Styxx (DH #33) by Sherrilyn Kenyon Read Free Book Online Page A

impossible. If the pain in his skull wasn’t excruciating enough, Acheron had been beaten earlier for the high grand offense of meeting their father’s gaze as they passed in the hallway.
    His back burned in sympathetic pain for his brother’s wounds. He still didn’t know how he’d made it through dinner without crying or screaming from the agony, but now that he was alone, he could writhe and moan in peace.
    Why can’t I just die already?
    Surely death would be better than living like this. How could one head hurt so much and not render the victim dead or brain damaged?
    How?
    Sucking his breath in sharply between his teeth, he heard someone at his door. He froze in panic. It couldn’t be Acheron. They were both in too much pain to leave their beds.
    The door opened to show his father in the dim firelight. This couldn’t be a good thing. His father never disturbed him at night.
    What have I done now?
    That was a stupid thought. He’d done nothing. Rather, what does he believe I’ve done?
    Styxx squeezed his eyes shut, feigning sleep and praying that his father would leave him in peace. Instead, his father sat on the edge of his bed. Styxx held his breath, terrified of what this meant. Why was he here? What could he possibly want with him at this hour?
    I didn’t do anything.…
    He’d been on his best behavior for weeks now. Only Acheron had been acting out lately. Not that he blamed his brother. They were both tired of how they were treated.
    His father sank his fingers into Styxx’s hair. His hand was so large that he was able to cradle the whole of Styxx’s head in his massive palm.
    Styxx’s eyes flew open as he waited for the pain he was sure would follow.
    Yet his father began running his hand through Styxx’s blond curls, toying with them, brushing them back from his face. Maybe he wasn’t angry with him, after all. Hoping for the best, he met his father’s gaze in the firelight, but didn’t dare speak a word. There was rare tenderness in his father’s gaze, mixed with concern.
    “You remind me much of Estes when he was a boy. Things you say and do … It makes me think of our childhood together and how much I miss it. Even this was his room back then.…” His father brushed his thumb over Styxx’s brow and smiled at the memories. Suddenly, the smell of alcohol on the king’s breath hit him hard. His father was terribly drunk.
    Biting his lip, Styxx prayed that his father wouldn’t fly into one of the legendary rages that his mother had whenever she fell too deeply into her cups.
    “He was my only friend. He still is. You’ve no idea what it’s like to have a brother like him. One you can trust who would never do anything to betray you.”
    His father was wrong about that. Acheron was the best friend anyone could ask for. Not even Estes could equal him.
    Leaning closer, his father squinted at him while he held his chin in his hand. He turned Styxx’s head so that he could study his face from different angles. “You look like us … but are you really my son?”
    “Father—”
    “Don’t speak to me!”
    Styxx clamped his jaw shut as another wave of terror washed over him. What would his father do?
    His father pulled the blanket back so that he could rudely inspect every inch of Styxx’s entire body. “You look so human.…”
    Styxx wanted to scream as pain racked him hard whenever his father touched the areas of his small body bruised by Acheron’s beating. But he didn’t dare let his father know he was hurting when there was no obvious reason for it.
    His father rolled him onto his back. Styxx’s jaw quivered as tears filled his eyes. There’d been a good reason why he’d been lying on his stomach. His breathing labored, he watched as his father pulled the knife from his belt.
    Is he going to kill me?
    “But are you human? I have to know.” Before Styxx could move or react, his father seized his forearm in a merciless grip then he violently slashed it open. Unable to hold