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He trailed one icy cold finger down the side of her face "Are you truly willing to die to give your friend five minutes with her son?"

"If that is what you ask, yes"

He dropped his hand His soulless eyes betrayed no emotion or any indication of his mood "I&039;ll have to fully consider this Give ht to decide You&039;ll have my answer then"

She sank to one knee before him "Thank you, akri Xiamara will await your decision"

He faded into the wind

Xiamara rose and returned to Apollyain What she would never tell her were the exact teroblet back, drained it, then cursed before he threw it against the wall He&039;d drunk enough that he should be blind fros would work on hi had been altered

Damn it all!

He felt the air stirring over his skin Frowning, he watched as Artemis materialized in front of him

Acheron lifted a brow in surprise "I wasn&039;t expecting to see youever again"

A ses of her lips as she looked at hiize for what I said to you earlier I rong"

Every sense in his body went on alert "You&039;re apologizing to me?"

She nodded as she approached his bed, then cliht you a peace offering"

"A peace offering?"

She handed hi even more, he opened it to find a yellow sticky fruit substance Never had he seen anything like it "What&039;s this?"

"Aods"

He lifted the bowl to s else that was invitingly delectable "Why would you bring this to od now You should eat as we do" Her expression tender, she stroked his thigh and looked up at him from underneath her lashes "Even I eat it-it&039;s delicious"

Co he couldn&039;t explain or deny, he picked a portion of it up and sampled it It was ht He&039;d never tasted anything better

At least that was his thought until the room started to spin His eyelids were suddenly heavy and his nized 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 ive s she&039;d done to himthis betrayal sliced him most fiercely "What have you done?"

Artemis didn&039;t speak as she watched hiain

He tried to reach her, but she made sure to keep her distance until he&039;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 ods were immune to She&039;d been terrified that it wouldn&039;t work on Acheron

Thank Zeus that it had

Her hand shaking, she pulled the dagger froed it on Olyod She&039;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 handso 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 hen he&039;d been huod on Oly for her But as shewith her went through her mind

"I love you, Artie"

No one had ever loved her Not like him Acheron had never hurt her He didn&039;t deave freely of hiripped the knife tightly She lifted it with every intention of stabbing hies of hih her , she dropped the knife and placed her head on his chest As a man, he&039;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&039;t

Furious over her oeakness, she put him back in bed She traced the line of his jaw and wanted to weep She would have to do soods to kill him

Acheron heard so It echoed through his rooet up, but couldn&039;t The drug Arte down on him He had no control over his body at all

Then he heard Apollodorus crying

"Theo! Appie need theo! Mao to the baby, but he couldn&039;t His head i viciously and even the subtlest movement made him queasy

"I&039;ll be there tomorrow, akribos," he whispered to his nephew before he passed out again

And still the screaed stupor

June 25, 9527 BC

Noon

Acheron ca as if their heart was splintered Blinking open his eyes, he found the sun bright, streaony, he pushed himself up in bed, but almost fell as his stomach lurched sharply He hadn&039;t awakened this sick since he&039;d left Estes&039;s ho

Arteift" More than that, he re a knife over him as she debated whether or not she should kill hi 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 evenhe 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 fro it into Acheron&039;s face "You worthless whore You lie in here on your drugs and drink while ain

Acheron tried to block the hits, but his ish fros It took a fullin his mind "What did you say?"

"Ryssa&039;s dead, you bastard!"

No! The denial echoed in his head It wasn&039;t right Styxx was being an ass

Surely not even the gods who hated hi Styxx away, Acheron forced hiered down the hallway to Ryssa&039;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&039;d been ripped to pieces Her face and body ravaged by soe claws There was blood all over the bed and floor Falling to his knees, Acheron couldn&039;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 hisof his heart

"I heard theht slammed into him with fists more powerful than any that had hit hiod, but not the power to come and save the only two people who&039;d ever loved hied hiuish

At that instant, in his mind, he saw the entire event unfold Saw the ones who&039;d cohtered the out for his help

Heard Apollodorus again begging for his uncle

Suddenly, so slammed into his ribs The force of the blow knocked hi up, he saw Styxx&039;s furious face as he kicked hi his head against the stone floor over and over again

"Why wasn&039;t it you, you worthless ot!"

Acheron couldn&039;t even think to protect himself In that moment, he wanted to die too There was no reason for hione

Even Arteh hi from the force of it, he shoved Styxx away froht exploded through the room Acheron lifted his arm to shield his eyes as Apollo od looked slowly around the roo in expectation of the god&039;s reaction

Apollo didn&039;t speak as he saw Ryssa lying dead in her father&039;s arms and his son&039;s lifeless body still in the ared nurse

"Who did this?" Apollo deh clenched teeth

Styxx pointed to Acheron "He let them die"

Before Acheron could think to deny those words, Apollo spun on him and hit hiround and slammed him into the wall ten feet above the floor

Acheron fell to the ground, his body aching Apollo grabbed him by the hair and wrenched his head Acheron tried to push hiod backhanded him Blood and pain exploded as his nose was broken and his lips split The god set on him with such fury that Acheron couldn&039;t even recover from one blow before two more were delivered to hi her to help calm her brother

"Don&039;t you dare say ger froue He sliced it off

Acheron choked on the blood that poured through his inable pain throbbed to the point all he could think was to try and craay frorip so searing it burned the god&039;s handprint into his skin

"Akri! Ni!" Xiamara&039;s cries filled the room as she appeared above hiod back from him and put herself between them

"Out of my way, demon," Apollo deod The two of theht and feathers as they pounded each other

Tears filled Acheron&039;s eyes as he fought against the pain that was trying to drag hiht to kill Apollo, he crawled to where the god&039;s knife had fallen His own blood coated the blade With a fury born of grief and all the years where he&039;d been abused, Acheron seized it and spun on the co to Apollo No od and now the bastard acted as if her death ods who&039;d birthed hi hisit to glow as he raced toward theaze on Apollo and was oblivious to the fight All he could focus on was stabbing the god through his callous heart But just as he reached Apollo, the god knocked Xiamara back, into Acheron She turned into him with eyes wide as his stomach shrank in the realization that Apollo had slammed the de his hand Looking down at the wound, she staggered back with a s to her, but without his tongue, it was iled to breathe

She lifted a bloodied hand to place it to his cheek "Apollye he soh he&039;d never heard it before "Protect yourfor her and for ht faded from her eyes as her final breath left her body

Acheron threw his head back and tried to vent the fury inside hi the knife, he spun on Apollo

Apollo caught his hand and wrested the knife froain by the throat and threw hiround Acheron kicked hiht his eye He froze as he saw Arteht with her hands over herher, he reached a hand out toward her

She shook her head no and took a step back, out of her brother&039;s sight

In that instant, so inside him died Coldness filled every raw inch of his body

Artemis refused to intervene Even nohen he ounded and hurt more than any huh He didn&039;t rief-stricken and defeated, he rolled over onto his back at the sary glare Growling in rage, Apollo sank his dagger deep inside Acheron&039;s heart and sliced hiony burned through hiutted him on the floor, no ht there, before Artean to fade

Arte as she watched her brother kick Acheron&039;s dead body aside It wasn&039;t until Apollo approached the king on the bed that the king realized Styxx was also lying dead in the doorway

Not that Arte, she slid down the wall to crouch in the corner as her teary gaze reht his death would bring her relief Instead agony over his loss tore through her with a finality that left her bereft of any thought Only raw emotion

It hurt on a level she&039;d never known existed

The king&039;s cry of pain matched the one in her soul as Apollo took Ryssa from his arnity and power, the king crawled on the floor to Styxx and screaainst him

No one ht, she returned to her telass and pottery Her rage roiled through the roo around her

What had she done?

"I let hiht, she&039;d wanted him dead But never had she dreamed just how much he one Forever

"I love you, Acheron," she sobbed, tearing at her hair

It&039;s over No one will ever know about the two of you now You&039;re safe

It seemed so petty a concern compared to the fact that she&039;d live out eternity without ever seeing his face again

Apollyht in her chest lift Without being told, she knew that she now had the ability to leave Kalosis

Leave

"No!" she screanificance of that There was only one way for her to gain her release

Apostolos was dead

Those three words chased themselves around in her head until she was sick fro to believe it, she ran to her pond and summoned the universal eye There in the water, she saw Xia dead on the palace floor and Apostolos