The Glory That Is Rome (a Percy Jackson AU)

All the Single Ladies

Thalia couldn't believe Luke was making her help him choose out his new wife. It was cruel of him to do so when he had wooed her with hopes of being free by begetting him a son. It was doubly cruel because as Annabeth languished in her barricaded room for doing what Luke had done himself. Thalia couldn't find it in herself to judge Annabeth for taking a lover when she had been Luke's mistress herself.

It's not the same, Thalia thought; if I hadn't liked Luke, I wouldn't have been able to refuse his advances. The thought made Thalia shudder, but she had seen Miranda sobbing one day after leaving Luke's room. Since then, the only person who had been able to cheer her up was one of Luke's guard named Sherman.

"Well, Thalia," Luke said. "I want your opinion of the girls."

"My honest opinion?" Thalia asked.

Luke nodded and Thalia gritted her teeth. In her opinion, this entire exercise was a waste of time. Luke was never going to have an heir. Didn't he realize that it was not the women who were barren, but him? He could hold a beauty contest and marry the most fecund woman in Rome and he still would die childless.

Thalia hated the entire process. Luke stared at the unfortunate women as if they were horses that he was thinking about buying. He dismissed most of the women after only a short glance. In the end, there were only three women left and Thalia felt her heart constrict for whichever poor woman was chosen.

The first woman was named Tammi. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes and was dressed in a light blue chiton. Her expression was haughty and Thalia suspected that she would kill Luke for a couple denarri. The second woman was a dark-haired beauty named Reyna. She was tall and lithe with the grace of the leopards Thalia had seen in the Colosseum; Thalia suspected she was just as dangerous. The final woman was a dark-haired beauty named Chiara. She had fierce eyes and as Thalia looked at her, she wondered why Luke had a thing for fierce females. After all, she herself could scare away most men with her resting expression and Annabeth was almost as fierce as she was smart.

"You like strong women," Thalia noted.

"I have a type," Luke said with a shrug.

"But if they gainsay you like Annabeth did, you don't appreciate it," Thalia pointed out.

"I need a woman with spirit," Luke insisted. "A passive woman would never excite me like someone like you or Annabeth did."

The women looked between us and Thalia caught Reyna frowning.

"Marry Chiara," Thalia suggested. "Her mother had eight children, so she must be fruitful."

He nodded and heeded Thalia!: advice, though she wished that he had ignored it. Despite everything, Thalia still felt drawn to him. It wasn't love, but it was something almost as powerful and all-consuming. Whatever it was, it would have to be suppressed when Luke married Chiara tomorrow.