Chapter 3: To the Verdant Plains

So now theyre getting ready to invade Apollo's lands.

Chapter 3: To the Verdant Plains

"Haa, haa, haa-oh fuck yes. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuuuuu-" Artemis moans could be heard by the entire keep as she was on her hands and knees in front of her husband. Percy's hands gripped her hips as he thrust in and out hard and fast, worn down by the half-hour of sex they had just been through.

The wolf bred the doe as he took her from behind. Once Percy could feel himself on the edge he calmed down and grabbed Artemis by the breasts, massaging them while kissing the side of her neck. Artemis' eyes closed in bliss as he rutted her, his heavy balls smacking against her and his sweaty skin rubbing up against hers.

Percy could hold no more and released inside her, flooding his wife with his seed and inciting a long drawn out moan from Artemis. Artemis had also come, and the feeling of his hot jizz hitting her womb had her legs shaking and if he wasn't holding her up by the breasts, she surely would have collapsed.

When he could feel himself no longer releasing into her, Percy unsheathed himself and Artemis fell forward onto the bed. Percy lowered himself down so he was practically laying on top of her as he kissed behind her ear softly. "Sleep well, Moonbeam." He whispered, and Artemis smiled.

Her husband got off and pulled the sheets up to her waist to cover her backside. He dressed himself quickly and left the room to check on his wife and children.

Aphrodite was seated in their dining room holding Artemis' babe Sapphire as she snoozed softly in her arms. Lyanna and Avrina sat in other seats at the table, the auburn-haired girl giggling as her older half-sister performed magic tricks for her amusement. Percy walked in wearing only some trousers and a coat, approaching Aphrodite and pecking her on the lips.

Aphrodite looked down and smiled at his exposed chest, stroking his abs and looking back up at him. "I trust she's worn out with ecstacy?" She asked, and Percy nodded with a grin. "Out cold."

He looked down at his daughter, just over a year old, asleep in her stepmother's embrace. "Beautiful Sapphire." He said quietly, smiling down at her. Named after the jewels in his royal crown. The infant did not stir from her slumber which Percy was all too happy with. Better she sleeps than shit herself and ruin the moment. Though he longed to once again see her beautiful eyes unlike any human's. They were long and sharp rather than soft and circular, like a cat's or a serpent's. Thus when Artemis presented his newest daughter to her husband he joyfully laughed and proclaimed his beautiful daughter Sapphire Snake-Eye.

He walked down the table and wrapped his arms around both Avrina and Lyanna with a grin. "And how's my little girls, huh? Baby Skin-Taker and sweet little Lion-Kissed." He greeted them, referring to them by their epithets.

Avrina had claimed the title by way of her sometimes terrifying and sadistic nature which was good to have amongst an honorable and cheerful band like her siblings. In reality the origin of the name was less scary, as when she was but a babe and not long after her teeth came through she had a great passion for biting things, most notably her father and stepmother, while she was totally calm around Aphrodite her mother.

In fact in her first battle against a horde of devout Khione worshippers she'd ended up going one-on-one with a lieutenant of the cult leader. With the small patrol headed to defeat them routed by a larger force than they'd expected, none of her allies were there to help Avrina when the brute named Thag Oakenheart, son of Hephaestus, charged her and threw her down onto the ground.

The cultist threw his weapons aside and lay upon the girl with his fists. He pounded her ribs to hear them crack, slammed her head into the ground until her ears rung, punched her eye until it almost popped right out, and continued beating on her for minutes on end. As the girl struggled to breathe, the cold replacing her lost blood, she looked up to the sky where snow continued to fall onto her beaten face. In the sky she saw the moon. A bright full moon.

When the sounds of the Hunt's horn rang from the treeline, the confused Oakheart was distracted from his prey, giving her the perfect opportunity for a counter attack. She leapt up, taking him by surprise, and sunk her teeth into the side of his neck. The demigod screamed as the godling spat out his flesh, blood pouring from his wound. She turned the tables and flipped him over, and as the arrows soared into the backs of the other cultists it was all Thag could do to pray to his goddess as the girl above began to tear through the fur, through the leather, through the skin and into his flesh like a naked werewolf.

When the Stag-Whisperer Artemis delivered her three head cultists' heads on spikes, Khione bent the knee and the wild North was tamed and brought into the folds of their kingdom. The reluctant lady of the savages. And thus Avrina, youngest of the snake-tongue's brood, earned her title and her place in many a song for the swan road and the feast hall.

How did Lyanna earn her epithet? She liked cats, and cats liked her back. She had enough strays under her protection to take down three full grown mountain lions. It wasn't a glorious origin but Lyanna was never destined for battle or war, her father and mothers all knew and were fine with that. Aphrodite was happy to have a girl to treat as a real princess rather than her warrior daughters who rolled their eyes at the thought of dresses. Well there was Kali who loved dresses but even she who bathed in diamonds was too hard to be considered the idealistic princess. Aside from Sapphire, Lyanna was the only child of Perseus to have not seen battle - training grounds not counted - as the rest of their children got their share of blood in the Wars of Northern Unification that had raged for 25 years until Lyanna was but a toddler only five years previous.

Obviously by the end of the quarter century war all gods that had dominions in the North had bent the knee to one or more of the three rulers. Some like Khione only bent to one such as Artemis while many had made sure to pledge fealty to all three in hopes of their good graces being bestowed upon them. But in only 25 years the Wild North, half the size of the populous and expansive South, a land of bandits and lawlessness, finally had a taste of order as they could unite under one banner and end all war between them - The Rose, the Bow and the Sword all connected in a triangle, the Unified North.

As Percy sat down with his daughters he ordered for a chicken to be prepared for three of them, hungry out of his mind after the morning of sex. They sat talking for a while as Aphrodite let Sapphire rest in her arms across the table before the door that Percy had come from opened once more.

They all looked up and none other than Aphrodite's eldest daughter Selena walked in with a smile at her parents and sisters. She came over and hugged Lyanna before taking a seat next to her. That quickly changed into taking Lyanna's seat as the young girl crawled into her lap which encouraged Selena to scoot over closer to Percy and Avrina.

Avrina smiled at her elder sister. "You smell like shit, Selena. Been laying with the pigs again?" She jested, earning a roll of the eyes from the older girl. "Ask your daughter. We were dueling in the courtyard and she flung some horse muck at me with her arrow." She said to Percy, disgusted by her own smell.

Lyanna cringed and crawled off of her over to her dad. "Eww! You stink!" She cried, and Percy raised an eyebrow at Selena. "My daughter? Doesn't really narrow it down." He reminded her, and Selena just scoffed.

"Well which of your daughters would chuck horseshit at her sister with an arrow?" She exclaimed, and Percy went over the list in his head. "Well there's Avrina, you, and Kaylee." He counted on his fingers.

Selena nodded with an arm raised to him in acknowledgment. "Well there you go." She said simply. Percy just shook his head and waved her off. "Well guess you lost then. Shoulda thought of that idea first. Now go wash yourself before you permanently pollute this dining room." He told his daughter, who nodded and stood with another roll of the eyes.

Selena stood and walked over to Aphrodite, messing with her mother by leaning in close to kiss her on the forehead and stroke the sleeping Sapphire's cheek, earning an exclamation of disgust from the love goddess after the story she had just overheard. With a mischievous chuckle the firstborn trueblood daughter of Aphrodite left for the bathhouse.

As she exited she passed an entering Artemis and the two looked at each other in passing before Artemis visibly cringed at the smell of her. She was clothed now in a casual attire. The goddess of the hunt walked first over to Aphrodite, and as if by sensing its mother's presence, the baby awoke and began to cry in her stepmother's arms.

Artemis smiled as Aphrodite reached up with Sapphire to hand her off, and Artemis gladly took the infant off of her. The usually hostile and stoic goddess became a docile and compassionate mother around her kids, not wanting a distant relationship such as hers had been with Zeus.

Thankfully she only had one boy which made things easier to handle. Girls were way easier to raise, well Artemis' girls at least. For some strange mixture of fate's reasoning, Percy gave Artemis all the gentle and relaxed children while Aphrodite bore him all the manic and bloodthirsty ones. One time Percy had even wondered if he was in the right state of mind during Artemis' pregnancy and he wasn't confusing her with Aphrodite because if it wasn't for her red hair it would be unbelievable for Lyanna to be Artemis' ichor.

Percy stood and walked over to his wives. "You know what day it is today?" He asked, smiling as he wrapped his arms around the two lovely women. Artemis feigned ignorance while Aphrodite gave a knowing smile. "No, dear husband. What day is it?" The auburn-haired goddess responded playfully.

He grinned and kissed both of them. "The mark of another year passing since the day I married you both." He whispered, making his wives smile and kiss him back in turn, before kissing each other too.

Aphrodite leaned back in her chair, crossing one sandaled-leg over the other. "Well do you have any ideas on how to celebrate it?" She asked, believing this was just another year. It was only their 27th or something so no important milestone, really.

Percy grinned, making Avrina turn to Lyanna and gag which earned a giggle from her little sister. "I have... a relatively good idea." He hinted, making Aphrodite smirk as her eyes wandered back down to his naked chest. "Well if your relatively good idea goes down the drain, I might have a better one." She said, once more lifting a finger and trailing it down his abs.

Percy smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling his gorgeous wife to her feet. "Later, beautiful. I must show you both something first." He said, taking Artemis by the shoulder. Sapphire was still asleep in his wife's arms but Percy didn't mind as he directed his lovely queens out of the room, with the baby's presence indicating that this was going to be something other than sex.

Just then the doors opened and quite a few people walked in, all of them children of the three gods that just left. Larissa, dirty and bloody, walked right through the room just giving a smile and nod to Lyanna and Avrina as she passed. Coming in after her were Atronex, Calix, Leonius and Kali.

As the stunning Kali sat down next to Avrina, she reached up with her thumb to wipe some blood off her sister's face, not realising it was just a scar. "Ugh, you need to actually let yourself heal, dear sister." The clone of Aphrodite told her younger sister. Avrina just rolled her eyes and shook her off. "As if. How else are people going to know not to get in my way?" She asked. Kali just scoffed. "On the contrast, scars make you look weak, as only the strong can survive battle without scars." She retorted, making Avrina stop and think for a second.

Leonius cheekily leaned over and pecked his sister on the cheek. "Oh don't listen to her Av, it doesn't matter how ugly you are. What matters is how scary you are on the inside." He grinned, making Avrina elbow him in the side annoyedly.

Calix narrowed his eyes at the doorway suspiciously. "What do you think they're doing?" He asked his siblings, thinking of the three adults who had left the room as the rest of them came in. Leonius chuckled as he began a hand-game with Lyanna. "Fuck you think they're doing? Finally giving us another brother, maybe?" He responded.

Atronex glared at his younger brother The Spear next to him. "Don't speak like that in front of Lyanna, Leonius." He said coldly, and the Spear just rolled his eyes at the Sand-Skin. "Yeah whatever, she already hears it enough at night through the wall of her room. Right, Ly? Fuck!" He said encouragingly, and the young child giggled at her older brother. "Fuck!" She copied, pissing Atronex and Avrina off.

"C'mon, Leonius. Grow up." Atronex said, and the teen just laughed. "What? It's funny! Fuck, fuckity fuck fuck fuck." He said, and Lyanna mimicked that too with a burst of laughter. Kali and Cal laughed while Avrina facepalmed.

Calix then shrugged. "Well I'm gonna go see what the matter is. They took Sapphire so I don't expect to be traumatized again but who knows." He said. The eldest son of Perseus and only son of Artemis then left his younger siblings to carry on with what they were doing. His boots made loud stomping noises as he walked down the hallway over wooden floorboards. He checked every doorway he came across for the next couple minutes, unsure of where exactly his parents had disappeared to.

He had travelled quite a ways through the castle and could not find where his parents had gone off too, but in one of the rooms he checked he found an alright substitute for the meantime.

"Either of you seen the moms and dad?" Calix asked his sisters, who were busy enjoying a nice warm bath after the morning of hard training. Larissa did not even open her eyes as she rested her head against the edge of the tub. "Leave us alone, dammit." She groaned to her twin.

Calix shook his head. "They're up to something, I know it. Its their anniversary and the three of them left somewhere in the building but they took Sapphire so I don't think they'd be doing you-know-what." He explained to the girls.

Selena sat forward in the tub. "What do you think they're up to?" She asked, genuinely intrigued at her older brother's conspiracies. Larissa sighed. "What does them bringing Sapphire have to do with anything? Mom could've put the baby back to bed before the three of them went off to 'celebrate' their anniversary. Case closed." She settled, but that answer didn't satisfy the siblings.

Calix put a hand on his jaw in puzzlement. "No, that's such an easy answer. I think they're doing something more unique, maybe dad's throwing them a feast or giving them a great present." He skepticized, and Selena had to refrain from making the obvious joke.

Undoubtedly their father was giving his wives an amazing present, but it was nothing like what Selena wanted to insinuate. Just down the hall from the bath house, in a cold and stone room much like the one Selena and the twins sat in at that moment, Percy stood holding his baby daughter Sapphire as he stood in front of a large table with his wives at his side. Artemis was standing there mouth agape as she looked at the table, Aphrodite with her mouth covered by her palm.

"My love, this is nothing like the North. We are barely organized into one kingdom. How are you gonna be able to take over one of the biggest kingdoms in the lands?" Aphrodite asked as Percy bounced the babe around to get her back to sleep. "Well it's not as though anyone will come to his aid. Hestia is... Hestia, Dionysus is barely a micro-state, Zeus is a hermit and last I checked he was on terrible terms with both Ares and Hera, though to be fair I made this map based off the original borders." He explained.

Artemis was shocked. "You'd really do this? You would go to war over me?" She asked her husband. Percy smiled and took her hand with his other, leaning in to rest Sapphire's head against Artemis' shoulder. The mother smiled and squeezed his hand, pulling her hand up to stroke the few tufts of Sapphire's black hair.

"Three decades ago my wife was betrayed by her own twin and robbed of her kingdom, her birthright, her throne. If not for my love as your soulmate, then for my pride as your husband, Hades will be shining with Helios' rays before I let such a betrayal stand. It matters not whether you are the aggressor or defender, no matter what amount of hope you have left, I will always fight for you two, my loves. It was never about land or power, I always fought for you. It was always you." He said, letting Aphrodite get in on the family hug.

Percy kissed his two wives deeply, leaving Sapphire snoozing softly in between her mother and father. He then leaned his head on top of Aphrodite's. "Besides, since Artemis is getting a kingdom returned to her for her anniversary gift, you may have anything you wish, my love." He offered his beautiful soulmate.

Aphrodite smiled softly and leaned into her husband. "She can keep her Uplands. It's been many years since I bore a child. I should like to raise another of my own children again." She agreed, and Percy smiled. "Deal." He said, kissing her head.

And so, with a knife stabbed firmly in the heart of Apollo's kingdom on the map, the Wild North declared war and prepared to invade the Uplands, deadset on reclaiming their Queen's former dominion.

I need to get my priorities straight. Sorry PhazonLordKaito, I'm still working on your brother's birthday story and I'm working on many other stuff. I have wayy too many unfinished lemons in my docs lmao. Hope you liked this, cant promise what ill update next.

Word Count: 3254