Most likely, he would never say that to her again. And who could blame him? She’d betrayed him in the worst sort of way.
Would you be able to forgive this?
No, she wouldn’t. Not for anything.
It was unconscionable and cruel. Closing her eyes, she cradled his head and laid her hand over the horrible bruise on his cheek. “No one will ever hurt you again, akribos. I won’t let them.”
* * *
Styxx took a deep breath and sighed. I must be dreaming. Even though he was starving, he was too warm and comfortable. More than that, he felt soft curves against his body and smelled the sweet eucalyptus and lily scent that he’d craved more than anything.
Unshed tears tightened his throat as he waited for it all to dissipate, and leave him back in his filthy hole, chained to the wall.
That was his thought until the body next to his rolled over and threw a knee into his crotch.
Hissing in pain, he opened his eyes to see a golden green gaze that mirrored his own shock. For a full minute, he couldn’t move as he waited for her to vanish.
“Beth?”
Bethany was frozen by the anguished longing that seared her. She must have fallen asleep next to Styxx … which would have returned her to her real appearance.
And since they were in her temple, she had her eyesight.
I should leave. But she couldn’t. Those blue eyes held her immobile.
“Hi,” she breathed.
He stared at her as if she were the last delicacy on the planet and he hadn’t eaten in a year or more. Before she could move, he slowly lowered his lips to hers.
Bethany groaned at how good he tasted. He rolled her to her back as he deepened the kiss and made her head swim. He’d always been a phenomenal kisser, but this one …
It made all his previous kisses seem chaste.
Styxx closed his eyes as her tongue danced with his and her scent filled his head until he was drunk from it. You know this isn’t real. It’s a trick.…
But he knew her taste. Her smell. The way she held him. How could this be a trick? He buried his face in the crook of her neck and let the horror of the last year fade away. She felt so good in his arms. And when she cupped him, he trembled.
“I’ve missed you,” she breathed in his ear.
“With every beat of my heart,” he whispered back to her.
Bethany choked on a sob as he slid his long body against hers. He dipped his head down to suckle her breast. Cupping his head, she sank her hands into his soft golden hair.
“Please be real.” His ragged plea tore through her.
Guilt stabbed her so hard, she couldn’t breathe. “I’m real.”
He laid his head down on her stomach and gathered her into his arms. His hot, silent tears scorched her as they fell against her skin. He held on to her as if she was his lifeline. As if she was unspeakably precious.
Then he reached out and took her hand into his and pressed it against his cheek. The expression on his face as he savored her touch made her heart break for him.
Until he tore himself away from her and backed away. “Just kill me … please.”
“Styxx—”
“You’re not my Beth,” he growled ferociously.
Another tear fell down his cheek. Throwing his head back, he roared out in pain. “You wanted me broken, you fucking bastard! Fine! I yield!” he shouted then he lowered his voice to a whisper. “I yield.” The pain on his face as he looked at her tore her apart. “Please, don’t do this to me. I’d rather you beat or rape me than use my Beth against me.” He reached for her then balled his hand into a fist.
Leaving the bed, he sank to the floor and curled into a ball. He covered his head with his arms.
She knelt down beside him and brushed her hand through his hair. “Styxx … it’s me.”
He refused to look at her. “No. My Beth doesn’t call me Styxx … she doesn’t hate me.” He cupped his hand around her necklace and sobbed like his heart was as splintered as hers. “Please don’t taint the only good thing I’ve ever known. I’ll do anything you ask. Just don’t taint her memory. It’s all I have left.”
“Okay.” She kissed his head then withdrew from him. “You rest and I’ll return later.”
He slinked back on the floor, into the corner like a whipped dog.
Bethany got up slowly as her fury tripled. In her mind, she saw him as he’d been. Proud. Fierce. Defiant.
Protective.
And now he was completely shattered.
It’s my fault. All of this. She’d known how isolated he was. How willing he was to give up everything he had, even a throne, to be with her as a poor blind peasant.
Yet for her family’s sake, for the sake of her people, she’d let him go. She’d put all of them before him and how had they repaid her?
They’d violated and destroyed the only thing she’d ever loved. They had torn him apart and laughed while they did it.
Rage darkened her sight as she went to Archon. He was alone in his own temple, using a sfora as he tried to find the child she hoped would kill him.
Forcing herself to appear calm, she approached him slowly. “Did you know Prince Styxx was in Aeryn?”
“Huh?” He wasn’t really paying attention to her. “What did you say?”
“I asked if you were aware that Prince Styxx was being held by the Atlantean queen.”
Archon snorted derisively. “Have you been under a rock? He’s been the main attraction for months now.”
“Not under a rock. Searching for Apollymi’s son.” Actually, she’d done everything she could to stay away from Atlantis and to not think of all the times she’d tried to kill Styxx as he invaded her homeland. Thank her father’s powers for keeping her from making the biggest mistake of her life.
Archon finally looked up with his full attention. “Unfortunately, he’s not nearly as feisty as he was when he was first brought here, but if you want to take a turn with him, he’s still good for a few laughs.”
Her stomach cramped at those harsh words. “What all has been done to him?”
Archon sat back as he thought about it. “Apollo had been passing him around on Olympus until Athena found out and stopped it. Then he brought him here for our amusement.”
Those words hit her like a blow. “What type of amusement?”
“What do you think we did to him? He led an army into our nation and slaughtered our citizens and mortal family members. We couldn’t let that go unpunished. Once we got bored with him, we threw him to the queen as Apollo’s gift and she had him put in the arena for fights and other highly creative events so that her people and soldiers could take out their own grievances against him and the other Greeks.”
“And no one in Didymos has noticed his absence?”
“No. Apollo took care of it.”
Did she even want to know more than what Frick and Frack had already told her? “Care of it. How?”
Archon shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care. So why the interrogation over him?”
“I didn’t know he was here until today.”
“Ah. Well, if you get a chance, you might want to attend the fight this afternoon. Even as wrecked as he is, he manages to hold off his attackers until they spring a trap on him, or unleash the dogs or cats to bring him down. It’s much more entertaining to watch when you know he can’t win no matter what he does. Still he tries to win. It’s so strange, really. The humans and Apollites also take wagers to see how long he’ll last. Then at the end, they let the crowd determine the punishment for his crimes.”
“Punish him how?”
“He’s either sentenced to be beaten or ceremonially raped for the crowd’s entertainment.”
Her breath left her lungs. Hard. It took everything she had not to attack Archon. “And you find this acceptable for the man who refused to harm our innocent people? One who used his own troops to make sure Atlanteans weren’t raped while the Greeks fought here?”
He shrugged nonc
halantly. “Our people are the ones who decide his punishments. Not me. I’m not about to interfere with their entertainment after the terror he put them through.”
“And how long do you think this punishment should last?”
“Talk to his owner. Again, I’m not interfering for a piece of Greek shit that doesn’t matter to me.”
But he matters to me.…
Bethany counted to ten and forced herself to leave before she gave in to the urge to blast Archon where he sat.
Instead, she went to Didymos next to see what had happened during her year of extreme stupidity. How was it possible that Styxx could be gone from home for a year and no one would notice?
Yes, she was violating all kinds of pacts, treaties, and bylaws, but she didn’t care at this point. She wanted too much blood.…
Bethany started for the palace then stopped herself. Galen would be the one who would have missed him. Surely if anyone knew Styxx was gone, it would be his sole friend and mentor. So she went to the barracks where she found the old man in his quarters.
Assuming the guise of a Didymosian soldier, she entered. “Where’s Prince Styxx?”
Galen sighed wearily. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in a very long time.”
She used her powers to compel him to speak what was on his mind. “Are you all right, Master Galen?”
“Not really, but it’s not me I’m worried about. The prince hasn’t been right since his woman left him.”
“How so?”
Galen sighed heavily. “I know war often changes people, and losing someone you love … but he’s just not the same boy I trained. It’s almost like he’s possessed by something. Like a demon has control of his body. But don’t breathe a word of that. I don’t want to see him returned to the Dionysion. Not after what they did to him the last time.”
In that moment, she knew exactly what Apollo had done. She just didn’t know why. Her anger mounting, she left Galen and went to the palace where she found “Styxx” laughing with a member of the senate. “He” felt her foreign god powers immediately and turned all attention toward her.
Bethany crooked a finger.
The “prince” excused himself to join her in the hallway. As soon as they were out of sight of the others, Bethany turned on Poena—the Greek spirit of retribution—and slammed the Olympian daemone against the wall. “Why are you masquerading as the prince?”
Poena shrugged. “Apollo told me to while the prince is being punished.”
“For?”
“Hubris.”
Hubris? Really? To the Greek gods, that was the greatest sin any mortal could commit, and she couldn’t imagine Styxx, as humble as he was, ever thinking himself a god or above one. “Against?”
“My assumption would be Apollo since he’s the one who called me in for it.”
With every spoken word, Bethany’s rage tripled. “And where would Apollo be?”
Poena shrugged.
Bethany grabbed her by the throat and shoved her into the wall again. “Fetch him to me. I’ll be in his temple here in town. And if you value your existence, you will not pretend to be Styxx another day.”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh bitch, please, give me one. Right now, I’m ready to call down every Olympian and Titan, and open a major can of Atgyptian whoop-ass on the whole lot of you. Or better yet, how do you think the Greek people would react if I told them how their gods blithely allowed one of their beloved heroes to be wrongfully punished for a full year by their enemies? How many converts do you think I’d get to our pantheon?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Really, don’t push me right now. Fetch your master to me and be quick about it.” Bethany flashed herself straight into Apollo’s temple … which could be construed as an act of war.
A war she was aching to start, even if she had to fight it single-handedly.
Disgusted, she walked around the open area and sneered at the altar where people had made offerings to Apollo for a benevolence the worthless prick totally lacked.
“What are you doing here?”
Bethany turned around to face him. “I am so glad you didn’t keep me waiting.”
Apollo glared at her. “You should have met me in Atlantis. Not here.”
“If I were sorry, I’d apologize. As it is, this is merely a courtesy visit to let you know that I’ve freed Styxx from your hellhole.”
Apollo shook his head. “You can’t do that. He’s not yours.”
“My understanding is that you gave him away.”
“I didn’t give him to you.”
“You cast him to my brethren to torment,” she reminded him. “I am allowed to take him after that.”
“Not unless you want a war.”
“Really?” She raked Apollo with a sneer. “You’d start a war over a mere mortal?”
“Why not? I’ve started them for a lot less. Besides, he hasn’t learned his lesson.”
“And what lesson is that?”
Apollo’s eyes flared with anger. “To bow down before his gods and to show proper respect to us.”
She laughed bitterly. “Are you insane? You’ve damn near killed him. He’s barely human after everything you’ve put him through.”
There was no remorse in Apollo at all. “So?”
“He’s a prince, Apollo. An heir. One of your own.”
“And both he and his brother have committed hubris against us.”
She frowned at something Styxx had never mentioned to her. Ever. “Brother?”
“Yes. The little whore sleeping with my sister.”
“And you’re sleeping with theirs. What’s the problem?”
Apollo sent a burst of power through the room. One so violent, it blew her hair back. “Problem,” he roared. “They’re trained whores!”
“Then take your anger out on his brother,” she said between gritted teeth.
“Oh believe me, I have. But I’m still not done with him. Not for the crimes Acheron’s committed against me.”
“While you amuse yourself with vengeance against his brother, let Styxx go.”
Apollo curled his lip at her. “This doesn’t concern you. Why are you even here? You told me when we made this bargain that you didn’t care what I did with Styxx.”
And those words sliced through her like broken glass. She’d been stupid and thoughtless.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell Apollo the truth or he’d use Styxx against her. Something that would bode a lot worse for Styxx.
So she settled on a lesser reason. “That’s before you brought him to our shores. Now it is my business. I am the goddess of retribution and I know when someone deserves to be punished. He conducted himself honorably toward my people. I will not have him debased on Atlantean soil.”
“Fine, send him home. I’ll debase him here.”
Oh yeah, that was what she was after.…
Not even a little.
Bethany wanted to curse at the trap she’d stumbled into. But she couldn’t allow Styxx to be hurt anymore. Not after this. “I want him left alone.”
“What I do in Greece is none of your business.”
“And what I do to your Apollites in Atlantis is none of yours … oh, and that list includes those Apollites who are in Greece … such as your son, Strykerius, and his children.”
The color faded from his cheeks. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Please, try me.”
Apollo growled at her. “I still own Styxx.”
“And I want you to release him.”
“No.”
“No?” she asked incredulously.
“He has thrice defied me. Blatantly and without remorse. I will not have a human do that any more than you’d tolerate it. I told him when I started this that I wouldn’t stop until he begged me to. Which he hasn’t. Just three days ago, he laughed in my face and refused to heel. He told me he was enjoying himself immensely and had no intention of begging me for shit, and so let him have h
is bellyful of fun, I say.” Apollo glared at her as if she was the one who’d laughed at him. “I will not stop until he begs me like a putrid human should!”
Bethany growled at both their obstinacy. Begging wasn’t in Styxx’s nature, and it shouldn’t be. He was a prince and a hero.
“Have you not punished him enough?”
“He told me to do my worst to him. I’m only giving him what he asked for.”
At that moment, she wanted to choke Styxx herself for being so very stubborn. But his defiance and strength were part of what she loved most about him.
Just not today. Today she wanted to murder both Apollo and Styxx.
She glared at the Greek god who really pissed her off. “You are such an asshole.”
“And you’re not? Tell me, Bet’anya, when have you ever taken pity on someone your pantheon sent you out to punish?”
“For your information, I have. I don’t blindly follow anyone’s dictates.”
“Bully for you, and it changes nothing. I have marked him and he stays marked.”
“Fine. Now consider your son and grandsons marked … By me.” She turned to go home.
“What!” Apollo roared.
She smiled back at him. “When you’re ready to trade, let me know.”
“Careful what you’re setting into motion, girl.”
“You’re the one who needs to tread carefully, boy.” She closed the distance between them so that he could clearly see just how serious she was on this matter. “And remember who my father is. You claim Isis as your mother. I know better. Set is my father, uncontested, and unlike your weenie pantheon, he has killed and mutilated gods. I not only inherited his powers, but I happen to be the baby girl he adores. His only child. When I was born and Archon refused to allow him access to me, he singlehandedly went to war with the Atlanteans and beat the shit out of them until Archon himself agreed to allow my father full visitation rights to me anytime he wanted them. And while I don’t make it a habit of running to my daddy with my problems, I will for this. Are you ready for that, Greek?”
The light in Apollo’s eyes said he wanted to put her through a wall. “Fine, you want him free? Get him on his knees and have him beg me for it. Only then will I grant it.”
“Swear to me.”
Styxx (DH #33) Page 49