"Do you think Father will come and visit soon?" he asked as he lay on his side, watching me eat my apple.
I could sense that he was probing me to see if I were lying. His silvery, swirling eyes were so disturbing whenever he held that gimlet stare. No wonder Uncle beat him for looking at people. It was disconcerting and even frightening to be under such bold scrutiny.
But he didn't deserve to be hit for something he couldn't help.
"I'm thinking you and I should take a trip in a few days to visit a queen."
He looked away, disappointed, as he toyed with his own apple.
Wanting to soothe and reassure him, I reached out to brush his golden hair out of his eyes.
"Is that the tenderness of true affection you spoke of?" he asked me in a hesitant voice. "The one where people who love you, touch you without asking for anything in return?"
"Yes," I answered.
He smiled at me, openly and honestly like a child. "I think I like it."
Then I heard something that made my heart stop beating.
There were several footsteps drawing near. I knew there shouldn't be any such sound in our temporary paradise. Petra and Maia were busy in the kitchen. Petra's husband had gone to town and the rest were busy with their duties.
Only one person would come with someone else.
I knew it was Father the instant Acheron sat up, his face overjoyed.
I closed my eyes and ached in terror as I forced myself to stand and turn around to confront him. His face angry, Father stood between the old stone columns that marked the opening of the orchard with Styxx by his side.
My blood froze in my veins.
I wanted to tell Acheron to run and hide, but it was too late. They were already too close.
Just three more days and he would have been safely away from here. I wanted to weep.
"Father," I said quietly. "Why are you here?"
"Where have you been?" he demanded as he moved forward. "I have searched and searched until it dawned on me to come here."
"I told you, I wanted time-"
"Father?" Acheron's excited voice filled my ears. This was the first time the boy had seen him since Father had sent him away.
Horrified, I watched him run to embrace his father. Unlike Acheron, I knew what reception he'd receive.
Not one ever to disappoint me, Father shoved him away ruthlessly and raked him with a repugnant grimace.
Acheron frowned in confusion as he looked to me for an explanation.
I couldn't speak. How could I tell him that I'd lied to him when all I had wanted was to make his life better?
"How dare you steal him from Atlantis!" Father snarled.
I opened my mouth to explain, but was distracted by the way the twins studied each other. I was entranced by their mutual curiosity. Even though each of them knew the other existed, they hadn't been together in over a decade. Neither of them really remembered what it was like to see and interact with the other one.
Joy was etched on Acheron's face. I could tell he wanted to embrace Styxx, but after Father's reception was hesitant.
Styxx looked less than enthusiastic. He stared at Acheron as if he were a bad dream made real.
"Guards!" Father shouted.
"What are you doing?" I asked, unable to comprehend why my father would summon guards for his own son.
"I'm sending him back where he belongs."
Acheron's jaw went slack as he turned toward me with terrified eyes.
My heart thumped wildly in fear of his being taken back to Atlantis. "You can't do that."
Father turned on me with a glare so hateful it actually made me take a step back in fear. "Have you lost your mind, woman? Why would you coddle such a monster?"
"Father, please," Acheron begged, falling down on his knees before him. He wrapped his arms around Father's ankle in the most obsequious pose I'd seen since we left Atlantis. "Please don't send me back. I'll do anything you ask. I swear it. I'll be good. I won't look at anyone. I won't hurt anyone." Acheron kissed his feet reverently.
"I am not your father, maggot," Father said cruelly as he kicked Acheron away. He glared at me with venom. "I told you, he doesn't belong with this family. Why would you defy me so?"
"He's your son," I said through my own tears of anger and frustration. "How can you deny him? It's your face he has. Styxx's face. How can you love one and not the other?"
Father reached down and gripped Acheron's jaw tightly in his hand. I could tell his fingers bit into Acheron's cheeks as he pulled him roughly to his feet so that Acheron could face me. "Those are not my eyes. Those are not the eyes of a human!"
"Styxx," I said, knowing if I could win him to my cause, he could sway Father's opinion of Acheron. "He's your brother. Look at him."
Styxx shook his head. "I have no brother."
Father shoved Acheron back.
Acheron stood there quietly, his eyes dazed by the reality of the moment. By his face I could tell he was reliving every nightmare he'd experienced in Atlantis. Every degradation.
I watched as he wilted right before my eyes.
Gone was the boy who'd finally, after months of tender coercion, learned to smile and to trust, and in his place was the defeated, hopeless shell I'd found.
His eyes were hollow now, empty. I'd lied to him and he knew it. He'd trusted in me and now that fragile bond was severed.
Acheron hung his head down and wrapped his arms around himself as if that could protect him from the brutality of a world that despised him.
When the guards entered the orchard and my father told them to take him back to Atlantis, Acheron followed them without a word or a fight. He was once again unassuming and opinionless. He no longer had a will of his own or even a voice. He was what he'd been.
With a few harsh words, Father had undone all my months of careful nurturing.
I glared at my father, hating him for what he was doing. "Estes abuses him, Father. Constantly. He sells Acheron to-"
My father slapped me for those words. "That is my brother you speak of. How dare you!"
My face stung, but I didn't care. I couldn't stand by quietly and let them shatter the soul of an innocent boy who should be coddled, not thrown away like he was nothing. "And that is my brother you cast off. How dare you!"
I didn't wait to see what else he would say. I ran after Acheron who'd already been ushered away by the guards.
He was waiting at the front entranceway of the palace for horses to be brought to them. His head was bent so low that he reminded me of a turtle who only wanted to crawl back into its shell so that no one could see him. His grip on his arms was so tight that his knuckles were white.
He stood like a statue.
"Acheron?"
He refused to look at me.
"Acheron, please. I didn't know they'd come today. I thought we were safe."
"You lied to me," he said simply as he stared blankly at the floor. "You told me my father loved me. That no one was ever going to make me leave here. You swore that to me."
Tears fell from my eyes. "I know, Acheron."
He looked at me then, his silvery eyes tormented. "You made me trust you."
Shamed to my soul, I tried to think of something to say to him. But nothing substantial would come. "I'm so sorry." It was a lame apology even to my own ears.
He shook his head. "I was never to set foot out of my chambers without escort. Never was I to leave the household. Idikos will punish me for leaving. He'll . . ." Horror filled his eyes as he tightened his grip on himself even more.
I couldn't even begin to imagine what was waiting for him in Atlantis.
The horses were brought forward.
When Acheron spoke, his words were a soft, heart-wrenching whisper. "I wish you'd left me as I was."