You Give Liberty a Bad Name (a Percy Jackson AU)

Not Even a Lady

Virginia July 15, 1776
If there were two things Piper hated, it was not being taken seriously and the bloody colonists. Well, not all of them, but many of them. She knew better than most how their ideas of liberty did not extend to those of other races.
      Her mother told her stories of her father. She was the only one who spoke of him in an affectionate manner. Others told Piper he was a savage or untrustworthy. Aphrodite would say that he was kind and funny. Her use of the past tense always made something within Piper turn to dust.
"Tristan was a great man," she would say and Piper would always wonder if he was not still great, if he was not still alive. "He was fought in the French and Indian War alongside the British until they failed to keep their promises."
"And how did you meet?" Piper always asked, but her mother never answered.
One day, her mother finally did. The dawn light meant that their customers were grabbing their breeches and leaving. Piper felt the familiar sense of shame enter her bones as the men departed, returning to the homes of their wives or mothers. Unlike their lucky sweethearts, she was never destined for the marriage market.
       She hated the way men saw women; as either bad or good girls. Bad girls were the ones they lusted for; good girls were the ones they loved. Piper had always wanted a man who could love her. Her mother told her of how she had found love a couple times, but Piper knew more than most people, that their job meant pretending to like those you despised. People said to do what you love, so it never felt like work. Piper's job never felt like work, but she absolutely despised it.
Piper was glad that Dylan was gone. He was a rough man with nails that dug into her skin and a voice like a knife. He had come here the past three days and Piper was tempted to strangle him. She noticed how worn out her sisters looked. They had all been given their mother's uncommon beauty, and though it was their means of living, it was also a curse.
     Drew was slaking her thirst with a cup of ale from the tavern next door where many of their customers originated from. Lacey was washing the smudged makeup off her face. Silena was hiccuping and wiping tears off her face.
Piper walked over to her sister and saw her mother rubbing her sister's back gently.
"Mother, I'm going to be leaving," Silena said. "I'm going to become a camp follower."
Aphrodite gave her daughter a hug and was unable to stop tears from ruining her made-up face for once. Piper felt her heart drop as Silena left. Did she really think she could make it out there? Being a camp follower was rough. Silena might be stuck going the same thing she was doing now to survive.
      Piper sighed and let the tears drip down her face. She felt a warm arm around around her neck and smelled the jasmine perfume her mother always wore. She looked up to see her mother holding a small portrait in her hands. It was of a handsome man with soulful eyes in garb that Piper was unfamiliar with.
      "This is your father," Aphrodite said.
        "Is?" Piper said. "He's still alive?"
           Aphrodite nodded and said, "The Cherokee, his tribe, decided to side with the British against the French. Now that Silena has left, I felt you should know."
      "Why didn't you tell me before?" Piper snapped. "I begged and begged for you to tell me! I didn't want a life with no childhood."
       "Oh dear, this is all my fault," Aphrodite said. "When I was 14 years old, I slept with the man I was engaged to. He deserted me and I couldn't find a marriage. My parents kicked me out and I was shunned."
      "I found a job at a tavern," Aphrodite said. "The men said things you've heard before. I soon found that opening my legs was the only way to keep my stomach full. I'm sorry that you guys inherited my fortune."
      "Why didn't I get to live with my father?" Piper asked.
        "He doesn't know you exist," Aphrodite said. "He is a Cherokee soldier I met during the French and Indian War. I only know Tristan is your father because you share the same complexion."
      Piper blushed. Her tawny skin meant she'd heard some pretty nasty remarks. Men looked at her as if she was even less than the others, but like Drew, she was seen as an exotic beauty.
       "Can I take this?" Piper asked, holding the portrait in her hands. "I'm going to find my dad."
    Aphrodite hugged her daughter and felt a mixture of sadness and pride that two of her daughters were leaving her and her curse behind today.