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Enraged over the abuse of her friend, Arterio of Acheron and the moment he did, she took Acheron&039;s hand and teleported hiave her none of that Instead, he turned on her with fury pouring out of his entire being "How dare you do that to aze was as accusatory as his tone even though he kept it at her feet "You exposedher for soto watch the play That e were there, wasn&039;t it?"

"No We were there to keep ain"

That didn&039;t placate hier hio be bored so e clouded her vision No one had ever taken such a tone with her "Who do you think you are?"

"The one who alhtless"

"I aestured to the door behind her "Just go I don&039;t like being around people I&039;d rather be alone"

She frowned at hiry at me, aren&039;t you?"

He actually rolled his eyes as if he were exasperated with her

Shocked, Artery at me"

"This one does Now please leave"

She should and yet she couldn&039;t o She was too co her and yet she wasn&039;t really angry A part of her was even teoddesses didn&039;t do that to humans

"Why did those people surround you like that?" she asked, wanting to understand him and his unwarranted hostility toward her

"You&039;re the goddess You tell me"

"People don&039;t normally do that to others of their kind without a reason Were you perchance cursed?"

He laughed bitterly "Obviously so"

"What did you do?"

"I was born Apparently that&039;s all the gods need to ruin someone" He snatched the shoes off his feet and held theave those to you"

"I don&039;t want your gift"

"Why not?"

His gaze was on the floor, but there was nothe fury and contempt "Because you&039;llfor things" He dropped the shoes and turned to walk out onto his balcony

Ignoring the shoes, Arte fun I liked it until you angered er evaporated froive me, my lady I didn&039;t mean to offend you" He sank to his knees in front of her

"What are you doing?"

"My will is yours, akra"

Artemis yanked his cloak off He didn&039;t flinch or move He merely stayed there like alike this?"

He kept his gaze on the ground "It&039;s what you want, isn&039;t it? A servant to entertain you?"

Yes, but she didn&039;t want that froht ere friends"

"I don&039;t kno to be a friend I only kno to be a slave or a lover"

Artemis opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the door behind her swung open She made herself instantly invisible as she stepped back into the shadows

Two guards came in

The moment Acheron saw them, he rose to his feet and backed up on the balcony as they made their way toward hirabbed hi about their intent, she followed the sure to keep herself hidden

Acheron was taken to the throne roouards forced him to his knees before the thrones that were occupied by an elder hu man as identical in looks to Acheron Only he didn&039;t have Acheron&039;s silver eyes and he lacked the sa nature The one on the throne was the same as any human and she took an instant dislike to him

"As per your instructions, he hasn&039;t left his roouard on the left of Acheron said fir&039;s blue eyes were piercing "You weren&039;t in the square earlier, teritos?"

Arte

Acheron gave the king a defiant glare "Why would I have been in the square, Father?"

The king curled his lip "Thirty-six lashes for his insolence, then return hirabbed hih a set of double doors that opened into a s, she watched as they stripped him bare, then tied him to a post His perfectly formed back was covered with dark bruises, red welts and cuts No wonder he&039;d recoiled in pain when she&039;d touched him It had to hurt fiercely

Unable to detect her presence, the younger guard walked to her side and pulled a whip from the holder before he returned to Acheron

Acheron stiffened and braced hiainst the post as if he kneould happen next

The histled through the air, then tore through his bruised back

Gasping, Acheron gripped the post so tight that every s was taut and outlined It was as if he were trying to ht, she watched as lash after lash rained down on his back Never once did he cry out or beg for asp or curse theuards freed hiround where the guards had thrown it but didn&039;t have tied him back to his roouards sla clatter

Arte on the floor where he&039;d landed His bloodied blond hair was tangled and fanned out behind him while blood seeped from the wounds on his back He made nointo space

"Acheron?"

He didn&039;t speak to her

She materialized in front of him, then knelt by his side "Why were you beaten?"

He drew a ragged breath as he tightened his grip on the wadded up chiton "Stop asking "

Her heart ha welts that curved over his right shoulder He hissed in response to her touch Withdrawing her hand, she frowned His war at his naked body For the first tiuilt stir in her breast

His punishment was her fault Had she not taken him out of his room, they wouldn&039;t have done this to hiry that he&039;d been injured

"I don&039;t like you like this," she whispered

"Just please leaveto comfort him, she placed her hand on his shoulder and closed her eyes before she healed hih his battered body A second later, all the pain was gone He tensed, expecting it to return

It didn&039;t

"Is that better?"

He stared at the goddess in disbelief "What did you do?"

"I&039; onto his back, he was amazed that the pain didn&039;t return For the last three days, he&039;d been beaten at various intervals because he&039;d dared walk to the teun to fear that his skin would never heal cooddess smiled at him as she brushed his hair back froet hurt"

Acheron covered her hand with his before he kissed her palm that tasted like roses and honey To his co For that alone, he expected Artemis to jump on top of him

Instead she watched his cock as he hardened even ot hard unless it was required of hiht as she touched his chest He was used to people being curious about hiod, everyone wanted to touch him, to explore his body

Yet she was hesitant Her hand drifted over his abdohtly as if she were afraid to touch the part of hi you don&039;t want me to," he told her quietly

Her eyes flashed "Of course not I&039;d kill you if you did"

No one had been quite so blunt before, but that threat had always hung over his head He&039;d had plenty of clients after leaving Atlantis who&039;d threatened him for numerous reasons Mostly political or possessive They were afraid he&039;d tell on them for what they wanted to do to their Prince Styxx or they didn&039;t want to share him with anyone else

Three times he&039;d almost been killed

He didn&039;t knohy people reacted to him the way they did He&039;d never understood it Artemis, even with her divinity, didn&039;t seem any different than anyone else

Except her touch set hihtly brushed the tip of his cock The need inside hiry at her for what she&039;d done to hiht now Only a desire to please her that he didn&039;t comprehend

A noise sounded out in the hallway

Artemis pulled back with a sharp intake of breath "We could be seen"

The next thing he knew, they were inside a bright, white marble bedroo to understand where he was

There was an incredibly large bed against one wall The sheets and curtains were as white as everything else The only color to be found was gold trim

"Where am I?"

"Mount Olyht you to my temple Don&039;t worry No one ever enters my bedchambers These are sacred to me"

Artemis approached hiainst his an instant before a red chiton appeared on his body "We can be alone here"

Acheron couldn&039;t even for hiold and carved with brilliant forest scenes How could this be? How could a whore be in the bedrooht was laughable

Yet here he stood

Artemis took him by the hand and led hiarden resplendent with flowers The riot of color was aloddess beside him

"What do you think of it?" Arteht you&039;d like it"

He frowned at her "How could you be bored here?"

She looked away and sed A deep sadness darkened her green eyes "It gets lonely There&039;s seldom anyone ants to talk to me Sometimes I walk in the woods and the deer come to me, but they don&039;t really have much to say"

He let out an awed breath at the incredible scene "I could happily loseas I live"

"But you&039;ll only live a few more years You&039;ve no idea what eternity feels like Tis on ever the same"

"I don&039;t know I think I should like foreverIf I could live it on my own terms"

She smiled at him "I could see you as you are now a thousand years in the future" Her eyes lit up "Oh wait, there&039;s so I have to share with you"

Acheron cocked his head in consternation as she snapped her fingers and a peculiar brown package appeared in her palm She held it out to him

"What is it?"

"Chocolate," she said breathlessly "Hershey&039;s You must try it"

He took it from her and held it to his nose It smelled sweet, but he wasn&039;t sure about the taste As he started to take a bite, Artemis jerked it out of his hand

"You have to unwrap it first, silly" Laughing, she tore the brown paper and an odd silver ave it to hierly, Acheron took a bite The ue, he was in heaven "This is delicious"

She handed hiain "I know It coo there, but I can&039;t help it There are just sos I can&039;t wait for and chocolate is one of theertips "Could you take me to the future?"

She shook her head quickly "My father would kill od can&039;t kill another"

"Yes, they can Believe me They&039;re not supposed to, but it doesn&039;t always stop them"

Acheron took another bite as he considered her words He would love to travel away from this time To a place where no one knew him or his brother Where he was free of his past and able toto possess him

That would be perfection But he&039;d learned the hard way that such a place didn&039;t exist

Artemis took the bar from him and bit off a piece A bit of it melted on her chin

Acheron reached out to wipe it away

"How do you do that?" she asked him

"Do what?"

"Touch ods, but not you Why is that?"

He shrugged "Probably because I&039;"

"You&039;re not?"

"No I&039; my past At least with death, I&039;d know that it&039;s all behind me It would be a relief, I think"