Chapter 17

This council meeting was boring.

And I was hating it.

All I wanted to do was mourn the passing my lost friend and huntress.

Stupid meeting. Stupid solstice. Stupid gods.

The half-bloods and the satyr had arrived on the pegasi not too long ago. Really these meetings should take less time than it does for children to fly across the whole of the United States on flying horses. You know as a basic rule.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

And we still hadn't gotten anything done.

I decided to get this meeting doing something and spoke up above the incoherent mess of insults and jibes aimed at other council members.

"These half-bloods have done Olympus a great service. Would any here deny that?" I said in my best politicians voice. The hubbub of noise came to a silence as I cast my eyes over the rest of the council. I met each of their eyes in turn. Ares seemed the most resistance to rewarding the heros but that was to be expected. He could hold a grudge like no other and I could remember that Percy had beaten him in combat.

The the silence broke when Apollo said. "I gotta say these kids did okay." Thankfully I'd learnt to tue out his disastrous attempts at poetry.

"All in favour of not disintegrating them?" Hermes said. Really that was going to be the reward for what these heroes had done. Some of the idiots began to raise their hand before Ares butted in with an even more idiotic comment.

"Hang on but these two are dangerous. It'd be much safer if we did and we've got them here…"

"We will not be disintegrating my son!" Poseidon interrupted.

"Or my daughter." Zeus grumbled "She has done well."

I heard my sister whisper to Percy something about feeling the love.

"I am proud of my daughter as well." Athena chimed in. Really she got captured and was freed by the others at the expense of two of my hunters, was that worth praise? Not that I voiced this. "But their is a security risk by letting them live."

This was when Athena's daughter became rather outraged. Apparently she didn't like her friends being threatened after they just saved her own life and then all Hades broke out. Each and every god and goddess had to have their say.

I had to speak up again to bring order to the throne room.

"I will not have them punished! I will have them rewarded. If we destroy heroes who do us a great favor, then we are no better than the Titans!" Oh yeah throwing the Titan card into the field of play. "If this is Olympian justice, I will have no part in it."

There was a bit of grumbling but it was accepted.

"Now I must make my first reward." I took a deep breath in. "My faithful companion, Zoë Nightshade, has passed into the stars. I must have a new lieutenant. And I intend to chose one." Gods this was hurting more than I expected it would. I haven't had to chose a new lieutenant in many millenia. "But first, father Zeus, I must speak to you privately."

He signaled for me to walk over to him and bent down from his throne to listen to me.

"What is it Artemis?" He asks, I can tell he just wants this over with so he can retake control of the meeting.

"I want to name your daughter my new lieutenant."

"Thalia?" I don't know why he was asking he only had one half-blood daughter alive at the moment. Or at least only one that I knew of.

"Yes, she's a powerful half-blood and it will take her out of contention for the prophecy." I was appealing to his own pride and gave a valuable reason, there wasn't a chance that this wasn't going to happen.

"I agree, proceed Artemis."

With that I walked back to my throne and announce. "I shall have a new lieutenant. If she will accept it."

I let silence reign for a second. Dramatics come as second nature for any child of Zeus.

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus. Will you join the Hunt?"

I was slightly worried. Thalia had already turned a place down in our ranks and I'd look really stupid if she rejected me here as well.

"I will." Thalia said firmly. "I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the hunt"

I smiled down at her as she hugged her friends. She wasn't Zoë but she would lead the hunt and do it well.

Just as the decision on Percy, Annabeth and the satyr, that still no one had told me the name of, was about to be made the doors of the throne room burst open.

Striding through was Perseus.

I'll admit that my heart skipped a little bit when I saw him come in.

"Who dares disturb and Olympian meeting!?" Father cried as he stood up from his throne.

Perseus just waved his hand, a small amount of Mist left in it's wake and Zeus seemed to forget all about him.

"Artemis, I need your permission." He said.

I wasn't expecting him to be so direct normally he'll joke around or ask in a less direct way. He'd also ditched my title, this was the first time ever after gods knows how long I've been asking: this must be serious if he'd forgotten.

"Permission for what?"

"To bring Zoë back."

"Perseus that's not one of my domains."

He should have known that, it's not like we've only just met. We're married for Olympus's sake.

"I know that." He sounded exasperated, well at least he knew what my domains were. "What I mean is that I've called in a favor, from Hades."

"Perseus, what did you do?"

"I need her back, Artemis, I don't have anyone else."

Well that hurt a little bit, I'd like to think he had me but I guess I could understand where he was coming from.

"What's the favour, Perseus?"

He took a breath in, composing himself.

"Zoë's soul was mortal as she'd given away her immortal essence when she'd given Heracles Anaklusmos. This meant that she went to the underworld. Her soul was judged to be good and she'd earnt rebirth. The favor I asked for was that Zoë would come back to me, Hades then told me that Zoë would be reborn as my next child. That's why I need your permission."

I'll admit that I was slightly confused.

"Why do you need permission?"

"Because you're my wife and no matter what everyone else remembers I'd still know I was cheating on you if I went and slept with some random woman to get Zoë back."

A gasps and shouts echoed around the throne room. Apparently Perseus had forgotten that we were in a public place and now everyone here knew we were married once more.

"Perseus, we're not in a very private place." I said trying to make him aware of what he'd just revealed to the council of the gods but he just waved me off.

"I don't care right now, I'll redo the spell later if you want."

"A spell!" Apollo shouted. "So that's why I'd forgotten." that was then followed up by threats that he'd never follow through with. But more importantly the original spell had worn off, did that span further than the throne room or was it just the Olympian gods that now remembered.

"Artemis, I need your permission."

"You want me to give you permission to sleep with a mortal woman so that you can bring Zoë back?" I asked trying to clarify.

"Yes."

I thought about it. I thought about how much I also wanted Zoë to be back but then I thought about Perseus being intimate with another woman and it made something rear it's head inside of me.

Perseus was my husband, no one else was allowed to touch him, only me.

But that was contradictory not even I, myself, would touch Perseus… intimately.

But I didn't want another woman touching him.

And I really wanted Zoë back.

"I'll do it." I said.

"Thank you, Lady Artemis." Perseus said, already walking out of the throne room. I smirked slightly, it was not often that I managed to get one over him in these kinds of situation. He would usually give a purposely vague answer that would allow me to make the wrong conclusion but this time I'd done it to him.

"Where are you going, Perseus?" I asked, using my politician's voice again.

"To get Zoë back." He said though he seemed confused like he wasn't sure what answer to give.

"And I told you I'd do it. I am your wife after all." I said trying to be confident.

"Really?" He asked and I smiled as I gazed into his eyes.

"Sometimes the ones you love are worth making sacrifices for."

"Are you sure?" Perseus seemed to doubt my convictions, stupid man.

"Yes, husband, I am." I looked around the throne room. All the gods and goddesses were staring, gods this was mortifying. "But not here, somewhere more... private."

"Yes." Perseus seemed to only just realise we were in the middle of a meeting of the gods. "Somewhere more private."

Wars had passed, Titans and Giants defeated and laid to rest for at least a short amount of time. No doubt they would try and wrestle control away from us Olympians once more but that was a problem for another time.

The most important thing was that we survived, and most importantly those closest to us survived.

Perseus was still with me, as constant and as powerful as the tides. He was still the same as when we'd met those many years ago, though I'd managed to persuade him to stop using my title, he is my husband after all it's hardly appropriate for him to call me Lady Artemis all the time. Though now my vows didn't constrain me I had ways of convincing him that I didn't have access to before.

And then there's the reason I gave up my vow of chastity after all this time: Zoë.

Zoë was brilliant, though I would have prefered not to have gone through childbirth. She didn't remember her previous life, like all reborn souls she was dipped in the river Lethe before coming back up to the surface world. Perseus and I had tried to explain to her what it meant but she was only three years old and it was a bit confusing even for a young goddess.

Oh yea, that had changed. Zoë was a nymph anymore, no this time she was a full blown goddess having inherited my domains of chastity as I was no longer a virgin. Of course she didn't really care about that at the moment, no the water powers she'd inherited from Perseus were much more amusing for the three year old and also infinitely more difficult to control. I should have known that having a child with a sea god was a bad choice.

Not that I regretted it.

No, having Zoë with Perseus was probably one of the best choices I've ever made. Becoming a mother and a wife had brought me a new perspective. I now understood all those I had scorned in the past for taking the path I was now walking. Before I didn't understand how someone could love another more than they could value themselves and their own independance. But now I knew.

I knew that I loved Zoë more than anything else I'd ever come across in my life, that I would give my life without a seconds thought if it would save Zoë's. She was the most precious thing in my life and I'd be damned if I let anyone hurt her.

And I knew I loved Perseus. I didn't know it to start with and I'm still not sure when I started to love him. All I knew was that I did and that I did so unconditionally. I couldn't even tell you why I love him, though I could prattle on about how brilliant he is for hours without even scratching the surface of what makes him who he is.

All this was running through my mind as I laid in the bed I shared with the man occupying my thoughts.

"Perseus?" I said, I wasn't sure if he'd already fall asleep.

"Mmm" He hummed, I could feel the vibrations run through his chest where I was resting my head.

"When we first met, I asked you how I could breath in Atlantis when it's underwater." I told him, it was random but who am I to question my late night thoughts.

"It's the Mist." He grumbled, I think I may have woken him up.

"You told me that last time, how does it really work?" I asked.

Perseus sighed. "Artemis, you're a goddess. Essentially you're just a sentient energy, you don't actually have to breath. You only think you do as you envision yourself as human like. Humans need to breath so subconsciously you think you need to as well."

"Oh." I replied before snuggling into his chest once more.

"Any other random questions, love?" he asked.

I thought for a second. "Nothing's coming to mind right now."

I could tell he was trying to get back to sleep and I couldn't help to think how lucky I was.

Then the sound of crying reached us. Obviously Zoë had woken up, she still had the occasional trouble sleeping through the entire night.

Maybe I wasn't as lucky as I thought I was.

"I'll go, don't worry." Perseus said as he slipped out from our covers.

No I was definitely the luckiest goddess on Olympus.

Hey people of Fanfiction, this is done now only took me two and a bit years.
Thank you to everyone who read this as well as to those who followed, favorited and reviewed. Each of you gave me that extra bit of inspiration to keep writing when my ideas weren't flowing.
Also thank you all for not pointing out that Zoë was technically older than I made Perseus.

Signing off for Forgotten in Marriage

An Average White Writer