"Percy! Wake up," a voice said.
Percy, the crown prince of the Kingdom of Thalassa, rolled away. "Five more minutes.." he muttered.
"You're not getting five more minutes! Your dad wants you to meet him, and fast."
Percy shot up to find Hazel, his maid, glaring at him with his arms crossed. Normally nobody could talk to him like that, but Hazel and Percy were close. They were fast friends and bonded over their love for animals.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Percy quickly jumped out of the bed and went into the bathroom. He quickly brushed his teeth and got dressed into a tunic and trousers. His messy black hair was still all over the place, and his green eyes stared back at him through the mirror.
"Percy!!!!" Hazel's voice yelled from outside the door. He quickly looked away from his reflection and rushed outside. "Wait! You forgot your cape." She said, picking up the sea-green cape the Prince was supposed to wear all the time. "Thanks," Percy replied.
She quickly fastened it around his shoulders. "Now go. Or else your gonna be late," she said, gently pushing him to the door. Percy grinned at her, waving, and shut the door behind him.
People had asked him why he was so close to Hazel. The truth is, he didn't know. They were obviously just friends, plus Hazel did like someone else. But her dad had left her when she was younger and her mother had passed away, so the castle had taken her in.
Outside, waiting for him, was his attendant, Luke. "Your Highness," he bowed when he saw Percy. He nodded his head back. He liked Luke okay, but he did seem kind of weird, like something was going on with him. He just had a bad aura around him.
Luke walked a respectful two steps behind Percy, guards behind both of them. Percy made sure to look up as he walked and look confident, but not too self-obsessed. Then again, he had been training on this his entire life.
They finally got to the King's Wing. His father's office was down the hall. Luke stayed outside, while Percy knocked on the door. "Enter," Poseidon's voice said.
Percy walked in, still marveling over how nice the office looked. It was really beautiful, paintings of the sea, the walls a nice deep wave color. Poseidon, who looked almost exactly like Percy but older, sat perched on his chair.
"Ah, Perseus. Finally cared to see me, have you?" He seemed old and resigned, his glasses perched on his nose. He was poring over a piece of paper.
"Yes, Father. Why did you want to see me?" Percy said, trying to keep his voice formal and neutral. He wasn't close to his father like he was close to the rest of his family and Hazel.
"The war. I have found a way to end it." Poseidon said. He passed the scroll he was reading to Percy. The war was something that had been going on for at least 50 years, when the kingdom of Ouranos invaded. Somehow they did end up surviving and going on for longer, but Percy knew that soon, they might completely lose and surrender their land, and Percy could be imprisoned or executed, along with the rest of his family.
"Thank you, Father." Percy said. He looked at the parchment paper, and at the first sentence, he already started freaking out. It was the weirdest thing ever, to read the words he had just read.
There will soon be an arranged marriage between Prince Perseus of Thalassa and Princess Calypso of Ouranos. This will stop the war soon enough, and our kingdoms can live in harmony once more.
It was like his brain froze. "Thank you again, Father." Percy said, but he wasn't really understanding what he said. "Of course, Perseus. You and Calypso will reign well together as King and Queen." Poseidon said. And that was when it really fell on Percy.
He was getting an arranged marriage with a stranger.
Poseidon dismissed him, and he stood up. "Oh and don't forget, son. We still need to recruit new knights. Your in charge of that. We need some men to defend before the letter gets sent."
Percy nodded, swallowing down the lump in his throat, as he bowed, opened the door, and did his best to confidently head back to his room, Luke and his guards in tow.
.
