"Akri di diyum," Acheron whispered in his ear, in Atlantean. The lord and master will rule. He twisted the grip, rotating the blade inside Styxx's body. "We were never brothers. And we will never know peace." Then he sank his fangs into Styxx's throat and drank from him as Apollo had done a thousand times....
Styxx woke up in a cold sweat with his heart racing.
"Sweetie?" Bethany's warm hand grounded him as she sat up and pulled him into her arms. "You're trembling."
He couldn't stop it.
"Another bad dream?"
"Yes."
She toyed with his hair. "More war?"
He nodded. Since the day of his first battle, he'd suffered horrendous flashbacks, both while awake and especially whenever he dreamed. But none of them had been like this. "I could feel it, Beth. Taste it. It was like I was there...."
She held his head to her breast and rocked with him in her arms. "You're home and you're safe."
He didn't feel safe. He barely felt sane. Closing his eyes, he splayed his hand against her distended stomach where their son slept in a peace that forever eluded him. That and the scent of eucalyptus and her touch soothed him until he felt almost normal again. He kissed her cheek then moved to sit with his spine to the wall. Leaning back, he pulled her against his chest to hold her like he used to do whenever he'd visit her at the stream. Careful not to hurt her, he folded his arms over her stomach and below her breasts so that he could lose himself in this one moment of perfect bliss.
"You're scaring me, Styxx. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really. I don't want to dwell on nightmares while I have you with me."
Bethany ran her hand over his scarred forearm as she heard the voices of the Atlantean gods calling out for her. But for the first time in her life, she ignored them. She didn't care about any of that now. And she wasn't about to leave Styxx to go soothe their stupidity. Not when he needed her.
While he'd never slept a lot, he was sleeping even less now. Worse, he was growing even quieter around her ... like he'd been when she first rescued him from Atlantis.
"You know, you never really told me what you did the year we were apart."
He leaned his head against hers. "I survived, and not well."
"And?"
He covered her hand with his scarred right one. "I don't want you to have anything but beautiful memories and thoughts. My job is to protect you and our son. It's not to burden you with things that can't be changed."
"I'm not weak, Styxx. I can handle your past."
He kissed her hand and held it to the whiskers on his cheek. "I've never thought of you as weak, my love. I know in my heart that you are far stronger than I am. And it's because of that that I can't tell you."
"I don't understand."
"In all my life, Beth, you are the only one who has always looked at me with love and respect."
"Galen loved and respected you."
"Not always. For years, he hated me, and even to the end, I could sometimes see it in his eyes. Not because he felt it for me at that time, but because I remembered what it felt like when he'd seen me as nothing but a piece of spoiled shit to be knocked around and despised for my birthright. You have never, ever looked at me that way, and I couldn't bear to see it if you did. I don't want you to judge me for things I did to survive. Things that I couldn't control."
"I would never judge you for that."
Styxx wished he could believe it. But he was afraid to take that chance. How could she look at a whore with love? How could anyone? "Words are easy to say, but emotions betray the best intentions. I have been used and hurt and degraded in ways no one should ever know, and I don't want you to see that worthless, pathetic victim whenever you look at me. I want you to see the warrior who would lay his life down to keep you safe."
She laced her fingers with his. "Very well, my heart. I won't push you, but I promise I would never judge you for things you couldn't help."
But Styxx judged himself for them, and as it drew closer to his birthday, it was getting harder and harder for him. The voices in his head screamed louder until he feared he was going insane. The only time he had any solace was when she was with him.
They are all coming for me.
He just hoped that whatever planned to destroy him didn't touch Bethany.
May 16, 9527 BC
Bethany carefully picked through the fruit that was laid out in bowls on the dining room buffet. Even though she'd eaten only an hour ago, she was starving again. And at times like this, she really missed her eyesight. It was aggravating to play "name the mystery item" when she had no idea what she was touching.
"When Aara was pregnant with Styxx, she always craved apples and figs."
Bethany paused at the sound of the king's voice. Xerxes had never really spoken to her before. And even though he was not her favorite person, he was the grandfather of her son. "Styxx still has a preference for both."
"Does he?"
Shouldn't you, his father, know? But she didn't want to be openly rude to the man, especially since he was trying. "He does, indeed."
"Hmmm ... I know he also favors cheese."
"You mean, he did. He hasn't had a taste for it for quite some time now."
"Why is that?"
She had to bite back her anger over the fact that not one member of Styxx's family knew the most basic thing about him. "Cheese, onion, garlic, black soup, and bitter vetch are the staples of a soldier's diet, my lord. Many times at war, it was all he had to eat for months on end. Since his return, he rarely touches any of them."
"I had no idea he'd ever tasted bitter vetch."
That was because it was deemed peasant or famine food by the rich and aristocratic.
Or left for the cattle to eat.
It definitely was not something a prince should have had knowledge of.
"And what is this black soup?" he asked. "I've never heard of it."
"It's made with blood and barley."
When he spoke, his tone was laden with disgust. "How could he eat such?"
"In war one doesn't complain about what's fed to them. Soldiers are merely glad they have anything with which to slake their hunger."
"You seem to know a great deal about the matter."
Because she actually cared about Styxx. "My father is known for the wars he starts and fights, and I know that since his return, Styxx has a tendency to hoard apples in a drawer in his room. Though he rarely eats them, he's always checking to make sure they're still there."
"I had no idea war had left such an impression on him."
It took everything she had not to lash out at the man and his lack of regard for his own son.
"Should I be worried to find the two of you conspiring?"
She smiled at the sound of Styxx's deep, husky voice that never failed to send a shiver over her. Until him, she'd never found a Greek accent appealing. But she could listen to his all day.
"Not conspiring, my love. I fear your son is ever trying to ruin my figure."
He came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her before nuzzling her neck. Closing her eyes, she laid her hand against his cheek and savored the sensation of him holding her. She brushed her thumb against the goatee he was growing again. For some reason, it came and went at various times of the year.
"There are olives and mashed beans," Styxx said, knowing they were among her favorites.
"Mmmm, that could be good with apples." She felt his grimace.
"Seriously?" he asked in disbelief.
His father laughed. "Never argue with a pregnant woman, boy. They eat all manner of strangeness."
Styxx placed a kiss to her cheek before moving away. "All right, odd food it is." He made her a plate, and sliced her apples while his father watched them with an intensity he found disturbing.
"You look tired, boy. Have you not been sleeping?"
Styxx set the plate on a table then helped Bethany to sit. "I'm fine, Father." He went to get her some milk to drink while his father sat beside her.
"Styxx tells me it's your wish to marry in Egypt?"
He glared at his father.