Acheron (Dark-Hunter #15)(31)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

And it hurt . . .

He lost track of the lashes as he tried to focus on anything else. His sweat mixed with the blood pouring from the wounds on his face making them burn all the worse. Still they beat him.

"Enough."

Acheron frowned through the haze of pain as he recognized Styxx’s voice. His breathing ragged, he couldn’t fathom why Styxx would stop the punishment he’d called for.

Not until his brother came around so that they were eye to eye. The hatred in Styxx’s gaze was piercing. "Leave us," he ordered the guards.

Acheron heard the door close. He opened his mouth to taunt his brother but before he could, Styxx slammed an iron bar across his ribs with enough force to lift him off his feet. All the breath rushed out of his lungs.

"You think you’re so f**king clever," he sneered. "Let’s see how clever you are now."

Styxx vanished out of his sight. He came back a moment later with a gleaming red poker. Panic set in. Acheron fought his restraints with every ounce of strength he had. But he was weakened by the beating and held down completely.

With a gleam of sadistic satisfaction, Styxx laid the poker across Acheron’s face. Screaming, Acheron tried to move away, but all he could do was smell the burning of his flesh. Feel the deep, penetrating pain that washed over him.

Smiling, Styxx jerked it away and walked behind him again.

Hanging limply, Acheron could do nothing but cry from the agony of his face that continued to burn. When Styxx returned, he carried a fresh poker.

"Please, m-m-mercy," he begged. "Please don’t . . . brother."

"We are not brothers, you bastard!" Styxx shouted before he laid the poker across Acheron’s groin.

Acheron screamed out. Tears fell as he prayed for death to come and stop this torture.

"Where’s your laughter now?" Styxx asked, tossing the poker aside. "Don’t you ever mock me again, you f**king whore."

Acheron felt something cold and sharp pierce his side. Looking down, he saw the dagger in Styxx’s hand that his brother had buried to the hilt. He tasted more blood in his mouth as he choked on it and the pain that seared him.

"Don’t worry," Styxx said, jerking the dagger free. "You’ll live." He brought the blade down across Acheron’s unburned cheek, laying it open to the bone.

Styxx cut him down, then walked off without even a backward glance.

Acheron lay on the ground, his head swimming as unimaginable pain ripped through him. "Please gods," he whispered desperately. "Please let me die."

He expelled one deep breath and surrendered himself to the darkness.

Artemis was trying to be patient as she watched the offerings the humans brought to her altar. But they didn’t interest her.

She hadn’t seen Acheron in two days and this was the celebration of his birth-something she wouldn’t have known had Apollo not told her about the party tonight. She didn’t know why Acheron had failed to mention it, but then he was odd that way.

Apollo wasn’t going to the party, but his pet was.

Which meant Artemis would be free to visit Acheron later.

Yet dutifully, she’d been at her temple all day long. The sun had set almost an hour ago and as the day turned to night, she was restless for it to end.

An old man came forward with a goat.

Oh, this was no use. What was she going to do with a goat? Snapping her fingers, she granted his wish even before she heard it.

She picked up the ring that she’d made for Acheron and left them where they were to keep making offerings she had no interest in. Unlike these other mewling, pathetic humans, her Acheron would please her.

Even when he didn’t please her, he still did.

Smiling, she materialized on his balcony, expecting him to be at his usual perch.

It was empty. Frowning, she looked over the edge to see the nobles and dignitaries gathered for the festivities. Surely Acheron wasn’t there. He didn’t like such events.

Artemis stepped through the doors without opening them. Her frown melted as she saw Acheron already abed. Good. She could join him there.

But as she approached, she slowed her gait. His breathing was shallow and ragged. He lay with his back to her and as she drew closer, she saw the pink stains marring his sheets.

Blood. Acheron’s blood.

It was so much more than she’d ever seen before.

Terrified, she moved around the bed to find him weeping soundlessly. But that wasn’t what stunned her most. It was the sight of his beautiful face. Or what was left of it.

One side had a vicious gaping wound that exposed part of the bone and on the other was a burn that had left his eye partially closed, his flesh scorched and his mouth twisted.

"What happened?" she demanded as anger tore through her.

He didn’t answer but the shame in his eyes, the pain, lacerated her heart. Kneeling on the floor, she laid her hand to his burned cheek.

"Kill me," he breathed. "Please."

That ragged plea brought tears to her eyes. Wanting to understand, she used her powers to see what had happened to him. As every scene of it played through her mind, her fury built.

How dare they do this to him!

She felt her teeth growing sharp as her need for vindication tripled.

Acheron screamed as Artemis healed his battered body. Whenever his injuries were bad, her cure was every bit as painful.

Once he was healed, Artemis gathered him into her arms and held him in a way no one had ever held him before-as though she cared. "I’m so sorry, Acheron. Why didn’t you call for me?"

"You wouldn’t have come."

"Yes, I would."

But he knew the truth. She’d never have risked being seen. "You’re here now. That’s enough for me."

She nodded as she brushed his hair back from his face. "And woe to those bastards for this. They won’t do this to you and not suffer for it." Taking his hand, she pulled him from the bed.

When she started for the door, he froze. "What are you doing?"

"I’m going to make them pay."

"How?"

She laughed evilly. "Trust me, love. You’ll enjoy it."

The next thing he knew they were in the ballroom, unseen by the revelers. Artemis walked over to Styxx who stood beside his betrothed, laughing smugly with a group of his friends who were mocking an unattractive young woman in the corner. The woman had tears in her eyes as she tried to ignore their laughter and brutal comments.

Artemis leaned forward to whisper into Styxx’s ear. "You want to see humiliation, you little prick? You’re about to get a handfirst lesson on it."

One second Styxx was smiling. The next he was vomiting all over Nefertari and his friends. In fact, he vomited so forcefully that he lost control of his bladder and wet himself. When he tried to run, he tripped and fell into the mess.

Acheron looked away, as disgusted by it as everyone else.

But Artemis wasn’t through. Raising her hand, she opened the double doors that led to the gardens. A pack of angry dogs ran inside and set upon Styxx with a vengeance.

Their father ran to his heir who was on the ground, crying for help.

Artemis gave Acheron a crooked grin before everyone at the party, except Ryssa and the woman who’d been teased, became ill. The guards tried to protect Styxx from the dogs an instant before they unloaded their stomachs all over their prince.

Crossing the distance between them, Artemis clapped her hands together in satisfaction. "I don’t know about you," she said with an evil glint in her green eyes, "but I feel better." She looked around proudly. "They’ll be fine by morning, but none of them will be out of their beds much tomorrow. As for Styxx, he will feel the effects of his cruelty for at least a week."

Acheron wished he could take pleasure in the pain around him, but he didn’t. No one deserved what she’d done tonight any more than he deserved what Styxx had done to him.

She cocked her head. "Aren’t you happy?"

Acheron glanced at the poor wretches around him. "Thank you for avenging me. It means a lot, Artie. Truly. But having been on the receiving end of cruelty my entire life, I don’t take pleasure in harming others, so, no, it doesn’t make me happy to see them like this. Especially those who’ve never done me harm."

"You’re a fool not to. Believe me. They wouldn’t be so kind to you."

In his experience, she was right. Even so, he just couldn’t bring himself to laugh at the humiliation they suffered.

Artemis let out a sound of disgust. "You are such a strange human." She cupped his cheek in her hand. "I warn you now though, if he ever scars your face again I’ll unleash an agony on him that he’ll never recover from."

The anger and sincerity of her gaze scorched him. Only Ryssa had ever been indignant over his punishments. The fact that Artemis cared went a long way in erasing the anger he’d harbored against the goddess.

In truth, she’d kept her word and had done nothing to hurt him.

Don’t trust her.

But his heart wanted to believe that on some level she loved him-that she cared.

She raised up to kiss him. The instant their lips touched, she took him to her temple. Acheron felt a strange fissure go through him.

"What the . . . ?"

Artemis’s eyes were glowing bright. "I’ve given you the power to fight to protect yourself. You were right. I can’t always be there when you need me. But-" she placed her fingertip on his lips. "You can’t use those skills on a god, only a human."

"Why would I want to attack a god?"

Artemis leaned her head against his shoulder and inhaled his masculine scent. She adored the innocence inside him that couldn’t even conceive of hurting her. "Some men do."

"Men do a lot of things I don’t agree with."

"And that’s why I’ve given you the powers you need. I don’t want you hurt like that ever again."

Acheron tried to fight the swell of love inside him. But he couldn’t. Not when she gave him so much. Not when she touched him like this and made him feel decent and wanted.

Artemis squeezed him tightly, then pulled back to hand him a small box.

"What’s this?"

"My gift to celebrate your birth. Open it."

Stunned, he gaped at her. Honestly, he couldn’t fathom what he held in his hands. "You’re giving me a present?"

"Of course."

But it couldn’t be that simple. Nothing ever was. "What payment do you want?"

She scowled at him. "I want no payment, Acheron. It’s a gift."

Still he shook his head in denial. "Nothing is ever freely given."

She closed his hand around it and caressed his fingers. "This is freely given to you, akribos. And I wish to see you open it."

Truly, he couldn’t fathom this. Why would Artemis give him a present?

His heart pounding, he opened the box to find a ring inside. Picking it up, he saw a double bow and arrow on it, but when he moved the ring, it shifted to an image of Artemis with a deer.

She smiled happily. "It’s an insignia ring. I give them to my followers whom I grant the ability to summon me. Most of them have to find a tree and perform a ritual and say the right words. But you, my Acheron, you may summon me at any time."

When he started to put it on his finger, she stopped him. "It should be worn over your heart." A gold chain appeared and as Artemis placed it around his neck, another thought occurred to him. It wasn’t just over his heart . . . worn like this the ring was also out of sight.

At least she thought enough of you to give you a gift.

That was true.

She kissed his cheek, then manifested a sword in her hand. Handing it to him, she winked. "Show me what you do."

"What do you mean?"

She inclined her head to two shadow warriors behind him. "Fight them, Acheron. Whatever you need to defeat them will be yours."

Skeptical, he stepped away from her. But the moment they approached, his body knew instinctively how to fight.

Artemis smiled in satisfaction as she watched Acheron spar with the shades. She’d done a good deed for her human. And as she watched, heat invaded every part of her. He moved like quicksilver. His muscles rippled and flexed, straining and defining with every blow he parried and delivered. Her hunger built and she wondered why his blood was so addictive . . . more so than even her brother’s.

Why did she crave Acheron so?

Yet there was no denying his allure. Right now, she wanted to throw him on her bed and keep him there for the rest of eternity.

The smile he gave her as he finished off his sparring opponents made her melt.

"I told you," she said, approaching him.

Acheron held the sword in his fist with a confidence he’d never known outside of someone’s bed. He couldn’t believe that he finally knew how to fight as well as he knew how to use his body to please others. It was a heady concoction.

Power . . .

Grateful to Artemis, he tossed the sword aside and pulled her into his arms. Something strange rippled through him. It was like a part of him had been unleashed and it shook him to his foundations.

Artemis trembled as she saw his silver eyes flash red at the same time his lips turned black. It happened so fast that she wasn’t sure she hadn’t imagined it.

Then Acheron took possession of her mouth with a fury that was dizzying. She felt the power of him and it made her tremble. Her heart pounding, she surrendered herself to him. He pinned her to the wall behind her. His lips and tongue burned her, and let her know exactly how much he’d been withholding from her these months past.