Styxx (Dark-Hunter 22)

His brother looked at Ryssa. "I wish you'd left me as I was."

She should have. Because this was going to be so much worse on him. The Acheron who'd fought him months ago in Atlantis had been relegated to his fate. The one in front of him now had tasted life without Estes and his perversions.

To send him back to that now ...

His sister was the worst of all. Estes would tighten his grip on Acheron even more. His brother would never know another moment of peace or freedom. Not so long as Estes and their father lived.

Styxx forced himself to stay and say nothing as the guards hauled Acheron into a chariot. His brother never looked back as they drove him away.

"Acheron!" Maia, the cook's young daughter, screamed as she came tearing out of the doorway.

Only then did Acheron look back. His face stoic, tears glistened in his swirling silver eyes.

Styxx panted, knowing better than to let his father see his emotions. The king was too volatile. And the last thing Styxx needed was a beating. Not if he was to do what he planned.

Ryssa fell to her knees and pulled the little girl into her arms. The two of them wailed until his ears rang with it.

"Get up!" his father snarled as he finally joined them. "I will not have you cry for something like him."

"I hate you!" she screamed.

Styxx snatched her back before their father slapped her again or did something worse to her. "Go to your room, Ryssa. Now."

She raked Styxx with the ugliest sneer imaginable. "I wish it was you I'd found tied to that bed! You I would have left there to be used like the worthless whore you are. It's what you deserve the way you use people and discard them!"

For a full minute, Styxx couldn't catch his breath as those brutal words slapped him harder than any blow. In his mind, he saw himself on that bed again being used like he was nothing.

Knowing if he stayed, he'd beat her himself, Styxx left her to their father.

Breathe. Calm down. She doesn't know.

Still, it didn't take the pain away. She truly meant what she'd said. He heard it in her thoughts. She held no love or regard for him whatsoever, and she would gladly condemn him to Estes's custody to be a whore in Acheron's stead.

Her hatred of him was as unreasoning and unfounded as his father's for Acheron.

Styxx pressed his hand to his stomach as grief, shame, and horror racked him. But beneath all that was the bitter agony of Ryssa's rejection of him. Why did she hate him so much? Never in his life had he done anything to her.

"Styxx?"

He flinched at his father's call. Blinking, he took a deep breath and forced his emotions into restraint. Gods help him if his father saw him like this.

Styxx couldn't stand being hurt anymore. He just wanted a modicum of peace for a few minutes.

"Majesty?" he said as he returned to his father's side.

"We'll stay the night and leave at dawn."

"Yes, Sire." Styxx hesitated. "Father? Would you mind if I took a few hours to myself tonight?"

A slow smile curled his lips. "There's a brothel in town that's one of the best in all Greece. Have fun."

Disgusted with what his father's mind had defaulted to, Styxx waited until his father was gone before he made his way to the stable. As quickly as he could, he saddled two fresh horses and took off after his brother.

For the love of the gods, Acheron. Don't get me caught again.

* * *

Styxx hung back until he was sure the guards were asleep. Taking care to make no sound whatsoever, he made his way over to Acheron, who'd been tied to a stake in the ground.

"Acheron?" he whispered, touching his brother on the shoulder.

Acheron came awake with a start. He grimaced as he saw Styxx in the fading firelight. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm freeing you." When Styxx went to cut the rope, Acheron stopped him. "What are you doing?" he asked Acheron in a shocked whisper.

"You already told me I was no brother of yours. Why are you really here?"

Styxx glared at him. "You denied me first."

With a fierce scowl, Acheron scoffed. "I have never once in my life denied you! You and your father are the ones who threw me out."

Styxx ground his teeth. Acheron truly had no memory of his being in Atlantis. At all. And unfortunately, this was not the time to argue about it. "We have to go."

"Go where?"

"Anywhere. I can't leave you to this. Not again."

Acheron caught his hand then shoved him back before he could cut the tie. "Are you fucking stupid? Do you know what happens to boys our age on their own?"

Yes, but they weren't drugged out of their minds now. While one of them alone was weak, the two of them could protect each other. "I can work as a mercenary. They make good money."

"And I'm what? The camp whore?" Acheron asked incredulously. "What do you think they'd do to me while you're out playing hero and warrior? Really?" He raked a brutal glare over Styxx's body. "And don't fool yourself, Highness." He sneered the title. "You have the same unnatural lure I do that makes everyone who sees you want to fuck you, too. The only reason you're left alone is because you're a known prince. If you think you're any better than me, I defy you to walk into a town where they don't know you and watch how fast you're thrown on the ground and butt-fucked until you can't walk straight."

Those words tore through him, especially the part that was truest. But still ...

"You really want me to leave you here?"

Acheron's glower sliced through him. "I want all of you to leave me alone. Forever. I'm done with you."

He well understood that feeling and declaration.

Even so, Styxx couldn't leave his brother defenseless. He pulled the dagger from his belt and buried it in the ground between them. "Do us both a favor. When you get back, drive that straight through Estes's dead heart."

Acheron raked him with another sneer. "You're the soldier. Why don't you?"

Wanting to soothe his brother and make him see reason, Styxx reached for him. "Acheron-"

He knocked his hand away. "You're dead to me. You've been dead to me since the day you let them take me from my home."

Styxx was aghast that he'd throw that in his face. "I was seven."

"So was I."

Rage darkened Styxx's gaze. For this selfish asshole, who held something against him he couldn't have even begun to fight, he'd been whored? Beaten?

Branded?

"Fuck you, Acheron!"

"Why not? You're the only one who hasn't."

Styxx scoffed. "Not according to Estes."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Unable to even contemplate that nightmare, Styxx held his hands up in surrender. "You have a weapon. Use it, if you're man enough. I'm done with you, brother. I will never again jeopardize my ass for yours. Ever."