Theseus
Honestly, when I got back home an hour ago and fell asleep, exhausted, I did not expect to be kicked back into the waking world by a naked and bloody Percy holding a naked and unconscious Atalanta.
I looked down at the beautiful woman in my arms as I carefully stepped into the shower that I had turned on. She was fine. Her pulse and breathing felt normal, and her pupils were responsive. I couldn’t help the anxiousness over not being able to pull out the never-before-used stethoscope from my medical bag and actually hear her heartbeat and lungs. But Percy wouldn’t have brought her to me if he thought she was in any real danger. Would he?
No, she was fine. Just really tired.
I got that. I was pretty tired myself, hardly able to keep my eyes open as I held Atalanta up with one arm and snagged the bar of soap to try to clean her up.
I yawned as I scrubbed off the sand and grime from her back, arms, and chest. Well, not all of me was half-asleep, as my dick was at full attention and poking her ass.
“Sorry, buddy. You’re just going to have to suffer.” I muttered as I shifted her against me so I could lean down and get her legs.
Sleeping Beauty was as limp as a doll. Just about as heavy as one too.
She didn’t really eat much lunch, and I doubted Percy got her dinner. I should feed her more. I might not be able to sculpt her a statue in her honor or quote some of the surface’s greatest love poems, but if there was one thing I thought I might be able to impress her with, it would be my skill with a knife and skillet. When I came to the surface all those years ago, I could admit that my cooking skills were something to be desired. But living on my own gave me a lot of time to practice.
I finished up our shower and carefully stepped out. She had stirred a couple of times, but didn’t wake up. My heart skipped when she nuzzled her face into the crook of my neck.
“I got you, sweetheart. Let’s get you to bed,” I said softly as I wrapped a clean towel around her.
A touch on my shoulder had me jumping and turning to see Percy standing behind me. I had actually forgotten he was here. He was still naked but all of the sand and most of the blood was cleaned off of him. The wounds he’d gotten from his fight with Calder were pretty bad and hadn’t fully clotted.
“Come on. Let me take a look at those wounds.”
‘They will fully close up soon.’ He signed.
“Don’t be stubborn. Let me put her down.” I grumbled, moving past him back into my room.
Placing Atalanta gently down on the mattress, I smiled when she curled up, grabbed the nearest pillow and wrapped herself around it without even opening her eyes.
Turning, I gestured for Percy to sit back down in the chair that I would now need to replace, thanks to him. When he complied without complaint, I snatched my medical bag from next to the bed and brought it closer to the chair. Rifling through it, I pulled out some butterfly bandages, disinfectant, and a small bag of unopened disposable cloths.
I glanced back at the still bleeding gash across his stomach and added gauze and wraps to the building pile.
“Calder did a number on you,” I muttered as I began to work on the wounds.
What looked to be a stab wound in his shoulder was almost fully sealed, but I wiped it down with the disinfectant and attached the butterfly bandages. “Luckily, you won't need stitches. Well, technically you do, but these will heal too quickly for that, so the bandages will work just fine to help the process along. This is going to hurt.” I looked up at Percy, making eye contact with him before pressing the cloth into his stomach.
Though I felt his body tense under my touch, Percy’s face didn’t even flinch. I often wondered why he was born with such warm brown eyes when they really should have been the color of cold steel.
“You should have killed him,” I snarled.
‘Killing him would have brought more trouble than was worth.’
“If I had to guess what you two were doing out there, then it was your right to take his life. Remember, our laws aren’t like the humans. You would have gotten more than a slap on the wrist, but now he knows about her, and by morning, so will others.”
‘We wouldn’t have been able to keep her secret forever. Not everyone in town is loyal to you. The council’s spies are everywhere. Killing Calder wouldn’t have just affected us, but brought the council’s wrath fully down on her. I might not have gotten in trouble, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t try to take her away from us.’
I growled and pulled Percy to standing and, using his shoulders, forced him to face away from me. “They are going to come for her, anyway.”
If he replied, I was glad I couldn’t hear it.
The wound on his back was the worst. It had hardly closed and had cut deep into the muscle. Luckily his scales had protected his spine, as I could see where the slice suddenly cut off and picked back up again.
“Now this one might actually need stitches. It should have healed by now.”
Percy twisted back towards me and signed. "It stings much more than the others. It really hasn’t healed?”
It only stings? Fuck, man.
I shook my head.
Percy’s brow furrowed and he stormed out of the room to come back moments later holding a spear.
I laughed. “You took his precious spear?”
‘The fucker owed me payment for the trouble. I took what was rightfully mine.’
My brow furrowed, wondering if I had read his lips correctly. Did he really steal the spear as payment? Was that a Deep Sea thing? I know I wasn’t taught anything like that. Similar to the human expression of ‘an eye for an eye’, perhaps?
Percy leaned closer and studied the spear. He mumbled something but I couldn’t really see it.
After a few moments, he turned back to me. ‘The blade is the usual Damascus steel. It shouldn’t be causing this reaction.’
I tilted my head to the side and crossed my arms, thinking about it. “Maybe it’s coated in something? Stonefish venom would cause this kind of reaction. But that wouldn’t make sense, since your other wounds are healing.”
‘I don’t know.’ He passed over the spear. ‘What do you make of it?’
I took the spear and examined the weapon. It was a gorgeous piece of work. The shaft was thick and carved with intricate patterns and different sea life: a shark, a whale. The blade was fastened to the hilt with a thick gold band, which I found odd. With how thick the hunk of metal was, the balance would be off.
I confirmed it when I attempted to balance the staff in my hand and the blade tilted and thunked to the floor. Bringing the spear closer, I studied the band.
“There are ridges here.” I gently ran my thumb over them. They gave way beneath my touch and a small hole opened up right over the spine of the blade.
Leaning forward I sniffed and proceeded to gag. “Yep, that’s stonefish venom. That shit is illegal.”
I propped the spear against the wall and looked over at Percy. “You’re lucky you’re not human, or you would be in way worse shape. The best we can do for you now is to stitch it up and wait for your body to push the poison out of your system.”
It looked like Percy huffed, his shoulders slumping a tad before he signed for me to get on with it and turned away. Pulling out my small suture kit from the medical bag, I got to work. Ten minutes later, he was all stitched up and the cuts were clean.
“All right, you’re all done.” I patted him on the shoulder and began to stick everything back in the bag.
I was exhausted.
I glanced over at Atalanta, still sleeping soundly.
That bed looked so inviting at the moment.
Percy waved, grabbing my attention and signed. "I will go lay on the couch.”