[Third Person Pov]
It was well past midnight when the group finally settled around the campfire. The long day of hard riding had left every one of them bone-tired, the kind of deep exhaustion that settled into the muscles. The fire itself crackled and spat, sending thin trails of woodsmoke curling up into the cold night air. Above them the stars burned sharp and clear, unobscured by city lights, while the distant hoot of an owl drifted through the trees.
They used the time the way travelers always did—eating whatever it was they packed, stretching cramped legs, and letting the warmth of the flames chase away the winter chill. No one spoke much at first. The quiet was companionable, broken only by the soft rustle of someone shifting position or the occasional pop of resin in the burning wood.
Annabeth was the one who finally broke the silence. She sat cross-legged beside Artemis, a small clay bowl balanced on her knee, and glanced sideways at the goddess.
"Why are we going through Washington to begin with?" she asked. "Isn't that the longest possible path to where we need to be?"
Artemis exhaled slowly, the sound almost lost beneath the crackle of the fire. She stared into the flames rather than meeting Annabeth's eyes. "I don't want to. But I have to." She shook her head once, the auburn of her hair catching the firelight. "Before Zoe was taken, I was given an important secret mission—to hunt something particularly dangerous. It's something that cannot be left unattended while we deal with everything else."
Thalia, seated across the fire with her knees drawn up, nodded in understanding. "So you're still obligated to see it through."
"As much as I want to focus only on the task at hand," Artemis said, voice low, "I can't ignore or delay our father's orders. Not even for this."
Percy, sitting a little apart with Grover and Blackjack, leaned forward. The pegasus had his head over Percy's shoulder, dark eyes reflecting the fire. "So what exactly are you hunting?"
Artemis turned her head just enough to give him a flat, unimpressed look. "What part of 'important secret mission' did you miss, Percy? Part of that obligation is not telling anyone. Including you."
Percy grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "Right. My bad. I figured you just meant secret from Kronos and his army, not us."
A flicker of something softer crossed Artemis's face—amusement, or perhaps reluctant forgiveness. She understood the misunderstanding well enough. Mortals, even demigods, tended to assume secrecy was only necessary against their enemies.
From the edge of the clearing, Phoebe's voice drifted over. She leaned against a tree trunk, arms folded, eyes constantly scanning the darkness beyond the firelight. "Not even us—her Hunters—are privileged with the details."
Annabeth's gaze lifted toward the higher branches of a nearby oak. Markus sat there on a large arm of the tree, one leg dangling, back resting against the trunk, eyes closed. He looked almost at peace, but Annabeth knew better. The boy never truly relaxed.
"Markus," she called, not raising her voice. "You know you can join us down here, right? I've already surrounded the camp with wards. I'll know the second anything crosses the boundary."
Without opening his eyes, Markus answered, "Don't mind me. I like the view."
Thalia snorted. "You mean you like looking particularly edgy up there?"
Markus's only response was to lift one hand and offer her a lazy middle finger. Thalia laughed under her breath and tossed a small stick into the fire.
Light conversation drifted around the circle after that—quiet jokes, half-formed plans for the morning, the occasional complaint about saddle sores. The atmosphere stayed easy, almost gentle. Almost. Annabeth and Artemis remained quieter than the rest, both of them carrying thoughts they weren't ready to share with the group.
Annabeth's attention had turned inward. Between her fingers she played with her two remaining spirits. They danced and spun, brushing against her skin with the faint warmth of living light. She watched them for a long moment before speaking again, her voice soft enough that only Artemis could hear.
"So you're in love with Lucian, huh."
Artemis's head snapped toward her. "What?"
"You heard me." Annabeth didn't look up from the spirits. She pressed her fingers against Lucerna's cheeks. "It was obvious from the way you speak of him. I recognize it because I talk about him the same way."
Artemis's eyes flicked around the circle, sharp and wary. No one else reacted. Percy was still murmuring something to Grover. Thalia was poking at the fire with a stick. Markus hadn't moved. It was as if Annabeth's words had never been spoken.
"Don't worry about them," Annabeth said, still calm. "I put a ward around the two of us the moment we sat down. It makes everyone else ignore anything we say. We can talk in peace."
Artemis sat rigid, every line of her body taut. When she spoke, her voice carried the cold authority of a goddess who had never needed to raise it to be obeyed. "What are you talking—"
"I'm not doing that," Annabeth interrupted, still not looking at her. "I'm not going to spend the next hour letting you deny it over and over while I chip away at the walls until you finally admit what we both already know. It sounds exhausting. We both know the truth. You're aware of your own feelings. So do us both a favor and drop the act."
Silence stretched between them. The fire popped. Somewhere in the trees an animal rustled through dry leaves.
At last Artemis spoke, her tone low and dangerous. "You're quite brave, aren't you? Speaking to a goddess this way. I could smite you where you sit, little girl."
Annabeth finally turned her head. A challenging grin curved her mouth. "I am brave. I learned it all from the best, after all."
Artemis clicked her tongue in irritation and looked away, staring hard into the flames. "What's the point of this, then? A warning? A confrontation to tell me to stay away from your boyfriend? I can assure you—you have nothing to worry about. Lucian and I have no future together."
"Is it a warning?" Annabeth tilted her head, studying the goddess the way she might study a particularly complex trap. "Perhaps. Mostly I wanted to see how serious you were about him. Whether your feelings are just fascination with a mortal… or something deeper."
A flash of genuine anger crossed Artemis's face before she forced it down. "Unlike you, I don't have the luxury of honesty. I am under oath. Sworn to maidenhood. So you can relax. I have no intention of taking him from you."
"Oh, honey." Annabeth's voice softened, but the words landed with precision. "That was never in doubt. You're scared. That's why you can't be honest—not even with yourself."
Artemis said nothing. The silence this time felt heavier, denser, as if the night itself was waiting.
Finally, so quietly that Annabeth almost missed it, the goddess answered.
"I am terrified."
She closed her eyes. The firelight painted the sharp planes of her face in gold and shadow.
"I've never been more terrified in my life."
Annabeth stared at her, genuinely surprised. She had expected denial. Deflection. Anger. She had not expected the goddess of the hunt to simply… admit it.
It felt almost uncharacteristic.
"Do you know the story of Orion?" Artemis asked quietly. "About the first male I ever allowed to join the Hunt?"
"I know the story," Annabeth replied. "You were impressed by his skill as a hunter and eventually allowed him to become one of your Hunters. He admired you greatly, and over time, that admiration became something deeper. He fell in love with you."
"Yes." Artemis lowered her gaze, and for a moment, the goddess seemed less like the untouchable deity Annabeth knew and more like someone carrying an old wound that had never truly healed. "And my brother, fearing that I would eventually succumb to his charm, abandon my oath of maidenhood, and return his feelings, manipulated the situation until Orion was driven into madness. That madness ultimately led to his death."
Her voice became quieter as she continued. "I know what happens when I allow myself to love someone openly. I know what my family is capable of when they believe someone has become a weakness"
Her fingers tightened slightly against her arm. "And for Lucian's sake, it cannot become anything more than what it already is. He is still young. He has his entire life ahead of him, a future that has barely begun to take shape. I cannot bear the thought of watching all of that disappear because of me. My family would never allow him to simply walk away from this unharmed. If they discovered what I feel for him, they would see him as a threat, a vulnerability, perhaps even an enemy."
Artemis looked toward Annabeth, and there was something hollow in her expression, a resignation that came from believing she had already accepted the only choice available to her. "You know... sometimes I envy you. You can pursue the person you love without having to look over your shoulder. You can love without fearing what your family will do to him."
"You can too," Annabeth said.
Artemis looked at her like she was staring at someone naive.
Annabeth turned her gaze away for a moment, gathering her thoughts before looking back at Artemis. This time, there was no hesitation in her expression. Her voice was firm, unwavering, almost challenging. "I think you're forgetting exactly who it is we're talking about."
"What do you mean?"
"We're talking about Lucian Blackheart." Annabeth's conviction only grew stronger with every word. "Not Orion. Not some ordinary mortal hunter who happened to catch the attention of a goddess. Lucian."
She leaned closer, her eyes never leaving Artemis's. "Lucian is the strongest demigod of our generation. Hell, I'll go further than that. I think he's stronger than most of the heroes who came before him. Lucian is the Strongest Demigod of all time. You comparing what might happen to him to what happened to Orion doesn't protect him. It diminishes him."
"Just how the hell do you think Lucian sees himself?" Annabeth continued. "Gods? Titans? Monsters? Curses? It doesn't matter. He's stood before them all, and every single time, he's found a way to stand back up. He fought against both death and prophecy, both which threatened to end him for good, and you know what he did, he overcame them all the same."
"You talk about him as though he's some fragile boy who needs to be hidden away from the dangers of the world." Her voice softened only slightly, but her conviction remained absolute. "But Lucian… He's the King of Curses. The Prince of the Underworld. The one adored by the Three Fates. He's someone destined to become Paradox itself. You know what he's capable of better than almost anyone, Artemis. You've seen him fight. You've seen what happens when he decides there's something worth protecting."
Artemis remained silent.
"And yet you're still afraid."
The words struck deeper than any accusation could have.
Annabeth took a breath before continuing. "I understand why you're afraid. I do. You're terrified of what your family might do to him. You're terrified that loving him openly will put a target on his back. You're terrified that history will repeat itself and that Lucian will suffer the same fate as Orion."
Her expression softened, but her eyes remained unwavering. "But that's the thing, Artemis. If you truly love Lucian, then you have to believe in him. Not blindly. Not because you think he's invincible. You have to believe in him because you know who he is. Loving someone doesn't mean convincing yourself that nothing can hurt them. It means knowing exactly how dangerous the world is and still believing they have the strength to face it."
Annabeth paused, letting the silence settle between them.
"You keep saying you're afraid of what your family will do to Lucian, and quietly wondering to yourself what they might do to him" she said quietly. "But maybe that's not the question you should be asking yourself."
Artemis's eyes narrowed slightly.
Annabeth's voice became almost gentle.
"Maybe you should ask yourself something else."
She held Artemis's gaze.
"Do you love Lucian more than you fear what your family will do to him... or do you fear your family more than you love him?"
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