Acheron

December 14, 9529 BC

Acheron woke up to a pounding ache in his head. Opening his eyes, he found himself naked in his bed. It wasn't until he moved and felt no pain that he remembered everything that had happened the day before.

Everything.

His breath catching, he reached to his neck to find a small trace of dried blood where Artemis had bitten him. But that was the only mark on his body. All signs of his beatings were gone.

What was a little bite when compared to that?

He glanced around his room. "How did I get here?" He couldn't remember that part. The last thing in his memory was Artemis biting him in her bed and a sense of exhaustion overtaking him.

Someone knocked on his door before pushing it open. He knew before he saw the small blond woman coming inside that it was Ryssa. No one else knocked on his doors.

He quickly brushed the blood away and covered his neck with his hair before she drew close enough to see it.

Her cheeks were flushed and her body was obscured by thick purple robes. It was the first time he'd seen her since Apollo had claimed her.

Before he could speak, she threw herself into his arms and wept.

Acheron held her close as he rocked her. "What happened? Did he hurt you?"

"He was gentle," she said between sobs. "But he scared me and it hurt occasionally." Her grip on him tightened. "How do you stand it?"

There had been many times when he'd wondered the same thing himself. "It'll be all right, Ryssa."

"Will it?" She pulled back to stare at him as if she was trying to see whether or not she should believe him. "What if he wants me back?"

Acheron cupped her face in his hands. "You'll endure it and you'll survive."

Ryssa ground her teeth at words she knew Acheron understood all too well. "I don't want to go back to him. I feel so naked and exposed even though he wasn't particularly mean or unkind. But you were right. He didn't care what I thought or felt. All that mattered was his pleasure." She shook her head as she held a new understanding of her brother that she'd never had before.

Her shame was but one instance. Acheron's was many. It was awful to be at someone else's mercy. To have no say in what was done to your body. She felt so used…

"I want to run away from this."

He took her hand into his. "I know. But you'll be all right. Really. You will get used to it."

It didn't feel that way. She was terribly sore and still bleeding from Apollo's intrusion into her body. He'd taken care of her and yet he'd been callous, too. The last thing she wanted was to be at his mercy again.

"Ryssa!"

She jumped at her father's shout.

Acheron tensed. "You should go."

She didn't want to but she was afraid of getting Acheron into trouble. Sniffing back her tears, she pulled away and saw the raw sympathy in his swirling silver eyes. "I love you, Acheron."

Acheron cherished those words. Ryssa was the only person who'd ever loved him. At times he hated that love because it made her do things to hurt him, but unlike with others he knew her actions were motivated out of kindness.

She scooted from his bed and ran across the room, to the hallway.

He heard their father's angry curse through the walls. "What were you doing in there?"

Acheron winced. At least Ryssa didn't have to fear being beaten. To his knowledge their father had never once struck her.

"You are the mistress of a god now. You're not to keep company with the likes of him ever again. Do you understand? What would Apollo think? He'd throw you out and spit on you."

He couldn't hear Ryssa's soft reply.

But his father's words tore through him. So he wasn't worthy of being in Ryssa's presence, but he could keep company with Artemis. He wondered how his father would deal with that knowledge. If it would make his father look at him with something other than derision in his eyes.

Most likely not.

His doors swung open so forcefully they echoed. The king strode into the room with fury punctuating every step. Acheron looked away and forced all emotion from his face…

Fuck it. If his father wanted to hate him, let him. He was tired of hiding and cringing. Beatings and insults he could take.

His nostrils flaring, Acheron met his father's angry glare without flinching. "Good morning, Father."

He backhanded him so hard, Acheron tasted blood as pain erupted through his skull. Gasping, he shook his head to clear it, then he met the king's furious glower.

"I am not your father."

Acheron wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Father, please," Ryssa begged, ru

The king leveled one bony finger in a condemning gesture at Acheron. "You are to stay away from my daughter. Do you hear me? If I catch you near her again, I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

Acheron laughed bitterly. "That would be different from a normal day, how?"

Ryssa put herself in front of their father as he started for Acheron. "Stop it, Father. Please. You had questions about Apollo. Should we not focus on that?"

He cast a superior, condemning sneer at Acheron. "You're not worth my time."

With that, he hauled Ryssa out of the room. "Seal his door shut. He can go without food this day."

Acheron leaned back against the wall and shook his head. If his father wanted to control him with food, he should have spent more time with Estes. That bastard had known how to hold food over him.

His gut tightened at the memory of his begging Estes for even a drop of water to slake his thirst.

"You've earned nothing and nothing is what you'll have… Now get on your knees and please me, then we'll see if you're worthy of salt."

Squeezing his eyes shut, he forced the images away. He hated begging and crawling. But the only thing that would make it go away was the memory of the goddess who'd claimed him.

"Artemis?" he whispered her name in fear that someone might actually hear him call her. Honestly he expected her to ignore him as everyone else did.

She didn't.

She appeared before him. Acheron's jaw opened ever so slightly in shock. Her long red hair appeared to glisten in the dim light. Her eyes were vibrant and warm and welcoming. There was nothing about her demeanor that condemned or mocked him. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Better with you here."

A small smile toyed at the edges of her lips. "Really?"

He nodded.

Her smile widened as she approached his bed and crawled across him.

Acheron closed his eyes as the sweet smell of her skin filled his head. He wanted to bury his face in her hair and just inhale it. Straddling his hips, she brushed the hair back from his neck before she fingered the skin she'd bitten.

"You're very strong for a human."

"They trained me for stamina."

Ignoring his comment, she frowned. "You're still not looking at me."

"I see you, Artemis." And he did. He saw every single line of her face, every curve of her luscious body.

She took his face in her hands and turned his chin until he was facing her squarely. Still Acheron kept his gaze on her knees that poked out from underneath her dress. "Look at me."

Acheron wanted to run. He'd spent his entire life never looking directly at anyone except for those times when he wanted them to see his defiance. And any time he dared that, he'd been brutalized for it.

"Acheron… Look. At. Me."

Bracing himself for her attack, he obeyed. His heart stilled as every part of his body tensed in expectation of being hurt.

Artemis sat back on his groin with a pleased expression. "There now. That wasn't so hard was it?"