Chapter Text
WILL
The sound of blades clashing reached me before I could see the arena, but that was typical. I continued following my father until we reached the upper level of the stadium. Several rows of seats below us, two men fought, equally matched.
One was Jason, Captain of the Guard. With his blond hair and blue eyes, he could have been my brother, but he was from Olympus. I didn’t recognize the other man.
He had dark hair—darker than any I’d seen before in Delphi—and his skin was well-bronzed. I didn’t recognize his style of fighting, more slashes than jabs, quick on his feet instead of standing his ground; clearly not from here, maybe a southern country. And his blade was black as midnight, a sharp contrast to Jason’s gold. He was dressed in all black, too, creating an altogether intimidating image.
We watched for a few minutes as the men swung, parried, lunged. Jason took training quite seriously and provided personal attention to anyone new in the ranks to make sure they were up to snuff. Having held a blade opposite him many times, I knew just how hard it was to meet his standards. I felt he pushed himself too hard, but I also knew I’d be grateful for it should anyone ever, well . . .
My father led the way down the stadium steps. Jason must have spotted us because he signalled for an end to the match. The other man nodded, sheathing his sword before turning our way. As we approached, he dropped into a bow alongside Jason. When they rose, he looked to my father, but I saw his eyes quickly flash to me before returning to where they were.
Up close, I could pick up the warm bronze in the new knight’s hair, shining in the sun, as well as in his striking chocolate eyes. He had a short stubble on his jaw, just under his sharp cheeks, and above his lip, highlighting his elegant bone structure. He and Jason were both dripping with perspiration in the afternoon sun, their chests rising and falling quickly, shirts half-unbuttoned to reveal a smattering of hair and sliver lines of old scars, fabric clinging to their torsos with sweat, but they kept their breathing quiet and waited for my father to speak.
“Jason,” my father began warmly, “already hard at work with the new recruit, I see. Very good.”
“Yes, sire,” the Captain of the Guard agreed. “Luckily, Nico is well-trained, so he’ll be up to speed in no time.”
“Of course, Jason. You know I trust you. I’m not here to check up on you both, though. Prince William and I had a break in our schedule, so we thought now would be a good time to meet—Nico, was it?” My father directed the last part to the man in question.
“Yes, sire, Nico di Angelo of Erebus,” the new knight answered, voice deep and accented.
So, south indeed. I knew relatively little of Erebus, I realized, but at least now I had someone I could ask.
I stepped forward and offered my hand to Nico, who took it with his own broad, callused one. He was slightly taller than I was, I realized, when I found myself looking a little up.
“I’m Will. It’s nice to meet you, Nico. I look forward to getting to know you.”
Despite keeping my eyes resolutely on Nico’s, I could feel my father’s scowl pointed at the back of my head. He hated that I dropped formalities with my guard, but I was of the opinion that if someone was going to risk their life for me, the least we could do was use each other's names.
I thought I saw a small smile curl the corners of Nico’s full lips, but after his gaze flicked to my father, then back to me, it was gone. “Very nice to meet you, as well, Prince William.” His slight accent crafted my name with a soft ee sound: Weel-ee-um. He dropped my hand.
I grinned brightly. “We’ll work on it.” I heard Jason snort, well used to my and my father’s differences of opinion, but he covered it well with a cough. I stepped back beside Father and looked at him, the picture of innocence on my face.
“Right, well.” My father looked at me sideways, his exasperation clear. “We will leave you two to your training and trust that we will see you at supper.”
Nico and Jason bowed once more before we turned to go. At the top of the stadium steps, I chanced a look back over my shoulder at where the two men were once again facing each other, swords drawn. My gaze lingered on Nico in his black clothing, thinking about the allure and steadiness of his eyes, the width of his shoulders.
“Father, I don’t know much of Erebus. Are black weapons common there?”
“Hm? Oh yes,” my father responded, his hands clasped behind his back and his face tipped toward the autumn sun as we walked back toward the palace and the meetings awaiting us there. Father liked to take excursions like this whenever he could as a chance to enjoy some sunshine and stretch his legs.
Sunlight caught in his brunet curls—the same texture as my own, although decidedly darker and slightly longer, ending just past his collarbone, where mine was cut around my ears. He was dressed in his usual blue, white, and gold. I’d always felt Lee would look like that: regal, authoritative, composed. By contrast, I felt like a child playing pretend, wearing a crown too large and a coat too stiff.
“They call it Stygian Iron, so named for the material and water they use to forge their weapons coming from the Styx, one of their rivers.” He paused, considering. “Have your tutors not taught you about Erebus yet?”
“Some, but we’ve definitely spent more time on Olympus, Oceanus, and Delos,” I shared. “I believe we’re beginning a unit on Lemnos soon.”
My father hummed. “I may have to speak to them; it will be valuable information for you. Erebus is very wealthy; their land is full of jewels and precious metals, especially silver and gold.” He leveled me with a serious expression. “It is in our best interest to remain allies with them.”
I nodded in understanding of his meaning and then asked, “If they have so much gold, why do they not use it for their weapons like we do?”
Father’s brow crinkled in thought. “The Stygian Iron is connected to some myth of theirs, if I remember correctly.” His brow smoothed, and he shrugged. “Besides, the more gold they have to give us, the more goods of ours they can acquire from us in exchange. Erebus may be wealthy in materials, but their soil is rocky and difficult to farm. We, along with other nations, provide them with substantial amounts of food.”
I nodded to myself, my eyes on the farm land visible beyond the castle’s walls. I knew our land was fertile and therefore valuable—to us as well as to other nations. I hadn’t ever thought of it as worth gold, though, and I had a new appreciation for what it gave us.
NICO
Jason was studying me, his eyes flicking across my face and his brow furrowed. His ice blue eyes were serious, contemplative. I let him continue for a minute, shifting in my seat, but when he still didn’t say anything, I snapped, “What? Do you have feedback on my fighting or something?”
“No,” Jason started slowly, “but I’m curious why you didn’t call Will ‘Will’ as he asked you to.”
I shrugged. “The king looked as if he didn’t like it, and isn’t he who we ultimately answer to?”
I was curious about the interaction I’d spotted between King Apollo and Prince William over the crown prince’s name request, but I didn’t want to ask and be impertinent.
The king and crown prince had looked so similar: defined curls, apatite blue eyes, broad shoulders, freckles as plentiful as the stars. They also shared a relaxed and comfortable presence, like they had no question they belonged here, would always belong here. But while King Apollo maintained a serious expression, Crown Prince William’s was undercut with a sense of playfulness.
“Yes, but . . . ,” Jason hesitated a second, looking for the words, “but Will likes to be casual with us, likes to know us and for us to know him, I suppose. And he’s who you’ll be spending time with, not King Apollo, so you’ll want to use ‘Will’, as he asked.”
I hummed, noncommittally, already knowing that wasn’t going to happen. In Erebus, even royals used honorifics with each other, and there was simply no way I was going to do anything else here, new and unestablished as I was. I was counting on this job, and if King Apollo wanted me to refer to Crown Prince William with respect, then that’s what I would do.
“Your swordsmanship is solid.” Jason blessedly changed topics, shifting in his seat to lean back on his hands a little. “Although, I suspect you already know that. I think it might be useful for you to teach your style to the other guards at some point, just to get them familiar with both using and defending against other techniques,” he admitted. “I’ll let you settle in before we start that, though. You’ll have enough to learn here before we start having you teach.”
“Learn here?” I tried not to sound rude, but if my sword skills were fine, then I wasn’t sure what Jason meant.
Jason nodded, the barest glimmer of a smile tugging the corner of his lip like he knew what I was thinking. “I’ll want you to learn our style of fighting, of course, and you’ll need to join our training schedule, guard rotations, and the like. Additionally, there are political dynamics you need to be aware of so you can help Will get out of tricky situations.” He sighed—a weighted one. “He’s great at managing them, but it’s helpful to know when to make up an excuse to get him away from someone. King Apollo also likes for everyone in his service to have basic field medic training so we can take care of injuries until we get help.”
“That . . . makes a lot of sense,” I said, turning his words over in my head. I’d never had any medical training before, but I could see how it would be useful. Then I asked, “Do any other countries have knights learn healing? Erebus didn’t.”
Jason shrugged. “I think a couple have some, but Delphi’s training is the most extensive. King Apollo takes great pride in the vast healing knowledge Delphinians hold.”
I nodded, considering that, and then checked, “What else should I know of Prince William?”
Jason snorted and said, “You’ll learn what you need on the job; I’m not going to recount it all right now. It’s likely he’ll ask you for a conversation at some point—as I said, he likes to get to know us.”
After the frigidity of the court and royal family in Erebus, the idea of a prince wanting to know me was, well, foreign. Crown Princess Hazel was nice enough, but we’d never conversed in depth. My closest companion had been my sister Bianca, but she was now a lady’s maid for Princess Thalia in Olympus. I was grateful she had that position, in part because it allowed me to meet Jason and move to Delphi, and in part because we had now both escaped the whispers and snide remarks in King Hades’ court, but I still missed her and our conversations.
“We should join the others for horsemanship,” Jason said, breaking my train of thought. “I believe there’s a new course today, and we always start without armor.”
“I’m sure Cerberus will appreciate that after the recent journey,” I responded with a slight smile, thinking of my horse and how well he’d done with the trip here.
We rose and began walking toward the stables, jostling each other with friendly pushes and joking about what our sisters might be up to, their time spent so very differently from our own.
Jason was right: there was a new course, which helped me feel on equal footing with the rest of the knights. I guided Cerberus through, paying special attention to the terrain we weren’t used to: the thick trees, the boggy ground, the farmland.
The course was outside of the castle walls, and Jason explained that every few weeks, it was reworked to keep us on our toes and reintroduce landscapes we might encounter in other countries: rocky land in Erebus, deep pools and sand in Oceanus, cliffs in Olympus, and so on. We’d spend a day or two familiarizing ourselves with the new layout before putting on armor and jumping into battle games.
Being without armor provided a nice opportunity to speak with other guards, get to know them. I quite liked Butch, his stoic humor similar to my own. Most of the guards had been around a few years—I was replacing one who retired—so I was concerned I wouldn’t feel welcomed, but luckily I didn’t find that to be the case.
When we were done with horsemanship training and our horses were getting brushed and fed, the lot of us returned, sweaty but laughing, to the barracks to clean up for supper. Bathing was a quick affair, and then I was changing into a new set of black clothing. Outfits and armor that matched the other guards were being made for me, but for now, I kept to what I’d brought. Luckily, supper meant everyone was dressed in their personal items, so I didn’t feel like I stood out quite so much.
The Great Hall was warm, relaxed, and inviting. The tables formed a broken U around the room with the royal family at the head and two tables down the sides of the room, chairs on both sides of each table. Music came from a band in the corner, golden light streamed in from the tall windows, and people greeted each other warmly. Looking around, I was reminded yet again of the contrasts between Erebus and Delphi, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like growing up in an Erebus a little more like this.
We found our seats at the table to the left of the king, and soon our glasses and plates were filled. I ate and drank everything put in front of me, starving after a full day of training.
While I tried to stay focused on the conversations of those around me, I found my eyes landing on the head table and the crown prince more than I cared to admit. He seemed always full of smiles and laughter, his sapphire blue eyes and golden hair sparkling in the candlelight and evening sun. I was intrigued by him—a prince who wanted to know his guard. How odd.
More than once, I caught Crown Prince William looking my way, too. The first time, he smiled and waved, and I nodded my head in acknowledgment. The second time, I held his gaze until he looked away, drawn back into conversation by his father. The third time, I heard a knight beside me ask, “She’s a looker, isn’t she?”
Startled, I looked over at him. “I’m sorry, who?”
“Princess Kayla.” He nodded his head toward a girl with straight red hair and her hand over her mouth as she laughed and talked. “She’s beautiful, although Will is very protective of her. She’s next in line if—” He cut himself off. The guard looked sheepish, and while I had more questions, I suspected this wasn’t the time to ask them.
Instead, I just nodded and turned back to my meal. I tried to keep my eyes off of the head table after that lest the other guard think I really was interested in the princess. I didn’t need any rumors spreading about me, especially before I’d had a chance to establish a reliable reputation.