"We?" Styxx glanced back at his army.
Gaius gave him a lecherous grin. "There are women there, Highness, and it's been a while for some of us."
Styxx exchanged an amused stare with Galen. "If it's what all of you wish. Who am I to deny you?"
Gaius shouted in happiness before he went to tell the others.
Galen sighed. "To be that young again."
"You're not that old."
"Old enough..." Galen nudged his horse forward. "So, Highness, are we dicing in your tent tonight while the others frolic with their women?"
Styxx lifted his brow at the presumptuous question. "How do you know I won't be joining the men?"
Galen snorted at his challenge. "Because I know the look of a man who wants to go home to a particular woman, and no other will do. Not even when it's been the better part of two years for him."
Styxx suppressed a smile over the fact that Galen knew him better than anyone. A part of him hated being so transparent, but another was glad to know that at least one person saw him for who he was and not for what they assumed him to be. "Dice it is then."
Galen laughed. "I look forward to finally beating you at something again."
* * *
Hours later, Styxx sat in his tent thinking of his beautiful Bethany while his men were divided between camp and the town where the hostel was located. The sounds of revelry were loud and cacophonous. They mixed with the voices in his head until he could barely think straight. There were just too many of them.
Alone, he rolled the dice on his desk, waiting for Galen to join him. He'd taken Bethany's necklace off and left it within hand's reach. Smiling, he picked it up and rubbed his thumb over the bow-and-arrow mark that was stamped into a small silver disk. Many women her age were devotees of the goddess Artemis who was said to be a fierce protector of women and children. And he prayed that the goddess would always protect his beloved from all harm.
Bethany was the sole reason he wanted to go home and she was all he looked forward to. "Soon, my love. And this time, I will hold on to you forever." Closing his eyes, he conjured the sight of her beautiful face. His body hardened instantly as he imagined her dancing for him again.
Of her holding him close while he made love to her with all the need he'd kept under fierce restraint for the last two years.
There was a sudden knock.
Wishing he could stay in his dreams with her for awhile longer, Styxx laid her necklace down and reached for his wine. "Enter."
An Athenian soldier he'd never seen before came inside, leading a small group of similarly dressed men. "Prince Styxx?"
"Yes?"
"We heard you were arriving any day now, and wanted to welcome your army home."
"Thank you." Styxx cocked his head as he realized that the sounds outside had grown much quieter.
A bad feeling went through him as he glanced over to his weapons and armor on the other side of the tent, near his pallet. In that instant, it dawned on him that one of his dekarmatoli should have escorted these men into his tent and hadn't.
Styxx narrowed his gaze on them. "So what can I do for you?"
"In short, Highness ... you can die." The leader leapt forward.
Styxx rolled from the chair. He punched the first soldier hard in the solar plexus, knocking him back. As he twisted past the second one, the third one slid a dagger into his side before he could outmaneuver him. Styxx hissed in pain then kicked him back. But it was too late. The first one had recovered and stabbed him in the back.
His ears buzzed from their hatred and his pain. Styxx sank to the ground while they rained stabs down on him. Warm blood rushed over his skin until it coated him.
Their leader kicked him over onto his back and raked his bloody body with a contemptuous sneer. "A homecoming present, prince, from the commanders who weren't victorious in the war." The soldier used his dagger to pin Styxx's sword hand to the ground.
Laughing, they left him there to die.
His breathing labored, Styxx stared at the Thracian dagger buried in his palm and choked on his own blood. After everything he and his men had been through, after all the attacks and battles they'd survived against enemies, it was their own allies who annihilated them on their home shores.