A second chance.

19. Suspicion

Percy

I hurled one of my daggers at the wall facing me. The dagger struck the wall and remained imbedded in it. I threw the other dagger, and watched as sunk hilt-deep into the wall. 

"Why are you taking your anger out on the poor wall?" An amused voice asked. I exhaled loudly before raising my hands. Both daggers flew out of the wall and into my hands. 

 I turned to see Zoe standing behind me with her arms crossed against her chest. She had tied her long, silky black hair into a ponytail, and her eyes sparkled warmly.

"I haven't heard about anything else from my spies about my cousin." I said as I sheathed my daggers.  "And it's driving me mad. I haven't had a proper, fun fight in ages." 

Zoe snorted as she eyed the scarred wall behind me. "Trust me my love, you'll get the fight that you want soon enough. Nico is probably just training with the Gods and Goddesses he'd rescued from Tartarus. Then strike when we're least expecting it." 

I cracked my neck and shrugged in response. "I suppose. It'll be fun to crush their hopes and dreams again when they try to storm my palace." 

Zoe let a soft sigh escape her lips before walking closer to me. She wrapped her arms around me and put her head against my chest. I didn't react to that, because my Queen had repeated that action so many times in the past.

"Crush them all like the tiny bugs they are." Zoe whispered into my chest. I chuckled and placed a hand on top of her head. 

"Of course." 

Phoebe 

I standing in the archery range outside of the castle. Perseus had set up a shooting range not long after he had taken the throne. I was thankful for that, and I now spend a lot of time outdoors. 

I slung my bow off of my shoulder and pulled an arrow out of the quiver resting by my feet. I slid the arrow onto the string and raised the bow, aiming it at the target. I was about to shoot it when a felt a hand on my shoulder. 

I whirled around, aiming the bow at the person who touched me until I saw Perseus standing behind me. "Whoa there, be careful with that." The King of Olympus said lightly. 

I paused before lowering the bow. I bowed slightly towards the tall, raven haired male with a small smile. "Hello, Lord." 

Perseus removed his hand from my shoulder before stepping back with a nod of acknowledgement. "Hello Phoebe. Mind if I join you out here for a bit?" 

I honestly didn't really feel like letting him join me, but I obviously couldn't say that to him. Even though he asked that as a question, I could tell he was expecting me to say yes either way.

"Yes, of course." I said, turning back to face the targets. I lifted my bow again, and released the arrow. It impaled the centre of the target in a clean bulls-eye. 

"Still a hunter at heart, aren't you?" Perseus mused. I glanced at him and saw the former son of Poseidon sitting on a pillar near the archery range, twirling a dagger between his fingers. 

"Possibly." I said shortly as I shouldered my bow again. I suddenly wanted to be as far away from the raven haired boy as possible. 

"Uh, excuse me my Lord. I'm going to go back to the castle. Is that alright with you?" I asked. Perseus raised his head to look at me, narrowing his eyes slightly. He stopped twirling the knife and slid it back into the sheath strapped to his waist. 

He didn't say anything for a moment before waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Go ahead."

I bowed again before walking off towards the giant castle. But as I reached the front doors, I turned and headed off to walk through the gardens surrounding Olympus. I had no intention of returning just yet.