She knelt beside him. "Little brother?"
He turned those eyes on her with a fury she hadn't seen since the morning he'd thrown her out of his brothel. "Leave me," he growled in a tone so ferocious it honestly scared her.
From the corner of her eye, she saw her father's anger. "Don't you dare speak to her that way."
"Fuck you, you bastard."
Styxx growled low in his throat as he rushed Acheron.
Ryssa fell back as Acheron came to his feet and ran at Styxx with the same fury. She covered her mouth as the two of them clashed in the pouring rain. Never once had she seen Acheron strike another living soul. But he fought Styxx with everything he had.
Apollo snatched her back so that they didn't accidentally hit her.
Styxx had been trained to fight from the age of five by the best instructors her father could hire. And he beat Acheron down in the rain. Even so, Acheron fought as hard as he could.
But in the end he was no match for his twin. Styxx kicked him in the ribs. "You're pathetic."
Acheron rolled in the water and pushed himself up. As he went for Styxx again, Styxx knocked him back. The rain ran down his face, mixing with the blood that ran from his eye, nose and mouth. Still he ran at Styxx, over and over again as if he thought his sheer will alone would be enough to defeat his twin brother.
"Guards, take him," her father ordered.
Acheron tried to fight them as they came forward to subdue him, but he was already weakened by Styxx. They hauled him back into his room where her father waited.
Her father buried his hand in Acheron's wet hair and snatched his head back so that Acheron could see the full contempt the king bore his eldest son. "Beat him until there's no skin left on his back. If he passes out, wake him and beat him again."
Acheron laughed coldly. "I love you, too, Father."
Her father backhanded him. "Take him out of here."
"Father?" Apollo asked with an arch stare.
Her father scoffed. "He calls me that, but he's no son of mine. My former queen whored herself and begat that abomination."
Ryssa felt her tears fall at her father's condemnation. "He's human, Father."
They all laughed at her. Unable to stand their ridicule, she followed the guards to offer comfort to Acheron.
By the time she reached the courtyard where they beat him, he was already bloodied. But unlike the other times they'd punished him, he fought against his restraints.
"Hit me again!" he shrieked at the guard. "Harder!"
The unbridled rage in him shocked her completely. He was actually laughing at the guards as if he took pleasure in what they were doing.
Had he gone mad?
What had happened to him?
Acheron taunted them until he passed out from the beating. The guards exchanged a wary look between each other before the taller one reached for a bucket of water to revive him.
Ryssa placed her hand on his arm. "Please don't," she begged.
"Highness . . . your father will be angry if he learns we didn't carry out his orders."
"I won't tell if you don't. Please. He's been through enough."
The guard nodded, then went to cut him down. She saw the pity in both their eyes as they carried Acheron back to his room and, under her direction, placed him face down on his bed. They turned and left her alone with her brother who looked so pathetically vulnerable lying on the bed, bleeding.
Ryssa had no idea where Apollo and her brother and father had gone off to. Honestly, she didn't care. They could all rot for their cruelty.
Her hand shaking in pity for her brother, she brushed the hair back from Acheron's cheek. He was burning with a fever. "Don't worry, Acheron. I'll take care of you."
Well, that was highly entertaining."
Artemis dragged her gaze away from her koris who were swimming in the fountain outside her temple to see her brother beside her. "What is?"
"My pet has an illegitimate brother they hate."
Her heart stilled at the mention of Acheron. "Really?" she said, hoping he didn't detect the catch in her voice.
He nodded before he took a seat next to her. "I've never seen anything quite like it. He was sitting naked in the rain completely quiet, not bothering a soul, and they beat the shit out of him, then had him hauled down for a whipping."
Artemis forced herself not to react to the news in the least little way. "Why?"
"No idea. But I swear the prince heir had a hard-on when he held him down on the ground and beat him."
Artemis looked away as she remembered how many times Apollo had treated her in a similar fashion. Strange that he didn't see his own actions mirrored by the humans. Her poor Acheron. She wanted to go to him, but didn't dare.
Apollo laughed. "I give the human credit though, he fought like a lion against them. Even dared them to hit him harder."
Tears gathered to choke her. Artemis blinked quickly to dispel them. "I'll never understand humans."