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He shook his head in denial before he waved his arm toward the palace "Thisthis is all a drea to wake up and it&039;ll be over I&039;s I don&039;t want to do Being groped and shoved around and beaten There&039;s no need to pretend otherwise"
How could I make him feel safe and secure? "Why won&039;t you take my word and believe me? The past is over You have a new future now Boraxis is on his way to Sumer to deliver my letter to my best friend Once I have her word, we&039;ll have a safe place where you can go and no one will ever harain
His expression was bleak and cold "I don&039;t kno to trust, Ryssa Not you or anyone else People are unpredictable The gods s happen that are out of our control I want to believe you, I do But all I hear are the gods&039; voices, and yours And then I see thingsthings I don&039;t want to see"
"What kinds of things?"
He turned away and headed for his room
I ran after him and pulled hiing for a mercy that never comes I see myself cast out into the streets with no place to rest and no one arounda payment I don&039;t want to make"
Gods, hoanted toto make sure he had "This isn&039;t a drea to let you return to Atlantis We will find you a home that is safe"
He looked away, his eyes stormy "Why hasn&039;t Father come? If he loves me as you say, why hasn&039;t he co to find me another home?"
"He&039;s busy" I couldn&039;t bear even now to tell hi that and I try to believe you But do you knohat I remember of hi you away from me while Idikos jerked otten the hatred that burned in Father&039;s eyes as he glared at htmares for years over that look And now you tell otten it" A muscle worked in his jaw "Should I really believe you?"
No, he shouldn&039;t I was lying, but I couldn&039;t ever let hi to believe in me, Acheron"
"I hope so, Ryssa I really do I want to believe desperately, but I can&039;t afford to be disappointed again I&039;m tired of it"
I watched as he turned away and leftthere He was so beautiful Tall Proud In spite of everything, he still nity I couldn&039;t fatho that I wasn&039;t the only one in my family who felt that way toward him
Why couldn&039;t they see what I did?
And inside was the pain that knew just how right Acheron was Sooner or later, our father would coive iveletters I&039;d written about my whereabouts or the people I&039;d had Boraxis pay on his journey to fool him I had no doubt that by now both Father and Estes were looking for us while Boraxis scouted a safe haven for Acheron in another country or kingdoht best for uarantee his freedom and happiness-to keep my promises to him Once he was safely away, I&039;d return to Didymos and face , even jeopardize my own freedoht to search for us here
May the gods have mercy on us both should that happen
March 18, 9531 BC
The warmer weather arrived miraculously as Persephone must have returned to her time The rebirth of the land and the beauty In particular, our island was lovely as the workers co
But this year, I felt dread as I awaited word of Boraxis He&039;d sent a ht be a place in the Kiza kingdom for Acheron They have a queen as rumored to be elderly and kind Her own sons were dead, and perhaps she ht welcome an exiled prince
I hoped with all my heart that this would be so
And as each day passes, I fear that Father will extend his search to our oasis But I aht instead findAcheron into our household so that I can protect him Then he would be forever beyond my father or uncle&039;s touch
I won&039;t think of that for now
The best part of being here has been that the servants have all accepted Acheron and his quirks, and we&039;ve formed a very close family of sorts In Acheron, I&039;ve found the brother I&039;ve alanted Where Styxx is petulant, Acheron has finally learned to laugh without fear of drawing unwanted notice
Today, I found hi letters in the dirt with a stick and teaching them to Acheron
It was then I re illiterate-the shame that confession had caused him
"May I help?" I asked as I approached them
Maia leaned toward Acheron and spoke in that typically loud whisper of hers that was as char as it eet "She&039;ll make a much better teacher than me She knows all the letters and how they make words I only know a few"
Acheron smiled at me "Would you please?"
His request shockedbefore
"Absolutely" Taking the stick froan lessons for both of them so that they could read
Acheron was a clever student and absorbed everything I showed him with an aptitude that was absolutely miraculous "Are Atlantean letters different than the Greek?" he asked as I h the alphabet
"A few are They have several vowel diphthongs that we lack"
Maia frowned "Is their language like our Greek?"
I se can be very similar to ours Sothe e I personally know very little, but Acheron speaks it fluently"
Her face brightened as she turned to face hilowed deep in his eyes "If you like But it&039;s not a pretty language"
I co quality to the Atlantean language thatwhenever they spoke It was a joy to hear, but then given Acheron&039;s experiences in Atlantis I could well understand his sentie
Acheron turned his attention back to hed "Don&039;t you know about the gods, Acheron?"
He shook his head "I only know the name Zeus because many use it to swear by and someone na and queen of the Atlantean pantheon "How do you know their names?"
He didn&039;t respond, but the look on his face made me suspect that they must be some of the ones he could hear in his head
"Well," I said, trying to lighten the sudden ods and his queen is Hera"
"I like Arteoddess of the hunt and of childbirth She&039;s the one who saved my mother&039;s life when I was born and ere so ill The midwife swore that we&039;d both die, but s to Artereat goddess indeed and I owe her much that she allowed you to be born"
Maia beamed in happy satisfaction
Over the course of the afternoon, I ran through a quick lesson of the Greek gods, but unlike the writing, Acheron had a hard ti all the names and their titles It was as if they were so alien to him that he couldn&039;t tell one from another He constantly confused them
We spentbeside Acheron
His features softened as he looked down at her and cradled her in his ar away one moment and then fall sound asleep the next I&039;ve never seen anything quite like it"
I s her like a protective father Given the brutality of his past, his ability to still feel compassion and to show tenderness never ceased to amaze me "You love her, don&039;t you?"
His expression was one of pure horror and then blatant rage "I would never touch her that way"
His rancor baffled ry In his world, love was a physical act and not an eht made my heart ache "Love doesn&039;t have to be sexual, Acheron In its purest for to do with a physical act"
Confusion lined his brow "How do you irl he held so protectively in the shelter of his muscular arms "When you look at Maia, your heart softens, doesn&039;t it?"
He nodded
"You look at her and all you want to do is keep her safe from harm and take care of her"
"Yes"
I s from her except to make her happy"
He cocked his head curiously as he studied my face "How do you know that?"
"Because that&039;s how I feel about you, little brother The love you have for her is the same as what I feel whenever I think of you If you ever needed me, there&039;s no hardship I wouldn&039;t endure to be by your side as quickly as I could"
He sed as a haunted look ca silver eyes "You loveto keep you safe"
For the first time since he&039;d come here I felt as if I&039;d finally reached hi of all happened
Acheron took my hand "Then I love you, Ryssa"
Tears clouded my eyes as emotions choked me "I love you too, akribos And I don&039;t want you ever to doubt that"
"I won&039;t" He squeezed et me"
No words had ever meant ht that I couldn&039;t even speak as he let go of my hand to rise with Maia in his arms so that he could take her to her mother I watched him walk away and hoped with every part of my soul that he would always feel that way towardexcept my brother&039;s hatred
March 19, 9531 BC
Today I decided to teach Acheron how to read froun when I noticed soue were gone
"You took the
His expression was a cross between sheepishness and pride "I made myself trust you You say that I&039;ain I want to believe that So I took theods that they&039;ll keep hted even more that he didn&039;t stiffen, and pulled hi him close "You&039;re safe here, little brother I swear it"
For the first tiedtouchedback, I found Petra in the doorine and cheese "I thought the two of you would like a snack"
I nodded before I pulled away "That would be wonderful Thank you"
She inclined her head to me before she placed the tray on a small side table
Acheron watched until after she&039;d left us alone before he spoke "Do you ever think about getting married, Ryssa?"
I hesitated before I poured our cups "I do sometimes and I wonder why Father hasn&039;t procuredbefore they reach e But Father says he can&039;t find anyone he deereat hurry I&039;ve seen too res, so if Father wishes to take entle husband, I can certainly wait Why do you ask?"
"I was thinking of Petra and her husband Have you ever noticed the way they laugh whenever they&039;re together? And when they&039;re apart, there&039;s a sadness to them It&039;s as if they can&039;t bear to be parted even for a few reat love of one another It&039;s a pity not all married couples are like that"
"Are our parents like that?"
I glanced away as es of the way my parents had been before Styxx and Acheron&039;s births In those days, they&039;d loved each other passionately Seldom had they parted and my father had doted on
Then their sons had been born Since that fateful day, my father couldn&039;t stand to be near my mother He blaod Don&039;t deny it There&039;s no other way he could have come from your womb"
The more my mother protested her innocence, the more my father seemed to hate her Finally she claimed that Zeus had tricked her and that she&039;d had no idea of his presence in her bed
Instead of drawing my father closer, her confession had alienated him even more and now he avoided all contact with her
"No, Acheron," I said quietly before taking a cup to him "They seldom even see one another unless it&039;s for a state function Father keeps coreat deal of time lost in her cups" And I hated that At one time my mother had been wonderful Now she was a bitter drunkard
He looked stricken as if he understood why "Do you think that a woman could ever love me?"
"Of course Why would you doubt it?"
He sed before he answered in a tone so low I barely heard it "How could anyone ever loveshame to all decent people I&039;m a fatherless bastard and a worthless whore Surely no decent wo like me"
"That is absolutely not true," I said vehemently "You are worth this entire world and I assure you that you will find a woman out there, besides me, who sees just hoonderful you really are"
He sed hard "If I&039;m ever so fortunate, I swear she&039;ll never doubt my affection for her"
"You will be that fortunate"
He smiled at h to bring tears to ht to distract him "Now let&039;s learn your letters, shall we?"
He returned to the scrolls and for hours I watched as he applied himself with a fervor I&039;d never seen And every tiue, reat victory, and one day soon I would win this war and his past would be put to rest
May 9, 9531 BC
I was alone in my room when Maia pushed open the door
"Is Acheron ill?"
I put down my quill to frown at her "I haven&039;t seen him today Why do you ask?"
She scratched her nose and looked coet him so that we could bake today, but he didn&039;t appear well He said his head was hurting and he was rather sharp with me Acheron is never sharp with me Then when I took him some wine for his head, his room was e a smile I didn&039;t feel "You run to the kitchen and I&039;ll check on him"
"Thank you, Princess" She returned my smile before she skipped out of the room
Worried about him myself, I opened the doors that led into the courtyard Acheron had been spending a lot of tirass and flowers But he wasn&039;t there now
My next stop was the orchards Again, he wasn&039;t to be found
After a quick search of the house, I was truly beco concerned He never strayed very far on his own And it was truly rare for hi panic set in as I headed out of the house to search the grounds again
Where could he be?
If he were Styxx, I&039;dwith a maid in the privacy of his roo
Then it dawned on one there since the wintertime, but I could think of no other place that hadn&039;t been searched It was the only place he could be Whispering a quick prayer to the gods that I was right, I made my way down to the beach, toward the rocks where he used to sit
He wasn&039;t there either
But as I cli on his back on the sand with the waves rushing over hi at all
Soaking wet, he lay in the surf with his eyes closed
Terrified of the sight, I scrambled down and rushed to his side Even before I reached him, I could see the pallor of his beautiful face
"Acheron!" I shouted with fearful tears in my eyes I was terrified he was dead