"Why did you decide to come with me?" Percy asked Annabeth as their horses began to gallop.

    They were planning on staying at inns until they arrived in Atlantis where they would spend a month. Afterwards, they would return home and Luke's trial would be held. Percy hopes everything went smoothly, but how could it? Luke could escape from prison or the peasants could revolt while he was pretending to be one of them. If he had not made a promise, Percy wouldn't be riding Blackjack right now.

      "Because no peasant lives alone," Annabeth said. "Besides, you'll need to know how to live. It's not enough to wear the clothes of a serf — you have to know what it feels like. I can help you with that. My father was a farmer and though we owned our own land, getting a job at the palace was the best thing that ever happened to me."

     "Correct me if I'm wrong, but unmarried women don't normally reside with men," Percy said. "I don't want the locals to look down upon you. Or for innkeepers to think that you're something you're not."

"That's why I'm pretending to be your wife," Annabeth said in a matter of fact tone.

    Percy hoped that Annabeth would not notice the redness spreading from his ears to his neck and face. Annabeth was going to live with him like she was his wife. His heart felt light and for the next few hours, his head was filled with romanticized ideas of pastoral life.

***

     The sun was dipping under the horizon when they found an inn. It was small and there was only one room left, but it came with a hot dinner and ale. Percy handed a few coins to the tall, lithe innkeeper with light brown hair and twinkling eyes. He gave them a key and directions to the room.

     "Well, isn't this pleasant?" Percy asked as he opened the door.

    Annabeth took in the sight of a single wooden chest, a plain bed, and a chamber pot shoved into one corner. The walls were wooden and peeling and the ground underneath their feet was covered in splinters. She sat down on the small bed and it creaked loudly. "We'll make do."

     "How can you be so cheery about this?" Percy asked. "The bed is a dingy, little thing."

     "Sire, most people don't have beds," Annabeth said. "This 'dingy, little thing' is a luxury to most people. We probably won't have one when we arrive at our house in Atlantis."

     Percy nodded. He had already received Lord Briares' confirmation that he would be coming soon. He wondered what the man would make of such an odd request. There was a knock at the door and the innkeeper, a lanky lad named Travis, appeared.

     "Dinner is ready," he said. "My wife, Katie, cooked up some soup with a plump pheasant that Connor caught this morning. Wait till you taste her cooking. It's the best in town."

     Annabeth and Percy set their cloth sacks filled with their belongings in the wooden chest. Then, they followed Travis to the kitchen. All the while, Percy listened to the innkeeper's chatter about how he had the best bride in town and he realized that he, a king, was jealous of a commoner.