[Third Person Pov]
Artemis finished her account with a quiet finality, her fingers still absently stroking the stallion's warm, crackling mane. "So after we parted ways, Sebastián managed to carry me all the way back to camp. You all know the rest."
The clearing fell into a heavy silence. Every face turned toward the goddess was etched with the same stunned disbelief. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath. Artemis herself remained unmoved by their stares. The wound—both the physical one and the deeper, fresher ache she refused to name—was still too raw for her to care what they thought.
Annabeth and Thalia exchanged a long, wordless look. For a moment the air between them seemed to hum with the private current only the two of them could hear.
'What do you think?' Thalia's mental voice was tight with concern.
Annabeth's answering thought carried a dry, skeptical edge. 'Apart from the fact that she very obviously left out whatever really happened between the two of them when they were alone?' She almost scoffed aloud. 'It doesn't take a genius to guess. She's in love with Lucian and terrified to admit it.'
Thalia's expression softened into something wearier. 'I meant about Lucian's condition. I can't help worrying about him.'
'That frivolous womanizer is fine,' Annabeth shot back, rolling her eyes. 'I already talked to him, remember? I say we let him hold up the sky for a few extra days. Call it a character building exercise.'
'Do you even love him at this point?' Thalia asked, fighting a reluctant smile.
'Of course I do. That doesn't mean he gets to walk away from every mess he creates.' Annabeth's mental tone turned sharper. 'He has the strength of Heracles now. A few days under that weight won't kill him. It might even keep his hands off other women for a while.'
Thalia raised an amused brow. 'You mean in the Garden of the Hesperides? Where lonely nymphs are always looking for company?'
Annabeth froze. A soft curse slipped past her lips before she could stop it, and a familiar look of pure irritation settled over her face.
A short distance away, Percy watched Blackjack pick her way toward Sebastián. The black pegasus moved with uncharacteristic hesitation, her usual swagger tempered by the heavy quiet that hung over the stallion.
"You must be worried about Lucian," Blackjack said, her voice low and sincere. "I'm sorry. I had no idea how bad it was. But… I wouldn't worry too much. I've met Lucian. He's—" She paused, searching for the right word. "He's scary."
Sebastián's dark eyes drifted toward her. He said nothing.
Blackjack instantly backpedaled, ears flattening in embarrassment. "I mean that as a good thing! He's strong. The kind of strong that leaves a presence you can feel from a mile away. What I'm trying to say is you don't have anything to worry about. Someone like Lucian doesn't go down easy. We'll reach him in time. I know we will."
When the silence stretched on, Blackjack's head drooped and slowed down allowing Sebastián to take the lead. She began muttering under her breath, just loud enough for her own ears. "Girl, what is wrong with you? 'He's scary?' Really? That's the best you could come up with? Stupid, stupid, stupid—"
She stopped short when Sebastián finally turned his head. A small, handsome smirk touched the corners of his mouth.
"Thank you for your kind words," he said. His voice was deep, elegant, and unexpectedly gentle. "He is indeed very strong."
With that, the stallion faced forward again and resumed his steady trot, posture a little taller, a little more certain.
Blackjack halted in place. She slowly swiveled her head toward Percy, her mouth stretched into a wide, delighted grin that showed every pearly tooth.
"Did you see that?" she whispered, practically vibrating with excitement. "He thanked me!"
Percy couldn't help the quiet snicker that escaped him. He reached out and ran a fond hand along her neck, smiling warmly at his friend's pure, uncomplicated joy.
Blackjack started trotting with a noticeable skip in her step, swinging her head from side to side as she whispered in the same hushed, giddy tone, "Boss-man, I hope you've got a suit and tie ready, 'cause you're gonna need one."
Percy blinked. "Huh? What for?"
"Duh. 'Cause you're gonna be the best man at our wedding." She punctuated the declaration with an exaggerated flip of her mane and a dramatic pursing of her lips, as if she were already posing for the invitation photos.
Percy just face-palmed, the heel of his hand pressed firmly against his forehead. Most of the time he genuinely had no idea what to do with her.
Undeterred, Blackjack galloped forward until she was walking alongside Sebastián. She cleared her throat, gave her mane another quick, self-conscious fluff, and launched in.
"I mean… you're welcome. It's absolutely no big deal. I'll always be available if you ever need a shoulder. Or an ear. I'm a really great listener, you know. Top-tier. At least all my friends think so"
Her expression suddenly shifted into something overly solemn. She leaned in a fraction closer and lowered her voice to a near-whisper. "I'll always be here for you…" A beat. Then, even softer and more intense: "Always."
Sebastián stared at her for several long seconds. The only response he seemed capable of managing was a single, respectful nod of his head.
"Okay, that's enough out of you," Percy muttered, reaching out to tug Blackjack gently but firmly away before she could dig the hole any deeper. "Don't overdo it."
As he guided her back a few paces, Percy finally looked up and registered the strange, heavy atmosphere that had settled over the rest of the group in the wake of Artemis's story.
Phoebe was the first to break the silence. "At least the boy was useful for something," she muttered under her breath.
The words had barely left her mouth before she froze. Artemis had turned just enough to look at her over one shoulder, and the goddess's expression was glacial.
Phoebe stiffened. "L-Lady Artemis?"
Artemis closed her eyes, exhaled a quiet sigh, and faced forward again. "Is that seriously all you have to say after everything I've told you? That at least he was useful for something?"
"But my Lady—" Phoebe stammered, clearly at a loss.
"I'm sorry," Artemis said, the apology soft but sincere.
The unexpected words startled Phoebe more than the earlier glare had. "Huh? I— I don't understand. Why is my Lady the one apologizing? I'm the one who misspoke."
Artemis's expression grew more solemn. "Because you are all only like this because of me. Because of my teachings. I led you to distrust men—hate them, even—because I thought it was for the best. It kept you safe. But I see now that all I've instilled in you is prejudice."
Phoebe opened her mouth to protest, but Artemis continued without pause.
"That was never my intention. What I wanted was to teach you independence. To rely on no one but yourselves. I made you cut yourselves off from any possibility of male partnership so the temptation of reliance would never arise. Somewhere along the way I started to believe that males themselves were the problem—that they were the reason we could never be truly free. And yes, we encountered more than a few who only fed that belief. But you can't blame a few rotten apples for spoiling an entire orchard."
Across the clearing, Thalia and Annabeth turned to look at each other. Not a word passed between them out loud.
'Just what kind of fucking witchcraft did Lucian put her under?' Annabeth's mental voice was practically vibrating with disbelief. 'She spent, what, one day with him and suddenly she's talking like she can't wait for the two of them to get married?!'
Thalia had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. Her shoulders shook with the effort of holding it in.
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