Styxx (DH #33) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Author:Sherrilyn Kenyon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2013-09-02T21:00:00+00:00

January 12, 9527 BC

Coughing and weak, Styxx came awake to bright sunlight pouring through a white marbled room. At first he had no idea where he was, until he remembered the goddess who’d freed him from his cell. He pushed himself up from the ornately carved and gilded bed with bloodred curtains.

“Careful.”

His head spun as the blond goddess helped him to sit. “Why am I so dizzy?” He glared at her. “Did you drug me?”

“No, I swear it. You have a fever.”

That explained why he was so chilled and hot.

She wrapped a formesta around him and drew it tight to his neck. “Let’s get you bathed and dressed, and then I’ll take you home.”

Pain slammed into him at the thought of returning to the arena. But he held it in. Whatever fun she’d wanted from him she must have had. And in spite of what she said, he was sure she’d drugged and used him. They all did.

Except for when he fought. For that and what came after, he was always sober. Because it would be too kind for them to let him forget that.

Weary and disgusted, he followed her back to the pool and quickly bathed. There was no need to stay here any longer than necessary. At this point, kindness was the cruelest torture of all, because it made him feel human. Made him long for things the gods refused him.

Warmth. Friendship. Happiness.

Dignity.

She put a gray chiton on him then took his hand. Dreading his return to Tartarus, Styxx ground his teeth as they left her temple and materialized in a barracks area. An instant later, recognition hit him.

This was Didymos?

“Highness?”

Styxx couldn’t breathe at the sound of that familiar gruff voice. “Galen?” His knees buckled.

The goddess kept him from falling.

Galen took his other arm and slung it over his massive shoulders. “What did they do to you, boy?”

Words failed him as his emotions surged and Styxx realized that he really was home again. It wasn’t a dream or hallucination. It was real. He held on to Galen and wept in utter relief and gratitude.

Galen walked him to his quarters and helped Styxx into bed. He pulled covers over him. “I’ll get the physician.”

“You can’t.”

Galen turned to scowl at the goddess. “He’s extremely ill.”

“I know. But they think that he’s been here the whole time. How are you going to explain all the marks on his body that tell a different story?”

Galen clenched his teeth as he saw the old and new cuts and bruises. “What did they do to him?” he repeated.

Bethany wanted to cry as she remembered the way she’d found Styxx in his cell. “You don’t want me to answer that question and I know Styxx doesn’t. Suffice it to say, he’s been in the hands of people who hate him for a long time.”

Styxx ignored them both as his breaths came in labored gasps while he stared at the whitewashed wall with disbelief.

“Thank you for bringing him back.”

She inclined her head to Galen. “Please remind

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