She frowned and smiled at his noncommittal answer. "Are you awake?"
"I'm awake," he mumbled.
Bethany toyed with the trail of hair that ran from his navel to his groin.
"If you keep doing that, I'm not going to rest."
She ran her hand down the length of him. He sucked his breath in sharply. "Sorry," she whispered.
"It's all good. Right now, you could set me on fire and I wouldn't complain."
Knowing she should be out looking for Apostolos, she placed a kiss to his hard abdomen. It was so strange how calm he made her. Whenever she was with him, nothing else mattered.
She remembered asking her mother once when she'd been a small child why her mother had chosen an Egyptian god to be her father.
"Gods are boring creatures, Bet. Most are nothing more than spoiled children with powers they never hesitate to use against those weaker. And while your father can be juvenile at times, there is a danger to him. He understands his power and he's fierce with it. More than that, he doesn't prey on those weaker, he only attacks those who are stronger. That was what drew me to him and why I agreed to be the mother of his daughter. His strength, and the fact that never once did he use it against me. Your father is like having a lion for a pet. You know that it's a creature of utter and supreme violence whose mere nature and only talent is murder, and yet it lies down at your side and purrs for your touch alone. There's nothing more titillating.
"But more than that was how your father made me feel. He awoke something inside me that had never lived before. He breathed life into my soul, and I was a better person for having known him. It was why I wanted to have you as a piece of him that I could keep and love even though we weren't allowed to be together. And it's a decision I've never once regretted. Not even when your father almost destroyed our pantheon because Archon refused to allow him access to you. Your father doesn't give his devotion lightly or carelessly. When you are given a piece of someone like that, someone who doesn't naturally trust others, it's more special than when it comes from those who are capricious with their love. As with all things, the rarity makes it all the more precious."
Hector trusted no one. Not even his own family. And he'd never given his heart, body, or his love to any other woman.
Only her.
And while he was young in human years, he held a maturity and understanding far beyond that of any ancient.
Most of all, whenever she was with him, she felt beautiful and powerful. Things that were a given as a goddess and yet ...
She'd never really felt them until he'd stumbled into her world and made her laugh.
That was why she loved him and why she risked the anger of Archon and the others to be with him.
He was worth it.
But in the back of her mind was the fear of how he'd react should he ever learn that she'd lied to him about her identity. He hated the gods and their interference in human lives.
Would he one day learn to hate her, too?
November 15, 9529 BC
Styxx couldn't breathe as Acheron was savagely beaten in the courtyard below. Writhing on his bed, he had a portion of his chlamys in his mouth to keep from crying out from the pain. He fisted his hands in his blanket and arched his back as more blows struck him.
It always hurt when Acheron was beaten, but now ...
Their close physical proximity made it hurt all the more. He'd forgotten that one small fact.
He couldn't imagine what his brother had done to deserve this.
Sure you know ...
His father had been embarrassed somehow. It was the only time they would be beaten like this. And for this long.
Damn it, Acheron.
It'd taken Styxx years to figure out how to stay out of the line of fire. Just as he'd finally learned how to avoid his father's wrath, enter his idiot brother.
At last, it stopped.
Panting and weak, Styxx lay on the bed, aching all over. But it was his back that really burned. Thank the gods he hadn't been in public when it started or he'd be on his way to the temple again to have demons driven out.