Missing Xyn and wishing he were with her, Urian paused as he saw his sister on a stoop near one of the abandoned temples of the old gods who’d once called this realm home. Diafonia’s temple. The Atlantean goddess of discord. Born to the rulers of the underworld, Misos and Thnita, she and her sister Pali—goddess of strife—used to walk the human realm, where they would set humanity and the Atlanteans at each other’s throats. Just for fun. And usually for no other reason than they were bored.
He’d never understand that kind of cruelty. Any more than he’d understand his grandfather for cursing them.
It also baffled him why Apollymi would choose Pali and Diafonia as her favorites, given their cruelty. Yet even so, that hadn’t been enough to spare them from her wrath when she’d rained down her vengeance against her family.
It was said those two goddesses had been among the first to fall.
Which made Urian’s blood run cold. Treachery never knew any limits. It always came in the darkest of night and from where you least expected it.
From the hand of the one you trusted most.
No one could ever be trusted. Especially not with your life or well-being.
Not wanting to think about that, Urian headed for Tannis, who appeared upset over some matter. She hadn’t looked this despondent since their father had forced her to change her name from Dyana to Tannis because he refused to have her go by a name that honored Apollo’s sister who’d abandoned them to die.
As soon as his shadow fell over her, she looked up with a startled gasp, then settled down in relief.
He scowled at the sight of her utter misery. “Are you all right?”
She dabbed at her wet cheeks. “Fine.”
He didn’t believe that lie for an instant. “Last time you said that to me, it preceded your hurling a shoe at my head. And the other at my groin.”
The latter of which had landed true and caused him endless suffering that still made him flinch.
His reminder almost succeeded in making her smile. Or perhaps that came from the urge to launch another shoe at him. “That’s because you were annoying me at the time.”
“Am I annoying you now? I just need to know if I should be ready to duck and cup … or not.”
She laughed, then choked on a sob.
He instantly sobered. “All right, I know you’re not fine.” Worried, he knelt down at her side. “What’s wrong?”
Her lips trembling, she reached out for his red chalmys and clutched it, then blew her nose into the thick wool.
Okay, that was disgusting and under normal circumstances he’d take serious issue with her actions. Tonight, however, he forced himself to be patient with her and not cringe too much. “You’re really lucky you’re my sister and crying. Otherwise I’d kill you if you were one of my brothers. Or anyone else.”
She looked up at him so that only her eyes were visible over the scarlet material. With one dainty sniff, she finished wiping her nose off on his cloak before she lowered it. “Sorry. Would it help if I said it’s one of the reasons you’re my favorite brother?”
Scoffing, he glanced down at his soiled garment. “Not really. Mostly, because I know that for the lie it is. You much prefer Paris or Ophie.”
“That’s not true.” She rubbed the wool together, trying to remove some of her damage.
Urian unpinned it. “Here. You might as well take it now. I’ve no further use for your snot rag.” As he moved to fasten it around her shoulders, he paused at the sight of the bruising on her neck. Her throat had been brutally ravaged. “Who did this to you?”
Panic flared in her eyes. “It’s nothing.”
Anger rose up from deep inside and temporarily blinded him. “Erol?”
When she didn’t answer, he knew the truth. Damn her husband. She’d only been married a week.
A week!
He felt the heat stinging his cheeks as he stood.
“Urian, no!” Tannis grabbed his arm. “What are you about?”
“Honor. Decency. And fair play. Same things your father taught you. We don’t pick on those weaker than us. Ever.” He felt his fangs cutting into his lips as he spoke—that was the degree of his rage and how much he wanted to taste the blood of his brother-in-law.
Tannis shot to her feet. “They already think you’re a freak, adelphos! If you attack Erol over his husbandly rights—”
“I can’t control what others think. And I don’t give a shit what they think of me. But I can stop him from hurting you.” Urian grimaced at the rawness of her throat as his fury continued to mount. There was no way he would let this go unpunished. It wasn’t in him. It just wasn’t. “I will not see you like this. Not because he can’t control himself.”
He gently extricated his arm from her grasp, then headed for the hall where her husband normally passed the time with his friends. They oft gathered there, hoping for a stray Apollite or human to fall through one of Apollymi’s portals so that they could prey on them.
Which said it all about their mind-sets.
And with every step he took, his mood darkened so that by the time he entered the dismal hall, he was ready to taste blood and break some bones.
Just as he expected, Erol sat near the front, at a table where he was surrounded by a group of young men. All laughing and having a grand time while Tannis had been left to weep alone.
If he hadn’t been furious before, that alone would have pushed him to homicide.
Worse? Two of those writhing beside him in drunken revelry were his own brothers. Telamon and Theo both drank from the veins of women they were passing between them. Xōrōn or blood-whores. Men and women who sold themselves to be used as food by other Apollites and Daimons.
Drunk from the blood and lust that came from overfeeding, Telamon looked up to see Urian’s approach. He pulled back from the half-naked woman in his lap, causing her to whimper in protest. “Little brother, Uri … what are you doing here? No one wants you.”
That caused Theo to withdraw from the woman he was screwing while feeding. Pity it wasn’t his pregnant wife who no doubt was at home, wondering where her husband was so that she could have her dinner.
And none of them seemed to care about the fact that their brother-in-law had no better morals than they did when it came to their sister.
Other than the fact that the lecherous bastards didn’t beat their wives. If he was ever lucky enough to find a woman who’d have him, he’d be loyal to her and treat her with respect and care. Not gallivant around like some insatiable satyr.
With a furious snarl, Urian seized Erol and snatched him from the whore he was treating more kindly than he had Tannis and backhanded him.
The much larger Apollite cursed before he attempted an undercut to Urian’s jaw. Urian blocked the punch and countered with a fist to Erol’s gut that caught him hard in the breadbasket. He staggered back, wheezing. Doubling his hands, Urian brought them down hard against Erol’s jaw, then again into his throat. Enraged beyond control, he was intent on the man’s utter destruction.
Honestly, he wanted to gut him with his sword and it was a hard temptation to resist.
After that, Urian lost count of the punches as he unloaded his rage against the much larger beast. All he saw was his sister’s neck and her tears. Her sobs rang in his ears.
Damn them straight to Tartarus!
Until he felt his father pulling him away.
“Stop!”
His breathing ragged, Urian blinked hard as he realized how many people had gathered to witness his fury.
Tannis was there, screaming at him while everyone else stood in stunned silence.
Erol lay on the floor, covered in blood and sobbing.
“What is wrong with you?” Theo glared at him.
He was cursed. Sun deprived. Everyone hated him. Most days he hated himself. He needed better hobbies.
In puberty. With assholes for brothers. And a dragon for a best friend.
And he had a hangnail.
Really, the list was endless.
But most of all, Urian refused to back down or apologize. It just wasn’t in him. Instead, he kicked at Erol’s feet. “If he ever lays another angry hand to Tannis or puts another bruise on her body, even by accident, so help me, Apollymi, I’ll rip out his heart and feed it to him!”
That succeeded in getting his father’s attention. “Excuse me?”
Urian jerked his chin toward Tannis. “Look at what he did to her neck. Then criticize me and tell me I’m wrong.”
Tannis stopped screaming immediately. Cringing at their father’s approach, she clutched Urian’s chalmys higher against her throat.
But their father was having none of that. “Show me.”
“It’s nothing, Baba.”
Not even her use of “Daddy” could placate his mood or weaken his resolve. Their father’s eyes turned blood red. “Lower it and show me your throat. Now!”
The moment she did, the hall cleared as everyone realized this was about to turn deadly. Everyone rushed to safety lest they take any of the fallout. Theo and Telamon scrambled to dress.
“We didn’t know, Solren.” Telamon gulped audibly.
Without a word, he turned to face Urian. “Take your sister home.”
“Baba,” Tannis sobbed. “What are you going to do?”
“Don’t you worry. Just leave with Urian. And take the others with you. Now!”
Urian inclined his head respectfully. He knew better than to speak a single word when his father was like this, lest he find himself the scapegoat. Yet he knew his siblings were all pissed off at him. Not that there was anything new about that. It seemed a perpetual state for their ongoing relationships.
A fact proven the moment they were clear of the hall.
Theo was the first to strike him on the arm. “Can’t you ever mind your own business?”
“Yeah!” Telamon shoved him from behind. “Why are you always meddling in our affairs? You’re such an asshole!”
Tannis slapped at them. “Leave him alone!”
Urian wasn’t sure who was the most stunned by her actions: his brothers or him.
Especially when she reached out and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Uri. I know you were protecting me and I, for one, appreciate it.”
Damn … how bad had Erol hurt her? “I love you, Tanny.”
“I know. Love you, too.” She turned to glare at Telamon and Theo in turn. “And shame on both of you for the way you act. Neither of you has even asked if I’m all right. You’re such bastards!”
When she started to leave, Urian reached out and took her hand. “You want to stay with us tonight?”
Her lips trembled. Then she cast another shameful look toward his brothers. “You hate Urian for the way Solren dotes on him and you blame Urian for it. Instead, look to yourselves. This”—she gestured between them—“is why Urian holds the place he does with our parents. He thinks of others and is aware of everything around him while the two of you never see anything more than your own uselessness. You’re selfish and petty!”
Taking Urian’s hand, she pulled him toward home. “Aye, Urian. I’d rather stay with you and Solren, tonight. I’ve no use for the others.”
Stunned beyond rational thought, Urian didn’t speak as they headed home to the temple palace that was second in size only to Apollymi’s.
Adjacent to the goddess’s, it’d been the one their father had chosen as his residence on his arrival here. Ironically, it’d belonged to the wife of Misos, the god of this underworld hell realm, when the Atlantean gods had called Kalosis home—which was why it had a back hallway that connected it to Apollymi’s temple.
Because Thnita had been the queen of Kalosis, her palace was almost equal in size to the one Apollymi currently resided in. But from the stories others whispered, he knew that Apollymi hadn’t always lived there in that palace. At one time, she’d been a prisoner here in Kalosis, though he had no idea where the other gods had kept her sequestered during those days.
Or how they’d managed to keep her contained. It must have surely been fun for them to try to restrain a goddess so powerful.
Once as a boy, Urian had made the mistake of asking Apollymi where her cell had been in those days.
That was the night he’d learned that her eyes didn’t always stay their swirling silver. Nor did her hair remain white-blond.
He’d seen the true form of the Destroyer. And according to her pet Charonte, Xedrix, Urian was the only one not demon-born who’d ever survived an encounter with her in that state and lived to tell it.
Lesson learned. Apollymi didn’t like to be questioned. And never, ever mention her imprisonment. At least not if one wanted to continue breathing.
In fact, between her and his father, he’d learned not to question people at all if he wanted to remain healthy. Let them volunteer what they wanted you to know.
It was much safer that way and resulted in a lot less bruises. Physically and mentally.
Therefore Urian remained quiet as he led his sister through their ornate marble hall, toward the back where their rooms waited. No one had touched hers since her marriage.
Just as they’d left their mother’s room exactly as it’d been on the night she’d gone to the human realm. In their mother’s case, all save their father would drift in here, seeking the comfort of her presence. The memories of her warmth. It was their way of preserving her memory and paying honor to her whenever they missed her more than they could bear.
When it came to Tannis, their father had made it clear that in the event she needed a haven from Erol, she was to have her room here to withdraw to, at any time, and that none of them should ever encroach on it. Since she was the weakest member of the family, it was their job to protect her from any and all threats.
“Tanny!” Ophion came running up to hug her the moment she came through the door.
Atreus and Patroclus were right behind him.
Laughing, she hugged them each in turn, calling them by name.
Urian snorted. “I still don’t know how you can tell Atreus and Patroclus apart. I gave up and simply refer to them as ‘twin’ most days.”
“Uri!” she chided. “That’s mean, especially coming from someone who is a twin.”
“Aye, but I look nothing like Paris.” That was the beauty of being a fraternal set.
“It’s all right, Tanny. Atreus and I don’t mind. Solren gets it wrong about half the time himself. We just don’t bother to correct him.”
Cupping Patroclus’s chin, she tsked. “Perhaps we should write your names on your clothes.”
Ophion scowled at Urian as he noted the bruises on his face. “Another fight?”
Urian didn’t comment. “If you’ll excuse me …” He stepped past them so that he could head for his room at the end of the hallway.
Once there, he closed his door, but still he could hear them gossiping about him.
“Leave him alone, Tanny.”
“I need to return his chalmys.”
“I wouldn’t. I’m sure Urian’s going to feed and you’ll just make him mad if you intrude.”
Urian heard her pause in the hallway just outside his door with Ophie.
“Oh!” Tannis gasped. “I didn’t know Urian had found someone.”
“He hasn’t,” one of the twins whispered loudly.
Clenching his teeth, Urian bit back a curse as he glanced toward the chilled bladder his father had left for him by his bed. He’d had no idea that his younger siblings had figured out what he was forced to do in order to live.
Damn you, Apollo.
And damn me.
Pain and humiliation shredded him that he was relegated to this. Not even a xōrōn would accept money to feed him. How sad was that when even a whore couldn’t be bought? He was a complete outcast even among other outcasts.
Urian shoved the bladder into a drawer. He’d rather starve than resort to it.
Honestly? He’d rather die.
Disgusted and ashamed, he pulled his dagger out and drew it across his forearm until he’d opened a deep slice to alleviate some of the pain he felt. Yet it no longer soothed him the way it once did. The agony now ran too deep.
And that was the problem. His lows kept getting lower and his highs kept getting lower, too.
At this rate of rapid descent, it wouldn’t be long before he’d have to fall down in order to get up.
More than that, his father would have conniptions if he saw him cutting himself again. He’d already threatened to tie him to a rock like Prometheus if he saw so much as a single scar on his skin.
“So help me, Urian! I’d beat you, except you seem to like the pain of it too much for it to be a deterrent!”
It was true. No one could break him because he was already shattered. In so many, many ways.
Suddenly a shadow fell over him.
Expecting his father or one of his irritating brothers, Urian looked up, ready to battle.
Until he realized it was Tannis materializing in his room, and he saw the sympathy in her dark eyes.
With an expression of deep sympathy, she covered his hand with hers and pulled the dagger back from his arm. “Little baby, what are you doing?”
Even more ashamed by her loving care that didn’t scold or judge, he dropped his gaze to the floor, unable to look her in the face. The ache inside him was so great that at times it felt as if it would swallow him whole. It was like some great beast that gnawed at him, threatening to devour what little was left of his soul. “I’m too young to be this tired, Tannis,” he whispered. He was sick of the way the others treated him. Of the lies they told behind his back and of how they watched him—with malice, jealousy, and hatred when he’d done nothing to warrant it.
It was what made him lash out in violence. He wanted to beat the world down as much as it tried to do to him. Most of all, he just wanted to be left alone.
Sliding onto his bed, she drew him into her arms and held him. “I know. Everyone expects you to be strong and to act like a grown man and you’re just a boy, Urian. Yet you were never allowed to be a child.”
It was true. They always had to be on guard. And because they appeared to be grown, everyone treated them that way, but inside, they were still kids. At least that was how he felt.
“Do you feel old enough to be married?”
She shook her head. “There are parts about it I like. Parts of it that scare me.” She sighed. “I imagine it’s like you in the ring. Do you feel ready for real battle?”
“Sometimes. You know, I’ve been battling Theo’s and Archie’s hairy asses for years.”
She snorted. “Not the same and you know it.”
“So you say. It’s gotten pretty bloody at times.” And at the mention of blood, he became acutely aware of how hungry he was. How near her veins were to his lips. It caused his stomach to rumble.
Tannis’s eyes widened. “How long has it been since you last fed?”
Unlike humans, they didn’t call their nourishment eating. It wasn’t the same. At all.
What they did was primal and raw in a way humans would never understand. It was more a ritual. Not that he would know, since the only thing he was intimate with was a cold, nasty sheepskin bladder.
Urian shrugged.
“You don’t feed every day?”
“Why bother? It’s not like it’s ever filling, anyway.”
“Urian!”
He let out a tired breath. “Don’t, Tannis. You’ve no idea what it tastes like. It’s disgusting.” He pulled the bladder from the drawer where he’d thrown it and held it out to her.
She gingerly took it and, after a dainty sip, gagged on the foul taste.
“Told you so.”
Pressing her hand to her lips, she handed the bladder back to him and shuddered. Still unable to speak, she nodded and then coughed. “You win. That’s revolting.”
“I know.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I wish I were a warrior. I’d kick all their rears for being mean to you and force them to feed you.”
“That’s called rape, sister. I’d rather starve.”
She took his hand into hers. “I’m going to help you find someone. I promise.”
How easy she made it sound. Not even bloodlust or intoxication could override their innate mistrust or fear of him. It left him so lonely and isolated. He felt like such an outsider. Like an enormous freak. So much so that the only one he could relate to was a dragon …
“Tannis!”
She jumped at their father’s roar.
Urian tightened his grip on her hand. “You want me to come with you?”
“Nay. Best I go face the beast alone. I talked him into this godforsaken marriage. While I might only be a daughter, I did inherit the same degree of backbone as my brothers.” Smiling sadly, she kissed his knuckles and released his hand. “A marriage for you soon, I promise.”
Those words hit him like a fist to his gut. “Just one better than yours.”
“Ha, ha. That was low, Urian. Even for you.”
“Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”
She blew him a kiss before she flashed herself out of his room to confront his father and find out if there was anything left of her husband.
Sighing, Urian leaned his head back against the stone wall and closed his eyes. His father’s muffled voice was strangely comforting in its anger. Not because of its fury but because of the love that fueled it. Stryker would never be this riled over anything else. He was a passionate man.
“Damn it, Tannis! I told you not to marry that piece of shit!”
Urian smiled at Tannis’s calm, sweet voice. “Am I a widow, Baba?”
“Nay, but I doubt you’ll ever be a mother.”
Urian laughed. And with that, he craved a visit with his own mata. It felt like forever since he’d last seen her.
Getting up, he used his powers to dress in his armor—something his father insisted they do if they ever left Kalosis. They were also supposed to go out in groups. Never alone.
A minimum of four. More was even better. His father was that paranoid, especially when it came to his sons. Stryker wanted no one to take a chance on being jumped by the humans or gods who hunted them.
That was the only order of its kind that Urian defied. And only when he visited his mother.
Not because he was reckless but to protect her. The fewer who knew where she lived, the better. She was too vulnerable and the last thing he wanted was to make her a target for someone who might need a quick soul to elongate their life. Daimons got desperate and when they did, no one was safe. They would prey on anyone.
Man, woman, child.
Infant.
His siblings could find her if they desired. And while it might be selfish, Urian always preferred to see her without them. Only Tannis didn’t hog his time with her. She would selflessly share their mother whenever they visited, and not try to belittle or upstage him.
Besides, he had Xyn’s armor and so long as he wore it, he couldn’t be harmed. It was like being wrapped in her arms, and he felt safe and comforted in a way that defied explanation. Normally whenever he was upset, she was the one he sought.
But tonight, he wanted his mother’s comfort more.
Leaving his room, Urian went to the chest where they each placed things they wanted to take to their mother on their visits and put them in a small basket. It was something they all did for each other as a favor. Then he walked down the narrow passage, toward Apollymi’s section of the palace where he knew none of his family would be, as they feared the goddess even more than they feared their father. And there he opened a portal to the human world. It was the only safe place to do so without risking detection. If one of the others here detected the rift, they’d attribute it to either Apollymi or one of the Charonte, who weren’t supposed to use the portals, but sometimes they did so at the behest of the goddess, or whenever some human or the demon-broker, Jaden, summoned them out.
The channel began as a cold shift in the air, then a shimmer of glowing particles that swirled faster and faster until they congealed to make a large hole that united the two worlds. The light was blinding to those who lived in darkness. And like moths to a flame, it drew them toward it.
As soon as Urian stepped through, he realized that it was later than he normally visited his mother’s cottage. Closer to the middle of the night, judging by the height of the moon in the clouded sky.
Still, his mother usually kept her cottage lit until well past the midnight hour in case one of them happened by.
The moment he stepped into her realm, Urian shivered at the unexpectedly cold air. That was one thing that was hard to get used to in the human world. The difference in climate. The weather in Kalosis was steady, year round. Never too hot. Never too cold. It didn’t rain.
Out here …
Brr …
Blowing into his hands, he stamped his feet against the ground, then paused as he caught a peculiar sound from inside the cottage. It was a high-pitched laugh followed by a deep moan.
Urian’s eyes widened at intimate sounds he knew all too well.
His mother had a lover.
Time froze solid and came crashing down around him until he couldn’t breathe or think. His heart hammered hard in the center of his chest. How could this be?
Part of him wanted to storm into that cottage and tear them apart like an angry child. To gut the man who dared to defile her so. To demand she return and apologize to his father for humiliating him when he was the one who provided for her and cared for her welfare.
But the man in him understood her loneliness that had to be debilitating at times. The fact that while his father did provide for her material well-being, he’d never once cared for her emotionally. Stryker hadn’t even ventured here a single time since her exile to speak to her or ask if she needed anything. The way he’d left her had been cold and callous.
That part of her life their father left entirely up to them to see after. So no, he couldn’t blame her for wanting this.
Needing companionship.
Still …
Heartsick that she’d moved on with her life away from them, Urian knew what he needed to do. He set the basket down that he’d brought for her and removed the necklace she’d given him.
His mother deserved to be happy without the threat or taint of her Apollite family hanging over her head. She was human and this was her world.
It wasn’t theirs. It could never be theirs.
“S’agapo, Mata,” he whispered. I love you.
With tears in his eyes, he touched the door of her cottage, knowing that this would be their final good-bye.
It was for the best. She was human.
He was an Apollite.
Forever cursed. Forever damned. His mother would have to be darkness from this day forward. Better now than later.
As Apollymi had told him, love was a weakness that no one needed. He wasn’t a child any longer. He was a man. A warrior. Time to throw his toys away and embrace the soldier his father had raised him to be.
I am the light who will lead my people.
He couldn’t change what he was. Nor could he deny his destiny. Nay, the time had come for him to embrace his fate.
Alone.