A Tale of Romans and Slaves | PJO/HOO

Chapter 43: Piper

Jason had been on edge lately.

It was probably the fact that we had found a corpse outside his room, late at night. A corpse that had the mark of the Cruor, which was an expensive, secretive assassin group, on his neck. Which meant that someone wanted Jason dead.

And I was pretty sure that someone's name started with an O and ended with an N.

Jason was sitting in the chair in front of his desk, working on paperwork. I was waiting patiently by the door for him to finish.

Eventually, he sighed and dropped his quill back into its ink pot.

"Hey, Piper," He said. "Pull up that chair."

I complied, grabbing the spare chair and pulling it close to him.

"Sit," He instructed. I complied.

There was a brief moment of silence as we stared at each other across his desk.

"Have I ever told you about my mother?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Oh," He said. "Well, I'm going to.

"Her name was Hera. If there was ever a woman who was meant to be queen, it was her. She was beautiful, definitely, but also wise, intelligent, and brave."

He tilted his head. "Kind've like you, actually."

"Anyway," He continued. "She was the perfect mother. Strict but loving, harsh but kind.

"She died when I was ten," He said. "Giving birth to a son that died three days later. My father never truly recovered from that."

I stayed silent, not really knowing what to say.

"What was your mother like?" Jason asked.

I froze. I didn't want to talk about my mother. Because that meant I would have to talk about my past.

"Kind," I stuttered after a couple of seconds. "Beautiful."

Jason tilted his head at me. "That's it?"

I gulped. "Yeah."

"Then tell me about your past," Jason said.

My eyes widened. I did not want to do that. Not at all.

But something about the way Jason was looking at me made me open my mouth.

"My mother was a prostitute," I said.

He looked taken aback at that, but didn't say anything, wanting me to go on.

"She clamied that my father was King Tristin McLean of Crete," I said. "She said that was the only way that I could've gotten this skin tone. But with all the men she'd been with, you could never know for certain.

"My mother was unaturally beutiful. That's why she was so popular," I said. "She was the reason why our brothel was so popular.

"I two sisters, Drew and Silena. I never met Silena, but my mother told me about her. You see, my mother didn't like listening to our owners rules. And, as a punishment, they'd sell her children."

Jason looked horrified, but I kept speaking, the words flying out of my mouth. "When I was ten, my mother hit a client. They sold Drew after that. Despite the fact that she had a horrible personality, I was sad to see her go.

"After that, my mom tried her best to stay in line, for my sake. But then our kingdom went to war with Argos. When we lost, the soldiers raided our brothel, made me watch as they raped my mother, and then sold me into the slave market."

I was crying now. "That was when I met Leo. He was eleven too, and took pity on me. I spent the next eight years happily, with a master much better than the ones I had before."

Jason looked stunned. I wiped my tears off my face.

Just then, the dinner bell rang.

"I'll be going now," I said.

I stood up, turned around, and walked towards the door.

"I don't want to marry Lady Reyna."

I turned around. Jason was standing up, looking at me with a mixture of sadness and an emotion I coudn't explain in his eyes.

"I don't want you to marry her either," I said truthfully. Becuase in my heart, I really didn't want him too. "But you have to. It's your duty to Rom-"

Jason cut me off by pressing his lips against mine. My eyes widened, but I kissed him back, throwing my arms around his neck while he slid his around my waist.

I guess by knowing my past, knowing what I had been through and how I had survived it, was what had finally made Jason admit to himself that he loved me. Or maybe it just made him lust for me. Either way, the second he pressed his lips against mine, I admitted to myself that I loved him.

His started to untie my dress, and I let him. My hands trailed to his toga as I slipped it off of him.

Soon, we were both naked. Jason gently laid me on the ground, ignoring his bed.

I didn't care.