He obligingly parted his lips. The entire line down the center of his tongue was pierced and studded with small gold balls that shimmered in the light. I'd never seen anything like it in my life.
"What is that?" I asked, frowning.
Acheron closed his mouth and by the way he moved his lips and jaw, I could tell he was rubbing the balls against the roof of his mouth. "Erotiki sfairi."
"I don't understand that term."
"Sex balls, Idika. It makes my licks more stimulating to those I service."
I couldn't have been more surprised had he slapped me. He was nonchalant about something that was taboo in the world I knew.
"Do they hurt?" I couldn't believe I was asking this question.
He shook his head. "I just have to be careful not to let them strike my teeth lest they break them."
So that was why he kept his jaw clenched when he spoke.
"It's a wonder you can speak at all."
"No one pays a whore to use his tongue to speak, Idika."
"You are not a whore!" Several heads turned, making me realize I had spoken louder than I meant to.
My cheeks burned, but there was no embarrassment on Acheron's face. He merely accepted it as if he were nothing more and deserved nothing better.
"You are a prince, Acheron. A prince."
"Then why did you throw me out?"
His question startled me. Not just the words themselves, but the heartfelt pain in his voice as he spoke them.
"What do you mean?"
"Idikos told me what was said by all of you."
Idikos. The masculine form of the word a slave used for his owner.
"Do you mean Estes?"
He nodded.
"He is your uncle, not your idikos."
"One doesn't argue with a whip or scold, my lady. At least not for long."
I swallowed at his words. No, I guess they didn't. "What did he tell you?"
"The king wanted me dead. I live only because the son he loves will die if I die."
"That's not true. Father said he sent you away because he was afraid someone would try to hurt you. You are his heir."
Acheron kept his gaze on the floor. "Idikos says that I am an embarrassment to my family. Unfit to be with any of you. That's why the king sent me away and told everyone I was dead. I'm only good for one thing."
I didn't need him to tell me what that one thing was. "He lied to you." My heart broke with the weight of the truth. "Just as he's been lying to me and to Father. He told us that you were healthy and happy. Well-schooled."
He laughed bitterly at that. "I am well-schooled, Idika. Believe me, I'm the best at what they trained me to do."
How could he find humor in that?