"Nico." I heard him sigh my name and he pulled me closer. Will's chest was perfectly pressed against my back. I felt more rested than I had in a while.

"Are you awake?" I asked softly just in case he was merely speaking in is sleep.

"Not yet, my love," he mumbled.

I chuckled, "Yet you speak."

"Sleep talk, darling."

At his use of the word darling, a memory of Ethan calling me so surfaced and I mentally recoiled from the thought. I wished for Will to call me darling more often so that memory could forever be buried in greater memories of Will's deep voice in the morning.

I rolled over in bed to face him. His arms loosened long enough for me to make the turn. I reached up to cup his face in my hands. His eyes opened a fraction. "If we were not trying to get as far as we possibly could from Vindectae, I could lay in this bed with you forever but we are and I want to go further."

"I thought you wanted to be in Venatrix?"

"I did, but they found us not too far from here, they are bound to come looking here."

"Are you certain?"

I nodded, "I do not want to risk capture another time."

"Then, as you wish."

I sighed and removed my hands from his face. "I'm getting up now." His arms left my sides and I rose from the bed. I heard his sigh when I did and rustling as he followed suit. Without his warmth I felt cold but nothing putting my clothes on could not fix.

When we were both dressed, we turned to face each other. Will was blushing and there was a small smile gracing his rosy lips. At his blush, a vision of the night before brought a rush of heat to my own cheeks. With the blush on my cheeks and the memory on my mind, I could no longer look at him. Instead, I focused on anything else but him. I began gathering my things. However, he was not having it. Will rounded the bed and took my hand. I had no choice but to look at him.

He squeezed my hand, "Last night. Did you-do you think we should not━"

It was obvious he was trying to hide it, but there was worry pooling in his eyes. I quickly denied his assumption. "No! No, Will, it was fine. Everything is fine." I stopped. "Not everything but last night was good. I just have never done anything...like that."

"Oh." If it were possible, his cheeks reddened, making his freckles glow. "I see." He cleared his throat, "Well. I have never done that either so you are not alone."

His words surprised me. My embarrassment faded. He? The man I swore was a god, at the very least, the son of one, had never been intimate with anyone else? I blinked. "You?"

Will frowned, "Yes. Should I have?"

"I mean. William, you are incredibly sexy. I don't understand."

He smiled. "Why thank you. But do I seem like one to do that sort of thing all the time?"

"That was not what I meant. Someone like you must have had past lovers."

Will shook his head, "You must have not caught the part where I have been in love with you my entire life. Besides," he shrugged, "Even if I had not been, I was far too busy to do anything with anyone."

"And yet you took the time to travel to Inferos and see my introduction."

With his free hand, he reached up to caress my face. "Because I love you Nico di Angelo."

I had a sudden urge to kiss him and let go of his hand so I could wrap my arms around him.

"Your highness! Your grace" A girl burst through the doors and interrupted the moment.

I let go of Will at the sound of her voice. "What is it? What has happened?"

"The knights of Vindectae have reached the castle. Their king is with them."

How? After the last time, we were ahead. We must have been!

Will ran to the window but came back right away. He would not have been able to see or hear anything from here. We were as far from the entrance as we could have been on the other side of the castle. "What of Thalia and her archers?"

"She fends them off as we speak but we do not have the forces necessary to take an army on. This is a small castle and should worst come to pass, we will retreat. The heir is our prime concern."

I nodded. It made sense. Thalia had done what she could but she could not put her kingdom in danger for the sake of someone who does not want to get married. If anything was to be done, it would have to be done by me. The problem was mine and Thalia had done enough to keep us for the night. Now I had to face the issue myself. "Take me to Thalia please."

The girl nodded, "Follow me." She took off and I chased after her.

I heard Will's steps behind me as he ran. "What are you thinking?"

I shook my head, I couldn't answer that question. I could not look the man I loved in the eyes and tell him what I had planned. Not after the night before. Not after all this time. But I was tired and I wanted it to end. Spending the night with Will just made me realize how much I wanted him safe and how much I wanted him to live a life without running. Why did I drag him into this when all I had to do to solve it was give in? All I could have done was done what I was told in the first place. Will never would have gone through any of this. So he didn't have to know. Not yet. If everything went to plan...I would see Will again.

The girl had us run across the castle and go up several flights of stairs. The door at the top of rhe stairs led onto the roof. There we saw several archers and maids running back and forth, providing the archers with more and more arrows. Thalia was in the middle, shooting arrow after arrow fluidly. She didn't even look to be tired.

The girl ran to her, "Lady Thalia!" She yelled over the sound of knights yelling, marching and dying beneath us. "Prince Nico wishes to speak with you!"

At once, she turned. Her eyes landed on me and she ran to where Will and I stood. "What is it?"

The fact that the first thing she said to me was not something along the lines of "It's your fault they are here" eased some of the guilt I felt for putting her in that position. "I need to speak with you privately."

She nodded toward the door behind me. "Come."

We both turned to the door and Will took a hold of my hand, ready to follow but I shook my head and he let my hand fall. His eyes were sad at my action. "Just us."

Not wanting to see more of the hurt lurking in his sky blue eyes, I turned and joined Thalia on the other side of the door. "What do you want to say?"

"I'm turning myself in."

Her eyes widened, "Prince Nico you━"

"You cannot fight someone else's dilemma. I need to face him. I'm tired of running."

She saw the resolve on my face and did not question me further. "Very well."

"However, I have one last favour."

She nodded once, "Continue."

"William. I need you to take him with you. Send him home when you return to the queen. And don't let him come after me."

"I will do as you ask."

I thanked her and together we returned to the roof. Will was anxiously waiting by the door. As soon as I opened it, he was on me. "What is it Nico? What are you planning on doing?"

I ignored his questions. "Go with Thalia and her hunters when they leave. For now stay here with them. I have something to do. I need to speak with Ethan." I didn't like lying to him but if I told him the truth, he would follow me and that was out of the question. He was to be safe while I started and finished my task.

He looked at me like I was insane. "Are you bonkers? I refuse to let you go to him alone."

"Solace. I need you to trust me. I promise nothing will happen to me. I have a plan." I did have a plan but it was not one he would be particularly fond of.

Worry was clear on his face and I knew he wanted to hear what I had in mind but that wouldn't be happening. At last, when I said nothing he sighed and gave in, "If anything happens to you down there, I will come after you."

I smiled, glad I had asked Thalia to keep him with them. He would be safe. "Of course."

The marching stopped and the sudden silence startled me. I hurried to the edge of the roof beside Thalia and looked down. The knights were looking straight ahead. The only one looking up was the king. Seeing them there brought back the question I had earlier. How had they caught up to us? How did they know?

"Prince Nico." Ethan's voice rang around us. The only other sounds were of his injured and dying men. "It is I, King Ethan of Vindectae."

I glared down at him. Stating his name and rank like it mattered to me and that would be what brought me back to him. I guess in a way it had. His knights were the ones after me. And no doubt the ones who found me. "I know who you are. I am, unfortunately, engaged to you. I'm sure you remember."

He gave no indication that he had heard me and continued speaking. "I have come for you. Come down here now and I may go easy on your punishment."

I grit my teeth to keep from saying something I could come to regret. I was tempted to ask him to keep away from Will for my cooperation but I doubted he would keep that promise. Maybe if I didn't bring it up, he would forget about him and Will could stay safe with Thalia. I couldn't look him in the eyes as I agreed and turned to make my way down to him. As I walked past Will, he looked at me in shock, his mouth a perfect "o". Only when the door closed behind me did I hear him start after me. He yelled my name and after, to be let go. But after that, I was too far down to hear anything else.

Exiting the castle brought with it a feeling of slight relief accompanied by prickling on my skin. The relief came from no longer being on the run but my skin prickled because of the reason I had stopped running. When Will's shouts reached my ears, the prickling only intensified. I did not like leaving him behind but there was no other choice, I doubted he would let me go through with my plan if I had told him of it.

Ethan was soon before me atop his chestnut horse with a smug expression on his face. Gritting my teeth, I refrained again from saying something I should not. Smirking, he took my hand and placed a kiss on the back. It took everything I had not to recoil from his uninvited touch. "Prince Nico, at last."

Most likely knowing I would not reply, he dropped my hand immediately and looked up toward Will and Thalia. His Cheshire smile had chills running down my spine. "Unfortunately, I know the Amazons of Venatrix are far stronger than my knights so I will not war against you." He trained his eyes on Will struggling against the archers. "Duke William however, come near my Prince again and I promise the outcome will not be pleasant."

Unable to look at Will, I clenched my hands at my sides and asked Ethan if we could leave. He smiled in my direction and bid farewell to the people atop the castle like they were old friends. He turned with a flourish, his cape billowing behind him and waved his hand in a twirling motion to indicate our departure to his soldiers. I followed behind him as they cleared a path for him to reach the front. Following behind his horse made me feel like a slave and I have no doubt that was what he had intended. Nobody even looked at the dead or hurt soldiers at our feet either. It was like they had disappeared as soon as they had been hit by an arrow and dropped to the floor.

At the front, Ethan finally acknowledged me again, "You ride with me." He reached a hand down and I had no choice but to take it. I had to appear docile. I was pulled onto his horse behind him. He didn't speak again until we were well away from the castle, no longer in the hills. "I trust since you came to me of your own will, you will not run again."

I kept my mouth shut. He remained quiet the rest of the three week journey to Vindectae.

The castle was just as I remembered. Upon reaching it, Ethan immediately ordered one his maids to take me to my room and a knight to keep me there. Thankfully, he did not take my sword, it stayed loyally by my side.

I stayed in my room until supper. The knight remained outside my door and I only prayed Ethan would not come through that door. I needed time away from him to be alone with my thoughts to figure out exactly how I would go through with my plans.

After running away, if the knight posted at the entrance to my room was any indication, Ethan no longer trusted me to be alone without one of his guards. When the time came, I would have to remove his guards from the equation. That would prove to be a difficult task. Before I might have been able to bribe them, but money was no longer on my side. Threatening them would not work either. I was one and they were many. The last choice I had available was to simply ask them, but that could not work, they were not loyal to me.

But I doubted they were loyal to Ethan in any other way than being his knights. I could yet make them loyal to me, if I could befriend them. I would have to figure out which of the knights were with him and talk with them. It would have to be quick. I wanted to get back to Will as soon as possible.

My door opened not too long after I made my decision. The same maid from before came in and informed me Ethan was asking fro me, it was time for supper. Grudgingly, I followed the maid down to the dining hall. As soon as we reached it, she scurried away toward the kitchens and I was left alone with Ethan. There was no other maid or Maxwell in sight. I hoped either would appear soon.

Ethan pulled out a chair beside his. I badly wanted to pull out another chair but I needed him to begin to trust me. I sat in the chair he pulled out. He smiled and sat in his own chair. "I see that you are finally coming to your senses."

I thought the best option at that moment would be not responding.

He sighed, "Now that you have graced me with your presence, is your voice unavailable?" I only smiled and was surprised when he returned the smile. "I see. I quite like you better this way."

My smile did not waver, I would not allow him to see his comment had bothered me. "Come now, Ethan. Surely you must know I only keep quiet to refrain from insulting your inflated ego."

His lips hardened. "You should have continued to keep your mouth shut."

"I apologize. I see that comment did what I had been trying to avoid."

He was infuriated. I could see it in his eyes. A second later, the emotion changed to one of interest. "Why did you come to me, Prince Nico? I know those Venatrix would have helped you get away." Recognition flooded his eyes and his expression changed again in the blink of an eye. "You did it for that Duke of Caelum. You wish to protect him."

I kept my face perfectly blank, eyes locked with his. I would not back down or give away my plan. "You speak nonsense. He can take care of himself."

Ethan did not back down either. "You will forget about the Duke."

"I will never forget the man I love." When his body became stock still before me, I realized the graveness of my mistake.

He took hold of my face and held so hard, I had no doubt it would leave a bruise. In the coldest voice I have ever heard he said, "From now on, I am the man you love."

A/N

Guys, I am very sorry. Life got in the way and still is, actually, I've been working on this little by little and I apologize if it's terrible. I haven't been able to really focus. I want to say that once summer starts, I can focus more but if things don't go as planned, I'll have summer school and I'm adult now so now I really need a job if I ever plan on really starting my life and doing what I want with it. But fear not, even if I have all of that, I still like doing this so I won't stop. Even if you all stop reading it, I need something to keep me sane and thinking at least somewhat rationally. But those who are still reading, thank you for bearing with me.

Okay so thank you guys, have a great summer. I apologize again, let's see how I fuck up my life next.

Yours in demigodishness and all that, Izzy