"Acheron" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kenyon Sherrilyn)

November 3, 9532 BC

It had been nine years since I last saw my brother, Acheron. Nine years and not a day had gone by without my wondering what he was doing. How he was being treated.

Whenever Estes visited, I always took him aside and asked about Acheron.

"He's fine and healthy, Ryssa. I cherish him as an addition to my household. He has everything he requires. I shall be glad to tell him that you asked after his welfare."

Still, something inside me was never quite content with those words. I'd petitioned father repeatedly to send for Acheron. To at least bring him home for a holiday. As a prince, he should never have been sent away. Yet there he stayed in a country that was constantly on the brink of war with ours. Even though Estes was an ambassador, it didn't change the fact that if we went to war, Acheron, as a Greek Prince, would be killed.

And Father refused every request I made.

I'd been writing to Acheron for years and normally he wrote back religiously. His letters were always brief with only a handful of details, but even so I cherished every one.

So when a letter had come to me a few weeks ago, I'd thought nothing unusual about it.

Not until I read it.

Greetings most esteemed and exalted Princess Ryssa.

Forgive me for my forwardness. Forgive me my impertinence. I found one of your letters written to Acheron and have, at great peril to myself, decided to write to you. I cannot tell you what harms befall him, but if you truly love your brother as you say you do, then I would ask you to come and see him.

I'd told no one about the letter. It hadn't even been signed. For all I knew it was a hoax.

Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't, that Acheron needed me.

For days I debated about going until I could stand it no more.

Taking my personal guard Boraxis with me for protection, I snuck out of the palace and told my maids to tell my Father I was visiting my aunt in Athens. Boraxis thought I was a great fool for traveling all the way to Atlantis for a letter that the author hadn't even signed, but I didn't care.

If Acheron needed me, then I would be there.

However that courage faltered days later as I found myself outside my uncle's home in the capital city of Atlantis. The large gleaming red building was even more intimidating than our palace at Didymos. It was as if it had been designed for no other purpose than to inspire fear and awe. Of course, as our ambassador, it would benefit Estes to impress our enemies so.

Far more advanced than my Greek homeland, the island kingdom of Atlantis glistened and glowed. There was more activity from the people around me than I'd ever seen before. It was truly a bustling metropolis.

Swallowing the fear I felt, I looked at Boraxis. Taller than most men, with coarse black hair he wore braided down his back, he was large and burly. Lethal. And he was loyal to me to a fault, even though he was a servant. He'd been protecting me since I was a child and I knew I could rely on him.

He would never allow me to be harmed.

Reminding myself of that, I walked up the marble stairs, toward the golden entrance. A servant opened the door even before I reached it.

"My lady," he said diplomatically, "may I help you?"

"I've come to see Acheron."

He inclined his head and told me to follow him inside. I found it odd that the servant didn't ask me for my name or business with my brother. At home, no one was allowed near any of the royal family without a thorough screening.

To admit someone unknown into our private residence was a crime punishable by death. Yet this man thought nothing of leading us through Uncle's home.

Once we reached another hall, the older man in front of me turned back to look at Boraxis. "Will your guard be joining you for your time with Acheron?"

I frowned at the odd question. "I suppose not."

Boraxis sucked his breath in sharply. There was worry in his deep brown eyes. "Princess…"

I put my hand on his arm. "I should be fine. Wait here and I'll return quickly."

He didn't look pleased by my decision and honestly neither was I, but surely no harm would come to me in my uncle's home. So I left him there and continued down the hallway.

And as we walked, what struck me most about my uncle's home was how eerily silent it was. Not even a whisper could be heard. No one laughed. No one spoke.

Only our footsteps echoed down the long, dark corridor. Black marble stretched as far as I could see, reflecting our images back at us as we made our way through the opulence of carved naked statuary and exotic plants and flowers.

The servant led me to a room on the far side of the house and opened the door.

I stepped inside and hesitated as I realized it was Acheron's bedroom. How very strange for him to admit me here without knowing I was Acheron's sister. Then again, perhaps he did. That would explain much.

Aye, that must be it. He must have realized I looked a great deal like my brothers. Except for Acheron's divine silver eyes, we had identical coloring.

Relaxing, I glanced about. It was an exceptionally large room with an oversized hearth. There were two settees before the stone hearth with an odd, pole structure between them. It reminded me of the punishment block, but that made no sense. Perhaps it was something unique to Atlantis. I'd heard all my life that the people here had bizarre customs.

The bed itself was rather small for a room this size, with four tall posts intricately carved into the design of a bird. On each post, the bird's head was turned upside down so that the beaks curled outward like hooks to hold bed curtains back, yet there were no bed curtains there.

Like the foyer leading to the room, the walls were a shiny black marble that reflected my image back to me perfectly. And as I looked about, I realized there were no windows in this room at all. Nor was there a balcony. The only light came from wall sconces scattered about. It made the room very dark and sinister.

How very strange…

Three servants were making Acheron's bed and a fourth woman oversaw them. The overseer was a frail woman, slight of stature who appeared around the age of forty or so.

"It's not time," she said to the man who had led me through the house. "He's still preparing himself."

The man curled his lip at her. "Would you have me tell Gerikos that I kept a client waiting while Acheron dawdles?"

"But he hasn't had time to eat yet," the woman insisted. "He's been working all morning without a single rest."

"Fetch him."

I frowned at their whispered words and behavior. Something was very wrong here. Why would my brother, a prince, be working?

The woman turned toward a door on the far side of the room.

"Wait," I said, stopping her. "I'll get him. Where is he?"

The woman passed a fearful look to the man.

"It's her time with him," the man said firmly. "Let the lady do as she wishes."

The older woman stood back and opened the door to an antechamber. As I stepped through, I heard her and the man gather the servants and leave.

Again, how very peculiar…

Hesitantly, I stepped into the room expecting to find Styxx's twin brother. An arrogant youth who thought he knew everything about the world. An insulting, boastful man-child who was sullen and spoiled who would wonder why I was bothering him with so foolish a quest.

I was completely unprepared for what I found.

Acheron sat in a large, bathing pond alone. He had his flawless bare back to me and was bent over with his blond head against the rim as if he were too tired to sit up while he bathed himself. His long hair hung just past his shoulders and was damp, but not wet.

My heart pounding, I moved forward and noticed a strong scent of oranges in the air. A small tray of bread and cheese was set on the floor beside him, untouched.

"Acheron?" I whispered.

He froze for a moment, then rinsed his face in the water. He left the tub and quickly toweled himself dry as if completely unabashed by the fact that I had intruded on his bath.

There was an air of power that surrounded him as he toweled himself with short, quick strokes, then tossed the towel toward a small stack of them.

For an instant, I was captured by the youthful, masculine beauty of him. By the fact that he made no move to dress or cover himself. All that adorned him were gold bands. He had a thin one around his neck that held a small pendant of some sort. Thicker bands encircled each of his biceps at the top of his arm and at the crook of his elbow with another band around both wrists. A chain of smaller circles connected each band down the length of his arms. And a band of gold with a small circle attached was worn around each ankle.

As he approached me, I was stunned by what I saw. He was Styxx's twin in physical looks and yet I saw few similarities between them.

Styxx moved fast. Mercurially.

Acheron was slow. Methodical. He was like a sultry shadow whose every movement was a poetic symphony of muscle, sinew and grace.

He was thinner than Styxx. Much thinner, as if he didn't get enough food to eat. Even so, his muscles were extremely well shaped and honed to perfection.

He still had those eerie silver eyes, but I only glimpsed them briefly before he averted his gaze to the floor at my feet.

There was also something else. An air of hopeless resignation surrounded him. It was one I'd seen countless times from the peasants and beggars who came to collect alms from the back palace gate.

"Forgive me, my lady," he said softly, his voice strangely seductive and quiet as he spoke between clenched teeth. "I didn't know you'd come."

His chains jingling softly in the quietness, he moved behind me like a sleek, seductive wraith. He reached around my neck and unfastened my cloak.

Stunned by his actions, I didn't think to protest when he removed the garment and dropped it to the floor. It wasn't until he brushed my hair back from my neck and moved to kiss the bared flesh that I bolted from him.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He looked as puzzled as I felt, but still he kept his gaze locked on the floor before me. "I wasn't prepped on what you paid for, my lady," he said quietly. "I assumed from your looks that you wanted me gentle. Am I wrong?"

I was completely baffled by his words as well as the fact that he continued to keep his jaw locked. Why did he speak that way? "Paid for what? Acheron, it is I. Ryssa."

He frowned as if he had no memory of my name. He reached for me again.

I stepped away and grabbed my cloak up from the floor. "I'm your sister, Acheron. Do you not know me?"

His eyes flashed angrily as he met my gaze for an instant. "I have no sister."

My thoughts whirled as I tried to make sense of this. This wasn't the boy who wrote letters to me virtually every day, the boy who told me of his days of leisure.

"How can you say that after all the gifts and letters I've sent you?"

His face relaxed as if he finally understood. "Ah, this a game you wish to play with me, my lady. You wish me to be your brother."

I glared at him in frustration. "No, Acheron, this isn't a game. You are my brother and I write to you almost every day and you, in turn, write to me."

I could sense he wanted to look at me and yet he didn't.

"I'm illiterate, my lady. I won't be able to play your game that way."

The door behind me swung open. A short, round man wearing a long Atlantean formesta robe came through it. He was reading from a parchment and not paying attention to us.

"Acheron, why aren't you in your…" his voice trailed off as he looked up to see me.

His gaze narrowed dangerously.

"What is this?" he growled. He turned angry eyes to Acheron who took two steps back. "Are you taking clients without notifying me?"

I saw the fear on Acheron's face.

"No, despotis," Acheron said using the Atlantean term for master. "I would never do such."

Fury curled the man's lips. He grabbed Acheron by the hair and forced him to his knees on the hard, stone floor. "What is she doing here then? Are you giving yourself away for free?"

"No, despotis," Acheron said, clenching his fists as if trying not to reach up and touch the man who was wrenching his hair. "Please. I swear I've done nothing wrong."

"Let him go!" I grabbed the man's hand and tried to force him away from my brother. "How dare you assault a prince! I shall have your head for this!"

The man laughed in my face. "He's no prince. Are you, Acheron?"

"No, despotis. I am nothing."

The man called for his guards to escort me out.

They came immediately into the room to take me.

"I will not go," I told him. I spun on the guards and gave them my haughtiest glare. "I am the Princess Ryssa of the House of Arikles of Didymos. I demand to see my Uncle Estes. Right. Now."

For the first time, I saw reservation enter the man's eyes. "Forgive me, Princess," he said, his tone less than apologetic. "I will have you taken to your uncle's greeting room."

He nodded to the guards.

Appalled by his arrogance, I turned to leave. In the black marble, I saw him whisper something to Acheron.

Acheron's face paled. "Idikos promised I wouldn't have to see him anymore."

The man yanked on Acheron's hair. "You will do as you're told. Now get up and prepare yourself."

The guards closed the door and forced me from the room. They led me back through the house until we came to a small greeting room that was bare save for three small settees.

I didn't know or understand what was going on here. Had anyone ever touched me or Styxx the way that man had touched Acheron, my father would have had them instantly killed.

No one was allowed to speak to us with anything less than respect and reverence.

"Where's my uncle?" I asked the guards as they started to withdraw.

"He's in town, Highness. He'll be back shortly."

"Send for him. Now."

The guard inclined his head to me, then closed the door.

I'd only been there a short time when a secret door opened beside the hearth. It was the overseer who'd been in Acheron's room when I first arrived, the older woman who'd been concerned for his welfare.

"Your highness?" she asked hesitantly. "Is it really you?"

It was then I realized who she must be. "You're the one who wrote asking me to visit?"

She nodded.

I breathed in relief. Finally someone who could explain. "What's going on here?"

The woman drew a deep, ragged breath as if what she was about to say hurt her deeply. "They sell your brother, my lady. They do things to him that no one should have to suffer."

My stomach shrank at her words. "What do you mean?"

She twisted her hands in the sleeve of her dress. "How old are you, my lady?"

"Three and twenty."

"Are you a maiden?"

I was offended that she would dare ask such an intimate question. "That is not your concern."

"Forgive me, my lady. I meant no offense. I'm merely trying to see if you will understand what they do to him. Do you know what a tsoulus is?"

"Of course, I…" Absolute horror consumed me. It was an Atlantean term that had no real Greek translation, but I knew the word. They were young men and women trained as sexual slaves for the wealthy and noble. Unlike prostitutes and others of that ilk, they were very carefully trained and sequestered from an early age.

The same age my brother had been when they took him away from home.

"Acheron is a tsoulus?"

She nodded.

My head reeled. This couldn't be. "You lie."

She shook her head no. "It's why I told you to come, my lady. I knew you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it for yourself."

And I still didn't believe it. It wasn't possible. "My uncle would never allow such."

"Your uncle is the one who sells him. What do you think paid for this house?"

I felt sick with the news and still part of me denied what was truly obvious. "I don't believe you."

"Then come, if you dare, and see for yourself."

I didn't want to and yet I followed her into the back passageways of the house. We walked endlessly until we reached the antechamber where Acheron had been bathing.

She held her finger to her lips to caution me to silence.

It was then I heard them. I might be virgin, but I wasn't naive. I had overheard others copulating at the parties my father forbade me to attend.

But worse than the sounds of pleasure were the cries of pain I heard from my brother. The man was hurting Acheron and he was taking great pleasure in the pain he caused him.

I started for the door only to find the woman in my way.

She spoke in a low, deadly tone. "Stop them, my lady, and your brother will suffer in ways you cannot imagine."

Her whispered words went through me. My soul screamed out for me to stop this. But the woman had been right about everything so far. She knew my brother and uncle far better than I did.

The last thing I wanted was to see him hurt more.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, there was silence.

I heard heavy footsteps cross the bedchamber, then the door opened and closed.

Stunned, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move.

The maid opened the door to his room to show Acheron chained to the bed by those circles. The ones at his wrists and ankles had been slid onto the bird beaks that decorated the four posts.

And I'd stupidly thought them to be hooks for bed curtains.

"I wasn't prepped on what you paid for. I assumed from your looks that you wanted me gentle. Am I wrong?"

Those words tore through me as I watched the woman unfasten him.

I couldn't take my eyes off the sight of him lying there, naked. Injured. Bleeding.

My brother.

Tears filled my eyes as I remembered him the last time I'd seen him. His plump face had been hurt, but not like this. Now his lips were split, his left eye swelling, his nose bloodied. There were red handprints and bruises forming over most of his body.

No one deserved this.

I took a step forward at the same time the far door opened. The overseer motioned me out of the room.

Terrified, I rushed to the shadows where I could hear but not be seen.

A curse rang out. "What has happened here?" I recognized Uncle Estes's voice.

"I'm fine, Idikos," Acheron said, his voice thick and pain-filled. It sounded as if he left the bed and stumbled.

I expected my uncle to be angry at the man who'd hurt Acheron. He wasn't. His wrath was for my brother.

"You're worthless," Estes snarled. "Look at you. You're not worth a lead sola like this."

"I'm fine, Idikos," Acheron insisted in a voice so obsequious it turned my stomach. "I can clean my-"

"Fetch the block and scold," Estes said, interrupting him.

I heard Acheron's protest, but instead of words, his voice was muffled as if something prevented him from speaking.

I wanted the courage to barge into the room and tell them to stop, but I couldn't seem to make my feet obey me. I was too horrified to move.

I listened as chains clinked and then I heard the sound of wood striking flesh.

Acheron cried out, a muffled sound of pain.

The beating dragged on and on until Acheron was finally silent. I sank to the floor, weeping for him. I held my fist to my mouth, silencing my tears as I tried to think of what I should do. How I could stop this?

Who in the world would ever believe me? Estes was my father's most beloved brother. There was no way he'd take my word over his. None.

"Put him in the box," Estes said.

"For how long?" the other man asked.

I heard Estes's disgusted sigh. "Even with his ability to heal quickly, it'll be at least a day before he's well enough to entertain again. Find Ores and make him pay us for our losses. Cancel Acheron's appointments and leave him in there until tomorrow morning."

"What about food?" the female overseer asked.

Estes snarled, "If he can't work, he can't eat. He hasn't earned his food this day."

I heard a door open and close.

"Now, where is my niece?"

"She's in the greeting room," the man said.

"She wasn't there when I came in."

"She said she was going into town," the overseer quickly supplied. "She'll be back shortly, I'm sure."

"Let me know the instant she returns," Estes snarled. "Tell her Acheron is away, visiting friends."

The men left the room.

I sat there on the floor, staring at the bathing pond. Staring at the mirrored walls of this room.

How many clients had my brother entertained? How many days had he lived with what I'd just witnessed?

He'd been gone for nine years. Surely it hadn't always been like this for him. Had it?

The very thought sickened me.

The overseer returned. I saw the horror in her eyes and wondered if I held the same look in mine.

"How long have they done this to him?" I asked.

"I've worked here for almost a year, my lady. It's been going on since before I came."

I tried to think of what I should do. I was a woman. Nothing in this world of male power. My uncle wouldn't listen to me. For that matter, my father wouldn't listen to me.

He would never believe his brother could do such a thing. Just as I couldn't believe the uncle whom I had always loved and adored could do such a thing.

Yet there was no denying this.

How could Estes come to our palace and sup with me and Styxx, knowing that while he was here at home, he was selling a boy who was identical to Styxx in every way, but for his eyes?

It didn't make sense.

The only thing I knew was that I couldn't leave Acheron here. Not like this.

"Can you get my guard to this room without being seen?" I asked her.

The maid nodded.

She left me and I waited in my corner too afraid to move.

When she returned with Boraxis, I finally found the courage to stand.

Boraxis frowned as he helped me to my feet. "Are you all right, my lady?"

I nodded numbly. "Where is Acheron?" I asked the maid.

She led me into his bedchamber.

Again I saw the bed that was still mussed and bloodied. Averting my gaze, I followed her to a door.

When she opened it, Acheron was inside, kneeling on a hard pad that had rough bumps on it so that it would bite into his knees, causing him pain. The inner room was so tiny, that I knew it had been built for no other purpose than to be a punishment for him. He was naked, his body bruised and bloodied. His wristbands had been joined together behind his back, but what captured my attention most was the bottoms of his feet.

They were blackened by bruises.

Now I understood the sound I'd heard. What better place to punish someone when you didn't want their body damaged? No one would see the bottoms of his feet.

As gently as we could, the overseer and I took him from the room. There was a strange strap buckled around his head. As the maid removed it, I realized it held a large barbed ball underneath his tongue. There was fresh blood leaking from the corners of his mouth.

I cringed as she pulled it away and he hissed in pain.

"Put me back," he said between his clenched teeth as the maid freed his hands.

"No," I told him. "I'm getting you out of here."

Still he kept his teeth firmly clenched. "I'm forbidden to leave, my lady. Ever. Please, you must put me back. It's only worse when I fight them."

My heart broke at his words. What had they done to him that he was too terrified to even attempt to leave?

He tried to return to his torture room, but I cut him off and forced him back.

"I won't let them hurt you anymore, Acheron. I swear it. I'm taking you home."

He looked at me as if the word was alien to him. "I have to stay here," he insisted. "It's not safe for me outside."

I ignored him and turned toward the maid. "Where are his clothes?"

"He doesn't have any, my lady. He doesn't need any for what they use him for."

I winced at her words.

"So be it." I wrapped him in my cloak and with Boraxis's help, we took him from the house even while Acheron protested every step of the way. My legs and hands were shaking in fear that we would be discovered any moment by Estes or one of his servants.

Luckily the maid knew every back way through the house and out to the street.

Somehow, we made it to a rented enclosed herio behind the house. Boraxis got up on top to ride with the driver while Acheron and I rode inside. Alone.

Together.

I didn't really breathe again until Estes's house had faded and we were outside the city walls, across the bridge and on the road that would eventually take us to the docks.

Acheron sat in the corner, looking outside through the small windows and saying nothing.

His eyes were dead. Lifeless. As if he'd seen one horror too many.

"Do you need a doctor?" I asked.

He shook his head no.

I wanted to soothe and comfort him, but wasn't sure if anything on this earth could do that.

We rode in complete silence until we reached a small village. The driver changed horses while we entered a small home to wait. I rented a room from an older woman so that we could wash and rest in peace.

Boraxis somehow found or bought Acheron clothes. They were somewhat small for him and rough in texture, but he didn't complain. He merely took them and dressed himself inside the rented room.

I noticed Acheron had a limp as he came out of the room to where I waited in the narrow hallway. My heart ached at the thought of his walking on his bruised feet and yet he still said no words of complaint.

"Come, Acheron, we should eat while we can."

Panic flared in his eyes. It was instantly followed by a look of resignation.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He didn't respond. He merely pulled the cowl of his cloak over his head as if to shield himself from the world. With his head held low and his arms wrapped around himself, he followed me to the small dining room below.

I headed for a table in the back, near the hearth.

"Who do I have to pay for the food?" Acheron asked quietly, his face completely shielded by his cowl.

I looked up at him with a frown. "You have money?"

He looked as baffled by my question as I was by his.

"If he can't work, he can't eat. He hasn't earned his food this day." My stomach shrank as I remembered what Estes had said. Tears choked me.

He thought I wanted him to…

"I will pay for our food, Acheron, with money."

The relief on his face tugged even more at my heart.

I sat down. Acheron moved around the table and knelt on the floor to my right, just behind me.

I scowled at him over my shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Forgive me, my lady. I meant no offense to you." He scooted back on his knees several more inches.

Completely flabbergasted, I turned around to stare at him. "Why are you on the floor?"

He looked immediately disappointed. "I shall wait for you in the room."

He moved to leave.

"Wait," I said, taking his arm. "Aren't you hungry? I was told you hadn't eaten."

"I am hungry," he said simply from between his clenched teeth.

"Then sit."

Again he knelt on the floor.

What was he doing? "Acheron, why are you on the floor and not sitting at the table with me?"

His look was empty, unassuming. "Whores don't sit at tables with decent people."

His voice was steady as if he were merely repeating something that had been said so often it no longer had any meaning to him.

But the words cut through me.

"You're not a whore, Acheron."

He didn't argue verbally, but I could see the denial in his pale, swirling eyes.

I reached out to touch his face. He stiffened ever so slightly.

I dropped my hand. "Come," I said softly. "Sit at the table with me."

He did as I told him, but looked terribly uncomfortable, as if he feared someone would wrench him up by his hair at any moment. Over and over, he pulled at the cowl as if to protect himself.

It was then I realized the second way to punish someone when you didn't want any visible marks. The head. How many times had they wrenched his hair?

A servant came to take our orders.

"What would you like, Acheron?"

"My will is your will, Idika."

Idika. An Atlantean word that a slave used for his owner.

"Have you no preference?"

He shook his head.

I ordered our food and watched him. He kept his gaze on the floor, his arms locked around his body.

When he moved to cough, I caught sight of something strange in his mouth.

"What is that?" I asked.

He glanced up at me, then looked down. "What is what, Idika?" he asked, again with his jaw clenched.

"I'm your sister, Acheron, you may call me Ryssa."

He didn't respond.

Sighing, I returned to my original question. "What is in your mouth? Let me see your tongue."

He obligingly parted his lips. The entire line down the center of his tongue was pierced and studded with small gold balls that shimmered in the light. I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

"What is that?" I asked, frowning.

Acheron closed his mouth and by the way he moved his lips and jaw, I could tell he was rubbing the balls against the roof of his mouth. "Erotiki sfairi."

"I don't understand that term."

"Sex balls, Idika. It makes my licks more stimulating to those I service."

I couldn't have been more surprised had he slapped me. He was nonchalant about something that was taboo in the world I knew.

"Do they hurt?" I couldn't believe I was asking this question.

He shook his head. "I just have to be careful not to let them strike my teeth lest they break them."

So that was why he kept his jaw clenched when he spoke.

"It's a wonder you can speak at all."

"No one pays a whore to use his tongue to speak, Idika."

"You are not a whore!" Several heads turned, making me realize I had spoken louder than I meant to.

My cheeks burned, but there was no embarrassment on Acheron's face. He merely accepted it as if he were nothing more and deserved nothing better.

"You are a prince, Acheron. A prince."

"Then why did you throw me out?"

His question startled me. Not just the words themselves, but the heartfelt pain in his voice as he spoke them.

"What do you mean?"

"Idikos told me what was said by all of you."

Idikos. The masculine form of the word a slave used for his owner.

"Do you mean Estes?"

He nodded.

"He is your uncle, not your idikos."

"One doesn't argue with a whip or scold, my lady. At least not for long."

I swallowed at his words. No, I guess they didn't. "What did he tell you?"

"The king wanted me dead. I live only because the son he loves will die if I die."

"That's not true. Father said he sent you away because he was afraid someone would try to hurt you. You are his heir."

Acheron kept his gaze on the floor. "Idikos says that I am an embarrassment to my family. Unfit to be with any of you. That's why the king sent me away and told everyone I was dead. I'm only good for one thing."

I didn't need him to tell me what that one thing was. "He lied to you." My heart broke with the weight of the truth. "Just as he's been lying to me and to Father. He told us that you were healthy and happy. Well-schooled."

He laughed bitterly at that. "I am well-schooled, Idika. Believe me, I'm the best at what they trained me to do."

How could he find humor in that?

I looked away from him as the servant brought food to us. As I started to eat, I noticed Acheron hadn't moved. He stared at the food before him with hunger in his eyes.

"Eat," I told him.

"You haven't given me my portion, my lady."

"What do you mean?"

"You eat, and if I please you while you dine, you will determine how much food I'm to have."

"Please me how… no wait. Don't answer that. I'm not sure I want to know." I sighed, then gestured to his platter and cup. "All of that is yours. You may eat as much or as little as you like."

He looked at it hesitantly, then glanced to the floor behind me.

It was then I understood why he'd knelt there. "You normally eat on the floor, don't you?"

Like a dog or rodent.

He nodded. "If I'm particularly pleasing," he said softly. "Idikos will sometimes feed me from his hand."

My appetite left me at his words.

"Eat in peace, little brother," I said, my voice cracking from my unshed tears. "Eat as much as you want."

I sipped my wine, trying to settle my stomach and watched him eat his food. He had perfect manners and again it struck me how slowly he ate. How meticulously he moved.

Every gesture was beautiful. Precise.

And it was designed to seduce.

He moved like a whore.

Closing my eyes, I wanted to scream at the injustice of this. He was firstborn. He was the one who should be heir to the throne and here he was…

How could they have done this to him?

And why?

Because his eyes were different? Because those eyes made people uncomfortable?

There was nothing threatening about this boy. He wasn't like Styxx, who'd been known to have people locked up and beaten just because they offended him. One poor peasant had been beaten because he'd come to the palace without shoes on his feet. Shoes he couldn't afford.

Acheron didn't play pranks on me, or laugh at others. He didn't judge anyone or make them feel small.

Rather, he merely sat there silently eating.

A family came in and sat at the table beside us. Acheron paused as he noticed the boy and girl. The boy was a few years younger than he and the girl probably his age.

By the look on his face, I could tell he hadn't seen a family sit down together before. He studied them curiously.

"May I speak, my lady?"

"Of course."

"Do you and Styxx sit down and eat with your parents like that?"

"They are your parents too."

He returned to his food without commenting.

"Yes," I said. "We sometimes dine with them like that." But Acheron never had. Even when he'd been at home with us, he'd been banned from the family table.

After that, he didn't speak. Nor did he look at the family. He merely ate with those impeccable manners of his.

I choked down a few bites, but found I wasn't very hungry after all.

I took us back to our quarters to wait for the driver to finish his rest and feeding the horses. It was nearing dusk and I wasn't sure if we would continue to travel through the evening or not.

I sat down on the small chair and closed my eyes to rest. It had been a long day. I'd only arrived in Atlantis that morning and hadn't anticipated so quick a return. Not to mention the undue stress of stealing my brother away from my uncle. At the moment, all I wanted was to sleep.

I felt Acheron in front of me.

Opening my eyes, I saw him naked again save for his bands.

I frowned at him. "What are you doing?"

"I owe you for my food and clothes, my lady." He knelt down at my feet and lifted the hem of my himation.

I bolted upright and grabbed his hand. "You don't touch family like that, Acheron. It's wrong."

Confusion creased his brow.

And then I knew the most horrid of truths. "Estes… does he… Do you…" I couldn't bring myself to say the words.

"I pay him every night for being kind enough to shelter me."

I'd never wanted to cry so much in my life and yet I found my eyes strangely dry-even as anger and disgust welled inside me over what had been done to my brother. Oh, if I could only lay hands to my uncle… "Put your clothes on, Acheron. I have no need of you to pay me for anything."

He left me and did as I asked.

For the rest of the evening, I watched him while he sat silently in the corner without moving even a single muscle. Obviously he'd been trained to do that, too. I walked my mind through the horrors of the day's revelations.

Through the horror that must have been his life.

My poor Acheron.

I told him how glad father would be to welcome him home. How happy mother would be to see him again.

I told him stories of our palace and of how grand his room would be.

He listened silently while his eyes told me he didn't believe a single word I spoke.

Whores don't live in palaces.

I could hear his thoughts plainly.

And honestly, I was beginning to doubt those words myself.