Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon
“I just need some water to bathe with. I’ll manage the ride.”
“Styxx—”
“Galen … I won’t keep them or you here. Let’s go home.” But home wasn’t what he really craved returning to.
Then again, the only thing he craved right now was one single, unimpeded breath.
November 3, 9532 BC
“Bethany?”
Her heart quickened as she finally heard the deep, husky voice she’d been longing to hear. “Hector?”
He sat down beside her on her blanket and laid his head on her shoulder then he wrapped his arms around her.
By the way he breathed, she knew he was in a great deal of pain. “Were you wounded?”
He placed her hand on his wrist so that she could feel her necklace there. “Not cut, but bruised to the point I can barely draw breath. Of course, it didn’t help that I rode ahead of all the others and snuck back here to see you as soon as I could.”
She cradled him against her. “Did you really?”
He nodded. “Night and day. I wasn’t tired at all, until now.”
She kissed his brow and savored the scent of his skin. “Does your head hurt?”
“Like I’ve been kicked by my horse.”
“Then lie down in my lap and let me see if I can help.”
“You already have.”
She smiled at him as he complied, but her smile died at the sound of his pain and the way his breathing intensified. He hurt so much, he was absolutely shaking. “I heard you won,” she said, trying to distract him from it.
“We did.”
Brushing her hand through his hair, she felt several large bumps on his head. Careful not to touch them, she massaged his temples and scalp as best she could. “Were you scared?”
His breathing came easier now. “Petrified. But I would only admit that to you.”
She paused as she touched a cut on the back of his head where it felt like he must have fallen against something. “I heard Prince Styxx was the battle’s hero. Did you see him?”
He was quiet for several seconds. “I did.”
“And?”
“Should I be jealous that you’re so interested in the prince? I thought money didn’t matter to you.”
“It doesn’t. I just wanted to know about this man who dared to pull my sweet Hector from my arms.”
“Mmm … I was too busy fighting to pay attention to him.”
“Is it really true that he took no tribute, but rather had it divided between his men?”
He made a light sound that let her know he was slipping fast into sleep.
Leaning down, she rubbed her nose against his and savored the sensation of his breath on her skin. Even though it galled her that they’d been defeated, she was grateful her Hector was back and whole. It went a long way in soothing her ravaged ego. Still …
She had a grudge to settle and she wasn’t going to forget it. One way or another, Styxx was going to pay for what he’d done to them on the battlefield. And hers would be the hand that dealt the final blow to that arrogant little prick.
November 10, 9532 BC
Bethany laughed as Hector nibbled a scorching trail down her stomach until he took her into his mouth. Lifting her hips, she buried her hand in his soft hair while his tongue danced over her until she was breathless and weak. In just a matter of minutes, her body exploded into pure bliss. She cried out in ecstasy and still his tongue flitted over her until she was drunk from his masterful touch.
No one had a tongue like his.…
Body either.
Slowly, methodically, he kissed his way over her, taking time to savor her breasts before he claimed her lips. She felt the tip of his erection pressing against her, begging for entry.
Desperate to have him inside her body again, she wiggled her hips. He deepened his kiss, and laced his fingers with hers then he took mercy on her and slid himself inside. Sighing in delight, she ran her free hand down to where they were joined so that she could feel his cock as he thrust against her hips.
Styxx sucked his breath in at the sensation of her hand on him. His sweet Bethany took him away from all the nightmares he didn’t want to remember. From the horror of Apollo’s attack. “I love it when you do that.”
Smiling, she kissed him.
He should have gone home days ago, but he’d been holed up with Bethany in a small hostel on the outskirts of town where no one knew who he was. In truth, he had no desire to leave here.
To leave her.
She lifted her hips so that he went all the deeper inside her body. “I can’t believe how hungry you still are.”
“I’m never satiated where you’re concerned,
akribos
.” He nipped her fingers as she danced them over his lips.
She moaned deep in her throat.
Styxx buried his face against her neck as he quickened his strokes. He knew from experience that when she made that sound and tightened her arms around him, she was on the brink of orgasm.
A moment later, her dulcet cry filled his ears. He rolled his hips against hers, driving her climax on until she laughed and kissed him passionately.
Her lips were all he needed to tip him over into ecstasy. Growling in his throat, he buried himself deep and held her close. Strange how he only found peace with her. The rest of the world could burn and he wouldn’t care. Not so long as he could feel her hand on his cheek.
It felt as if he’d always known her. As if he’d been born solely to love her with every part of himself.
She sighed contentedly. “Oh, what you do to me, my sweet prince.”
His heart lurched at the endearment. “I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”
She frowned. “Why?”
Too many people had used the title to mock him. And now … he heard Apollo’s repugnant voice saying it in his ear. It made his skin crawl.
He was so grateful that Bethany couldn’t see the “wonderful” souvenir that bastard had left him with. A sun symbol between his shoulder blades so that everyone who saw it would know the sun god had violated him. Every time he thought about it, he wanted to scream and run his sword through that bastard’s gut.
“I’m not a prince, Beth. I’m just a man.”
“But you are so much more than that to me.”
Closing his eyes, he savored those words and reveled in the sensation of her hands gliding over his sweaty back. “Your father is most likely going to kill you for your absence.”
“I’m sure yours won’t be pleased either.”
“No … he won’t.” He teased her earlobe with his teeth. “I still wish you’d run away with me, Beth. I would give you anything you ask.”
“But you can’t run away from your responsibilities or problems. They always follow.”
“They don’t have to.”
“Please, Hector, don’t ruin this week by asking for something I can’t give you.”
He ground his teeth at the pain in his chest whenever he thought about leaving her and returning to a life he hated with every beat of his heart. “All right. I won’t trouble you again with it.”
Someone pounded on their door. “The prince returns!” They ran down the hall, banging on all the doors to announce it.
Styxx scowled then growled as he realized it meant their army had returned home.
Not him.
Bethany traced the line of his brow. “You should be marching in with them to receive your honors.”
Yes, he should. His father would be furious when he learned Styxx wasn’t with the others. “I would have to leave you in order to do that. Is that really what you want?”
She bit her lip playfully. “No. I rather like you where you currently are.”
“As do I.”
But there would be rancid Tartarus to pay whenever he left her.…
November 11, 9532 BC
It was just after midnight when Styxx entered the palace through the front door. He thought he was home free until he topped the stairs and met his father there.
The expression on his father’s face was anything but welcoming. His father backhanded him so hard, it knocked his teeth loose.
“You are ever determined to publicly embarrass and humiliate me, aren’t you?”
His lips already swelling, Styxx wiped the blood on the back of his hand. “How so, Father?”
“You turned down a king’s offer, you disseminated royal treasure to commoners without permission, and then you deprived the city of welcoming you home and insulted the noblemen and their wives by not attending the celebratory banquet held in
your
dubious honor.”
That was quite a list of offenses his father had made.
“What have you to say for yourself, boy?”
Styxx licked at his still bleeding lips. “I thought King Kreon had been more than generous with his gifts to you, Father. So much so that you wouldn’t miss what little he gave to me personally for my services to his army. I thought those were better served going to the men who’d left their families and risked their lives for us than into the treasury to pay for Mother’s drink and Ryssa’s gowns. Forgive me for my selfishness. As for the noblemen and their wives, I doubt they missed me once you opened the reserves. And honestly, I didn’t want the humiliation of returning home and having my mother and sister snub me on the palace steps or see the anger in your eyes over the fact that I squandered my portion of the tribute I earned. So again, please forgive me for insulting you while I sought to save myself from more public embarrassment.”
“I should have you whipped for your insolence.”
“Fine. Would you like to wake the scold or should I?” Styxx started past him, but his father caught his arm and pulled him to a stop.
A tic beating furiously in his jaw, he met his father’s baffled expression.
“I don’t understand you, boy. I have given you everything a prince could have or want, and it’s not enough for you. You’re petulant. Thoughtless … Perhaps I should have kept Acheron and let Estes whore you in his stead.”
Those words slammed into him like one of Apollo’s fists. “You knew?”
“Not … in so many details. But I had suspicions.”
Styxx couldn’t breathe as the cold, harsh brutality racked him hard. “How could you suspect and do nothing?”
“I did it to protect you and control him.”
Styxx snorted. “Protect
me
?”
“Your life hinges on his.”
So…? “And what about now? You don’t know where…” Styxx’s voice trailed off as a brutal realization slapped him in the face. “You
do
know Acheron’s whereabouts.”
“Of course I do. You don’t really think for one moment I’d let him loose when his life is tied to yours, do you?”
Styxx glanced away from him before he gave in to the urge to beat the old bastard. “I don’t know what to think anymore,
Father
.”
The king reached for him.
Styxx stepped back, out of his reach. “Don’t touch me. How could you allow my twin to be bought and sold?”
The lack of remorse on his father’s face appalled him completely. “It was a perfect revenge. The gods whored my queen. It’s only right that I whore their by-blow.”
How was Styxx supposed to take that? It was okay for Acheron, his identical twin, to live in utter misery and to be used every single day?
Was that why
he
was now being tortured by Apollo? The gods were exacting their own retribution over what the king had done to one of them? And Styxx was their tool?
“And what of me?”
His father scowled. “What about you?”
By his father’s thoughts, Styxx knew the king had no idea Estes had used him, and he definitely didn’t know about Apollo’s attacks. “Did Estes tell you he molested Acheron?”
His father grabbed him by the throat and shoved him back. “My brother never did such a thing. It’s a lie that bastard told. I know better.”
No, he didn’t. Styxx knocked his hand away. “Where’s my brother?”
“In a place where he can’t hurt us.”
Right then, Styxx could have killed his father easier than he’d killed his uncle. “Where?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“A stew.”
“I want the name of it.”
“Why?” His father narrowed his gaze on him. “You want to fuck him, too?”
Styxx went cold. No … surely not. “Too?”
His father slapped him again. “I never touched that filth. But why else would you want to know where he is?”
Because I might actually care and love my brother.
Yet he knew better than to say that out loud. So, he gave his father the only answer the heartless bastard could comprehend. “I certainly don’t want to chance going to it and being mistaken for my brother, now do I?”
As expected, it placated the wretched beast. “Catera’s.”
“Thank you.” Styxx headed for the stairs.
“Where are you going?”
“Ultimately to Tartarus, I’m sure. For now … out.”
“Styxx!”
He ignored his father’s shout as he left the palace and headed for the center of the city. At this point, he really didn’t care what his father did to him. What difference would it make?
* * *
“
I
f it’s a
whore you want—”
Styxx cut the man off with a fierce growl. “I told you, I want to see Catera.
Now!
”
“She doesn’t see clients.”
Styxx shoved the small man back into the shadows and lowered his hood. “I am not a client and unless it is your wish to have this brothel burned to the ground and everyone in it arrested and then executed, I suggest you get the owner to me immediately and tell no one who I am.”
He ran to comply.
Styxx covered his head again, making sure to keep his identity completely hidden. His blood ran cold as he listened to the bargains being cut all around. Worse were the fleeting memories of people bargaining for him.…
“Can I help you?”
He glanced over his shoulder to see a tiny older woman with henna red hair. “Catera?”
“Yes?”
“I need to speak with you alone.”
She shook her head in denial. “I don’t do that anymore.”
“I don’t want to tup you, woman,” Styxx snarled. “I’m here to give you the terms under which this brothel will be allowed to continue operating.”
She made a subtle gesture for a burly man to join them.
Styxx scoffed at that. As if he’d be intimidated after everything he’d been through. “If you value his life and yours, you will see me privately, right now.”