The Moon's Lover

15

Artemis PoV

I fell back on our-my bed and cried.

I cried, and cried, and cried until I couldn't anymore.

I know it sounds cliche, but at first, I just wanted Percy out of my life, and now I felt as though I couldn't live without him.

There was a long silence, and the only change was the light through the curtain.

Then there was a knock on the door, and the door creaked open.

"Lady Artemis?" A voice asked, stepping into my view. "What's so wrong that you haven't moved for days? You haven't gone to council meetings, you haven't answered my prayers; you've been dead to the world for nearly a month."

"He's gone," I croaked. "They made us marry, then we fell in love. Then they banished him to Tartarus."

I looked up at her. "I loved him, Thalia. I loved him and they took him away from me."

"Artemis, he's going to come back for you, you know that. If you love them, let them go. That's what people say," Thalia took a deep breath. "If he does love you, as you say, he will come back for you."

"What if he finds someone else?" I asked shakily.

Thalia hugged me. "Percy is the god of loyalty, Artemis. He loves you, and he would never cheat on you. He wouldn't want you to become a sad, dependent girl."

I hugged my lieutenant, thanking her for the supportive words.

I showered and changed before getting something to eat.

A council meeting was called, and I went.

They were shocked to see me.

"Artemis, what are you doing here?" Athena asked.

"I am an Olympian goddess. It is my duty to attend these meetings even if I despise the other members of this council," I answered disdainfully.

Ares scoffed. "It was just another man, Artemis. I could help you get over him."

I shot an arrow where the sun doesn't shine. A small target, but I hit it nonetheless.

"Do you love Aphrodite?" I asked.

"What?" The war god responded, shocked by the question.

"You don't. None of you has had romantic feelings for another person that doesn't involve bedding them," I spat.

"None of you know what real love is. None of you has deep emotion, so you can't tell me to get over it. You don't even know what it feels like!" I ranted.

I disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Collapsing back on my bed, I pulled the covers up and grasped the locket, closing my eyes.

The door slammed open, and I summoned the first weapon I could think of, jumping up and spinning to point the pistol at my intruder.

Ares put his hands behind his head. "Yo, yo, yo, chill girl. We all just thought if you fucked someone new then you'd be over your hubby and be back to normal."

He raises his brow. "Since when do you use a gun?"

"Since now," I answered, pulling the trigger and watching as the celestial bronze bullet pierced his head, and he fell back.

The thick-skulled bastard survived the headshot. I sighed and snapped my fingers, the war god appearing in my brother's temple.

Shortly after, Aphrodite stormed in, screaming.

"You killed him!" The love goddess shrieked. "You killed Ares! How could you? You know I like him!"

"In bed. You like him when you're in bed with him," I corrected.

Aphrodite charged at me, and I pointed the gun between her eyes. "He'll reform and come back. You get him back. You were pissed the man I'm in love with didn't want to sleep with you and complained. Because of you, I may never get to see my husband again."

I shuddered. "I didn't attack you after you had my lover banished to Tartarus, yet you attack me after I send your fuckbuddy to reform, which should take a month at most."

By then I was quaking.

I dropped the gun, tears leaking out the corner of my eyes. "Get out."

"Artemis...I'm sorry..." she trailed off. "I said get out!" I screamed at her.

I blinked, and she was gone.

I hid the gun under my pillow and took a nap.

When I awoke, Hermes was smiling down at me.

I jumped out of bed, my gun aimed between his eyes.

The god of thieves rushed forward, grabbing and squeezing my wrist.

I grunted in pain and dropped the weapon.

Hermes kicked it away and held my hands above my head.

"You want this, don't you, love?" He whispered.

I kneed him in the balls. "Don't call me that or touch me."

I grabbed the gun and fired it into his shoulder, my aim thrown off by the dagger in my gut.

I groaned and pulled it out, tossing it into the wall.

I stumbled into the bathroom to wash the wound, my sight becoming unfocused.

Breathing deeply, I grabbed a bottle of nectar and spilt it over the wound.

I put gauze over it, paying no mind to the fact that the wound hadn't completely healed.

I looked over at Percy's hoodie on my bed.

I slipped it on and drifted in and out of sleep full of nightmares.

As I rose from the sleepless night, I heard someone moving around outside and grabbed the gun from under my pillow.

I slowly moved out to the living room finding Aphrodite sitting on the couch.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "I thought about what you said," the love goddess shivered. "What I did was wrong. As the goddess of love, I shouldn't've separated you and Percy because of what I wanted."

"You apologized," I said. "Now leave."

Aphrodite sighed and walked out the door.

I wouldn't be able to forgive her until I was with Percy again.

I felt a pang in my heart and took a deep breath.

This was going to be a long time, no matter the actual length.

From then on, it was the same schedule.

1) wake up

2) bat away whatever intruders of my palace

3) food

4) shooting practice

5) change the bandage on the wound that wouldn't close

6) polish gun and hide under the pillow

7) try to sleep

From time to time, there were minor changes, but they were minuscule and of no importance to me.

One day, a meeting marked urgent had been notified.

I groaned and got out of bed, changing into fresh clothes as I read the date.

It had been 9 months since I had last seen Percy.

I sighed and appeared in the council room, where there was a standoff between the Olympian's and the forces of Tartarus, one of which I recognized as none other than
the husband of yours truly.