Acheron

Acheron couldn't breathe as those words rang in his ears… Ryssa had betrayed him. But in her world the gods protected their pets. She had no reason to think that Artemis wouldn't come to save him the way Apollo would save her. Too bad Artemis was not her brother. Closing his eyes, he wished himself dead.

When he opened them, he saw an outline of Artemis in the shadows. She was holding his pearls.

His father's laughter mixed with Styxx's. "You are Artemis's consort?"

Acheron couldn't respond as he saw the look of horror etched on Artemis's face. It faded beneath a look of anger so palpable it singed him.

His father sneered. "Do you really expect me to believe a goddess would have anything to do with you?"

Acheron couldn't speak. He couldn't even deny it. Artemis had frozen his vocal chords.

She thinks I told him…

Acheron shook his head at her, trying to make her understand that he hadn't told anyone.

His father seized him by the throat again. "Fine. Let's see what the goddess thinks of you." He turned to the guards. "Take him to Artemis's temple." He sneered at Acheron. "If you mean so much to the goddess, surely she'll come save you. If not, we'll show the world what we do to blasphemous whores. Beat him at the altar until Artemis shows herself."

"No!" Ryssa shrieked.

It was too late. Completely naked, Acheron was dragged unceremoniously out of the palace and through the crowded streets.

His body was bloody before he ever reached the temple. Everyone parted as the guards hauled him to the altar and strung him up between two columns.

"What is this?" the head priest demanded.

"By the king's orders, the blasphemer is to be punished until the goddess is appeased. He's to be beaten on her behalf until she shows herself to stop it."

Acheron met Artemis's gaze and the satisfaction in those green eyes scorched him.

"I told you what would happen if you betrayed me." Her voice whispered through his head.

He choked on his tears as the first lash sliced through his back. "I didn't betray you," he whispered. "I swear it."

Artemis moved forward and struck him across the face with the pearls he'd given her. "Beat him harder," she whispered to his punisher. "Make him feel every lash."

Acheron cried out as the lashes cut ever deeper.

The crowd cheered his beating. Repressed memories tore through him even sharper than the lashes. He was again in Estes's home, surrounded by people, pulling at him, grabbing him, calling for his submission and humiliation. How many times had he been jeered at? Laughed at and mocked?

"Beg me for mercy, whore…" His uncle's voice was loud and clear.

Acheron locked gaze with Artemis. How could she do this to him? How?

Artemis inwardly flinched at the torment and pain in those swirling silver eyes. They accused her as if she were in the wrong. She'd warned him what would happen if he told anyone. Did he think for one minute that she'd been joking?

"I gave you everything," she growled at him, making sure that only Acheron could see or hear her. "Everything!"

He lowered his head before he whispered in the lowest of tones. "I loved you."

Artemis shrieked in outrage that he'd dare say that to her after what he'd done this day. If anyone found out that she'd allowed him to touch her, she'd be ruined. Did he think his paltry love would ease her humiliation? Her ruination? Was it love to drag her down to be ridiculed alongside him?

"Hit harder!" she urged the guard. "I want his blood covering the floor of my temple."

That would teach him!

"You are nothing to me, human," she sneered in his ear. "Nothing."

Acheron let his tears flow as Artemis abandoned him. There was no need to beg for her forgiveness or mercy when it was obvious she had none where he was concerned. More than that, he felt her rip away his ability to fight. She took everything from him.

Unable to bear the pain, he surrendered himself to unconsciousness. But it was short-lived as they revived him to beat him more.

One his third session, he opened his eyes to find his father and Styxx standing in front of him. "Where's your goddess, maggot?"

He looked to Ryssa whose face was pale and drawn. He saw the guilt in her gaze as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I have no goddess." He had no one and he knew it. "Just geld me and get it over with."

But they didn't. Instead they beat him until he lost count of the lashes. Drifting in and out of consciousness, he wasn't sure when the beating finally stopped. He could feel nothing but the searing pain on his back.

Still there was no mercy for him. They left him tied before the altar where the crowd could add their own blows to him in defense of their beloved goddess.

For three days, Acheron hung there with no food or comfort. The closest he had was to see Merus approach him.

The boy stopped before him with a frown. "I thought you were a nobleman. You lied to us." His eyes angry, he picked up a rock from the floor and threw it at Acheron. It caught him on the chest.

Leaning his head back, Acheron stared up at the gilded ceiling. "Why!" he shouted at the gods. Why had they done this to him? Why was this his fate?

He'd been born a prince. He should be honored as such and instead, he was nothing. Surely he must be cursed. There was no other reason for this life. No reason for his suffering. And in that instant he hated everything on this planet. Everyone.

With a battle cry born of desperation and torment, he fought against his chains. But there was no one to care and no way to break free. All he succeeded in doing was reopening the wounds on his back and making new ones on his wrists. In the end, it only hurt him more.

So he stayed until the evening of the third day. The guards returned to free him, but before they did, his head was shaved and Artemis's double bow symbol was branded into his skull.

Acheron laughed at the irony. Her name had been branded into his heart before this and now he publicly wore the symbol of a goddess who would never again acknowledge him. The cruelty of it was unbearable.

Once they were finished, he was taken out to the street where a horse waited. His hands were tied in front of him so that the horse could drag him all the back to the palace. By the time he reached it, there was little to no skin left on his body.

Barely conscious, he was taken to his room and thrown inside it. Acheron took one step and fell to his knees. Too weak to move, he sprawled across the floor. But at least the stone was cool against his wounds, even though it made them throb.

There would be no Artemis to help him this time. No goddess to offer him succor or refuge.

"You are nothing to me, human." Those words would be forever etched in his heart.

So be it.

Closing his eyes, he had no hope for the future. No will to ever recover or move forward. His sister and his lover had shattered him for the last time. There were some betrayals no amount of apology could rectify and this time, Acheron had hit his limit.

There was nothing more they could do to hurt him. Soul sick, he crawled deep inside himself and swore that he'd never again open himself up to anyone.