Styxx (Dark-Hunter 22)

A relieved breath left him so suddenly that he was slightly dizzy from it. How was that a bad thing?

"I learned that the last whore I paid off wasn't yours and so I went and investigated the others only to learn that none of them had slept with you either."

If his father had only listened to him, he'd have known it a lot sooner. "How did you find out, Father?"

"None of them had knowledge of your scars."

That would do it. Not like any of them could be hidden from a lover.

Styxx sighed. His poor father. The only thing he'd been proud of was bastard children Styxx didn't have. "I don't see how this is a problem."

"It disturbs me that I can find no woman you've ever touched."

His anger exploding with that comment, Styxx rose to his feet. "This is not a discussion I want to have."

"Sit!"

He debated the wisest course of action. Well, not necessarily the wisest, but the one that would leave him with the most dignity. Unfortunately, it was the last action he wanted to take.

He sank back into his chair.

His father moved to stand beside him. Cupping his chin, he forced Styxx to meet his gaze. "Are you Ganymede?"

Styxx screwed his face up at the accusation. Not just because he wasn't, but because his uncle and others had used him as if he were. "No!"

"It's all right if you are. While I prefer a woman's soft sheath, I have been known to spear a worthy ass or two in my day."

Styxx cringed at a thought that made him want to vomit. There were things no one wanted to know about their parents and this was definitely at the top of his list.

But his father took no mercy on him as he continued. "Really, Styxx, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Estes has always had a preference for men, and it's never bothered me."

Styxx sat in stunned silence as hatred flowed thick through his veins. You knew how he was and you turned me loose with him? What kind of father would do such a thing?

His jaw went slack.

"But my brother has taken women on occasion. When he told me he'd seen to your training in Atlantis, I'd assumed they were female whores he used."

Oh, this just got better and better. "What all did he tell you about my time in Atlantis?"

"Don't be angry at Estes. I merely voiced my concern that you haven't been acting as most men your age ... that you passed on the women I've sent to you for your pleasure. And that I worried the priests might have damaged you."

Styxx rubbed at his face, wanting to punch his father. Yes, they had damaged him, but not in the way he meant. Gods ... how much more of this shit would he have to suffer?

"Estes told me that when you were first with a lover you were quite bashful because of your scars, but that once you got started, you forgot about them. He said I shouldn't be worried about your ability to perform. That he'd seen you erect himself. However ... when I learned that the maids had lied about your using them ... I am worried. How can you be king with no heirs?"

How could he sit here with his father talking to him in this manner and not die of abject horror, shame, and humiliation?

The wonders of the world never ceased to amaze him, either.

"So I've taken it upon myself to set you up with a mistress."

Styxx gaped at him. "I don't want a mistress, Father."

"Then a tsoulus. Male or female. Your choice."

"I damn sure don't want that!" he growled as more pain slammed into him.

That ignited his father's fury as he glared down at him. "Then explain to me what is going on with you? Why is my son as chaste as my daughter? It's deplorable."

Deplorable.

Maybe you should have thought of that before you left me to be manhandled by your priests and gods. Or better yet ...

Your perverted brother.

Styxx rose slowly to his feet and forced his anger down before he made his father do something neither of them would forget or forgive. "I don't need your help getting laid, Father. Really."

When he opened his mouth to speak, Styxx held his arm up to his father's face so that he could smell his skin. "I have a woman. Not that it's any of your business."

His father smiled in relief as he caught Bethany's unique feminine scent of lilies and eucalyptus. "You're in love?"

Styxx nodded. "It's where I disappear to when you can't find me."

"Thank the gods of Olympus!" His father drew him into a hug. "Is she noble?"

"No."

"Then why haven't you set her-"

"It's my concern, Father. I'd appreciate your staying out of it and away from her ... please. She's a good, decent woman and I would never shame her in any way."

"How can being a prince's mistress shame anyone?"

How indeed?

There were times when he truly hated the man who'd sired him.

"I want her left alone. I mean it, Father."

His father held his hands up in surrender. "Fine. I will stay out of your affair, except to say this ... you will have to marry a princess at some point and breed an heir with her."

"I know. But I'm not king yet."

"No. You're not." His father clapped him on the arm. "Very good, then. I shall see you at dinner."