Page 222 of Styxx (Dark-Hunter 22)
Chapter Forty-Nine
December 21, 2012
"Simi ... are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Absolutely." Simi grinned at her sister Xirena as they entered the basement of akri's temple on Katateros. "Now where's a light switch."
"There's not one." Xirena breathed fire onto an old spider web-covered torch. As soon as one lit, it spread light to all the others in the dark marble room. The flames danced along the wall, adding creepy shadows to the already creepy environment.
Simi stepped back at the number of statues that were housed here. While she'd known they'd been placed here centuries and centuries ago, she'd never actually visited them, especially since they made her akri very unhappy. "The Simi didn't remember there being so many ... Akra really broke bad on all these nonquality peoples."
"I remember." Xirena's tone was low and breathless. "It was not a pretty day."
Simi arched a brow. "You were there, Big Sissy?"
Xirena nodded. "Xedrix, too." Xedrix was their brother, who'd been Apollymi's most favored Charonte after their mother's death. But Xed had deflected ... no, defected when akri-Styxx opened the portal in New Orleans and let him out. Now he owned a club in New Orleans where the Simi got to eats lots of good seafood.
"Ooo, so what happened, Big Sissy?"
"The bitch-goddess Apollymi was furious. They all died screaming. Except for two."
"Who two?"
"Dikastis and Bet'anya. She tried to keep the bitch-goddess from killing her baby, but the bitch-goddess didn't listen. She yanked it right out of her belly, and then turned her into one of these."
Simi touched her own stomach in sympathetic pain. "Why was akra so mean?"
Xirena shrugged. "The bitch-goddess was always mean. She only likes you and her son ... and akra-Kat and Mia-Mia."
Simi climbed up on the woman closest to her and poked at her stone eyeball. "Which one is she?"
Xirena spat on the ground at the statue's feet. "Epithymia. She an even bigger bitch-goddess. She used to pull the wings off Charonte who made her mad."
Simi cringed then poked harder in the goddess's eye, hoping she could feel it. "Who the one who lost her baby? She's the one the Simi needs."
Xirena walked around them, looking at them, up and down, until she found one in the back. "This is Bet'anya."
Simi headed over then gasped. "She look just likes akri-Styxx's drawings. She the one he loved so much." Biting her lip, she met her sister's gaze. "Was she nice?"
Nodding, Xirena touched Bet'anya's hand. "She was always very sad though. Even when she was happy, she looked so sad. Like something wasn't quite right in her heart. Chara goddess used to say it's because they took something from her long ago they shouldn't have."
Simi gave her sister a knowing look. "That's cause she didn't have her akri-Styxx. He loves her and so this is the Simi's Christmas present to him. I told him on his birthday that wishes come true and his wish is for his akra to come home to him."
"Yeah, but Xiamara, this..." Xirena shook her head. "I don't think we should."
"We gots to, Big Sissy. This the only time them portals things open. If we don't do it now, akri-Styxx will have to wait a long, long time and he already waited a long, long time. The Simi don't like to see him so sad. He don't get prezzies and the Simi wants to get him the best prezzie ever."
The ground beneath their feet rumbled. Simi's eyes widened. "What's that?"
Bug-eyed, Xirena shrugged.
Simi's watch tingled, letting her know it was time. She had less than one minute to free the goddess. Using her wings, she hovered and placed the sacred anti-aima to the goddess's lips. When akri had been frozen that time in New Orleans, she and akra-Kat had used this to free him so she was hoping it would work on Styxx's akra, too.
Hmmm ...
Another rumble went through the room. Something akin to a dark shadow shot out and flew past Simi's head.
Suddenly the other bitch-goddess Xirena didn't like opened her eyes. And so did Archon ...
Uh-oh.
Simi ran to her sister. "Go get help. The Simi will hold them off!"
December 23, 2012
Savitar paused as he watched Styxx, silhouetted by the setting sun, on top of a small dune. He'd stripped down to nothing but his loose pants and boots while he played Frisbee with his dog. Over and over, Styxx would laughingly take the Frisbee, praise the animal then wait for the dog to run out again so that he could toss it for the dog to jump, catch it, and return.
It was the first time he'd ever seen Styxx at ease. Unguarded. For that matter, it was the only time he'd known the prince to play.
Or laugh.
And as he watched Styxx with the dog, he didn't see the feral military commander who'd terrified a pantheon and nation, or the rigid prince who had to ooze decorum at all times. He didn't even see a man. He saw the boy who had never been given a chance to live. One who'd been cut down in the height of his youth and deprived of a normal, mortal life.
Because of the way Styxx and Acheron acted, the maturity, responsibility, and pain they held that went far beyond their years, it was easy to forget how young they'd been when they died. But Savitar saw it now.
And the injustice of it burned inside his heart.
I have no right to ask this of him.
None of them did. Remorse gutted him as he felt for the childhood and life Styxx would have had had they not interfered. Styxx would have been that beloved, cherished and spoiled prince that everyone thought he was.
And he would have been a proud Chthonian guardian for the world ...
To save and protect Acheron, they all had taken a turn at ruining Styxx. Athena has said it best at their births. When Apollymi had joined their lives, she ordained that whatever ills were committed against Acheron would be done to Styxx. Only for Styxx, it would be so much worse.... Savitar knew he should go and leave the boy in peace. Styxx wanted only to be alone and he'd certainly earned the right to it.
But he couldn't. Acheron was too important to the world.
Most of all, he was too important to Savitar personally.
Savitar waited until Styxx had poured water into a bowl for the dog before he appeared beside him.
Faster than he could blink, Styxx had a knife in one hand and gun in the other. Both angled at Savitar's head.
"Impressive." Savitar hadn't even known Styxx was armed.
Gone was any hint of the boy who'd been playing with his dog just moments before. This was the rigid general who had led armies, and fought gods and fiercely trained warriors in an arena with such strength and cunning that his enemies had been forced to resort to tricks and traps to defeat him.
Styxx glared his hatred. "What do you want?"
"You to point those somewhere else."
He lowered them to Savitar's groin.
