him from underneath her lashes. 'Even I eat it-it's delicious.'
Compelled by something he couldn't explain or deny, he picked a portion of it up and sampled it. It was much sweeter than it had smelled. Artemis was right. He'd never tasted anything better.
At least that was his thought until the room started to spin. His eyelids were suddenly heavy and his muscles weak, his breathing labored. In an instant he recognized the biological effects. Rage set fire to his blood as all the years of being drugged against his will rushed to the forefront of his mind.
'You drugged me!'
She bolted from the bed. 'Forgive me, Acheron.'
Of all the things she'd done to him… this betrayal sliced him most fiercely. 'What have you done?'
Artemis didn't speak as she watched him turn from human to blue and back again.
He tried to reach her, but she made sure to keep her distance until he'd passed out. There was no telling what he would have done to her had he seized her. As he collapsed on the floor, she finally let out a breath in relief.
Leave it to Hypnos to make the one concoction that not even gods were immune to. She'd been terrified that it wouldn't work on Acheron.
Thank Zeus that it had.
Her hand shaking, she pulled the dagger from its concealed sheath on her thigh. Hephaestus had forged it on Olympus and like the drug, it too would work on a god. She'd even coated the blade with Titan blood just to be sure. One slice and Acheron would be dead.
Biting her lip, she stood over his perfect, naked body that was sprawled sideways and watched as he breathed ever so slightly. His blond hair fell over the handsome features of his face, making him look almost boyish and harmless in his repose.
She remembered the times those full lips had pleasured her. The flash of happiness in his silver eyes when he looked at her. But that was when he'd been human. Now he was a threat not only to her, but to every god on Olympus.
His throat was exposed, just waiting for her. But as she moved to severe his carotid, an image of him laughing with her went through her mind.
No one had ever loved her. Not like him. Acheron had never hurt her. He didn't demand. He only asked.
And he gave freely of himself…
Artemis gripped the knife tightly. She lifted it with every intention of stabbing him. But she couldn't. Over and over, images of him played through her mind.
Acheron loved her and she loved him.
Sobbing, she dropped the knife and placed her head on his chest. As a man, he'd exposed her and threatened her in a way no one else ever had. As a god, he threatened the very existence of her pantheon. She needed to be rid of him.
But she couldn't.
Furious over her own weakness, she put him back in bed. She traced the line of his jaw and wanted to weep. She would have to do something.
Maybe she could find one of the other gods to kill him…
A
Then he heard Apollodorus crying.
Acheron wanted to go to the baby, but he couldn't. His head was swimming viciously and even the subtlest movement made him queasy.
'I'll be there tomorrow, akribos,' he whispered to his nephew before he passed out again.
And still the screams echoed in his drugged stupor.
June 25, 9527 BC
Acheron came awake to the sound of ultimate grief. Someone was wailing as if their heart was splintered. Blinking open his eyes, he found the sun bright, streaming through his open windows.
His head pounding in agony, he pushed himself up in bed, but almost fell as his stomach lurched sharply. He hadn't awakened this sick since he'd left Estes's home. It felt as if he'd overdosed on something.
There in the blinding light, he remembered her 'gift.' More than that, he remembered her holding a knife over him as she debated whether or not she should kill him.
'You fucking bitch,' he snarled.
An instant later, his doors were thrown open. The sound echoed so sharply in his head that it made him flinch and made his head pound even more. 'Not so loud,' he whispered.
The next thing he knew, Styxx had him by the throat. He shoved him back on the bed to straddle him. 'Are you drunk?'
Acheron shook his head.
Styxx backhanded him. He pulled the arc of herbs from the table next to the bed and flung it into Acheron's face. 'You worthless whore. You lie in here on your drugs and drink while my sister was murdered!' Styxx punched him again and again.
Acheron tried to block the hits, but his muscles and reactions were still sluggish from Artemis's drugs. It took a full minute for those words to permeate the fog in his mind. 'What did you say?'
'Ryssa's dead, you bastard!'
No! The denial echoed in his head. It wasn't right. Styxx was being an ass.
Surely not even the gods who hated him would do this to him.
Shoving Styxx away, Acheron forced himself out of bed and staggered down the hallway to Ryssa's rooms. Oblivious to the fact he was naked, he walked in to find the king holding Ryssa in his arms. She looked like a doll. Her face was blue, and her body…
He choked on what he saw. She'd been ripped to pieces. Her face and body ravaged by something that looked like large claws. There was blood all over the bed and floor. Falling to his knees, Acheron couldn't breathe or even think past the agony of what he saw.
Ryssa was dead.
And it was then, there on the floor before him that he saw Apollodorus and the nurse. Both bloody. Both dead.
Acheron banged his head against the stone floor, trying his best to clear the fog in his mind. To feel something other than the shattering of his heart.
'I heard them…' he whispered as the reality of last night slammed into him with fists more powerful than any that had hit him before.
He screamed out in anguish.
At that instant, in his mind, he saw the entire event unfold. Saw the ones who'd come into the room from the windows and slaughtered them. He heard Ryssa screaming out for his help.
Heard Apollodorus again begging for his uncle…
Suddenly, something slammed into his ribs. The force of the blow knocked him to his side. Looking up, he saw
