?as the world caves in?

I wasn't sure how long I was out, but I opened my eyes to Silena dapping my forehead with a cloth. "Cor!"

I groaned. "It's cold."

"You already have two blankets, honey," she said softly. "I'll get another healer and see what we can do."

She left and then her spot was taken by Percy, who looked as pale as he did the last I saw him. "Coriane, you shouldn't have done that."

I went to protest, to explain everything that I was telling, but Will Solace, a boy from Apollo, kneeled in front of my to unwrap my bandages and his face turned to horror. I looked to see my skin green and the cut was incredibly deep.

Will quickly shook the look off his face with a huff. "It could be worse, we got here just in time."

He worked his magic before writing things on a piece of paper and giving them to the Stoll brothers. "I need these to treat wounds. Find them and bring them back immediately, don't get off task. Your friends depend on it."

The two brothers looked at me and instead of their usual mischief filled grins, they looked solemn and nodded before running out.

Silena kissed my forehead as everyone began to file out. "I need you to be okay, this is all my fault."

I frowned. "This isn't your fault."

Silena kept mumbling to herself and Percy said something to her before kneeling before me. "Coriane..."

I smiled at him, holding his cheek as he leaned into it. "You're cute when you're worried. Your eyebrows get all scrunched together and your lips have a little pout to them."

He smiled softly, holding onto the hand that held him, and he moved to kiss the palm. "I'm so sorry, Coriane, for everything. I've been horrible, even when I try to fix things, I manage to make it worse. I love you, Coriane. Like, really love you. I don't know what I'd do without you. Never do that to me, ever again."

My thumb brushed against his cheek. "Percy?"

"Coriane?"

"Call me Cor. Or Lover Girl. I'm yours, Percy, I always have been. And those are what you've always called me, from the day we met, and I'm sick of hearing Coriane come from your lips. I only want to hear that when you're serious about something, otherwise it's my nicknames."

He gave a relieved laugh. "I've been waiting for you to say that, Cor. And I know I'm still not the best, but I'll keep growing, for you."

We stayed like that for a moment, holding each other and it's like the rest of the world just stopped. Well, it kind of did.

"How did you know?" He asked. "The knife, I mean."

I shrugged. "I just sort of had this feeling. Like this horrible feeling in my chest that if I left you, something horrible would happen. When I leapt in front of it, it felt like the right thing. Where is it?"

He took the hand that he was already holding and guided it down to the small of his back. My fingers moved his shirt up and he paused my hand as he froze. "Cor, you saved my life."

"So you owe me, what else is new, Seaweed Brain?"

"Nothing, Lover Girl, I'll be owing you for the rest of my life."

I removed my hand as I looked at the sunrise.

I sighed. "You asked me why Hermes was mad at Annabeth and I."

"Cor, you need rest."

"No, I need to tell you, it's been bothering me. Luke came to see me once, same with Annabeth, but he visited me last. Last year, before we went in the Labyrinth." Before he became Kronos. "He said he wanted to run away with me like the old days, that Annabeth had declined his offer but maybe if I joined that would convince her."

"You didn't trust him."

"Of course not. I thought it was a trick, no matter how scared he looked. Plus a lot has changed since then, I've grown up and so has he, we're not kids running away from troubled homes, we're a teen and adult who had a home but one of us decided to betray what we knew. But I told him no, he got mad and said I should've fought him there."

Talking about it brought tears to my eyes, my forehead started beading with sweat. Percy dabbed my head with the cloth Silena had left. "Hey, it's okay, get some rest."

"Hermes was right. If I would've gone with him, changed his mind. Or I had my ring, I could've ended this whole war right here, he was unarmed."

"Cor, you know that wouldn't have been right." Percy said. "I know this sucks, but I don't think there's anything that could've been done. If Kronos didn't pick Luke, he would've found another host, I think this war would've happened regardless."

I nodded and held his hand. "Thank you for saying that."

Connor Stoll came into the terrace right as Percy went to ask me something. "Percy, Mrs. O'Leary just came back with Grover. I think you should talk to him."