This was not some pampered prince who'd been waited on hand and foot, and who expected the entire world to bow down to him. In over eleven thousand years, Urian had never seen any man more scarred. Even Styxx's fingers and the backs of his hands said he'd lived a hard and harsh life. For that matter, Styxx barely had the use of his right hand. Two of his fingers, the pinkie and ring, stayed curled against his palm. And the other two didn't fully extend.
More remarkably still, there were just four scars on his face. And one of them was only noticeable if you paid close attention. He had a faint scar beneath his left eye. One that ran along his hairline across his forehead that was covered by his hair most of the time. One that slashed across his right eyebrow, and the one in the center of his upper lip where it'd been forcefully busted open so many times that it'd left a permanent divot and thick vertical line.
The awful condition of Styxx's body verified what he'd said about captivity. As did his knowledge of the temples. There was nothing left inside any of the buildings to say who they belonged to and not even Acheron knew.
But Styxx did.
And what really screwed with Urian's head was the fact that Styxx had been imprisoned for more than eleven thousand years. Alone. It was mind-blowing. He would call the man a liar for that, but again, the scars and his calm acceptance of Acheron dumping him here and forgetting about him testified to the fact that Styxx was more than used to isolation and neglect. More than used to scrounging for scraps to eat.
And all Styxx had asked for was drinking water.
He still couldn't believe how humble a request that was.
"I brought you more food," Urian said, trying to break the sudden awkward silence.
"It wasn't necessary."
"Having seen the shit you had on your plate when I brought in the spaghetti, I'm going to respectfully disagree." Urian headed back to the other room and didn't miss the fact that Styxx kept a lot of empty space between them. He also walked at an angle so that he could see if Urian was reaching for a weapon.
The way Styxx did it, it was hardwired into him. That, too, made a mockery of the pampered prince bullshit.
Styxx froze as he saw the abundance of food Urian had brought in a large plastic box. "Bread?" he whispered, awed by the precious sight of it.
"Yeah, that's the white stuff in the plastic bag."
His mouth watered at the thought of tasting bread again....
Urian stepped back so that Styxx would look through the box and see what else it contained.
Styxx's heart raced in excitement at the glorious amount of food. It'd been thousands of years since he'd last had a surplus like this. A lot of it, he had no idea what it was. But it was food ... Peanut butter. Beef jerky. Deviled ham ...
Why would ham be possessed?
It didn't matter. He'd eat it anyway.
Styxx jerked his hand back as he touched a bag of apples. For a full minute, he couldn't breathe as he saw himself as a boy in his room.
"Here, brother." Then Acheron would roll one through the hole in the wall for him to catch it.
His throat tightened as he moved his hand away and put the items back into the box to cover the apples. "Thank you."
Urian picked up another box that he'd set on the floor. "I have your water and more wine in this one. And I put candles and a lighter in here, too."
Styxx placed the lid on top of the box. "Thank you, but I won't need those."
"It's really dark in here."
Styxx shrugged. "I'm used to it. Besides, if Acheron sees a light, there's no telling how he'll react, and I don't want to fight with him. Most of all, I don't want him to take away what little freedom I have."
Or confine me in a temple where they raped and beat me.
"Okay. I'll ... um ... I'll bring more food after tomorrow."
Styxx smiled at Urian. "Careful, you keep this up and I won't have anything to occupy myself with."
Urian's phone rang. Excusing himself, he pulled it out and turned it on. "Hey, Cass, is everything all right?"
Styxx heard a woman on the other end as she asked Urian to come stay for a few days in a place he'd never heard of before.
"Sure. I don't mind babysitting. You know that. I love your rugrats.... Yeah, see you soon. Love you, too." He hung up.
"Your wife?" Styxx made the most natural assumption given the love he'd heard in Urian's voice as he spoke to her.
"My wife's sister."
"Ah. So does your wife live in the main temple with you?"
Urian reached to touch the necklace he wore in a manner that reminded Styxx of how he used to caress Bethany's necklace on his wrist. "No. She died."
"I am extremely sorry. I know how hard that is."
"I appreciate it, but I had a very special bond with my Phoebe. And she was killed when I should have been there to protect her."
Styxx swallowed hard as his own tears rose up to choke him. "I do know your pain, Urian. My wife was murdered by Acheron's mother while she was pregnant with our first child. And I have absolutely nothing left of them, except my memories."
Urian's gaze fell to his arm. "Bethany and Galen?"
He nodded. "I had no other way to honor them. I never even got to see their bodies." He cleared his throat. "You need to go to your family. Don't keep them waiting."
"What about you?"
Styxx laughed. "I assure you, I'll be here when you get back."
Urian gave him an ancient salute that Styxx quickly returned then left to head up the hill. But with every step he took, he had a strange feeling. Like he knew Styxx from somewhere. The man was so familiar to him.
He is Acheron's twin.
There was that.
And it wasn't like you didn't obsess over him as a kid or anything. He laughed as he remembered his father banning him from even saying Styxx's name in his presence.
"If I hear you speak of that Didymosian bastard one more time, Urian, I will beat you until you can't sit down. And stop dressing like him! He was an enemy to Atlantis and Apollymi."
For that matter, Urian had Styxx's phoenix emblem tattooed on his biceps. Best not to ever let him see that, though. It might freak him out. But then Urian was used to keeping it covered. It'd been another thing that had enraged his father.
Urian paused to look back at the dark temple. Had he not been out for a walk earlier and heard the faint splashing, he'd have never known Styxx was in there. And he'd almost ignored it and kept going. Only his centuries of heightened nerves and incessant need to check and lock down his perimeter had caused him to investigate the foreign noise.
As he resumed the path to the main hall, he couldn't understand Acheron's reasoning where Styxx was concerned. Having lost all his brothers, he'd give anything to see one of them again. Even Archimedes, who'd bullied and shoved him to the point Urian had wanted to rip his heart out. The two of them could barely be in a room that they didn't walk out bruised from the unfortunate event.
Yet even so, he'd welcome that asshole back if he could.
"Dang, Ash. Who in their right mind throws out a perfectly good brother?"
November 1, 2008
Styxx sighed in his sleep as he felt a gentle hand in his hair. Chills shook him while the scent of Bethany filled his head.
"Beth?" he breathed, opening his eyes. He rolled over then jumped away as he saw a very tiny auburn-haired woman who bore no resemblance to Bethany at all.
She pulled back with an equal amount of wariness.
It took Styxx a minute to find her in Acheron's memories. Her name was Danger. A former Dark-Hunter who'd died, she was the female spirit who had married Alexion. The two of them lived in Acheron's temple and kept it for him.
"You must be..."-the monster-"Styxx."
He'd heard her catch loud and clear. "You should be going."
She tsked at him. "I kept wondering where my food was vanishing off to. Any idea how hard it is to keep a Charonte stocked in Ding Dongs when half the stash gets confiscated?"
He pulled the blankets higher to keep himself covered from her curious gaze. Her eyes widened as she saw the scars on his arms, hands, and upper chest.
"I didn't mean to startle you. Who's Beth?"
"My wife ... was my wife."
She frowned. "I didn't know you were married. Acheron never mentioned that. Beth isn't a Greek name, is it?"
"She was Egyptian."
Danger cocked her head to study his forearm. "And Galen?"
"You read Greek?"