In the first war, when my friends and I saved the world from Kronos, I spared lots of people. They were the children of minor gods, fighting on behalf of their parents. One in particular stands out. Ethan Nakamura was someone I tried to help, and he paid me back by trying to stab my back. Literally.
Annabeth took a blade for me then. She lived, though. And in the end, Ethan came around. I'm not sure we would have won without him. I know now that I took the wrong lesson from this.
We'd just been lucky. Before his heroic turn, Ethan could have killed Annabeth. He almost did. But I ignored it because everything worked out.
Fast forward to the battle against Gaia, who also had mortals fighting for her. The boy in the bandit mask was named Sciron. He was just a resurrected spirit, basically a ghost, but he looked human, and that made me go easy on him.
I hit him with Riptide's pommel, not the blade. For that, I lost everything. So I promised myself— never again.
I didn't want anybody to hurt the way I hurt. I didn't want anybody to feel the way I had to feel. So I dedicated myself to making that a reality. For the last two years I sought out anyone who needed help. I did all kinds of things. Sometimes it meant wiping out a pack of hellhounds before they could turn a twelve year old into their next meal. Sometimes, it meant helping a nymph chase off a beaver that had been giving her funny looks. I don't regret any of it. Helping is helping.
But I won't deny, some tasks leave a better taste in the mouth than others.
"It's dead?" asked a girl with tanned skin and long, straight black hair, sitting atop a fancy golden chair. There was an identical seat beside her, but it was empty. The only ones in the room were me, her, and the identical silver and gold dogs sitting by the girl's feet.
"Certifiable dust," I reported. "Nothing but decorations for the dirt. One massive ashtray, minus the tray. So… ash, is what I'm getting at. It won't bother Camp Jupiter again, Reyna."
Reyna Ramirez-Arellano stared at me a moment longer before smiling. She had a pretty smile. She showed it more often now, too. After Gaia's defeat, some of the constant pressure she always put herself under alleviated, allowing her to express herself more easily. I was happy for her.
"Camp Jupiter is in your debt, Percy." She snorted. "As if we weren't already."
She paused here, still smiling. Reyna was pretty. Her sharp nose brought out the best in her eyes, and she had strong, almost aristocratic features. Like a princess. A warrior princess. Her sister was a warrior-queen, so maybe it ran in the family.
"You know, Percy," she said slowly, "Frank has been expressing an interest in stepping away as Praetor to attend college with Hazel. It wouldn't be permanent, however, if anyone was fit to stand in for him…"
I knew what she was trying, and it was sweet of her to offer. But I didn't hesitate to shake my head.
"I'm not looking to settle down right now," I said.
Reyna tilted her head, sending dark hair cascading over the shoulder of her white toga. She looked sad, although she continued to smile.
"That Drakon put five of my best gate guards on medical leave. Soon, it don't doubt it would have claimed a legionnaire's life. There must be some kind of way to thank you."
I felt my back ache, still bruised from my harsh landing. The ache was something I could ignore, but it would be nice to get rid of it.
"A bath would be good," I admitted.
Reyna's smile grew as she nodded.
O-O-O
I stretched my arms out, resting them on the marble ledge behind my back, everything below my chest submerged in hot water. Even as a self-admittedly biased Greek, I had to admit that Camp Jupiter had Camp Half-Blood beat in a few ways. The bathhouse for one. It was mainly the bathhouse, now that I thought about it.
This was the Caldarium, a pool with heated floors and walls to keep it toasty at all times. You were supposed to stay in here for a while, then transition to two other pools that got progressively colder, but I usually didn't bother. An enormous hot tub was good enough for me on its own.
I shut my eyes. Already I felt my back healing. I relaxed, sinking down until my butt rested on an underwater bench sculpted out of the marble. I just sat there, smelling the steam and enjoying the moment.
As I was doing this, someone entered the room. I heard them stepping over my clothes, which were scattered by the door. Considering this was a private bath for use by Praetors only, I knew who it was long before I cracked open my eyes.
Reyna stood there in a towel that stopped short of her knees. She looked down at me and made sure my eyes were open before she grabbed the top of the towel. Unhooking it, she opened it slowly, revealing small breasts headed by sharp dark nipples. Her crotch was recently shaved and totally bare. She walked down the steps into the bath, swaying her extremely curvy ass. As soon as she was in the bath, she waded over and sat directly beside me.
"I've heard you've done a lot of good these last few years," she said.
I shrugged.
She leaned into my personal space. "I also heard that on more than one occasion, you received a specific sort of thank you."
"Are you offering?" I asked.
"If you'd have me," Reyna said huskily.
She leaned even further forward. I thought she was going to kiss me, but instead she bit my lower lip, doing it just hard enough to sting. I wrapped a hand around her waist and pulled her closer. Her hand reached down toward my waist too, but it did something different. She gripped my cock like it was the hilt of a sword, but her stiff vertical movements still felt good.
Soon we were kissing normally. It didn't last long, though. One of us would quickly break away, taking turns biting each other's necks with increasing force. Dark spots appeared along Reyna's tanned skin. I was sure pink splotches were appearing on mine. It became something like a game, and the entire time her hand continued rubbing my shaft.
I decided to level the playing field. The hand that I slid around her hips stretched even further, sliding past her upper thigh. Reyna released a high-pitched sigh that she would have been mortified if a subordinate ever heard. My fingers dug inside of her.
Where her hands moved stiffly, mine were loose. In a way, it represented the two types of demigods. Romans were firm and orderly, getting the job done in an effective way, but Greeks were like fire— we were unpredictable and exciting .
One second my fingers were as deep inside of her as they could reach, the next they would be pressing on her clit. But even that wouldn't last. The only pattern was that there was no pattern. It didn't seem like it should be working, but it was. Reyna's thick, muscled thighs were constricting. The harder they squeezed, the deeper my fingers were pushed inside.
Meanwhile, even as I bit her neck and fingered her insides, Reyna's wrist never hesitated or paused. She was unyielding. She was consistent. There was a rhythm, and my pleasure was definitely building.
I pulled my teeth away from her neck, and for once she didn't take the opportunity to bite mine. We stared each other in the eyes, our gazes heavy and our breathing thick. Suddenly, we were kissing. I don't know who started it. I just know that this time, neither of us broke away. Our tongues locked together. They held on for support as our pleasure pitched over the edge.
It was just bad manners to ejaculate in a bath, so the moment I came, I pulled the cum up and out of the pool with my mind, letting it splatter on the marble behind us. I did the same for Reyna's orgasm a few seconds later, when she shut her eyes and hit her own climax.
Our mouths separated. I was breathing a bit heavily, but Reyna was positively gasping.
"I want you," she said.
What went unsaid was that she had wanted me. I knew about her crush. I knew how long it had festered. This might have been a way of thanking me, and I definitely wasn't complaining, but Reyna was as invested in this as I was.
I stood up off the underwater bench, pulling her up with me.
The moment she stood up, I wrapped my muscular arms around her. My fingers sunk into her ass. It was large, firm, and soft all at the same time— some kind of mix of perfect genetics and rigorous physical discipline, built up over the course of years. My hands sunk in and kept sinking. I could feel her skin between my fingers as I lifted her up.
Reyna curled her arms around the back of my neck. Her nose brushed mine as we looked into each other's eyes. I slid her down, and my cock pierced her to her core.
The last shards of her regal Praetor persona cracked, revealing the almost innocent girl underneath. She moaned as she felt me slide into her, and I moaned right back as her gooey insides enveloped me. She was even warmer than the pool. I pulled my hips back and pushed them forward, moving seamlessly through the water.
Reyna's nails scratched red lines into my back, but the water healed them as fast as they formed. Her legs wrapped around my hips the way her arms had looped around my neck. As I sped up, her moans only became louder.
"How is it, Praetor?" I asked.
Reyna dragged one hand around to squeeze my cheeks, making me do a duck-face. "Do not call me that now."
After another good thrust, she lost her grip, her hand returning to my back. I grinned. Leaning in, my hips still moving, I whispered, "How is it, Reyna?"
"As good as I dreamed it would be," Reyna whispered back, before kissing me.
The kiss was much sloppier this time. Neither of us could focus properly with bigger things to worry about. When we finally broke the kiss, I met her eyes.
"How hard do you want it?" I asked.
"I want everything you can give," Reyna said passionately.
I'll admit, I was really hoping she would say that.
Using my grip on her ass, I spread her cheeks. I saw her eyebrows furrow. A moment later, she screamed and pressed her forehead to mine.
"What—?" she gasped out.
Water had rushed directly up her second hole, penetrating her tighter entrance like it was a second penis. Just as quickly, it rushed back out, only to repeat. My hips hadn't stopped either. The motions synced up, filling Reyna on two fronts at the same time.
She howled like Lupa seeing the full moon. I watched her regal expression shift to confusion, then to pleasure, and finally to excitement. She grinned at me, and I took it as an invitation.
I ducked my head forward, capturing her neck the same way I had earlier. My teeth sunk in. Being attacked on one more front was enough to drive Reyna past her limit.
She tightened around me, squeezing my cock for all it was worth. I could feel the chain reaction throughout her entire body. Muscles clenched, unclenched, and then clenched again. I could feel her hot breath on my ear. We were working up a sweat, but the bath was washing it away just as quickly. Despite Reyna's climax, I was yet to reach my own.
The water began plunging even deeper inside of her ass. Her eyes rolled up in her head, but she was too tough to lose consciousness. I reached out with my mind, sensing the orgasmic juices leftover from her orgasm, and made them spin around the circumference of my shaft inside of her. It felt good for me, and even better for Reyna, apparently. Almost as soon as I started, a second orgasm rocked her body right after the first.
As soon as her walls clenched, I pulled her off of my dick. The water stopped penetrating her. Reyna was too out of it to stay on her feet. She sank onto her knees, her head slipping underwater, but it didn't matter. A bubble of air formed around her head, allowing her to breathe.
Her dark hair floated up toward the surface, obscuring my view. But even as out of it as she was, Reyna sensed what was coming. And she knew what to do. As I reached my orgasm, I felt her warm lips take me inside of her mouth. She slid halfway down my shaft— not deep enough to need her throat, but more than far enough to ensure that nothing would leak.
I orgasmed, spewing cum inside Reyna's mouth. She took every last drop. I felt her tongue roaming along my cock, searching for anything extra she could lap up and swallow. Only when she was sure there was nothing left did she pull back. I hooked my hands under her armpits, pulling her back above the surface of the water.
Her dark hair hung in thick wet strands over her face. I could've dried it off in an instant, but it was honestly really hot, so I left it.
"You taste divine, Percy Jackson," she told me throatily.
"Good enough to go for seconds?" I asked.
"And thirds," said Reyna. Her legs wobbled. "I'm afraid you'll have to do the work again, however…"
That was fine. In a pool like this, I could go long enough to match even a goddess's stamina.
I'd know. I tried.
O-O-O
Hours later, I sat in the same position I'd been in when Reyna entered the bath. Except now, the Praetor was tucked against my side, her head laid flat on my bicep. I was looking up at the ceiling. For the first time in ages, I wasn't smiling.
It was amazing sex. It was exactly the kind I'd gotten used to— hot, exciting, and temporary. I'd be gone in the morning, off to find someone else to help and another problem to hurl myself at.
It was good work. I meant it when I said I didn't regret anything — or any one — that I'd done over these last two years.
So why did it feel so… hollow, sometimes?
"Because you lack a purpose."
It's a testament to what my life has been like that the woman's voice didn't make me jump. I looked to the side, finding a woman with straight dark hair and impossibly pale skin. She wore a purple… dress? No, it was more similar to robes, like you might find a priest in.
"Hecate. Did you need something?"
The goddess tilted her head. "Perseus Jackson," she said. "I am in need of your services."
"You're in luck, then." I smiled. "That's kind of my thing, these days…"