That being said, Sheba’s culture was nothing like the Apollymians’. Which made it hard for him at times whenever he paused to dwell on it. He’d married Bethsheba out of anger, and he was paying for it in ways he’d never imagined.
While she was kinder to him than Xanthia had ever been, he still didn’t love her. And he felt every bit as used.
Thia had wanted a protector to keep her safe from the humans and to guarantee her and her children a permanent place in Kalosis. Sheba wanted an attack dog to unleash at her command. One with no will of his own. She expected unquestioning obedience. A loyalty that overrode his conscience.
She’d wanted Urian Deathbringer.
That myth had only lived to avenge his mother. A rabid hellhound who wasn’t as mindless as she’d assumed. What he found out here in the human realm after his temper cooled was that he bore no hatred or grudge whatsoever toward humanity. They were that far beneath him. He was completely ambivalent toward them.
He reserved his hatred solely for the gods who’d cursed his people.
And away from his family and Apollymi, the volcanic heat inside his blood only seemed to arise whenever injustice occurred. Day-to-day, without his brothers around to nettle him for shits and giggles every time they drew near, he was rather mellow.
Frightfully so, in fact.
He’d had no idea just how quiet and introspective he actually was.
Worse than that, he really missed Sarraxyn. More than he’d have ever thought possible. So much so that he no longer even cared that she’d lied to him about her abilities.
Part of him just wanted to see her again—even if it meant apologizing. But he didn’t know how after all this time.
In truth, he barely recognized the stranger who resided inside his skin nowadays. He really had lost himself. And that feeling was rammed home hard when he opened the door to the ornate throne room where Archie and Theo waited.
They turned toward him, then gave him their backs so that they could continue their whispered conversation, because neither of them realized he was the one they’d come to visit. They thought him a stranger.
I haven’t been away that long.
Well, almost a year. But still …
They shouldn’t haven’t forgotten what he looked like. Or failed to recognize their own flesh and blood.
Bitterly amused, Urian glanced around the familiar room. Black marble was veined with gold and dusted so as to awe and impress any who came here, not that it appeared to have any effect on his obtuse brothers.
Sheba was big on intimidation. Hence her two pets she kept chained to her throne. Agitated at the presence of his brothers’ unfamiliar scent, both oversized lions were pacing around and growling at Archie and Theo, straining at their chains as they sought a way to get nearer their intended victims.
He paused to grab them a bit of steak from their larder. “Shh, Nero, Leo … it’s all right.” Urian tossed the raw meat onto the golden platters set on the floor next to Sheba’s throne.
They immediately pounced on the food.
Archie was the first to gape at Urian’s half-naked state. “Damn, Uri. What happened to you?”
Scowling, Theo moved to his side so that he could paw at Urian’s hair, which now flowed just past his shoulders. “What’s this?”
Urian snatched at the tiny braids Sheba had plaited with care that were interwoven throughout his hair with beads. While it was the fashion of his father’s people to keep their hair length just below their ears, Sheba’s tribe wore theirs much longer. Urian’s now fell past his shoulders. “It’s a sign of nobility among their culture. The long silver and gold beads mean that I’m their ruler.”
“And the eye makeup and face paint?” Theo fingered the intricate pattern that Niva painted along the left side of Urian’s face and hairline every morning and from the tip of his nose to just under his chin.
“It’s tradition, moron.” Just like the ruby stud in his left ear that said he was a free man and not owned by his wife—which was a rare thing for her tribe. “And also indicative of our rank in their society.” Urian scratched at his bare shoulder. “So is there a point to your visit? Or were you two bored and thought, what the hades? We’ve got nothing better to do, let’s go annoy Urian?”
Archie rolled his eyes. “And here we were actually missing you.” He glanced over to Theo. “Why again?”
Shrugging, he held his hands up. “I don’t know. Maybe because we had something to show him?”
Now that was a scary thought. “What? Did the two of you finally locate a single brain cell between you and you needed someone to show you how to use it?”
Archie shoved him.
The moment he did, an arrow went whizzing for his heart.
Urian barely caught it before it landed in the center of his brother’s chest. Had he been a breath later, it would have killed his brother instantly.
Eyes wide, Archie went pale. “What the—”
“Halt!” Urian snapped as his wife’s guards moved forward to slaughter his siblings. Smirking, he returned the arrow to Birgit, who’d shot it. “I appreciate your protection, but I’d be most upset if you killed my brother for his stupidity.”
“Forgive me, Majesty.” She cast a warning glare at Archie before withdrawing back to the doorway.
Both of his brothers gaped in shock.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Urian gave them a smug grin. “Not your little brother here.”
“Apparently.” Theo let out a nervous laugh. “Damn, Uri. How are you doing with it all?”
Some days were better than others. But he wasn’t the kind to share those thoughts.
So he cleared his throat. “Why are you here again?”
Recovering their earlier mischievousness, they exchanged a grin. Then, they pulled open their tunics to expose their chests to him. More to the point, the Daimon’s mark that now rested over their hearts.
Urian’s stomach shrank at the sight. For several seconds, he didn’t react. He couldn’t. Honestly, he didn’t know how to respond to their news. While a part of him was glad to know they wouldn’t die horribly from Apollo’s cold stupidity, another part was sick with the thought of how they’d have to live from this night forward.
That their futures could end in a single heartbeat if they didn’t kill on time …
As precarious as life was for an Apollite, it was so much more for a Daimon.
Theo sobered. “Aren’t you happy?”
“More confused than anything.” He scowled at Theo, unable to understand why he’d convert so soon when he didn’t have to. “You still had three years left until you turned twenty-seven.”
“I know, but Archie was afraid.”
That he understood. They were only a few months away from Archimedes’s birthday when he would have to make a choice. But …
Archie rubbed at his neck. “I couldn’t do it, Uri. I tried so hard … I did. Theo had gone with me and I had the human there. Compliant. I had the human’s will mesmerized to my own, just as Solren had taught us. More than willing to surrender his soul to me. The human was a bastard dog with no regard for anyone—he abused everyone around him, I figured he deserved to die so that I’d have less guilt killing him. I mean, the world is better off without his ilk. And he was more than willing to give up his soul. But then he started whimpering and begging pathetically, and I … I couldn’t do it.”
Theo nodded. “So I did it for him. I killed the human and took the soul, then shared it with Archie.”
Urian flinched. “So what does this mean?” He frowned at Archie. “You’re having to live as an Anaimikos?” They were Daimons who fed from other Daimons in order to remain alive—like a baby bird feeding from its mother.
Sheepishly, Archie nodded.
However, that image quickly turned into something much more graphic and horrifying as Urian thought about how Theo would have to “feed” Archie. Surely this wasn’t as sexual as when Apollites fed …
Was it?
His eyes widened.
They immediately protested as they caught on to where his mind had drifted.