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Hyacinthus gets a quest.
Artemis regrets what she did.
Percy visits Montauk
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Hyacinthus inspected the soldiers' training with Crocus by his side. The sun shone cheerfully bright. The prince smiled at the sun, feeling increased heat on his cheeks. The sun wobbled a bit as if waving at Hyacinthus. To the prince's left, his best friend grimaced, both from the antics of the sun god and his own personal worries.
"I don't know what is going on with Smilax. She keeps jumping at every shadow."
Hyacinthus finally tore his eye away from the sun to look at the son of Poseidon. The sun dimmed ever so slightly in response.
"That is not like her. She still will not tell you what is going on?"
Both friends were worried about the sole female of their tightly-knit demigod trio.
Crocus shook his head in denial.
"This started after she visited her mother's temple. The priestesses gossiped that the goddess of love appeared to talk to Smilax, but none of them had overheard what it was."
Hyacinthus' heart sank. Aphrodite was capricious and often cruel. Thankfully, Smilax had not inherited those aspects of her mother. If Aphrodite had made a request that Smilax could or would not grant, it would get ugly. Hyacinthus took a deep, shuddering breath.
"Smilax's mother must have wanted something." He told the obvious to Crocus.
His friend rolled his eyes.
"Of course, why would a god bother with a mortal otherwise? Only when they want something."
Crocus gave a very pointed look at Hyacinthus and then at the sun. The prince grimaced but did not answer, it did not seem right to have this conversation with his friend while the sun god was right over their heads.
When he met the sun god, the youths in that fateful field with Hyacinthus immediately told everyone what had happened. The whole of Sparta was speculating about the crown prince and the god of the sun. The rumours were ridiculously steamy. Even Hyacinthus' father, King Amyclas, did not believe that all his son did with Apollo was hunt and then swim. It did not help that Apollo had repeatedly shown up to take the prince to other outings in the woods to play the lyre together in the palace gardens.
No matter how much Hyacinthus insisted they were just friends, no one believed him. Not the newly appointed royal bard, Thamyris, who had been constantly singing about heartbreak. Something about his grandfather stealing the love of his life. Was Hyacinthus supposed to be the love of Thamyris life? They had barely exchanged two words. The only one unaware of the rumours was the long-standing royal physician, a son of Apollo named Solon, who cloistered himself in the palace's apothecary and infirmary and made it a point to avoid gossip.
Solon was of an age with Queen Sparta and had been appointed to his position by King Lacedaemon, having attended Chiron's camp together. He had seen Amyclas and his sister Euridice born and tended to each royal ever since. As a demigod, Hyacinthus never suffered sickness; injuries were usually healed by the nectar and ambrosia his mother regularly gifted him. The prince had rarely needed to interact with the royal physician. Hyacinthus never god sick, and Solon had been fond of Diomede. Not enough to need getting rid of, but fond enough that the prince considered interacting with him an unpleasant chore.
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Feel the Burning Light by Dewy_Pink_Morning_Roses52
FanfictionWhen Hyacinthus died, Apollo grieved the loss of the love of his life. He asked Hades to return his love to him but was denied. Less than a century after the disc struck, Hyacinthus of Sparta was reborn as Icarus of Crete. Once more, he loved and wa...