chapter one hundred and three

─── heroine of olympus has a nice ring to it

Unknown 

          𝔈verywhere I looked, there was another body. Each one was piled atop each other, friend and foe until the ground was soaked in red blood trailing down towards the sea below the mountain.

Workers were differentiating and moving people, taking note of names and dog tags in the dark, torches and fires keeping them company but I pushed on. They'd started quickly this time around, the battle had only just finished. The first time we had fought on this magnitude, it had taken days to muster the people willing to do this. Still, it was impressive. The battle had barely finished.

Or at least, the battle on the top of the mountain had. The lightning had finally cleared leaving pitch black storm clouds and not much else. It was so dark that I could barely see my hand ahead of me. I shone the torch around, dodging the ruins of black obsidian that had once made the palace of the Titans. Now, it was shattered and I had to find the cause of it.

Heading towards the throne room seemed the obvious place to start.

It was pitch black in the room and for a moment, I could fool myself into thinking that I was alone but I felt the ozone in the air, something reaching out.

Lightning crackled opposite me, eyes lighting up. They were bright blue, like laser beams and any normal person would have gulped in fear. But I knew better.

The August sun cracked through the clouds and I saw her clearly for the first time. Her armor was drenched in blood, both red and golden, marring the colours on her cloak and covering her skin. Despite her hair already being blonde, it glittered in the sun with streaks of gold from ichor. She was covered in Titan blood.

Her sword, Ivlivs as she had named it, dripped blood and ichor along the ground and down towards me and in her other hand...I took a breath as I saw it.

Her knuckles, bloody and bruised, were clutched around the Titan's hair, holding his severed head like a trophy.

She stood from where she was sitting atop the ruins of the throne, tossing it down to me. It bounced through the bodies of monsters and enemies, landing at my feet as she followed.

"Job well done." Despite their being a lack of audience, her voice filled the room and could capture my attention more than anything else. "You were right, it was Krios. All that worrying for nothing."

"All that worrying to be safe." I corrected her as she hummed and stepped closer. "Well done."

"My father would be proud." She said, nodding her head as she flipped the sword into the air, catching the coin and pocketing it. "We did well here. Toppled the throne, defeated the Titan. He would be proud. Justice has been served."

"Would your father be happy with so much death around us?" I questioned gently, knowing that this was always a bad topic for her. "We lost a lot of our own soldiers today, not to mention, some of those people we killed were children."

"And Rome will mourn their losses and pray for the families of those affected." She countered, turning to look at him. "My father knows that there is no victory without sacrifice. I know their souls will find peace and rest-"

I grabbed her arm before she could walk past, holding her beside me as she caught my eye. The adrenaline had died, the lightning no longer flickering across her body.

"Goldie..." She softens more at the nickname, her eyes telling me everything I needed to know. "You don't have to put on this front with me. You don't have to be the Praetor. It's me. It's only me here."

"The gods are always watching." She corrected me, her shoulders tensing. "Do you think I've finally made him proud?"

I couldn't hear the gods in my head, couldn't hear their words but I knew that she wanted her father's approval more than anything. She wanted, needed to make him proud and I didn't want to be the one to tell her that her father probably wasn't paying attention and was busy elsewhere. She'd just keep pushing and pushing to be better and better, despite already having exceeded that target long ago. 

"Yes." 

They might have been a small white lie, but she had to hear it. Her shoulders relaxed, a deep breath leaving her mouth as she finally squeezed my hand back, leaning further into my side. Both of us take a moment, with her hand clutching into my own and mine holding her steady.

"Are you injured?" She reaches up, tilting my head back and forth as the clouds clear up overhead. I shake my head but she continues to check anyway. "How many dead?"

"Not sure. The official reports aren't back yet, but from outside, it doesn't look great." I told her. "We've got people already helping to clear bodies and the infirmaries are full."

"We'll make more space, convert one of the barracks, make space in New Rome. Use the parliament if we have to." She brushed her eyes, trying to take the blood off of her face as I hum. "When the official reports start coming in, letters need to be sent out and addressed signed by me and Reyna and then by the centurion of their legion."

"I know how these work." I pointed out. We'd all become a bit too familiar with what happened in the case of someone's death over the past few years. We'd lost a lot of people. "There are going to be a lot of letters, Goldie."

"They fought valiantly." She reiterated again. "Their souls will find rest. That's the best thing in this case. Better than being here."

"There were too many casualties." I repeat again, shaking my head. "I just...I don't know why we had to lose so many, why we did it without help. We asked."

"They are gods. They demanded it so, so it shall be so." I hum, before taking a breath. "Come on. They should see their praetor and their First Legion Centurion alive instead of hiding away."

"I think they were hoping I was dead." I mutter.

"Tav." She warns, tapping my head as I fight a grin. "Stop it. You know that's not the case. They do not all want you dead."

"No, most do though." I pointed out, before sighing. "I'm happy to disappoint them then."

"I did not want you dead."

"That is because you actually like me."

"Why do you still sound surprised?" We left the throne room with her rolling her eyes and me nodding. "You have known this for years now. And it's not like..."

"Ouch."

"I love you and I am very happy that you are alive." She turns to me, before leaning up to kiss me. It was like kissing a collapsing star, all kinds of spark and electricity and colours seemingly flying around the two of us and maybe that made me the black hole because I was sure that I was the one destroying her. 

As scared I am of her realising that I was the issue, I couldn't waste this chance with her, worried that she would slip from my grasp and leave for someone else, something else. The gods had been whispering in my ear of traitors and treason and it made me worried. I had heard Goldie's name being thrown around though it was often encoded so I couldn't be sure if it was right.

"There you two are!" I pull away, turning as I find Reyna storming up to join us. "This is carnage, Cress. We've got a lot to do." 

My girlfriend pauses, leaning into my side as we thinking.

"Octavian. Thought I'd find you here. We need some readings done." Reyna pulled a face. "I wouldn't ask you to do it now, but it's important. Death passage and the likes."

"Course." I nod before turning to Goldie as she settles back into being Praetor, her shoulders squaring and her eyes narrowing. She looks every bit as intimidating as her father's statue does, every bit like the daughter of the God of Justice.

"There are prisoners to process too." Reyna is muttering. "Thought I'd leave that to you."

"Yeah. I'll get right on it." I know that means for both of us, we won't be sleeping for the next few nights and one part of me wishes that maybe, just maybe, we had been born a little less conspicuous and our goals had been a little less high. But alas, she was the only Daughter of Jupiter, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion and now, a Heroine of Olympus and he was the Centurion of the First Cohort and the Augur of Camp Jupiter. They both had responsibilities, people to care for and help to heal and a city to rebuild.

Now, neither of them could afford to be weak or questioning of their abilities. They had to do their jobs.

"Octavian." I turn at the call of my name as Cressida touches my shoulder. Neither of us, despite having dated for as long as we had, told the Camp yet. The scorn and ridicule was not needed at the start of our relationship, with both of us barely being fifteen, and we had just never told anyone outright even after that. "We'll speak afterwards. Something is still on your mind."

"No need. Do your job." I mutter, flashing her a brief smile before turning and heading away.

I didn't want to tell her that even after defeating one, great threat, the gods were warning me of another.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, this is the end of Another Love. The bonus chapter is about the next book, Can't Pretend and you get to meet Cressida and Octavian and see that some changes have been made. Hopefully you enjoyed it.

Thank you for sticking with me for the past 103 chapters, I am so thankful to all the votes, reads and comments and I love how much you guys love Andi and Luke. I look forward to seeing you in the next book which is already up and once again, for the final time of Another Love;

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx