DA : Chapter 48: Unbreakable Bonds II

They all remained silent for some time until Hestia fought her nerves down enough to look at them properly.

"So …" she started while looking them up and down. "I've decided."

...

Percy caught Rhea's breath hitch as he just went still, hoping to hear good news … or at least a gentle rejection. After a minute Hestia gave them a nervous but warm smile as she walked up to them. Once close enough she enveloped both in a hug which they soon returned while sharing a glance.

"Yes," Hestia said gently making both pull back so they could look at her face properly.

"So you …" he trailed off as a familiar warmth filled his chest to which she gave a bigger smile.

"Yes," she repeated making both of them beam at her and pull her into a tight three-way hug. It lasted for a bit before Hestia pulled back slightly to look Percy directly in the eyes. "As long as you treat us equally and fairly, I will agree to it …" She trailed off for a moment as she glanced at Rhea before continuing.

"I can tell Rhea loves you just as much as I do and how could I even look at myself in a mirror if I tried to make you choose?" Hestia then shook her head with a wistful smile. "No … in the end there isn't a valid reason to not try … and I love you regardless of whether I'm the only one or not."

By now Rhea's eyes were a little watery as she pulled Hestia into a fierce hug, all the while mumbling 'thank you' again and again. Hestia gave her an understanding smile as she returned the embrace, both finding comfort and reassured in each other as Percy watched on contently.

After well over a minute the duo separated slightly as Hestia looked to Percy again and asked in a shy voice, "So that means I'm your girlfriend too?"

Percy didn't need to answer that with words. Rather, he gave a mischievous grin and leaned forward to steal a quick kiss before Hestia could react. "How's that for an answer?" he asked with a wolfish smirk and slight growl getting a nice little golden color out of Hestia's cheeks.

"Down boy," Rhea said in a teasing voice as she eyed him in a not-so-innocent way. "Or are you in need of more training?" she added in a purring tone.

Hestia looked between them for a moment with a slight glint of confusion before suddenly blushing as she looked at Rhea in slight surprise. "Already?" she asked in a shy whisper making Rhea raise an eyebrow.

She got the meaning of the question at the same time as Percy, both giving sheepish smiles to which Hestia pouted before mumbling, "I was hoping to be his first." Too bad Percy and Rhea has excellent hearing.

"Hestia!" Rhea started in a scandalized voice before giving a sly grin while leaning closer. "How naughty. Barely in a relationship and already having such … provocative thoughts …" Rhea then leaned even closer to continue whispering something into Hestia's ear, all the while Percy was stuck in a daze.

Hestia's comment following so close after Rhea's had left him with a very vivid picture, completely centered on making two goddesses scream his name.

He snapped himself out of it though when he caught a squeak come from Hestia, the goddess blushing so hard that Percy wondered if she might pass out while Rhea had a cat-caught-the-canary smile, reveling in the effects of her teasing. It seemed she was going to push for more but Hestia noticed her leaning closer.

Hestia responded by burying her face in Percy's chest as he chuckled while Rhea giggled at the rather adorable display. 'Oh Chaos I love these girls,' he thought fondly as he hugged Hestia to him for a moment before using one hand to tip her head up.

He smiled down at her before leaning closer and giving her a gentle kiss. She was hesitant at first but after a few seconds she warmed up to it and started to push her lips back as he kept her close to him. In that moment everything felt right to him.

Her unmistakable warmth, her fiery scent, the sweet taste of her lips as her small body fit like a puzzle piece against his. He relished in it before he nibbled at her lower lip eliciting a tiny moan which drove him wild.

He was about to pass his tongue over her lips to ask for entry but to his dismay she pulled back a little, their lips still connected by a string of saliva.

He loved the look of her eyes glazed with happiness, her face flushed golden as she breathed heavily. It took all his will power to not kiss her again just to steal her breath away but for now he control it as he glanced at Rhea.

The former Titaness was smirking at the sight even with the faintest golden dusting on her cheeks letting Percy know that Rhea had appreciated the sight.

He gave her a wolfish grin as he moved Hestia to his right side before opening his left are inviting Rhea closer.

She smile as she obliged and stepped up to him so that his left arm could wrap around her waist and keep her close. He looked down at her for a moment before kissing her just as softly as he had Hestia even though a part of him wanted to deepen the kiss.

She gave him playful nibbles as his arm around her tightened and he occasionally nibbled back on her lips to get small whimpers from her. He kept doing so for a while before he felt Hestia stir again in his right arm making him finally break the passionate kiss with Rhea.

He straightened up more so that he could look at both goddesses, loving the blush on both as they looked at him with love and traces of lust in Rhea's case while Hestia seemed a little too innocent for that at the moment.

"So," he started as he looked between them. "I'm the luckiest man around with two incredible girlfriends?"

"And don't let it go to your head," Rhea said in a teasing tone while glancing at Hestia and winking.

"It'll be our job to keep this one in line." Hestia giggled at that while both ignored his indignant 'hey!' Of course it only served to make both giggle at him but he could only smile at the sight.

"I love you both," he suddenly said as he tugged them closer before giving each a small kiss.

"And we love you," Hestia replied this time before snuggling against his chest.

"Mhm," Rhea hummed while doing the same.

They remained together like that for several minutes before Percy realized how late it was … and they currently had over three dozen cookies either made or on the way.

"So …" he started getting both girlfriends to look at him. "Anyone feeling like cookies before bed?" he asked with a grin.

The goddesses shared a glance before smiling and nodding as Rhea escaped his arms to check on the latest batch in the oven while Hestia went towards the already cooled tray from earlier.

Percy just stood there and marveled at the sight of his gorgeous girlfriends for a few minutes before he gave a content sigh and joined them …

...

[ Andromeda POV ]

Andromeda felt her body become solid again as she blinked away the white haziness that she always got whenever she used the light travel. After a few seconds she was in the clear so she looked around the familiar sight of the Palace of the Sky.

The palace reminded her slightly of the Taj Mahal but with a more European style, with battlements and a central observation tower going through the center of the palace. She looked around to see she'd arrived at a form of teleportation pad for Ouranus' realm.

He'd made it so that only he could freely teleport in and out of the palace from any location, all other visitors need to enter from the pad. Sure once in the realm they could move around freely via teleportation but they could only leave at the pad as well.

The pad was made of white marble, big enough for about eight adults to stand next to each other comfortably, and then further surrounded by pond of crystal clear water.

Funny thing is that unless you notice the ripples, you wouldn't realize there was water and the pad would look like it was simply suspended over nothing with one walkway leading to the palace beyond. She remembered the first time she came here, nearly having a heart attack at the sight below her.

From what her brother told her, you could see most of New York City from Olympus when the clouds part but in the Palace of the Skies, it was completely different.

They were so high up they could see the entire North American continent without issue and as it turned out, without having a blessing from Hemera, Aether, or Ouranus, or at least a minor permission, a mortal wouldn't be able to breath in this realm as opposed to the poison of Tartarus.

There was oxygen and other small molecules but not nearly enough for even the highest flying birds, though thanks to being demi-primordial or near-primordial, Andromeda along with the others already mostly breathed the particle Ether, named after the said primordial and is the particle godly beings breath.

Ether, being one of the mythic particles since human science still isn't even close enough to recognize the particles or several hundred others around the universe.

That aside the sight was breathtaking and when looking up Andromeda could even see the distant sun and moon. Not the chariots of the twins, seeing as their rides were more like godly tethers to the actual celestial bodies and were part of the influence to make the world and moon rotate.

Long ago between Nyx and Hemera, they had handled the rotations of night and day just with their thoughts before the Titans came along with the beginning of the lunar cycle thanks to Selene.

'I wonder if Percy and Jason will keep the lunar cycles after offing Artemis, then again Hecate could take over since she has the moon as part of her domains too,' Andy mused as she started to walk towards the palace.

As she walked she watched the surrounding gardens of the palace, formed on shifting grey and white tiled pathways.

In fact it almost made the palace look like one enormous spider with the legs spread out to form different buildings and constructs. Above it small versions of the constellations could be seen making her smile slightly.

It took her a few minutes to finally arrive in a grand courtyard before the palace but instead of going into the immense building she turned and headed towards another walkway holding the arena. She could already feel the power of several protogenoi.

The area had a large roadway formed out of the white marble and rows of solid light posts along the sides, leading to a towering area three times larger than the coliseum.

As she walked Andromeda received polite waves and nods from sky spirits and the manifestations of the constellations which she replied to in kind.

The spirits here were very friendly and respectful, though some of the more well-known spirits like the zodiac tended to be annoying at times. She was still polite to them though and soon enough she entered a large archway leading into the arena.

===================

Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.

...

if you want to support me or just to read ahead of the public release, you can join my p@treon :

p atreon/Moonhorse