Chapter Thirty-Three
Bethany ran to the palace with Dynatos in front of her. Even now, she heard her great-grandfather's laughter as he announced Galen's death to the Atlantean gods. They barely missed Prince Prick, but they got the old bastard who rode with him.
Styxx would be absolutely devastated.
The doors opened and she stepped inside.
"May I help you?"
Holding on to Dynatos so that he wouldn't hurt or frighten anyone, she paused at the voice of a servant on her right. "I'm here for Prince Styxx. Please show me to him."
The servant started to lead her until a sharp female voice halted them.
"What are you doing?"
"The prince has a visitor."
"No, he doesn't. The prince doesn't receive commoners in our private quarters ... only in the throne room on designated days."
Bethany went ramrod stiff at Ryssa's haughty tone. She felt the air stir as the princess moved to stand in front of her.
"And in the future, we don't let whores through the front door. In fact, they are not to be admitted to the premises at all."
Unable to not respond in kind, Bethany arched her brow. "Then where do you plan to live?"
Ryssa sucked her breath in sharply. "Do you know who you're talking to?"
"Styxx's sister, I presume."
"That would be prince to you, peasant, and princess when you address me."
Bethany started past her, but Ryssa caught her by the arm and dug her nails into Bethany's skin.
"Did you not hear me?"
Bethany held Dynatos back as he growled angrily at the princess. "I heard you and I don't care. Styxx needs me."
"Get out before I have you whipped for your insolence. My brother has whores aplenty. I don't even know which one you are, and I don't care. I am not having him bring his whores under the same roof as my son ... the son of the god Apollo.... Guards! Throw this trash to the street where it belongs."
Bethany snatched her arm free. "I've always found it intriguing how humans project their sins onto others. Your brother isn't the beast. And if you'd ever once in the last five years had a conversation with him, you'd well know my name."
Dynatos started barking and growling.
Bethany sank her hand into his fur to calm him. "I promise you, bitch. I will be back, and you will be very sorry for this."
Ryssa started for her, but Dynatos kept her away.
Without another word, Bethany left.
* * *
Styxx frowned as he heard something that sounded like a dog barking in the foyer. Leaving his room, he went to check.
Ryssa was coming up the stairs in a complete pique.
"Did I hear a dog downstairs?"
She raked him with a sneer that should have stripped the flesh from his bones. "Yes, your Nubian whore was here to see you and I threw her out."
Rage clouded his vision as he ran past his sister and went to find Bethany. He rushed through the doors and scanned the crowd on the street, but there was no sign of her or Dynatos.
Damn you, Ryssa. You selfish bitch.
Still, Bethany had come to him. That alone meant everything.
Furious and heartbroken, he returned inside to find Ryssa at the top of the stairs.
"In the future, tell your whores they are not welcome in the palace. And for the sake of the gods, wash yourself. You're disgusting."
Styxx ignored her as he walked past her.
"Did you hear me?"
He started to ignore her again, but he'd had enough. "Bethany is my fiancee, you stupid quim. She's not Nubian, she's Egyptian. And I've had enough of you insulting her. So help me, if you say one more word against her, I will have you exiled."
She started to slap him, but he caught her wrist. "How do you think Apollo will deal with your treatment of me when I tell him of this?"
"I don't know, but I'll ask him the next time he corners me for a grope."
"How dare you defame him!"
"Go fuck yourself, Ryssa." Releasing her arm, he headed back to where he'd been preparing Galen's body.
Alone.
He'd already sent an envoy to Antigone to escort her and her family here for the funeral. And while the task of preparing a body was normally reserved for women and priests, he didn't want anyone near Galen who didn't respect or love him. He owed him that much.
But it was so hard to be here. To do this.
Agony and regret mixed with his grief until he couldn't breathe. Shutting the door to his room, he went to finish.
* * *
"Maahes?" Bethany called as she entered her cousin's elaborate gold-encrusted temple in Thebes.
With his dark brown hair completely covered by his pschent headdress, and his bright green eyes gleaming, he appeared in front of her before she finished the last syllable of his name. The smile on his face faded the instant he saw how upset she was. "Baby, what is it?" At six foot six, he was a huge wall of muscle who dwarfed her, and yet he'd always been a cuddly pup with her.
Bethany sniffed back her tears. "I need twenty-four of the biggest, strongest, scariest men you have in your army for an envoy to Greece."
He arched a brow that had been darkened by cosmetics. "Are we going to war?" he asked hopefully.
As the Egyptian god of war, he was often too eager for battle.
"No," she said petulantly as the horror of what had just happened in Didymos replayed through her mind. She was furious, hurt, grief-stricken, and embarrassed. "A friend is dead and the bitch won't let me in to see Styxx. I want to terrify her and show them that I'm not a piece of trash to be thrown out!"
Maahes frowned as he tried to make sense of her rushed words. "What?"
"Nothing." She drew a ragged breath. "Please ... I need the most impressive envoy you can muster, right away."
"Anything for my dearest. You want elephants, too?"
She let out a pain-filled laugh at the thought of Ryssa's expression should they ride into town on those. "No, we'll be arriving by barge."
"I can have the elephants carry it or fly it in."
And this was why she loved her cousin so. Maahes was ever a gem.
"A little more believably subtle, please."
He kissed her forehead. "Okay, baby. How soon do you want it?"
"Twenty minutes?"
"Done. I'll meet you at the docks."
"Thank you." Bethany kissed his cheek then went to her aunt Ma'at's temple. Invisible to the priests, she walked through the sacred south wall into the antechamber the priests knew nothing about. It was here her aunt kept some of her choicest items.
"Aunt Ma'at?"
Her aunt appeared even faster than Maahes had. "Child, you're pregnant!"
Bethany cringed then brought her finger to her lips to silence her aunt. "Don't tell my father, or anyone, please?"
"Never." As tiny and delicate as Maahes was large, Ma'at wrinkled her nose. "I'm not that brave."
Bethany smiled then hugged her aunt for the kindness. "I need some help. May I borrow your most elaborate dress and jewelry?"
Ma'at arched a regal brow. "May I ask why?"
"To make a point to someone who was very rude to me. She treated me like a peasant and called me trash!"
Fury glittered in her green eyes. "In that case..."
Bethany lifted her chin proudly as her aunt dressed her in Egyptian finery.
Ma'at manifested a bright bronze mirror for her to see herself. Her aunt leaned against the mirror's side as she eyed Bethany with a smile of satisfaction. "Too much?"