Banished

49

Percy PoV

I held Artemis closely and smiled when she kissed my cheek. "I take it I did well for breakfast?"

She nodded. "Hopefully the wonderful meal you cooked will keep my mind off the utterly boring task ahead of us in preparation for the wedding."

"Even if it doesn't, I can always give you something to look forward to," I suggested, running my hand along her thigh as I kissed her.

A dazed look crossed the woman's face, if only for a moment, and she smiled. "Let's just get this over with."

We appeared at Hera's palace, which had become the planning ground for the wedding.

This was in part due to Hera's being the goddess of marriage, but it was also because we didn't want Aphrodite in our palace.

Hera squealed like a little girl. "You're doing final approval of everything today. This is so exciting!"

So, if nothing else, we learned that wedding was to Hera as books were to Athena, grains were to Demeter, fish were to Poseidon, wines were to Dionysus, and sex was to Aphrodite.

"As of right now, the wedding is set for October seventeenth. It will be held in the Olympian hall and officiated by yours truly," the queen rattled on. "How does that sound?"

"It sounds fantastic, Hera," my future wife replied on both our behalves.

Or was it just our bewhole? Two halves make a whole, and there were two of us with halves.

English makes my head hurt.

I was brought back to the conversation by my woman's hand waving in front of my face. "Percy? Do you have any objections to
inviting the rest of The Seven to the wedding?"

"Um, well, I don't know if it's a great idea," I replied. "I think Annabeth might find it insulting to be invited to our wedding."

"On the other hand," Hera countered. "It's the wedding of an Olympian, so everyone on Olympus usually attends."

"Well, in that case, could she just be seated somewhere near the back with Artemis's suitors or something?" I asked uncomfortably.

Hera shrugged and scribbled something down.

My fiancee rested her head on my shoulder. "And, of course, Percy's mother will be seated in front. She's mortal, and I know that can cause a bit of an issue, but I do want my mother in law to like me."

"My mom thinks you're amazing," I informed. "She was really happy when I told her we were getting married."

The woman that would be my wife in a few short weeks smiled. "Next, should my hunters be invited? They're family, but they tend to cause problems when they visit Olympus."

"Things shouldn't be more than a couple of hours," Hera reasoned. "In all likelihood, this is the only time you'll be getting married, so I'm going to mark them down for an invitation and exempt them from the formal wear requirement."

Artemis chuckled. "Is that all?"

"Are you going to share your honeymoon plans with anyone?" Hera inquired.

"Not a chance," my future wife replied firmly. "Aphrodite or some other insane immortal would just bother us."

"That's fair," Hera remarked decidedly, scribbling something else down. "On the morning of the seventeenth, be here by seven AM on the dot. Other than that, you're free to go."

We returned to our palace and Artemis kissed my cheek. "So, what now?"

"Now, I think we should go tell my mom about the date of the wedding and its location being on Olympus."

She nodded. "To be honest, I sometimes forget how important of a detail that is to mortals."