One heartbeat at a time.
But no matter what, he couldn't let Ryssa be harmed. Not when he could stop it.
And Acheron would never leave Atlantis. Not so long as Estes lived ...
With a trembling hand and abject horror in his heart, Styxx pulled his pillow across the bed. He held it to his chest, staring at his uncle's naked body.
Gods forgive me for what I'm about to do.
Before he could change his mind or run, Styxx forced himself to slam the pillow down over Estes's face. Estes let out a muffled bellow as he grabbed Styxx and tried to fight him off. Styxx wrapped his body around Estes's as he used every trick Galen had taught him to hold on and make sure that he didn't loosen his grip until Estes went limp in his arms.
Even then, he waited, afraid it was a trick. If his uncle had even a single breath left, he'd kill Styxx for this.
His hands were colder than ice when he finally reached to feel for a pulse.
Nothing.
He's dead.
I killed him.
Tears filled his eyes as bile rose in his throat. He'd taken a life. And not just any life. His uncle's.
His father's beloved younger brother.
Styxx pulled the pillow back to reveal Estes's glazed, open eyes. Ironically, Styxx didn't see the sadistic bastard who'd spent the last year molesting him ... he saw the uncle who'd been kind to him when he was a boy. The one who'd brought him presents and who had tried to help him.
Unable to cope with what he'd done and what had happened to him, Styxx ran to the chamber pot and unloaded his stomach.
My father will kill me if he ever finds out.
He'd committed murder. Cold-blooded. Brutal. A capital offense.
You had no choice.
But it didn't seem like that now. Not with this kind of finality. I killed my own uncle. My flesh and blood.
Horrified, Styxx fell against the wall and tried to fathom why his eyes were dry. He glanced back to the bed and gasped as he saw the ropes he'd untied. They would let others know that Estes hadn't been alone in his bed.
Panicking even more, he got up and quickly gathered them and any evidence that betrayed his presence here tonight. The second kylix. His gag. The "toys" his uncle had used on him. Then he closed Estes's eyes and put the bed in order.
Terrified and queasy, he snuck from his uncle's room and went to his, where he burned all the things he'd gathered until there was nothing left to betray him.
He set the kylix on his table and forced himself to lie in a bed that made his skin crawl. Guilt and fear, shame and horror mixed inside him, overriding any grief he might have known. And all he could do was wait for someone to discover Estes's body.
And accuse him of a crime that would surely cost him his head.
* * *
It was midmorning before one of Estes's entourage found him in his bed. Listening to the commotion outside, Styxx clung to his pillow as fear wrapped him tight and threatened to suffocate him the way he'd killed his uncle.
"Styxx!" his mother shouted as she threw his door wide. "Come! Your uncle's dead."
For a full minute, he couldn't move as he tried to think of how to react. What would be acceptable.
And what wouldn't get him convicted.
Before he could decide, his mother snatched the covers and pillow off him. "Did you hear me?"