Styxx (DH #33)

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Acheron laughed.

  Both he and Tory had cut their long hair and donated it to charity in honor of Sebastos’s first birthday. While Tory’s was now past her shoulders, Acheron had kept his to the same length Styxx had worn his before he’d first gone to war.

  With a ragged breath, Acheron released him. “You’ve no idea how much I missed you when Estes took me away, Styxx. I couldn’t stand it. Literally, I cried myself sick. It’s why I had to bury it. The pain of being told you hated me and not having you was more than I could bear. And all Estes did was say over and over that you didn’t want me with you. That you wanted our father’s love for yourself and that you were the sole reason I’d been taken from home and given to him. That you never thought of me or asked about me at any time. I should have known better. But I burned with a furious shame and blind hatred you can’t imagine. In my mind, you were given all the love, comfort and respect that was denied me.”

  Styxx snorted. “I do know your pain. I have not only my memories, but yours, too.”

  Acheron gave him a fierce, stern look. “And now I have yours.” Tears welled in his eyes again. “And boy, don’t I feel stupid. In my wildest nightmare, I never imagined Estes would dare whore you. Never mind what Apollo and the Atlanteans did … what I did.” Styxx had been brutally used and sold three years longer than he had. “Honestly, I don’t know how you could ever talk to me again.”

  But then Acheron did know. Styxx’s guilt. He felt responsible for what had happened to him. For not being able to do something to spare him from his uncle and father.

  For putting Bethany’s safety and well-being before his.

  “If it makes you feel better, Styxx, I would have chosen her over me, too.” Especially given their pasts and what Acheron had said and done to him. Love was such a rare gift that both of them knew better than to squander it or take for granted the one person strong enough to give them what so few had. “You weren’t wrong to protect her. And we will get her back for you. I swear it.”

  Styxx wiped at his eyes as he roped his emotions into submission. He wasn’t sure he could believe in Acheron’s words, but this was the closest they’d been to trust in centuries. “Just promise me one thing. If this doesn’t work, you’ll finally kill me.”

  “Is that really what you want?”

  Styxx took Bethany’s hand into his and nodded as he spun her wedding ring around on her finger. “She was so happy when I put this on her hand. I can still see her smiling.…” He flinched in agony. “Gods, Beth, why didn’t I go with you when you left?”

  Acheron put his hand on Styxx’s shoulder. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Had she taken her serum, my mother still would have killed her. At least this way, we have a chance to bring her back.”

  Before Styxx could respond, something bright flashed.

  They both turned, ready to fight, only to be stunned at the sudden appearance of Artemis in the room. Frowning, she made the strangest noise at the sight of them together.

  Styxx leaned his head back to speak to Acheron. “I think we startled her more than she startled us.”

  Acheron sighed. “What are you doing here?”

  She started to speak then closed the distance between them so that she could poke them each on the shoulder. “That’s just … not right. Say something else so I know which of you is Acheron.”

  “What, Artemis?”

  “There’s that irritated tone I loathe.” She turned her back to Acheron so that she could speak to Styxx. “I have brought you presents.”

  That scared him more than anything else.

  Always beware a Greek bearing gifts, especially when it was a god.

  “Why?”

  “You’re going up against my brother and the rest of those animals.… I want you to win, and make him bleed. A lot. Buckets and buckets full until it gushes and fills the entire hall.”

  Styxx met Acheron’s gaze over her shoulder. “Should I be afraid of the bloodlust?”

  “I’m terrified.” Acheron’s frown deepened. “What did Apollo do?”

  “He attacked Nicholas while he was weakened. I will not have it. Since I’m not powerful enough to harm him on my own, I want you two to kick his leg.”

  Acheron rolled his eyes. “You mean ass, Artie?”

  “Whatever body part pleases you. You can’t kill him, but you can make him suffer. Long. Hard. Pitifully. I gave Savitar an assortment of weapons I dipped in the River Styx. It will weaken Apollo to the point he’ll be as a mortal.” She glared her hatred for Apollo at Styxx. “If I were you, I’d castrate him slowly and with a great deal of—”

  “Grammy! Grammy!” Out of nowhere, a dark-haired toddler around the age of four popped into the room and leapt into Artemis’s arms.

  Her rant instantly forgotten, Artemis gave the child a giant hug as she swung the child away from them. “Mia Bella! How is my precious today?”

  The girl squealed. “Gamma, Gamma, Gamma, guess what? Guess what! The Simi gonna put hornays on my head like hers and Pappas’s. And she said that I could pick any color I want and that they’d be on all the time and they can glow in the dark, too.”

  Bug-eyed, Artemis looked as horrified by the idea as Styxx felt.

  Acheron laughed and rubbed Mia’s back. “How about if Simi makes you a pair that can come off?”

  Mia wrinkled her nose at him. “Pappas! No! I want real ones. Like you and Simi and Xireni.”

  Artemis blew out a burst of air. “You know Pappas only has those when he’s mad, right?”

  Mia’s eyes widened. “Really?”

  They both nodded.

  Mia’s attention finally went to Styxx. Her eyes widened. “Who cloned Pappas?” she whispered.

  Acheron smiled. “He’s my brother … your uncle Styxx.”

  Before Styxx knew what the toddler was doing, she launched herself into his arms and kissed him.

  “You look just like my Pappas.” Then she put her hands on his cheeks and rubbed noses with him. “That’s how Charonte say hello. But only if they like you. Otherwise they eat you with ketchup or barbecue sauce, or if they’re like my uncle Xed, jalapenos which are really hot, too.”

  “Don’t scare your uncle the first time you meet him, silly belle.” Artemis pulled her back into her arms and tickled her.

  The door opened. Kat and Sin came into the room making irritated, yet relieved parental sounds.

  “Sorry.” Kat took her daughter from Artemis. “She got off the chain when we took our eyes away from her for three seconds. She must have sensed you were here.” Hugging her mother, she gave her a kiss on the cheek as Sin took his daughter from Kat.

  Styxx bit back a smile at the way they passed the poor child around like a football. Yet she didn’t seem to mind in the least.

  Mia made an adorable face at her father. “Am I in trouble, Daddy?”

  Sin had the same reaction Styxx would. He melted and grinned. “No, baby girl. But you shouldn’t vanish like that without telling us where you’re going.” It was so incongruous to see a man as rugged and stern as Sin holding what basically amounted to a bright delicate fairy princess. The top of her dress was even bulging with pink and white cloth flowers, some of which decorated the long poofy yellow tulle skirt. Her legs were covered with matching pink leggings and pink patent leather shoes. The child was even wearing a pair of munchkin-sized pink tulle fairy wings. “You do have to go back to Aunt Tory and Aunt Danger and Uncle Kish and stay with them for a bit, okay?”

  She pouted adorably and nodded.

  Artemis stopped Sin before he could leave with Mia. “Grammy will be by in a little bit to read her baby belle a story, okay?”

  Mia grinned and bounced. “Can we ride in your deer chariot, too?”

  “Only if Mommy and Daddy say it’s okay … and you’ll have to put on a sweater.” Artemis gave her a big hug and kiss. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  She nodded then went rigid in Sin’s arms. “Wait! Wait! Pappas!”

&n
bsp; Smiling, Acheron gave her a tight squeeze. “I, too, will be back as soon as I can.”

  “Then we’ll watch Megamind?”

  “Sure, baby.”

  She planted a loud, wet kiss on Acheron’s cheek. Then Kat took her back from Sin. “I’ll return her to her closet and lock her in.”

  Sin kissed the top of Mia’s head before he turned back to them. “Really sorry for the intrusion.” He followed after his wife and daughter.

  Alone now with Artemis, Acheron met Styxx’s gaze. “Are you all right?”

  Not really.

  Styxx swallowed hard against the pain inside him. “You have a beautiful granddaughter and I truly don’t begrudge you your family, Acheron.” He glanced to Bethany and felt tears prick the back of his eyes. “I just want mine.”

  “That’s not going to be easy.”

  They both frowned at Artemis. The way she said that told them she knew something they didn’t.

  “What do you mean?” Styxx asked.

  “You do know my brother was in love with her, right?”

  Styxx gaped at something no one had ever mentioned. “Bethany?”

  “Bathymaas,” Artemis amended. “He and my mother are the ones who moused you out.”

  He had the hardest time understanding her. “Moused you out?”

  “Ratted … you out,” Acheron corrected in a pain-filled tone.

  She sighed. “Whatever. I just don’t understand modern idiots.”

  Styxx bit back a laugh as he silently agreed.

  Acheron cleared his throat. “I think she means idioms.”

  She turned a peeved glare at Acheron. “No, this time, I got it right. Modern idiots. Anyway, my mother hated her because she coveted Bathymaas’s powers and because Bathymaas didn’t stop Hera from being such a bitch to us and leaving us with the blood-sucking curse I really want to claw Hera’s eyes out over … and when Apollo fell in love with Bathymaas and she refused to have anything to do with him, he was furious. He couldn’t stand it. So when he found out she was not only in love with the Atlantean Aricles, but sleeping with him, he went crackers.”

  “Nuts.”

  “Whatever.” She growled at Acheron and his continued corrections. “Apollo’s the one who tricked her into killing you, just like he did me with Orion. Bastard bitch that he is. It destroyed her. But you swore to her if it took you ten thousand lifetimes, you’d find your way back. And I’m glad you did, but Apollo won’t be so happy once he realizes you’re you.”

  Styxx was starting to get one of his “better” migraines. “I’m completely lost again. Bethany isn’t Bathymaas. Bathymaas was born of the primal source.”

  “Yes. Set.”

  “Set?” Styxx repeated.

  Artemis nodded. “She went…” she passed an evil grimace toward Acheron, “insane. Rather similar to what Apollymi did when Apollo killed Acheron. But her off knob—”

  “Button or switch?” Acheron really didn’t seem capable of stopping himself from correcting her. Styxx was beginning to think his brother did it just to get under her skin.

  She wrinkled her nose and kept talking. “Off-switch was a lot harder than Apollymi’s. The only way to stop Bathymaas was to have her reborn without the memory of Aricles. It’s why her mother is Symfora—sorrow—and why Bethany wouldn’t marry or really dabble much with men. But weirdly, she’d always go fishing where the two of you used to meet all those centuries before. Like she was waiting for you to come back to her, even though she had no memory of you or him.”

  Styxx had always wondered why Beth had chosen that fishing spot and why she’d been so loyal to it. Now it made sense. “In Didymos?”

  “It wasn’t called Didymos then, but yes. Aricles was born in a small stone cottage almost identical to the one you bought for Bet’anya, and it was where they first met when she went to recruit him for her Ēperon. Anyway, she set up their headquarters on the matching island where you, as Styxx, were raised. Bathymaas always wanted to stay close to Aricles, and she would often spy on him whenever he had free time. Even though he was the best warrior who ever held a sword in his hand, Aricles remained more farmer than soldier. Anytime he could, he’d seclude himself from his brethren and fish quietly by the same stream where you met her. Because she was a goddess, she’d never seen anyone do that before and was curious about it. As he taught her how to fish and they spent more time together, they fell in love.”

  “And that’s why I didn’t throw a fit the day we met.”

  Styxx turned toward Set who’d joined them in the room.

  “As soon as I laid eyes on you, I knew you were Aricles. That somehow, you’d managed to keep your word and find her again, and I’m pretty sure it’s what drew Apollo to you, too. Why he was so hellbent on making you suffer.”

  “No. That was my idiot other brother who pointed Styxx out to him. You give Apollo too much credit. He’s like a spoiled toddler … pretty … shiny … gimme. Kind of like Acheron’s demon.” Artemis met Styxx’s gaze. “Bathymaas was my brother’s first love and her rejection crushed him—at least that’s what he claims. Because of that, my mother cursed the two of you to never be together.”

  “Is that why Bethany can’t wake up?”

  “In part,” Set said. “But mostly it’s because she only has half her heart. To bring her back and allow her to be sane and not the soul of vengeance she’d became after Aricles died, I had to remove the part of her heart that had you in it and wipe all knowledge of you from her memory.”

  Acheron frowned. “That’s biologically impossible.”

  “No. Bath wasn’t human in any way, nor was she born of a womb. She was a gift to me to teach me compassion for others. Since the Mavromino had birthed the first Malachai, the Kalosum created her to keep me from turning my back on what I’d been born to do. It’s why she was never supposed to know the love of any man. Her duty was to stay pure and remain the order to my chaos. She was justice. Cold and unyielding, without any personal interests or the ability to play favorites. Aricles changed all of that. When her heart broke in half over his death, her tears are what transformed her into ruthless, uncaring vengeance. She lost all balance and nothing mattered except to make the world pay for the wrong it’d done her and Aricles. Ironically, it was that more than anything that showed me why I needed to keep a handle on my own powers. As bad as she was, I would be much worse should I ever let the Mavromino control me.”

  Styxx glanced back to Bethany. “So how do I wake her?”

  “You have to return her heart to her.”

  “And that is where?”

  Set sighed. “Last I heard it was given to Epithymia. The ugly side of desire is covetous jealousy. Epithymia wanted Apollo and thought that if she stole that part of Bet, it would help her seduce him.”

  Artemis scoffed. “Didn’t work. She was too big a slut for my brother. He does have some standards.”

  “Then she’s the one we use the necklace on.” After kissing Bethany’s hand, Styxx pulled the covers over her. He brushed the back of his fingers across her soft cheek. I will not fail you, Beth.

  Whatever it took, he would reawaken her. Even if he had to die to do it.

  He stepped back and swept them with a determined grimace. “Let’s finish this.”

  December 23, 2012

  “You know this isn’t going to work, right?” Styxx asked Acheron.

  “I’ve had worse odds.”

  “So have I, but most didn’t work out well for me.” Dreading the fact he was about to be an ant under a magnifying glass, Styxx allowed Acheron to teleport them to his brother’s bedroom in Katateros.

  Before Acheron’s marriage, the room had been sparsely decorated in black and brown. Now it was powder-puff blue with dancing circus animals on the walls and a canopied crib within easy reach of the large bed … a holdover from Acheron’s paranoia and guilt about Apollodorus.

  Acheron’s son, Sebastos, was never left to sleep alone. The baby had been almost a year old before Acher
on had allowed him to sleep anywhere other than his father’s chest.

  But Styxx couldn’t fault him for that. He’d be as bad, if not worse with his own.

  Styxx froze at that thought.

  It was the first time in centuries that he’d thought about the prospect of having a child again. That it was suddenly a real possibility …

  Yet he refused to be happy. Not until Beth was back in his arms and it was a done deal. Between now and then, anything could happen and he wasn’t about to jinx himself.

  Can you hear me?

  He frowned as Acheron’s thoughts intruded on his then nodded.

  Good. I think it best if we communicate like this for a while.

  Styxx nodded again. He went to the door and listened for the others. Seth’s “bird” spirit had shown them that the gods were all gathered in the throne room, where they bragged about what they intended to do once they had Apostolos in their custody.

  None of it was pretty and it made him rather glad that Acheron had reconsidered sending him in as his double.

  Acheron joined him at the door. “They’ve sensed our powers.” Something they wanted the Atlanteans to do since it would throw them off.

  Ready? Styxx asked.

  Absolutely not.

  Styxx rolled his eyes at Acheron’s warped humor.

  Locking gazes, Acheron held his hand up in offering to Styxx. Styxx glanced to the crib and felt his stomach lurch. Acheron was as likely to hand him over to his enemies as he was to fight for him. While his brother had stood strong and steadfast for his Dark-Hunter brethren, he’d never hesitated to throw Styxx under a bus.

  But this was his only chance to get Bethany back. Like it or not, he had to trust Acheron to fight for and with him.

  With a deep breath for strength, he took Acheron’s hand and let his brother teleport them into the throne room.

  Styxx let go of Acheron and took his position at his back. He faced Archon, Apollo, and Epithymia while Acheron faced the rest.