“Can you see it? Is it there? Can you see the sunlight, Urian?”

His heart thumping with nervous anticipation, Urian grimaced at the brightness. Holding his breath, he peeked around the corner of the crevice where he and his twin brother were hidden by the deep, dark shadows that had protected them all their young lives. Against all rules and dictates, and dire consequences and threats, they’d snuck out from the portal hours ago and had waited for the dawn to come.

Now it was upon them and they couldn’t wait to finally see what no Apollite their age or younger had ever seen before.

The sun!

“I think so, Paris.” Urian’s heart rate picked up its pace as he smiled in eager anticipation. All his life, he’d dreamed of this moment.

Seeing daylight!

Just once. He could only dream of its warmth. The brightness. The glowing magick of it. They all tried to imagine what it was like. Their parents had tried to explain it, but it wasn’t the same as actually experiencing it for himself.

A simple thing, really, when one thought about it. Humans saw it all the time. Even cockroaches and rodents. But for those like him and Paris, those born to the Apollite race, it was forbidden.

Now they were on a tantalizing quest. To discover this unknown secret that humans possessed.

Urian had to know what it was.

Even if his father beat him black and blue for defying their laws, it would be worth every blow.

“What’s it look like?”

“Golden.” Like Paris’s hair.

Even though they were twins, they weren’t identical. Urian’s hair was colorless white, while his brother held the enviable shade that others preferred and often remarked upon as perfection.

The only thing Urian was perfect at was finding trouble.

And he found that a lot.

“Strange.”

“What is, Uri?”

“The sun,” he mumbled.

“How so?”

For one thing, it was much smaller than he’d thought. Screwing his face up, he tilted his head to study it with a stern frown. “It seems to be moving. Coming closer.”

Too close, he realized with an alarmed gasp.

“How so?”

Ah, crap! That’s not the sun! Panicking, Urian squeaked and turned toward Paris only to discover they had nowhere to run for safety.

“Uri?”

He clamped his hand over Paris’s mouth and dragged him tight against the wall to hold him there.

“Paris! Urian!”

He winced at his father’s deep, guttural growl. Aye, he knew that tone well. As did Paris. It was so fierce and angry that it caused his brother to instantly wet himself.

And Urian’s leg in the process.

Disgusted, he shoved Paris away out of habit. Only to remember too late why he’d been holding him to begin with.

Urian silently cursed both their stupidities.

“There you are!” His father’s steps headed straight for them. “Where’s your brother?”

Paris instantly pointed in his direction and outed him. Faithless turd! Unlike his best friend Davyn, Paris had never held any loyalty whatsoever. He’d turn in anyone to save his own skin.

Growling low in the back of his throat, their father handed Paris off to Trates, his second-in-command, before he snatched Urian out of his spot so that he could glare down at him with a glower that had set even their fiercest warriors fleeing in terror. And who could blame them? Almost seven feet tall, Strykerius was a massive, muscular beast of a male. The son of the god Apollo, he held even more powers than the rest of their cursed race. And while all Apollites and Daimons were born fair-haired, his father had chosen to dye his long locks jet black. Something that made him appear even more sinister and lethal than all the others combined.

But Urian was braver than most. Lifting his chin, he faced his father in spite of his fear and blinked slowly. He kept his hands at his sides, clutched into fists, even though he knew his spanking was imminent.

“You know I’m going to beat you for this transgression.”

Urian nodded. “I expected no less.”

“Three lashes for every year you’ve lived.”

“I’ll survive nine strokes.”

“From Trates.”

Fierce and loyal, Trates never hesitated at anything his father asked of him. Urian knew those lashes would hurt, yet they would cut him as much as they did Urian, for Trates couldn’t stand harming a child. That weakness was something his father hated about his second, and it was one he tried constantly to strip out of his soldier.

Urian couldn’t stand the thought of harming Trates for something that had been his bad idea. It wasn’t fair that they both should suffer. “From Xedrix.”

His father’s jaw dropped. “The Charonte demon?”

Urian nodded. “He won’t pull back from the punishment. It’s what you want, is it not?”

That set his father back and caused his jaw to drop even more. “By the gods, you are a cheeky little bastard, aren’t you?”

“Cut from the same cloth as my baba … at least it’s what Mata tells me.”

One corner of his father’s lips curved upward in wry amusement as his anger seemed to flee. “At least I know that’s not your piss on your leg.… Paris’s?”

“I’d rather not say, Baba.”

His father narrowed his eyes, then lifted him up into his arms. “I should beat you for what you’ve done. You could have been killed!”

“I just wanted to see the sunlight.”

“And I want to see my sons grow to be men, Uri. Do you understand?”

He nodded.

Fisting his hand in his hair, his father held him against his chest so tightly that it actually hurt. “Baba! Pain! Pain!”

His father let out a fierce sigh. “You don’t know what real pain is, Urian. And I pray to the gods that you never do. You’ve no idea what horrors await you in this world. Terrible things I can’t protect you from.”

Urian placed his hand to his father’s bearded cheek. “Don’t worry, Baba. I’ll keep you safe from them.”

His father laughed. “I believe you will.” Then his features turned stern and his eyes red as anger darkened his brow. “But you are never to venture near sunlight again. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, akri.” He switched to the Atlantean term for “lord and master” that he’d learned from Xedrix and the other Charonte who shared Kalosis with them.

“Are you being sarcastic with me?”

Urian wrinkled his nose devilishly, knowing he’d been caught. “No, akri. Never.”

His father growled and squeezed him. “Oh, you little scamp!” He set him down on his feet. “Off with you! Get cleaned up and head to bed!”

“Okies.” Urian ran through the portal that took him back to the central hall in Kalosis where they lived, and where his father normally sat, waiting for any strays who might venture into their realm. The dark hall was completely empty and eerily quiet at this time of night. Which was a shame since he was starving because earlier his baba had been gone, and no one had wanted to feed him. They were all too afraid of his weird eyes. Only his baba didn’t seem to mind the fact that Urian wasn’t like other Apollites.

He should have asked to be fed …

Oh well.

His stomach rumbling, Urian headed toward the hallway that led to his room.

“Urian?”

He froze at the stern, melodic voice he knew, but one they weren’t supposed to ever speak to directly. That, too, was against the rules.

Yet no one had ever said what to do if the goddess spoke first. Surely it would be rude to ignore her …

“Akra?”

Apollymi appeared in the hallway right in front of him. “Would you like to see sunlight?”

He bit his lip in indecision, unsure of what his father would say. He’d told him to go to bed. But he also said that they were to always obey their goddess …

Smiling, she held her hand out toward him. “I promise this one won’t hurt you, and you won’t get into trouble for it. Come, child.”

Too thrilled to say no, he ran to her and took her hand into his. She screwed her face up at the urine on his clothes. “Your brother is disgusting.”

He wouldn’t argue that, since Paris had a habit of wiping things on him that oft caused Urian to beat him.

As soon as her hand closed around his, he was clean and fresh again. “Thank you, akra!”

“You’re very welcome.” She led him through her halls to her dark garden and toward a pool in the back where black roses bloomed all around and scented the air with their crisp sweetness. Urian wasn’t sure how they managed to grow in the darkness, but for some reason, those flowers thrived in the shadows.

Two of Apollymi’s winged Charonte demons stood guard on each side of her magical marbled perch. Their beautiful brightly colored flesh made them appear inviting and kind, but he knew firsthand that those looks were very deceiving, as the Charonte were a vicious warrior race more prone to eating anyone or anything who came near them than striking up a friendly conversation.

Neither made a sound or a move as Urian and the goddess drew near the rippling pool of black water. If he didn’t know how much they loved to eat stray little boys, he’d have thought the demons statues. But Urian was well versed in how much the Charonte lived to dine on wandering Apollites they found in places where the Apollites shouldn’t venture in this domain, as his father had often threatened to feed him to one whenever he or his brothers misbehaved.

Even so, he sucked his breath in sharply at the beauty of them and the goddess’s garden. “What is this place, akra?”

“My special looking glass. ’Tis a mirror where I can gaze out and see the world above and what happens in it.”

“Oooo!” He leaned over and reached with one finger to touch the black water that ran backward up the stone wall instead of down, toward the pool. “How does it do that?”

Wrinkling her nose at him, she winked. “Magick!” she breathed.

He giggled.

With a kind smile, she took a seat on the marble at the side of the pool and motioned for him to join her.

Urian skipped to her side.

Reflected in the midnight ripples of the pool’s water, he saw the deep sadness in her silver eyes as she looked down at him and brushed her hand through his straight hair. Hair that was as white as hers. “Why are you so sad, akra? Is it because I’m not as handsome as Paris?”

She pulled him into her lap. “Don’t be silly, Urian. You’re far more handsome than your brother could ever be.”

“Not what others say.”

“They’re wrong.”

He would argue that, but even he knew better than to argue with a powerful goddess who could kill him with a sneeze. “Then what hurts your heart?”

She brushed her hand across his cheek in a gentle caress that caused the Charonte demons beside them to stir in nervous alarm. “You remind me of a boy I once knew. He was curious like you and forever getting into trouble.”

“Was he named Urian, too?”

“Nay.” She touched him lightly on the nose. “He was named Monakribos. But I called him Kree.”

Those were strange names. “What happened to Kree?”

A tear fell from her cheek where it turned into a bright diamond against her pale skin. Urian marveled at the sight of it. “He fell in love, Urian, and the gods killed him because they are cruel. You must promise me that you’ll never fall in love. For love is a stupid, harmful emotion and it destroys everything it touches.”

“That’s what Baba says, too. He says that love makes people crazy and weak.”

She nodded in agreement. “He’s right. Your father is a very wise man.”

“Then I shall never love.”

“Good boy.” Kissing his head, she leaned down to dip her hand into the black water of the pool so that she could stir it in a circle. “Now close your eyes, Urian, and think about the sun you want to see.”

“But I don’t know what it looks like.”

“You don’t have to. The pool knows your heart and it will find what you most desire, and show it to you.”

Urian made a large O with his lips at the thought of something so incredulous. It was good to be a god and have such tools. And it was why he didn’t understand why his grandfather had been so cruel as to curse them. How could anyone squander such gifts? He’d never understand how anyone could toss away things so precious.

And speaking of …

Closing his eyes, he did as the goddess instructed, then opened his eyes to see the rippling waves forming a beautiful landscape awash in vibrant colors the likes of which he’d never seen before. They were unlike anything he’d ever imagined. Glorious! But the bright light hurt his eyes terribly.

He lifted his hand and squinted in pain. Tears swam in the corners as he tried his best to study every detail.

“That’s the sun, Uri.”

“It’s blinding.”

“It can be.” She stirred the water again so that the light was less intense and he could see it better.

Urian lowered his hand. “Have you ever seen it, akra?”

“I have.”

“Did you like it?”

She shrugged. “In truth, I thought nothing of it, one way or the other.”

“Then do you miss it?”

Her sadness grew as she let out a ragged sigh. “It’s not what I miss.”

How could she not? “Then what?”

“You’re too young to understand the pain that haunts me. Sadly, you won’t always be and that saddens me most of all.”

Urian didn’t understand her grief, but it ran so deep that he felt it. Wanting to comfort her, he stood up on the edge of the pool, put his arms around her neck, and hugged her close.

Both of the Charonte stepped back.

Apollymi tensed at first and then held him tightly against her breast. She rubbed his back and laid her head against his shoulder. “Anytime you want to see the sun, you come to me, Urian, and I will show it to you.”

“Okies. And anytime you need a hug, akra, you come to me and I will give you one.” He pulled back to smile at her.

She cupped his face in her cold hands. “Your father’s right, you are a scamp. And you shouldn’t tell him about this.”

That only confused him. “Why not?”

“He wouldn’t like it. Best to keep our meetings a secret between us, okay?”

Urian nodded. “Okies.”

She held her hand up. “We need to swear on this.”

He spit on his hand. “Okies, akra.”

She bit her palm until she was bleeding. “A blood oath is stronger than spit.”

His stomach rumbled at the sight and smell.

She arched her brow at the sound. “Are you hungry?”

“Very.”

Apollymi held her hand out for him. “Then go ahead and feed, Uri. That will be our bond. Let no one know of it. And you will be like Achilles. Made stronger than the others of your kind. Even though I’m not an Apollite, my blood can feed you. And it will keep you safer, until the day comes when you will repay me for it.”

Urian was too hungry to think about what he did, but the moment he tasted her blood, he realized that he would never be the same …