Their mother let out an exasperated sigh. "Will you two stop whispering. Either come in or leave. Preferably the latter."
Styxx started to go.
Acheron pushed him forward.
Thanks, brother....
Crossing the room, Styxx held the box out toward her.
She frowned at it. "What's this?"
"Happy birthday, Mother," they said in unison.
A rare smile lit her face as she took the box and opened it to find the shell bead necklace Styxx had bought in the marketplace. Hoping to please her, he'd traded one of his carved horses for it.
"Thank you." She pulled him into a cold, mechanical hug.
Bug-eyed, Styxx met Acheron's gaping stare. Before he realized what Acheron was doing, his brother stepped forward.
"Happy birthday, Mother." Acheron moved to hug her.
Shrieking in outrage, she slapped him hard across his face. "Get away from me, you repulsive monster!"
Styxx's nose exploded with blood as pain permeated his cheek, skull, and eye. Damn, for a sot, his mother could pack a wallop.
She continued to rail against them as they ran for the door and then down the hallway. They didn't stop until they'd reached the bottom of the stairs.
His breathing labored, Acheron turned to face him. "Why do they do that to me?"
"I don't know. They're crazy."
"What in the name of Zeus happened to you?"
Styxx flinched at the sound of his father's angry voice as he wiped at the blood on his face. He cringed over the sight of blood droplets on his white chiton. Few things upset his father more than for him to be disheveled in public.
"Did you hit him?" he accused Acheron.
Acheron shook his head.
"Liar!" He moved to take his arm.
"Father, no!" Styxx blocked him from attacking his brother.
Acheron ducked then ran like mad up the stairs and out of sight.
His father started after Acheron, but Styxx grabbed his arm and held him in place. "He didn't do it, Father. It's just another nosebleed. I get them all the time."
"Xerxes?"
Styxx glanced past his father to see his uncle closing the distance between them. "Uncle, please tell him that Acheron didn't harm me. It's nothing."
Estes passed a skeptical look from Styxx to his father. "It doesn't look like nothing to me, child. Rather, that's a severe injury on your face. It's obvious someone hit you."
"It wasn't Acheron." Styxx let go of his father so that he could hold his nostrils together to contain the bleeding. "I shall be fine, Father. I'm sorry for the mess." Hoping he'd given Acheron enough time to hide, he left them and went to his room to clean his nose and change his clothes.
He'd barely finished dressing a few minutes later when he heard Acheron and Ryssa yelling. What in the name of Olympus?
Normally, he was the one screaming with Ryssa. It wasn't like Acheron to get crossed up with her for anything. But as he left his room, he realized it was something far worse than a fight between siblings....