Courtly Love (a Percy Jackson AU)

Bridling the Horse

***Percy***
      I stroked the black stallion softly. "He's a strong one, sire," Nico informed me.
      I turned to the master of the horses. "Can I take him for a ride?" I asked.
       "Of course, sire," he said. "Would thou want a companion?"
        I smiled as I saw two figures nearing me. It was Princess Annabeth and her lady-in-waiting, Piper. I realized that Annabeth had a kind of unapproachable beauty-like a finely carved dagger or a fine statue. She was certainly intimidating, but I had like conversing with her yesterday. "Would thou wish to ride with me?" I asked after the two women curtsied.
"Can I come too, brother?" Tyson asked as he ran over to us.
      I had felt embarrassed around Tyson when I found out he was my half-brother when I was thirteen years old. I had felt ashamed that my dad had been unfaithful. Tyson had been a reminder of that, but as I grew to know him, I realized that I loved him too and it was unfair to judge him for my father's mistake. "I should desire that thou rides with us," I told my brother.
His face lit up like the sun as Nico helped him get on a horse named Chiron. "He's the handsomest horse," Tyson told me.
While I and Tyson rode like men, the cumbersome dresses that Piper and Annabeth were wearing forced them to sit sideways. After we stopped to let our horses rest, Annabeth dismounted. "I'm riding like a knight next time," she vowed.
"Just like thou loves the sea like a sailor?" Piper asked.
"Thou enjoys the sea?" I asked, looking at her over again.
She was more interesting the more I heard about her. "We sailed for three weeks from France to England," Annabeth answered. "The sea was plagued with tempests."
"We were afraid that we'd be stricken with seasickness, but we were fine," Piper added. "Actually, Annabeth was more than fine. She stood near the helm of the ship with her hair loose like a sailor."
"Thou shares my love of the sea, then?" I asked.
Piper laughed. "She adores the sea, but she hates spiders," she said. "Remember when thou saw a spider in the galley? I had to remove it because my lady grew faint."
Annabeth lifted her chin. "Spiders are dangerous," she said.
"I thought thou relished danger, my lady," Piper joked.
     Annabeth rolled her eyes and I smiled. When we got on our horses, Annabeth and Piper both arranged their dresses to allow themselves to ride like Tyson and I were. "Curse these long skirts," Piper growled.
      "At these these dresses are simpler than what your mother made thou wear," Annabeth said.
      "Don't even remind me of that!" Piper exclaimed.
       We rode back to the castle in content silence. When I went riding the next day, Annabeth cane again. We fell into a steady routine of riding together and I began to feel a certain fondness towards her that was hard to express or even explain.
A couple months after my father's funeral, I was deliberating in the throne room. I saw petitioners once or twice a week and tried my best to settle disputes and solve problems. Sometimes it was easy to find a solution, but at other times, there wasn't any good solution. I had invited Annabeth to be there after my mother suggested that I do so.
The first few petitioners were some farmers in a dispute over who owned a well. The problem was that they were all brothers who owned adjoining lands and their father had never made a will. "All of thou must share the well until new ones are made," I declared after hearing the testimony of each of the three brothers. "Thou share common blood and thou shall also share a common goal."
The last two petitioners that day had the most difficult case I had ever confronted. They were two women-both of them with brown hair and eyes-though one was built like a man and the other looked frail. "What troubles thou?" I inquired.
"My sister stole my child!" The littler one said, pointing to her tall sister.
The taller sister held the baby in her arms tenderly. "He is mine, my lord," she said, her voice trembling like cracked ice. "My husband died and he is all I have left of him."
"He is mine!" The smaller girl said. "My sister was infertile and decided to steal one of my children!"
I looked between the two petitioners. How was I supposed to know who was telling the truth? I stroked my chin thoughtfully. Annabeth was looking at both of the women. She had offered advice on a couple of the petitioners, but she now remained silent, her grey eyes as stormy as the sea. "Since I cannot discern which of thou is truthful and which of thou deceives me, neither of thou shall have the child," I said. "It is the only fair solution."
The smaller woman smiled, but the taller one broke down in tears. "P-please m-my l-lord," she cried. "I would rather have him go to my sister then he separated from me forever."
I stood up. "The taller woman is his mother," I said, thankful that King Solomon's trick had worked out for me.
The petitioners left, the tall woman evening with pride and the shorter one flowering like a dragon. "Thou judged fairly and with infinite wisdom," my mother remarked.
"Thou did better than I expected," Annabeth added.
I smiled. "I am wise," I protested.
"Thou art wiser than one might expect," Annabeth said with a laugh.
I glared at her and I realized then that I was smitten. We had started out as mere companions, but I now felt the stirrings of courtly love. I knew then that I wanted to court and wed her-politics be cursed. Despite being the king, however, I did not feel eloquent or brave enough to tell her of my feelings.