Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Gently, he laid Bethany back on the bed.
With a furious bellow, he turned on Acheron with a wide punch. Acheron blocked it and yanked him into his arms. Styxx tried to fight, but Acheron held him close against him in an iron grip.
“It’s all right, Styxx. I know it hurts.”
But Acheron didn’t know. His children were all alive and well. Tory was healthy.…
No one was going to kill her baby and leave her frozen and alone like this for centuries.
Yet something inside him splintered as he felt Acheron finally embracing him. Styxx didn’t see them as men. He saw them as desperate, hated children who only had each other.
And it burned him to the core of his soul that Acheron would dare to embrace him now after all this time.
“I fucking hate you,” he growled in Acheron’s ear.
“I know, brother … I know.” And still Acheron held him the way he used to when it was just the two of them against the world that begrudged them their very lives. When the only affection they could count on was a brother’s love and respect. “I wish more than anything that I could take it all back. Everything,” Acheron breathed. “That I’d listened to and followed the advice I gave to others. I hurt you and I abandoned you and it was wrong. I was wrong and I am so incredibly sorry.”
Styxx wanted to rip him apart. He did. Deep inside, he needed to feel Acheron’s blood on his hands.
And yet …
That piece of his heart that had only wanted his brother back savored this moment. Long before Bethany, this was what he’d craved. This was what he’d sought when he’d gone to Atlantis, sick, scared, and alone to free Acheron.
In spite of everything and everyone, even them and their own stupidity, he still loved his brother.
“Why can’t I just hate you?”
Acheron’s arms tightened around him. “Because you’re a better man than I am. You always were.”
But that wasn’t true and Styxx knew it. He would never have been able to do for the Dark-Hunters what Acheron had done. While his brother had been a complete douche to him, Acheron had been the saving grace and sole champion for countless others. And he’d done it with a dignity and kindness that Styxx knew were hard-won given their brutal pasts.
They were both branded whores who’d been used, betrayed, and thrown away like garbage.…
His brother had risen above it and built a life in spite of all the people who’d tried to destroy him. And Acheron still stood strong.
Acheron pulled back and placed his forehead to Styxx’s just as he used to do when they were children. He gently fisted his hand in the hair at the nape of Styxx’s neck and stared into his eyes. “I will never turn my back on you again, brother. I—”
Styxx covered his mouth with his hand, cutting off his words. “Don’t make a promise you might not keep.” It would kill him if he did. He wiped at the tears on Acheron’s face. “Gah, we look like two old women.” Styxx balled his fists in Acheron’s hair, that no longer fell down his back. Rather, it hung now to just past his jaw. “But at least you finally got a decent haircut.”
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!”
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.”