"We are nearing the border to Venatrix." Will informed me after around two hours of riding. So far, no sign of any knights coming after us. I had slowed after an hour of hard riding but I would not let the horse simply walk. We had to be going a little faster than a jog. Even with no sign of any knights, I would not take chances.

"I know William. I've been watching the signs."

"Have you? I do not think I can believe you were when we ended up with Gabriel last time."

"I am now." I rolled my eyes, then it occurred to me he was not able to see me.

"I will tell you anyway."

I could not help rolling my eyes again at his words. I was annoyed and yet, a small smile threatened to take over my features. I must be tired or something. There could be no other ewason for me to want to smile at Will at that moment. Thankfully, Will spoke again before it did.

"Nico?"

"Yes?"

"Remember when we met?"

I paused as the silly memories began to flood my brain quicker than a prized horse running (A/N: bad simile ignore me my brain has not been well). I remembered every detail but that was not something Will would be informed of. "I suppose so. Why do you ask?"

With his arms around my waist, I was able to feel his arms go up then down as he shrugged. "Only wondering."

Well. Now I would not be able to think of anything else. "You brought it up for a reason."

I felt him shrug again, "I confessed my feelings for you."

"It seems that you did."

"I'm sorry."

"Excuse me?"

"That was not the time nor place to inform you of a childhood crush."

While it was true, I couldn't take it as an apology because there was no reason for him to apologize. That day (technically speaking, I still was but it didn't matter), I was engaged and even though I did not like it, we had accepted it as the truth. We had thought that it would happen no matter what. But right then, that was not the case. I was on a horse, with Will, running away from that. I was escaping the marriage I was opposed to. "William. Do not apologize for such foolish things."

He chuckled. I had to say I liked the feel of his chest reverberating against my back and listening to his tinkling laughter. "Are you━"

"Wait. Quiet."

I had heard something.

I slowed the horse to a trot and then had her still. When everything was quiet, I listened again.

Faintly, very faintly, the sound of horse hooves hitting the earth could be heard. It seemed to be coming from the direction we were heading.

"Will━"

"I heard it." His arms tightened around me and if I did not know better I might have said he had done it protectively. "Head into the forest. Hurry. If we turn back, these hours we spent running will have been for naught. There is always the chance that those are not knights coming but we must not take any chances."

I did as he said and urged the horse into the forest, being as quick as I possibly could. Going any faster would make noise and we did not need that if we are attempting to hide. We managed to hide in the nick of time. It could have taken us a shorter amount of time but with Will's injured leg, we had to make sure not to hurt it. Will had enough on his plate because of me. I would not even add poking his injury to that.

We hid behind a cluster of trees. I peeked through them to see who was coming and it was indeed a group of knights, as they neared further, I could listen to their bickering.

"How has he gotten away from us? All seven groups took different paths."

"Sir Mathew, that means any other group could have found him."

"Maybe so. We are to return to the town we were assigned for news in two days time. We..." His voice faded as they rode past our hiding spot. I dared not move or speak for another ten minutes when I was sure they were far away from us.

I turned to Will, "Did you hear that? Seven groups. We have come across three now. That means another four are out there right now. We must be careful."

"Were we not before?" Will was now lying on the grass. I wondered when he had done that and how one could look so stunning surrounded by twigs and almost lifeless grass.

"Yes but now we are aware of how many groups are out there looking for us."

"And we know that in two days they will be settled in a certain town. Awaiting a letter most likely."

"William."

"Yes?" His eyes were closed now. I noticed beads of sweat around his hairline. His leg was no doubt paining him.

Whatever words my lips were forming were forgotten. Instead they curved into a frown. "Our priority will be taking you to a healer."

His eyes snapped open, "Nico. Do not be ridiculous. Why do I need a healer? We are getting you as far away from Ethan as we can. We will run as long as we have to to stop that wedding."

I did not respond and crouched down to remove his bandages.

"Nico. Stop. That is not necessary. I'm fine."

I continued to unwrap his leg.

"Nico. For━"

"I knew it." There was pus in the wound and the veins around it were prominent and a greenish tint. "They poisoned you." The fact that it had gotten this far in one night scared me. In two days the poison would reach his abdomen. Who knew what it would do then. What if he lost the use of his leg? What if we had to remove his leg? How had I not noticed sooner?

"It doesn't matter. We have to━"

"You jest. There will be no more discussion. We will find a healer and get you better."

"Nico━"

"No. Remember when you said you cared for me? Well guess what? You've come to mean something to me too and I will not have you die. I won't have you hurt." Will's eyes rounded at my words. As what I said registered to my brain, my cheeks darkened and I could no longer hold his gaze. I quickly looked away. What had I said? What the fuck? No. "W-what I meant to say was that I still need your help. I can't have you dying before we are sure Ethan has backed off."

For some unknowable reason, his eyes softened at my words. "Okay. If that is what you wish."

I started rewraping his leg. I didn't look back up at him. "Thank you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I was able to make him out tilting his head in confusio. "Why are you thanking me?"

There were many reasons. When I first met him he asked me to dance and maybe he had not done so just because he wanted to, like I had originally thought, but perhaps to help me avoid Ethan in the first place. He delivered my ring in person. Despite not really knowing me, he promised to help me if I wanted to get away. And of course, the fact that he was here now, helping me just as he had said he would. I admitted to myself I might never really tell him but I was eminently appreciative of his actions towards I. Though of course, I did not tell him this. I only shook my head and stood once I was done and offered him my hand to help him stand. He took it and I pulled him to his feet. "Let us go. The sooner we find a healer, the better."

Will nodded and soon we were on our way. Luckily, we did not come across any more knights. It made things a lot easier on Will, he didn't need to unmount again and again. Though annoyingly, he tried to discourage me from finding him a healer three other times. I ignored his stupidity. After all the time we had spent together, if he was not anything else, he had become my friend. And as a friend, I refused to allow him to continue suffering for my sake. He also must know by now how I was towards my friends. He had seen me with Reyna plenty of times. He must know my friends are like family to me.

Like family. Was Will like family? Yes, I cared for him but like family? Did I think of him the way I thought of Reyna and Hazel? In my head, I put an image of them beside him. I think...no. When I saw Hazel and Reyna, my heart swelled but it wasn't the way my heart swelled when I looked at him. The feelings were...different. But I couldn't quite place my finger on what it was that set him apart from my sister and best friend.

Night came and as we were far from any town, we set up a shoddy camp beside the road, hiding behind a couple trees. I helped Will off the horse only after I had covered the ground in a blanket for him. "I was to be the one taking care of you. Not the other way around."

Shrugging I said, "Shouldn't have gotten yourself shot then."

"I would do it again if it meant getting poisoned instead of you."

I did not reply. I helped the horse to some water.

"Nico, I really believe the urgent matter right now is getting you far from Vindectae. Once we have gone as far as we can, we'll look for a healer. Ethan has to stop looking for you someday."

The horse lay down, ready to sleep and I followed suit. If Will intended to keep insisting I let him be and die then I had no intention to listen to him. He could talk all he wanted on his own. I shifted to lay on my side, facing away from him. "Goodnight William."

"Nico. Please?"

At the sound of his pleading, my resolve to sleep and let him talk to my back snapped. I sat up like a bolt of lightning. I swear I almost punched him. I have no recollection of how I managed to hold back. "Please? Are you William, perhaps, out of your damn mind?"

"I only wish for your peace of mind."

"Oh do you now?" In my fit of rage, I did not notice when I crawled between his legs to kneel there and point at him.

"Yes."

"And yet you want me to pretend everything is okay and let you die from poisoning? What the fuck William?" I pointed at him a couple more times for good measure. "You wanted to be friends. We are. And now you want to die? Do you have no idea what you've come to mean to me?"

He was stunned. His mouth hung open and he stared at me like he had never seen me before in his life.

"Mute now, Solace?"

"I━I didn't mean it that way. I do want you to feel safe." He took the hand that I was pointing at him with and covered it with both hands, holding it to his chest. His eyes never broke away from mine. "Nico, I want you to have a choice in your life. I do not know your feelings toward being born royalty. I do not know your feelings toward being pushed to be king after your sister's death. But I do know you did not wish for your mother's death. I know that you didn't wish for your sister's death. And I know you do not wish to marry Ethan. And I know when I offered you the choice to leave that engagement behind, you took it. So I would like to go ahead and say that I wish for you to have more choices in life. I know that maybe you did want those things or you are okay with them but I still want to offer those choices because in my experience as a duke, no one offered me choices."

I was at a loss for words. No one in my life had ever offered me a choice that did not involve food. The limited choices I did have gave me enough freedom to trick my mind into thinking it had exactly what it wanted. I think I reacted to the news of Ethan so strongly because that thin reality had finally shattered at the belief that at the very least I would have a choice in who I spent my life with was ripped from my grasp. I had believed if I had someone who I honestly and truly loved by my side forever I would be okay. I never thought Reyna and Hazel would always be there. They could always move on to lives of their own after I became king and I would not stop them. I would never steal their ability to make the choices of their lives. But once that was taken from me everything crumbled. Everyone I loved was being snatched from me by a choice someone else had made for me.

When, in a sense, Will gave me back that choice I preferred it to being forced away from my loved ones. I was the one to make the choice. No one else. Me. And by making that choice I knew there was the prospect of getting more choices in the future. The choice to keep in touch with the people I held dear and never really leaving them behind.

"Nico?"

My eyes refocused on Will's. I had been quiet too long. His brows were scrunched in uncertainty. My hand was still pressed to his chest. I could feel how fast his heart was racing. Either from it trying to pump blood faster than the poison could travel or an entirely different matter. I decided not to go down that road. "Will."

"Yes?"

My eyes traveled down to his very cute pink lips. They looked perfectly soft. Just right for a kiss. "Thank you for being my friend."

A ball of fire exploded over our heads when Will opened those luscious lips of his and I jumped back, pulling Will with me. He landed on top of me and a woman sauntered before us. "Who are you and how did you find me?"

As gently as I was able, I pushed Will off of me and helped him stand with me. I pushed him behind me, keeping a wary glance on the woman. Only then did I take a closer look at her. She wore gloves, was leaning heavily on her left using a cane and in her opposite hand was another waiting fireball. She had a hood drawn low over her face so if you saw her passing by, you would never know who she was.

"We are simply camping here for the night. I assure you, we do not know who you are. We mean no harm."

The soft rasp of a whisper was heard before my words were floating in the air. They were white, like an early morning mist, but soon a blue slowly seeped into the letters one by one. She closed her fist, extinguishing the fireball, when all the words were coloured blue, she waved the hand that had held the fireball through the words of mist and pulled down her hood. I was surprised to find a young face under the cloak. "I see that you speak the truth. In that case, I want to know how you came to camp outside my home."

Not knowing if I could trust her, I only told her part of the truth. "My friend has been poisoned. He has to rest. I give you my word, tomorrow morning we ride in search for a healer."

Her eyes softened when I was done speaking. "Poisoned you say? Perhaps I can be of assistance."

"Are you a healer, too?" Will took a small step in her direction, which was actually a step closer to me. I had an urge to reach behind me and take his hand but I did not because that would be weird and there was really no reason for me to do so.

"No. But sorcery can help some." She jerked her head to gesture behind her. "Follow me if you want my help."

I didn't hesitate. I took Will's arm and draped it over my shoulders but he didn't take any more steps. "Nico. What if she means to hurt us?"

"If she can help you, I'll take that chance."

"It's not worth it."

"You're my friend. Of course it is. Now move those damn legs, she's getting further away."

He must have finally understood I would not give in and moved. We followed her a little further into the woods. Her hut wasn't too far from where we were camped. Will's words followed me on the small path leading to her front door. What if she did mean to hurt us? Or worse, what if her help meant cutting off Will's leg? If I were him, I know I would have preferred to have both legs attached.

But I entered anyway. As I had told Will, I would take that chance because it was a choice I needed to make if I wanted Will to recover as soon as possible.

Upon entering, I was taken aback by how cozy the simple hut was. In one corner was a mattress on a worn wooden frame covered in very soft looking blankets. In another corner there was a table with two chairs and a couple dirty dishes sitting atop the rickety old structure. Next to that was a fireplace. Something was boiling in a pot hanging over the fire. There were a couple cupboards on the walls and a single chest at the foot of the bed. No doubt it held her clothing. She waited for me to stop looking around before motioning for us to sit.

I was helping Will to a chair before me and she spoke up. "No. Him on the bed."

I laid him on the bed like she instructed and then brought a chair next to the bed. I would not be sitting across the room from him. She didn't seem to care and even brought the other flaking chair next to me. "Show me the poisoned area."

Will rolled up his pants leg slowly as to not irritate the wound. He peeled the bandage away and set it next to him. I looked to the sorceress to see if she knew what poison it was but her expression gave away nothing. It was completely blank.

She whispered an illegible phrase and paced her fingers on the original wound made by the arrow. The poison pulsed beneath her fingers and I saw her eyes flash a vibrant silver. No sooner had she set her fingers on his skin that she took them back. "This poison has magic. You are lucky to have run into me."

"So you can help him.¨ I did not pose it as a question. There was no need to. She had already stated she could when I told her he had been poisoned.

She nodded once. "Of course. I can take away the magic element to the poison. However, I do not do healing magic. You will have to find a healer to take care of that."

I nodded. "Any help you are able to give us."

She shrugged and I felt it was the most emotion she had shown us since she found us by the road. "Poison is a terrible way to loose someone. Knowing if you had time you could have done something to save them. It can haunt you for eternity."

There was a short awkward silence before Will said, "I'm sorry."

She waved him off and shook her head, "It is in the past now."

Not knowing what else to say, we both kept quiet as she stood and started working on what looked like a potion. She set another smaller pot beside what was already boiling in the fire. She left it there for what seemed like no time at all before pouring some into a vial with another liquid. There was some mixing and more adding of liquids. I wanted to ask if a potion was what it was but I wasn't sure if I should. This was her home. I was the guest and she was a sorceress. What if my question spoke out against her? She could make Will worse. And where would we find another sorcerer to help us? I was debating this still when I realized it was stupid to worry. It was a question and if the exchange that just happened told me anything was that she had feelings as much as the rest of us. And she knew how it felt to have someone you cared about be poisoned. It was a simple question, I decided to ask, "Is what you're asking what will help?"

She didn't look away from the liquid in her hands, "Yes." She didn't elaborate. She finished and brought the liquid to Will, "Drink this." He did and she continued speaking. "Like I said earlier, it will remove the magic from the poison. That means the poison will slow and it will no longer be as strong. Either way, it is still there. There is a possibility it will not kill him this way but it can paralyze him. I know a healer you can go to. Mention my name, Calypso, she will help you."

Her name sounded familiar but I was shocked enough to push that to the back of my mind to ponder what exactly she had done for us. This stranger was helping us. So much. Just because she knew what it was like to have someone close poisoned? Was such kindness real? But with Will the way he was, I was left with no other choice than to accept it.

"I would offer to let you stay the night but I suggest you keep moving. The town where the healer lives is a two days ride from here. The sooner you get to her, the better."

I stood because maybe the sooner we were away from her, the better it would be too. "What is the town called?"

"Columba. You cannot miss it, there is a statue shaped like a dove when you reach it."

"And the healer's name?" Will sat up, probably having the same thoughts as I.

"Theresa." A soft emotion rippled through the air when she spoke the name. At first I thought it to be longing but it was more than that. It was longing and love and old memories all rolled into one. An old lover perhaps? But no. It was not that kind of love. An old friend maybe, someone whom she trusted. Perhaps they were no longer friends.

"Calypso, thank you." Will got on his feet and I hurried to stand by his side were he to need my help or fall. "Your kindness will not be forgotten."

She nodded once and we were out the door without another word from her. She only spoke until we had reched the trees again. "It was my pleasure Duke William. Love should not be forced." We both looked back at her mention of Will's title. She smiled in my direction. "I wish you luck, Prince Nico."

It was when she closed the door that we looked at each other, surprised. Maybe her kindness wasn't faked after all.

A/N

Sorry. Sorry. I took forever. Two months? More? I'm so sorry. Private college deadlines had me on edge. I was completely stressed and it caused terrible writer's block. I wrote anyway when I could but I feel like this is terrible anyway and I'm still not done with school stuff. Then I went to Mexico for three weeks (hadn't seen my grandma in 16 years and it was awesome to see her also I'm an official adult yay more stress). No internet and wattpad kept glitching not letting me write as much as I could have but it's done now! I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway. I'm so sorry for the wait. I just hope the writer's block will be completely gone soon.

Late holiday gift? Just kidding. You guys deserve more than a shitty update after two months.

But happy late holidays and happy new year. I really hope you guys had awesome holidays. And I wish you all have the best year in 2017.

Yours in demigodishness and all that, Izzy