"In Latin my name, Aurelia, basically means 'the golden one.' My mother literally named me her golden light through the storm that was her life. That is my job. To be everyone's light at the end of the tunnel. And I got stuck worrying so much about...
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Aurelia was tired.
Tired of walking, and tired in general because she was pretty sure she had gotten a total of three hours of sleep in the past sixty.
She lingered closer towards the back of the group, forcing herself to keep her eyes open. She had opted out of walking next to Jason, or even Percy and instead walked beside Piper.
Piper, who was trying to make small talk.
"So they call you the Princess of Shadows? Why is that? I mean ..." She laughed, awkwardly. "I get the shadows part, but not really the princess part."
Aurelia glanced at herself. A part of her wanted to just ignore Piper, specifically because her question was not one Aurelia really wanted to answer.
But at the same time, she needed to pick and choose her battles, and talking to Piper wasn't too big of a battle. "Um ... I was blessed by your mom, or the Roman version of your mom. And my entire life, I grew up being primped and primed by women. I looked like a doll for the majority of my life, and even after I left those aspects of my life, I kept that part of me." She lifted the skirt of her dress. "So when I got to camp, everyone thought I was a priss."
Piper studied Aurelia. Yeah, the daughter of Pavor was beautiful, graceful, and poised. But a princess ... actually, no Piper could definitely see that too.
Aurelia read Piper's thoughts from her emotions. "See? Even you agree."
"Well, I wouldn't use the word priss," Piper defended herself. "But I guess, I can see the princess part. You're just mature and sophisticated looking."
"Well, I was also a priss," Aurelia admitted. "And it was before I got a reputation of being powerful and scary. I was just the pretty new girl who had been blessed by the goddess of love. It was not a good rep. So before I proved myself with my powers and shadows, I was just a princess. And princess sounds a lot better than a doll—so I accept the name."
Aurelia knew she was a doll. She had been treated like one her entire life. Not a porcelain one that needed to be protected at all cost, but rather a Barbie doll that people dressed and played with however they saw fit. Yes, Aurelia would much rather be a princess than a doll because at least a princess still has a chance to be more than just a pretty face.
