"I'm never satiated where you're concerned, akribos." He nipped her fingers as she danced them over his lips.
She moaned deep in her throat.
Styxx buried his face against her neck as he quickened his strokes. He knew from experience that when she made that sound and tightened her arms around him, she was on the brink of orgasm.
A moment later, her dulcet cry filled his ears. He rolled his hips against hers, driving her climax on until she laughed and kissed him passionately.
Her lips were all he needed to tip him over into ecstasy. Growling in his throat, he buried himself deep and held her close. Strange how he only found peace with her. The rest of the world could burn and he wouldn't care. Not so long as he could feel her hand on his cheek.
It felt as if he'd always known her. As if he'd been born solely to love her with every part of himself.
She sighed contentedly. "Oh, what you do to me, my sweet prince."
His heart lurched at the endearment. "I wish you wouldn't call me that."
She frowned. "Why?"
Too many people had used the title to mock him. And now ... he heard Apollo's repugnant voice saying it in his ear. It made his skin crawl.
He was so grateful that Bethany couldn't see the "wonderful" souvenir that bastard had left him with. A sun symbol between his shoulder blades so that everyone who saw it would know the sun god had violated him. Every time he thought about it, he wanted to scream and run his sword through that bastard's gut.
"I'm not a prince, Beth. I'm just a man."
"But you are so much more than that to me."
Closing his eyes, he savored those words and reveled in the sensation of her hands gliding over his sweaty back. "Your father is most likely going to kill you for your absence."
"I'm sure yours won't be pleased either."
"No ... he won't." He teased her earlobe with his teeth. "I still wish you'd run away with me, Beth. I would give you anything you ask."
"But you can't run away from your responsibilities or problems. They always follow."
"They don't have to."
"Please, Hector, don't ruin this week by asking for something I can't give you."
He ground his teeth at the pain in his chest whenever he thought about leaving her and returning to a life he hated with every beat of his heart. "All right. I won't trouble you again with it."
Someone pounded on their door. "The prince returns!" They ran down the hall, banging on all the doors to announce it.
Styxx scowled then growled as he realized it meant their army had returned home.
Not him.
Bethany traced the line of his brow. "You should be marching in with them to receive your honors."
Yes, he should. His father would be furious when he learned Styxx wasn't with the others. "I would have to leave you in order to do that. Is that really what you want?"
She bit her lip playfully. "No. I rather like you where you currently are."
"As do I."
But there would be rancid Tartarus to pay whenever he left her....
November 11, 9532 BC
It was just after midnight when Styxx entered the palace through the front door. He thought he was home free until he topped the stairs and met his father there.
The expression on his father's face was anything but welcoming. His father backhanded him so hard, it knocked his teeth loose.
"You are ever determined to publicly embarrass and humiliate me, aren't you?"
His lips already swelling, Styxx wiped the blood on the back of his hand. "How so, Father?"
"You turned down a king's offer, you disseminated royal treasure to commoners without permission, and then you deprived the city of welcoming you home and insulted the noblemen and their wives by not attending the celebratory banquet held in your dubious honor."
That was quite a list of offenses his father had made.
"What have you to say for yourself, boy?"
Styxx licked at his still bleeding lips. "I thought King Kreon had been more than generous with his gifts to you, Father. So much so that you wouldn't miss what little he gave to me personally for my services to his army. I thought those were better served going to the men who'd left their families and risked their lives for us than into the treasury to pay for Mother's drink and Ryssa's gowns. Forgive me for my selfishness. As for the noblemen and their wives, I doubt they missed me once you opened the reserves. And honestly, I didn't want the humiliation of returning home and having my mother and sister snub me on the palace steps or see the anger in your eyes over the fact that I squandered my portion of the tribute I earned. So again, please forgive me for insulting you while I sought to save myself from more public embarrassment."
"I should have you whipped for your insolence."
"Fine. Would you like to wake the scold or should I?" Styxx started past him, but his father caught his arm and pulled him to a stop.
A tic beating furiously in his jaw, he met his father's baffled expression.
"I don't understand you, boy. I have given you everything a prince could have or want, and it's not enough for you. You're petulant. Thoughtless ... Perhaps I should have kept Acheron and let Estes whore you in his stead."
Those words slammed into him like one of Apollo's fists. "You knew?"
"Not ... in so many details. But I had suspicions."
Styxx couldn't breathe as the cold, harsh brutality racked him hard. "How could you suspect and do nothing?"
"I did it to protect you and control him."
Styxx snorted. "Protect me?"
"Your life hinges on his."
So...? "And what about now? You don't know where..." Styxx's voice trailed off as a brutal realization slapped him in the face. "You do know Acheron's whereabouts."
"Of course I do. You don't really think for one moment I'd let him loose when his life is tied to yours, do you?"
Styxx glanced away from him before he gave in to the urge to beat the old bastard. "I don't know what to think anymore, Father."
The king reached for him.
Styxx stepped back, out of his reach. "Don't touch me. How could you allow my twin to be bought and sold?"
The lack of remorse on his father's face appalled him completely. "It was a perfect revenge. The gods whored my queen. It's only right that I whore their by-blow."
How was Styxx supposed to take that? It was okay for Acheron, his identical twin, to live in utter misery and to be used every single day?
Was that why he was now being tortured by Apollo? The gods were exacting their own retribution over what the king had done to one of them? And Styxx was their tool?
"And what of me?"
His father scowled. "What about you?"
By his father's thoughts, Styxx knew the king had no idea Estes had used him, and he definitely didn't know about Apollo's attacks. "Did Estes tell you he molested Acheron?"
His father grabbed him by the throat and shoved him back. "My brother never did such a thing. It's a lie that bastard told. I know better."
No, he didn't. Styxx knocked his hand away. "Where's my brother?"
"In a place where he can't hurt us."