The Artemis Daughter

Chapter 54

I took Vany and brought her in the bridal style. I put her on a bed in the Artemis cabin. Thalia, Artemis took the hunters out of the cabin. Not wanting to stay there anymore, Percy left Nico and me alone in the cabin with the others.

"Now explain to me what you said earlier!" I sat down next to Vany. Nico's tears wet his face and fell to the floor." She ... she never thought of her. Then and now, as she does today. She was always there for her people, but no matter how hard she tried, she stood up for them," he began to shed tears again."You ... what are you saying?" I looked at him in surprise."I was there ... I saw it ..." Nico said. I told him I did not understand anything. I stared at him."I'm Hades' son. I'm met a lot of dead people ..." He resumed talking shortly after."... while Vany was alive, I've met a man who lived 3,000 years ago ... he said there was no one as great as her anywhere in the world. She was a god but she showed her compassion for ordinary people. No beauty could go over and will never be born a beauty like her. He also told me that at one point Aphrodite was jealous of Vany because she was more beautiful than Aphrodite. But she put aside her jealousy for Vany because she did not think about Vany's image and she did not brag about being beautiful." He took a deep breath again as the story unfolded.

Nico resumed what he was talking about. "While Aphrodite was making her jealous of Vany, she cursed Vany. If 'Vany ever falls in love with someone, she should only fall in love with that person. That person should not be immortal either. If she falls in love like that, she should not have a world without that person.  Vany was overjoyed when she heard about such a curse. At that time there was no bond between you and her..." he looked at me. 

"...When the gods found out about this curse, they went in search of a young man who would match Vany. Even before the curse of Aphrodite, the gods had sought Vany's immortal husband, but Vany had no inclination to be immortal and she often preferred to spend time in the human world." 

"Did she like being immortal!?" I asked Nico the question that appeared in my mind.

"Nope... she sometimes had told that she would be happy if she's a mortal" Nico answered me. 

"It was during this time that the gods discovered you. That guy told me you were a very handsome and talented young man. You had a face that was crazy enough to make women mad. It seems to me that it still is." Nico teased me.

"Stop teasing me, Nico!" I sat behind. 

"Well ... well ... as soon as the gods saw you, they decided that this was the right person for Vany. As soon as Vany saw you, she'd fall in love with you..."

"A love at first sight!?" I interrupted Nico. 

"Yup... something like that. Anyway, that person also told me that you were stuck when you saw her." Nico burst into laughter. It made my heart ease as he was shedding tears all the time. 

"So... I've fallen in love with her at the moment!?"

"Yeah...!" he again burst into laughter. 

"Stop laughing! It's nothing to laugh about! She always drives me crazy!" I felt my cheeks burning. 

Nico stopped laughing and looked into me. "What did you mean!?" 

"I... I..." I stuttered. 

"Yeah!!! Tell me...! Split it out...!" Nico pushed me to split the truth out while holding his laughter back. 

"Gah...! Okay... but promise me that you won't tell this anyone!" 

"I promise...!" he smirked. "No matter what happened, I won't tell your secret to anyone" 

"Well... I liked her for a long time... I meant, I liked her in this lifetime too... before I met her... before she woke up" I played with my fingers. 

"I don't understand...!" Nico sat tightly. I knew I blushed like a rotten tomato. 

"I... I used to see her in my dream since I was in my childhood"

"Oh...! Are you kidding me!? You're such a..." he again burst into laughter. "...Anyway, this is how you and Vany met. Then you two loved each other like crazy. I have to tell you, you two had met when Vany was about sixteen years, which means... you were eighteen years old" I choked salvia by Nico's words. 

"Careful man..." he smirked. His face was lightened while saying the story of my and Vany's past. 

"So... what happened next? What was the cause of Vany's death!?" 

Nico's facial expressions changed. His bright face was covered by a dark cloud in a second. 

"It happened like today... Do you remember that I told you that I was there at the beginning!? I went through that person's memories... It's worse than this..." Nico's eyes got wet with tears. 

"It was her seventeenth birthday... like today. I know that there's not been a year since she woke up but... it's her birthday today..." The tears which Nico was holding flowed over his cheeks. 

"It's her... birthday... today...!?" I whispered. Nico nodded his head. I felt my eyes getting wet. 

"Since the two of you met, she has done a lot of work for your well-being. He also told me that she was afraid that you would be influenced by other people who were in love with her. I mean the person mentioned earlier. You may be wondering how he got to know her so well. He is the soul of a dead soldier dedicated to God-praised Greek" Nico revealed the anonymous guy he was talking about.