, King Zeus had forced himself to get out of bed to give the guests his custom greetings.

The Cytheran princess was unreadable, introducing herself as Princess Piper and wishing King Zeus good health.

Jason had known the truth long ago when the Cytheran princess had not arrived on time. He'd ordered his men to discover what had happened. The intelligence network had revealed two weeks prior that the Cytheran crown princess had run off with her bodyguard and the second princess would be the replacement. Who knew that someone would be so bold to attack the Cytheran princess on Cuoran grounds?