That profound sense of loss that came the moment you woke up and knew for certain that all your hopes and dreams for tomorrow had become your yesterday.
That was the hell they called home.
And Acheron knew nothing of it.
Lucky bastard.
“I fucking hate you,” Styxx growled in Acheron’s ear.
“I know, brother … I know.” And still Acheron held him the way Urian used to hold on to his own twin. Back in the days when they’d been innocent boys, before the world had crashed down on them and made them bitter men, scarred by war and tragedy. Separated by death and heartache. “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 others. I hurt you and I abandoned you and it was wrong. I was wrong and I am so incredibly sorry.”
Their sadness choked Urian as he watched them. He felt for both men who’d been divided by hatred and a world that wouldn’t let them live in peace.
Styxx glared at his twin. “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.” He pulled back and placed his forehead to Styxx’s, then gently fisted his hand in the hair at the nape of Styxx’s neck. “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. That was the curse of the Atlantean gods.
He wiped at the tears on Acheron’s face. “Gah, we look like two old women.” Styxx balled his fists in Acheron’s hair, which no longer fell down his back. “But at least you finally got a decent haircut.”
Acheron laughed.
Urian wiped at his own eyes as he remembered his own shock when Ash and Tory had cut their long hair and donated it to charity in honor of Sebastos’s first birthday.
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.”
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. “Boy, don’t I feel stupid. Honestly, I don’t know how you could ever talk to me again. And if it makes you feel better, Styxx, I would have chosen her over me, too. At least she’s prettier to look at.”
Urian took Davyn’s hand as he felt his brother’s pain reaching out toward him. They all understood that misery. Love was too rare a gift to ever squander. If you were lucky enough to find the one person strong enough to stand by your side, you held on to them with everything you had and you never let them go.
Because if you lost them, it was an unimaginable hell that cut through you every day of your life.
Acheron gave him a grim smile. “You weren’t wrong to protect her. And we will get her back for you. I swear it.”
Urian choked on his own grief as he felt Davyn’s hand trembling in his. They both would sell their souls to have Paris and Phoebe or Xyn back. Just for one heartbeat.
Damn it, why hadn’t he cherished them more when he had them? The only regret Urian had was not spending more time in their arms. He should never have left them. Styxx was right. You climbed into the chariot, hell or high water, and you stayed by their side, consequences be damned.
Styxx wiped at his eyes. “Just promise me one thing. If this doesn’t work, you’ll finally kill me.”
Urian flinched at those words. Damn me, if I don’t understand that. He’d made the same request. And he hated every day he lived without the women he loved. It wasn’t fair to be here when they weren’t. They were the better half. How unkind was fate to spare the animal that was him and to take the beauty of their souls in his place? What kind of justice was that? How could that be considered right?
What the fuck was wrong with the balance of the universe that it would do such a thing to humanity? He was the one who should have been killed. Phoebe had never harmed a soul. And Xyn … she was a guardian. A lady of such beauty and grace.
He was a monster who should have been put down like a rabid dog.
Yet here he lived on for eternity while they were gone.
It wasn’t right and every time he thought about it, he wanted to rip the throats from the very gods themselves for their cruelty. For their lack of regard for humanity and leaving him behind because obviously they didn’t give a shit about what was right and what was fair.
Life was selfish and it was cold. Just like his barren soul. Why did life have to be like this? Why did the gods show you a glimpse of heaven only to rip it from your grasp the moment you dared to reach for it?
There was no need of an eternal hell. Life was punishment enough. No one deserved it.
Especially not the innocent babes born to this world who came in naked and unprepared for its brutality.
“Is that really what you want?”
Urian snorted at Acheron’s question that said it all about his naivete. Ash had never really loved and lost or he’d know that answer. No one wanted to live after having been gutted.
Time didn’t heal those wounds.
It didn’t cover the scars. The best you could hope for were momentary lapses in pain where it didn’t sting quite as bad. And if you were really lucky, those lapses might grow a bit longer in between.
That was it.
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? I should have climbed on that chariot and never left your side.”
Urian clenched his eyes shut as Styxx repeated the words he’d heard him say so many times.
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.”
Urian wished he shared Ash’s optimism. His had been slaughtered on the altar of reality a long time ago. That bitch took mercy on no one.
Suddenly, something bright red and furious flashed in the room. Urian’s temper flared as he saw his aunt Artemis in all her vibrant redheaded glory. When he took a step toward her in anger, Davyn caught him.
“Don’t,” he whispered.
Urian’s heart pounded as it demanded he beat her until his need for vengeance against her and Apollo was sated. But Davyn was right. It wouldn’t change anything.
However, it might make him feel better.
Artemis drew up short with a severe scowl and a strange noise as she saw Ash and Styxx standing together. If he didn’t know better, Urian would think she was scared of them.
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, Artie?”
She started to speak, then closed the distance between them so that she could poke each of them on the shoulder. “That’s just … not right. Say something else so I know which of you is Acheron.”
“What, Artemis?”
She made a face of distaste. “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 sent a shiver down Urian’s spine. His aunt never sent presents.
To anyone.
Beware a Greek bearing gifts, especially when it was a bitch-goddess renowned for her selfishness.
“Why?” Styxx asked.
“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.”
Urian smirked at Davyn. Wow, Apollo was making friends everywhere he went. Nice to know his twin sister hated him as much as ev
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 now?”
“He attacked my Nicholas while he was weakened. I will not have it. Since I’m not powerful enough to harm Apollo on my own, I want you two to kick his leg.”
Acheron rolled his eyes. “You mean ass, Artie?”
“Ass. Leg. 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!”
Urian snorted at the sight of Mia popping into the room while dressed as some kind of woodland fairy creature. That little dark-haired toddler was part bloodhound when it came to her grandparents. Unaware of the fact that her grandmother was a nightmare bitch, she immediately leapt into Artemis’s arms so that she could wrap her pudgy arms around her with a squeal and give her a big hug and kiss.
Her rant instantly forgotten, Artemis returned the affection. “Mia Bella! How is my precious today?”
The girl squealed even louder as she bounced in her arms. “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 appeared as horrified by the idea as Urian had the first time Simi tried to do it to him.
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.
Urian waved at Mia as she giggled and waved at him. He had to admit his cousin was adorable. And he still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he and Katra were related. Or that Apollymi had kept it from him. But then she was the only person he’d ever met who was better at keeping secrets than Acheron.
Mia’s attention finally went to Styxx. Her eyes widened. “Who cloned Pappas?” she whispered.
Acheron smiled. “He’s my brother … your uncle Styxx.”
Excited, 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, jalapeños, 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 escaped the chain when we took our eyes off 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.
Urian was always amazed how they passed that kid around like a hot potato and yet she never cared. His nieces and nephews wouldn’t have stood for that. But his cousin was a whole other crazy egg. Which, given her parents …
Well, he understood.
Mia made an adorable face at her father. “Am I in trouble, Daddy?”
Sin had the same reaction Urian did whenever little Phoebe turned her charms toward him. He melted and grinned. “No, baby girl. But you shouldn’t vanish like that without telling us where you’re going.”
Urian laughed. It was hysterical to see a man as rugged and stern as Sin holding such a bright delicate fairy princess. The top of her dress bulged with pink and white cloth flowers, some of which were sewn on the long poofy yellow tulle skirt. Her legs were covered with matching pink leggings and pink patent leather shoes. She was even wearing a pair of miniature pink tulle 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.”
“Bye-byes, Uri and Davys!” she shouted at them with a cherub grin.
Then she planted a loud, wet kiss on Acheron’s cheek.
Sighting, Kat took her back from Sin. “I’ll return her to her closet and lock her in with some kind of baby Kryptonite.”
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.
Acheron met Styxx’s gaze. “Are you all right?”
“You have a beautiful granddaughter and I truly don’t begrudge you your family, Acheron.” He glanced to Bethany. “I just want mine.”
“That’s not going to be easy.”
They frowned at Artemis for her comment. 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?”
Urian wasn’t sure who in the room was most shocked by that declaration.
“Bethany?” Urian asked.
“Bathymaas,” Artemis amended. “He and my mother are the ones who moused you out.”
“Ratted … you out,” Acheron corrected in a pain-filled tone.
She sighed. “Whatever. I just don’t understand modern idiots.”
Moused? Davyn mouthed the word to Urian, who shrugged and then made the hand gesture to remind him that Artemis was a bit crazy.
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 …”
Yeah, how nice of his grandfather, who hated the fact that he was damned to drink blood from his sister, to put that off on them.
Effing bastard.
For that alone, Urian wanted to cut off his head and deliver him up to Helios.
But Artemis continued her explanation. “So when Apollo fell in love with Bathymaas and she refused to have anything to do with him, he was furious. When he found out she was not only in love with the Atlantean Aricles but sleeping with him, he went crackers.”
“Nuts.”
“What. Ever.” She growled at Acheron and his continued corrections. “Apollo’s the one who tricked her into killing you,” she said to Styxx, “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.”
Urian was confused. “Wait. Bethany isn’t Bathymaas. Bathymaas was born of the primal source. Bethany wasn’t.”
“Yes, she is. She’s born of Set.”
“Set?” Urian still didn’t see the connection.
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. Urian was beginning to think his boss did it just to get underneath her skin.
She wrinkled her nose at him and kept talking. “Off switch was a lot harder to find than Apollymi’s. The only way to stop Bathymaas was to have her reborn without the memory of her life and love with Aricles. It’s why her mother was Symfora—the goddess of sorrow—and why Bethany wouldn’t marry or really dabble much with men until Aricles was reborn. But weirdly, she’d always go fishing where the two of them used to meet all those centuries before. Like she was waiting for Aricles to come back, even though she didn’t remember you or him.”
Urian let out a heavy sigh. Fate will out. It was what his father had always told him. No matter what you do, some things couldn’t be changed. Urian got that.
“And that’s why I didn’t throw a fit the day I met you that first time.”
Urian turned toward Set as he 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 hell-bent on making you suffer.”
“No.” Artemis let out a bitter laugh. “That was my idiot other brother who pointed Styxx out to him. I always hated Dionysus. You give Apollo too much credit. He’s like a spoiled toddler … pretty … shiny … gimme. Kind of like Acheron’s demon.”
She met Styxx’s gaze. “Bathymaas was my brother’s first love and her rejection emotionally 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 with a heavy sigh. “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 became after the death of Aricles, I had to remove the part of her heart that had you in it and wipe all knowledge of you from her memory.”
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