Styxx (DH #33) (110 page)

“Thank you, Styxx.”

He inclined his head before he left to tend the animals and unpack the rest of his supplies.

By the time he returned, Skylos was lying beside Seti who looked a lot better than he had earlier. He was still blistered and skeletal, but there was now life in his blue eyes.

Seti smiled as he saw him entering the tent.

Styxx pulled his keffiyeh down to expose his face. He set the medical pack next to his pallet and knelt by Seti’s side. “What happened to you?”

“I was attacked by a vicious bastard and his she-bitch and left for dead. May they rot for all eternity.”

Grimacing in sympathetic pain, Styxx handed him a bottle of aloe gel. “That’ll help with the sunburn.”

Seti caught his hand and frowned at the sight of the cuts on his skin the storm had given him. “I am sorry I caused you to be harmed.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad I got to you before the simoon hit.”

“Me, too.”

Styxx set up the lanterns, but didn’t turn them on. He paused as he saw his sketchbook on the ground near Seti. It’d been inside the backpack with his food.

“Your drawings?”

“They are.” Embarrassed that someone else had seen them, Styxx picked the book up and returned it to the backpack.

“You are very talented, my friend. The woman … is she yours?”

“My beautiful wife, Beth.”

Seti inclined his head respectfully. “You’re a very lucky man.”

“I was, indeed.”

“Was?”

His heart aching, Styxx glanced down at the names on his arm as he zipped his backpack closed. “She died a long time ago.”

For a moment, Seti’s eyes darkened as if he felt the pain of her death as deeply as Styxx did. “I am very sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

“And the boy? Your son?”

With a ragged breath, Styxx stood up. “Yes, but I never met him. My wife was expecting him when I lost her.”

“Again, I am very, very sorry.”

Styxx pulled out a new stick of lip balm and handed it to Seti. “What of you? Have you a wife?”

Seti frowned at the balm as if he’d never seen anything like it before. “I’ve had many. And you … have you another?”

“No. Just the one.”

“You’re a young man. Why only one?”

Styxx smiled wistfully. “You can’t improve perfection, Seti, and there will never be another woman equal to my precious Bethany. But I am sure your wives will be glad to have you back. And your children, too.”

“Alas, I have no children. Not anymore.” The sadness in Seti’s voice said that they shared the same pain.

“I’m sorry.” Styxx cleared his throat and changed the subject. “I have coffee and tea. Which would you prefer?”

“I would sacrifice a goat for coffee.”

He let out a short laugh at the desperation in Seti’s voice. He’d been there himself. “Coffee it is. I’ll be back with it shortly.”

It didn’t take Styxx long to make the coffee and return to Seti, who was propped on his bedroll, rubbing Skylos’s ears.

“So what has brought you to the desert, my young friend?”

Styxx handed him a cup of thick Greek coffee. “I’m at peace here.” At least that was what he thought until the sign on his back started tingling.…

“Are you all right?”

Styxx glanced around. Was Apollo nearby? He turned back toward Seti and smiled. “Fine. Just a … weird feeling I haven’t had in a long time.”

One that told him something evil was watching. He just didn’t know what.

Or who.

September 8, 2012

“Zakar!”

Styxx slowed down as Seti shouted. When Seti had told him where his brother lived, he’d expected a camp or small village. That was not where they were. “Your brother lives in a cave?”

“He does, indeed.” Seti dismounted from Wasima and led Styxx toward the small opening.

There was something very peculiar about this place. Other than the fact it was ancient. While Seti went inside to look for his brother, Styxx watered the animals. They’d been traveling most of the morning, and on his own, he’d have never gone this long without a break for them. But Seti had been dying to let his brother know he lived.

A small group of goats came down the side of the hill to chatter at him. Actually, they wanted water, too.

Laughing at their eagerness, Styxx pulled out another bowl and poured them some. He’d just finished when Seti returned with a man who was almost the same height as Styxx. There was something he didn’t see every day, especially with desert people.

“Styxx, meet my brother. Zakar … Styxx.”

Much younger than Styxx expected, Zakar had curly black hair and eyes that were very different from Seti’s red hair and baby blues. They looked nothing alike, but Styxx wasn’t about to mention it. And now that he thought about it, Zakar reminded him a lot of Acheron’s son-in-law, Sin.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Styxx. Thank you for freeing my brother. I’d begun to despair of ever seeing him again.”

“The pleasure is all mine. I’m merely grateful I got to him when I did.”

The brothers exchanged an odd look and it wasn’t until then that Styxx realized he couldn’t hear either of their thoughts.… Because he’d been alone for so long, it hadn’t dawned on him that he couldn’t hear Seti’s until now.

Hmmm, peculiar.

Zakar gestured toward the cave. “I have fresh coffee and yogurt, as well as some fruit and hummus with crackers.”

Even though he’d rather be on his way, Styxx smiled and yielded to desert custom and hospitality. “Thank you, that would be wonderful and much appreciated.”

He followed them inside to find a surprising home. Outside, it looked meager and uninviting. Inside, it was a palace. He uncovered his face as he glanced around at the ornate and expensive furnishings. “You have a beautiful home.”

“Thank you.” Zakar went to get the coffee and refreshments while Seti led him to an actual couch and chairs.

Styxx sighed as he sank down into an extremely comfortable recliner.

“Good, eh?”

Completely amazed, Styxx nodded. “Not used to anything this luxurious.” It felt so good, he had to struggle to stay awake and bite back a yawn.

Seti said something, but honestly he was too drowsy to understand it. Styxx tried to blink his eyes open, but the next thing he knew, he was out.

Zakar set the coffee down and arched his brow. “Is he an offering?”

“No!” Seti snapped.

“But he’s marked by Apollo.”

“He wasn’t marked by choice and he’s no friend of our enemy’s.”

Zakar frowned. “Is that why you brought him here?”

“No. I brought him here so that we could use him.”

December 21, 2012

“Simi … are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Absolutely.” Simi grinned at her sister Xirena as they entered the basement of akri’s temple on Katateros. “Now where’s a light switch.”

“There’s not one.” Xirena breathed fire onto an old spider web–covered torch. As soon as one lit, it spread light to all the others in the dark marble room. The flames danced along the wall, adding creepy shadows to the already creepy environment.

Simi stepped back at the number of statues that were housed here. While she’d known they’d been placed here centuries and centuries ago, she’d never actually visited them, especially since they made her akri very unhappy. “The Simi didn’t remember there being so many … Akra really broke bad on all these nonquality peoples.”

“I remember.” Xirena’s tone was low and breathless. “It was not a pretty day.”

Simi arched a brow. “You were there, Big Sissy?”

Xirena nodded. “Xedrix, too.” Xedrix was their brother, who’d been Apollymi’s most favored Charonte after their mother’s death. But Xed had deflected … no, defected when akri-Styxx opened the portal in New Orleans and let him out. Now he owned a club in New Orleans where the Simi got to eats lots of good seafood.

“Ooo, so what happened, Big Sissy?”

“The bitch-goddess Apollymi was furious. They all died screaming. Except for two.”

“Who two?”

“Dikastis and Bet’anya. She tried to keep the bitch-goddess from killing her baby, but the bitch-goddess didn’t listen. She yanked it right out of her belly, and then turned her into one of these.”

Simi touched her own stomach in sympathetic pain. “Why was akra so mean?”

Xirena shrugged. “The bitch-goddess was always mean. She only likes you and her son … and akra-Kat and Mia-Mia.”

Simi climbed up on the woman closest to her and poked at her stone eyeball. “Which one is she?”

Xirena spat on the ground at the statue’s feet. “Epithymia. She an even bigger bitch-goddess. She used to pull the wings off Charonte who made her mad.”

Simi cringed then poked harder in the goddess’s eye, hoping she could feel it. “Who the one who lost her baby? She’s the one the Simi needs.”

Xirena walked around them, looking at them, up and down, until she found one in the back. “This is Bet’anya.”

Simi headed over then gasped. “She look just likes akri-Styxx’s drawings. She the one he loved so much.” Biting her lip, she met her sister’s gaze. “Was she nice?”

Nodding, Xirena touched Bet’anya’s hand. “She was always very sad though. Even when she was happy, she looked so sad. Like something wasn’t quite right in her heart. Chara goddess used to say it’s because they took something from her long ago they shouldn’t have.”

Simi gave her sister a knowing look. “That’s cause she didn’t have her akri-Styxx. He loves her and so this is the Simi’s Christmas present to him. I told him on his birthday that wishes come true and his wish is for his akra to come home to him.”

“Yeah, but Xiamara, this…” Xirena shook her head. “I don’t think we should.”

“We gots to, Big Sissy. This the only time them portals things open. If we don’t do it now, akri-Styxx will have to wait a long, long time and he already waited a long, long time. The Simi don’t like to see him so sad. He don’t get prezzies and the Simi wants to get him the best prezzie ever.”

The ground beneath their feet rumbled. Simi’s eyes widened. “What’s that?”

Bug-eyed, Xirena shrugged.

Simi’s watch tingled, letting her know it was time. She had less than one minute to free the goddess. Using her wings, she hovered and placed the sacred anti-aima to the goddess’s lips. When akri had been frozen that time in New Orleans, she and akra-Kat had used this to free him so she was hoping it would work on Styxx’s akra, too.

Hmmm …

Another rumble went through the room. Something akin to a dark shadow shot out and flew past Simi’s head.

Suddenly the other bitch-goddess Xirena didn’t like opened her eyes. And so did Archon …

Uh-oh.

Simi ran to her sister. “Go get help. The Simi will hold them off!”

December 23, 2012

Savitar paused as he watched Styxx, silhouetted by the setting sun, on top of a small dune. He’d stripped down to nothing but his loose pants and boots while he played Frisbee with his dog. Over and over, Styxx would laughingly take the Frisbee, praise the animal then wait for the dog to run out again so that he could toss it for the dog to jump, catch it, and return.

It was the first time he’d ever seen Styxx at ease. Unguarded. For that matter, it was the only time he’d known the prince to play.

Or laugh.

And as he watched Styxx with the dog, he didn’t see the feral military commander who’d terrified a pantheon and nation, or the rigid prince who had to ooze decorum at all times. He didn’t even see a man. He saw the boy who had never been given a chance to live. One who’d been cut down in the height of his youth and deprived of a normal, mortal life.

Because of the way Styxx and Acheron acted, the maturity, responsibility, and pain they held that went far beyond their years, it was easy to forget how young they’d been when they died. But Savitar saw it now.

And the injustice of it burned inside his heart.

I have no right to ask this of him.

None of them did. Remorse gutted him as he felt for the childhood and life Styxx would have had had they not interfered. Styxx would have been that beloved, cherished and spoiled prince that everyone thought he was.

And he would have been a proud Chthonian guardian for the world …

To save and protect Acheron, they all had taken a turn at ruining Styxx. Athena has said it best at their births. When Apollymi had joined their lives, she ordained that whatever ills were committed against Acheron would be done to Styxx. Only for Styxx, it would be so much worse.… Savitar knew he should go and leave the boy in peace. Styxx wanted only to be alone and he’d certainly earned the right to it.

But he couldn’t. Acheron was too important to the world.

Most of all, he was too important to Savitar personally.

Savitar waited until Styxx had poured water into a bowl for the dog before he appeared beside him.

Faster than he could blink, Styxx had a knife in one hand and gun in the other. Both angled at Savitar’s head.

“Impressive.” Savitar hadn’t even known Styxx was armed.

Gone was any hint of the boy who’d been playing with his dog just moments before. This was the rigid general who had led armies, and fought gods and fiercely trained warriors in an arena with such strength and cunning that his enemies had been forced to resort to tricks and traps to defeat him.

Styxx glared his hatred. “What do you want?”

“You to point those somewhere else.”

He lowered them to Savitar’s groin.

“Cute.”

Smirking, Styxx tucked the gun into the holster at his back and returned the knife to the sheath on his forearm. “Whatever it is you want, it has nothing to do with me.”

“Some of the Atlantean gods have returned.”

“As I said, it has nothing to do with me.”

“They want vengeance.”

Styxx bent down to pull his water out from under his aba. “So?”

“On Acheron.”

Styxx took a swig of his bottled water before he capped it. “Nothing to do with me.”

“So that’s it then? You’re just going to let your brother die? And he will.… There’s no way for him to survive this.”

Styxx swallowed the pain inside him. “Are you deaf? The gods know, Acheron has said it enough. I don’t have a brother.”