He scoffed at that empty threat. “And I’m suicidal, boss. Fear factor really doesn’t play in with a man who doesn’t give a shit about life. But … you know your brother, you say? Fine, expert, then answer me one basic, easy question about him.”
Urian paused for effect. “What was the name of his wife? You know, the one you didn’t even know he had? He had a five-year committed relationship with her before he died, while you lived in the same house with him and gained all your expertise where he was concerned … and you know him so well. She’s the only woman he has ever loved. Not knowing her name is like claiming to know me and not knowing Phoebe’s. For that matter, it’s not like he didn’t carve her name and that of his son into his arm eleven thousand five hundred and thirty-six years ago. Swear to the gods, you cannot miss seeing her name. So if you know him at all, you have to know her name.”
Ash’s eyes turned vibrant red. “He tried to kill me,” he growled.
“Yeah, I know, because I do talk to him. About a decade ago in New Orleans. Surrounded by Dark-Hunters, you were wide awake and an Atlantean god with all his powers available to him when Styxx attacked you out of desperation to escape the eternal hell he was damned to. Not quite the same as being a human boy in bed, sound asleep when someone plunges a dagger through your heart and leaves you in a pool of your own blood to die alone. That was you who did that to him, right?”
“He was trying to kill his own father. Did he tell you that? Plotting a conspiracy against him and blaming me for it.”
“Was he? ’Cause you know, people never lie about shit like that. Ever.”
Ash stiffened. “Yes, they do lie, Urian. So why are you believing Styxx when I know what a liar he is?”
Glaring his rage, Urian set his beer aside. “How do you know? You still haven’t answered the easiest question on the planet about him … if you know nothing else about your brother, you should know his wife’s name.”
Acheron glanced away.
Urian shook his head. When he spoke, his tone was low and chiding. “All those powers you hold and you can’t answer it. It was Bethany, just so you know. They were going to name their son Galen, after his mentor who died in his arms when he was a kid. A mentor who gave his life to save Styxx’s when someone other than you tried to assassinate him while he was buying his wife’s wedding ring. Now let me tell you about the man I know…”
Ash ground his teeth. “I don’t want to hear it. And for your information, I’m not the only one who hated him. You have no idea how many people wanted him dead in his human lifetime.” His eyes glowed with fury. “Did Styxx ever tell you that he had no friends … because no one could stand the arrogant bastard?”
Urian was aghast. “Arrogant? My God, Ash, you are blind. Have you ever, ever once spoken to him?”
“I’m out of here,” Ash growled.
Urian stepped forward to pin him with a merciless glare. “You leave, and I’ll have Tory hold you down to hear what I have to say. Things you need to know.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me … Because tonight when you lie down in your bed and your wife snuggles up to you and you smile with happiness, I want you to take a minute and imagine in the morning when you wake up in that same bed and reach for her warmth, it’s gone. Forever. That you’ll never know another minute of having her limbs tangled with yours. Never wake up and feel her body pressed against you. Then imagine going into Bas’s room and finding it empty, too. All the plans you had for him, gone forever. Then I want you to take a minute and imagine the kind of love and decency it took for Styxx to go with me into Kalosis and embrace the woman who murdered them. For you, Acheron. The brother who hates his guts.”
Urian paused to let those words sink in. “Now I admit I’m not as big a man as you are, Ash. But I can tell you right now, I wouldn’t piss on my father to save the world, never mind hug him to keep my brother from sharing the pain I have every time I think of Phoebe … which is every other heartbeat. I’m a vindictive son of a bitch. Because after the fit you pitched where you blasted him through the wall just moments before we went down to Kalosis, I would have gutted your mother for what she took from me. And here’s another thing you don’t know. She whispered something to him before he hugged her, and it was fucking cold and brutal.”
Snorting, Urian shook his head. “And then, after he went down there to save your wife. To keep you from spending the rest of eternity in hell, he took a blade for you from my father. I was there, Acheron. I saw it. No lies. Truth. Yeah, you healed him, and then you turned around and put the man who had just saved your life, and your wife’s, completely out of your mind. You turned your fucking back on him. I was the one who took him home that night and you never once asked about him again until today.”
Urian sarcastically bit his lip. “Oh and by the way, you forgot to pull the poison out of him when you healed his wound. For two months he lay in a coma, burning with fever and delirium, and I had to get Savitar to come in and help him because when I asked you, you told me he was doing it for attention. So while I love you like a brother, I consider Styxx my family, too, and unlike you, Styxx has no one else in this world. Poor bastard got stuck with me alone. Can you imagine that nightmare?”
Drawing a ragged breath, Urian curled his lip in disgust. “He left that apartment a couple of days after Savitar brought him out of his coma, over three years ago. He saved your life and Tory’s, and it took you three and a half years to realize he’d left.” He applauded sarcastically. “Good job, brother. Good job.”
Ash wanted to hold on to his hatred for Styxx. He needed it. But right now …
“And you know what I’ve always found fascinating, Ash? You never once asked me how I met your brother.”
Ash looked away as shame filled him.
“It was in Katateros, just so you know. I went out for a walk on the beach and heard something in the temple down the hill from yours. I found him inside, alone in the dark, with scraps to eat, and when I asked him if there was anything I could bring him, do you know what your arrogant bastard brother asked me for?”
Ash shook his head.
“Fresh water. That’s all Mr. Selfish wanted. He was having a hard time desalinating the river seawater to drink. Now I know you don’t like to eat, but the next time you’re home, I want you to take Tory and walk around your island and have her point out the edible foods she finds there, because there aren’t many.”
“I assumed one of you was taking food to him.”
“You’ve assumed a lot of things about him that aren’t true. Such as telling me that he was in the Elysian Fields for eleven thousand years. He wasn’t. Artemis put him on a Vanishing Isle completely alone. No one to talk to, and again with no supplies whatsoever. Not even a hammer.”
“That’s not what she told me.”
“Because Auntie Artemis never lies. Ever. About anything … such as having an eleven-thousand-year relationship with you that resulted in the birth of a daughter my age she never told you about until a handful of years ago. Artemis is the fountain of absolute truth, especially where you’re concerned. Her kind, benevolent care for all those centuries was why Styxx didn’t complain when you dropped him in Katateros. It was how he knew how to survive there with nothing. But the real question is why did he leave?”
“I assumed he got bored.”
“There you go again with the assumptions.” Urian dropped his gaze down to the tattoo on Ash’s body where his Charonte daughter slept. “Our precious little Simi demon attacked him unprovoked and … well, she did kill him. But he didn’t stay dead, obviously. Now before you call him a liar for that, too, I want you to know he never told me that story. Ever. I overheard it from Simi when she was bragging to her sister about ripping apart the bad copy of you who tried to hurt her akri. In fact, Styxx never says a word against you. Ever.”