I can't do it. He wasn't his father.
Besides, he was already a whore himself. And as Estes had shown him, he could be attacked even in the safety of his own bed. A bed he hadn't slept in since. He couldn't bear it. Every night, he dragged his blankets into the receiving room to sleep on the floor and every morning, he returned them to his bed so no one knew.
Yet if Estes had his way, everyone would learn what he was.
And how he'd been used.
June 21, 9532 BC
"I do not understand women."
Styxx didn't say anything as his father continued to rail against Ryssa as they journeyed to the summer palace. His father had summoned her home and she'd refused to return.
So here they were, fetching her back.
"What gets into their minds?"
Styxx shrugged. "Mites?"
His father laughed. "Only you could lighten my mood this day." Sighing, his father dismounted at the steps.
Styxx slid to the ground as the guards with them dismounted. The palace looked empty. But then it always did when they weren't in residence.
Normally, they'd have moved in a month ago, but with the war looming, his father had decided to stay closer to the mainland and in the palace that was easier to fortify and more centrally located.
His father waited for the guards to open the door before he entered to find the palace as empty inside as it appeared outside. But as they searched through it, it was obvious that someone was in residence. The furniture was uncovered in several of the smaller rooms, and Ryssa's bedchambers were fresh with flowers.
The king shook his head as he glanced around. "She must be out back."
Styxx followed his father through the doors and into the garden.
"She's always favored the orchard," he reminded his father. Though she'd had a fit any time Styxx had tried to join her there. The last time they'd stayed here, she'd even hit him in the head with an apple when he'd gone down to tell her she had a letter from their aunt. Then she'd had the nerve to tell their father that he'd spied on her.
He'd been given a dozen lashes for that. A woman needs her privacy, boy. You don't ever spy on your sister.
And he'd never told his father about the apple he'd taken to his head. Because that his father would have viewed as being a crybaby on his part, which would have resulted in another beating.
As they entered the orchard, Styxx slowed at the sound of two voices.
Ryssa's and Acheron's.
He wanted to grab his father and pull him away from here, but it was too late. His father had already seen them and he was furious over it.
Ryssa pushed herself up from where she'd been sitting on the ground beside Acheron. "Father. Why are you here?"
"Where have you been?" he demanded as he moved forward. "It's already the middle of the year and no one has seen you."
"I told you, I wanted time-"
"Father?" Acheron's excited voice interrupted Ryssa and it turned their father's attention toward him.
Damn it, Acheron. Why can't you learn when to run?
Then again, Acheron did run. Just not in the right direction. His face alight with joy, he rushed to embrace their father.
Styxx winced as his father shoved Acheron away ruthlessly and raked his twin brother with a repugnant grimace that cut through him like a dagger. How can you be like that with him and claim to love me?
They were absolutely identical.