Page 5

5

July 10, 8649 BC

S imi sat at a corner table in a market, waiting for more beef to come while akri was off, speaking to a friend. It felt like it’d been forever since the waiting lady had tolds her she’d be back, and her stomach was rumbling something fierce.

She was just about to go tell akri she wanted to find more food, or eat a human, when she saw a warrior entering the marketplace near her.

At first glance, he looked like a young, handsome teenager. But he wasn’t what he seemed.

No …

He was a demon god, yet not one like her. No, he was something else entirely, and she had no idea what. And he made all the human people around them quake in terror at his lethal approach. They seemed to know him.

She could tell he liked their fear. Something in his soul ate it up the same way she guzzled sweet cakes.

Until he neared her.

“Rawr!” he sneered at her, trying to put a scare in the Simi’s heart.

She laughed. Like he was really scary? The demon-boy had no idea of the scary things she’d seen.

Or the scarier ones she’d eaten.

And her humor didn’t please the warrior at all. “You dare laugh at me?”

She cocked her head at his words as she tried to understand his anger over something so silly. “Well, what were you trying to do?”

“Scare you, little girl.”

The Simi was not a little girl. Even though she was thousands of years old, Simi knew she appeared to others around the age of six or seven. It was a Charonte thing. Since they lived for so long, they aged very, very slowly.

The thought of him thinking she was a little girl made her snicker again.

And that, too, made his hazel blue-green eyes flare with fury. He took a step toward her only to have akri appear between them. The tip of akri’s staff glowed so that his sun symbol was apparent to all.

The warrior drew up short. Respect replaced the meanness in his eyes as he recognized her akri. “Acheron.”

“Prince Leucious,” akri said in the same sharp tone the warrior had used.

Leucious’s gaze went past akri’s shoulder to where Simi continued to sit. “She’s with you?”

“Always and is very dear to me.”

That took all the anger from his eyes. “Then forgive me. I can see why she laughed at my inept stupidity at trying to intimidate her when she’s used to you.”

Simi stood up then and moved closer to the demon warrior. “Why you want to scare a little girl?”

Akri answered for him. “He can’t help it, Simi. His people are known for their cruelty.”

Another warrior walked up behind Leucious. “I believe Acheron just accused you of having no home training, my prince.”

Simi didn’t like the newcomer. His armor was made from the skeletons of humans, and it smelled as awful as the creature’s body odor.

Akri smirked at him. “Don’t try and cause a fight between us, Mot. Your lord knows better.”

Leucious inclined his head to akri before he turned a fierce, angry sneer to the smelly one and shoved him away. “Learn your place, Grim. You’re a fallen god. I know you’re not my equal in battle, even though we’re allies.” With those words spoken, he headed off to scare the serving lady who was bringing Simi her food.

Unlike Simi, the serving lady actually screamed.

Mot continued to glare at akri. “I rode with your brother, long ago.”

“And you betrayed Monakribos. You’re lucky my mother didn’t destroy you for everything you’ve done.”

“She’s too afraid of my parents to even try.”

Akri laughed at that. “You keep telling yourself that lie. One day, you might come to believe it. Now trot along after your master. Your stench turns my stomach.”

There was raw fury in Mot’s eyes, but he was smart enough to do as akri commanded.

Simi didn’t move until he drifted off, after Leucious. “Who was that, akri?”

He took her hand and led her back to the table where the lady had placed her platters of beef. “My cousin, Mot.”

Her eyes widened at that. “Cousin?”

Akri nodded. “His mother is Cam and his father the god, Set.”

Stunned by the knowledge, she stared up at him. Set and Cam were the brother and sissy of his mother, akra-Apollymi. “Why don’t he smell like a god, then?”

“He no longer has the powers he used to. He turned against his parents and sided with Noir and Azura in the First War of the gods. Now, he’s left to serve as a lapdog to Noir’s bastard child.”

“Leucious?”

Akri nodded as he cut her meat for her. “Unfortunately, Leucious doesn’t know all that yet.”

His words confuzzled her. “How he not know who his daddy is?”

Akri took her hand and placed it on his cheek. The moment he did, she saw akri-Jaden in the horrible realm where she was forbidden to go. The sad god with mismatched eyes stood before Noir’s bony throne where the dark god gave him a sneer. Not because Noir was angry at Jaden. Rather, the meany god always looked like that.

“Paimon will be my surrogate to carry my seed, and when my son is born, he will rule the human realm and find a way to free me. Make the deal with the human woman for his birth.”

Akri-Jaden bowed and left to do as he’d been bidden.

Simi gasped as she pulled her hand away and saw akri’s grim frown. “Why does evil Noir think Leucious will free him?”

“Because of how vicious Leucious’s adoptive father is. He’s given that same cruelty to Prince Leucious.”

She suspected there was more to it than that. “What do you see, akri?”

“I see Leucious turning against Noir and beyond that … I don’t know.”

Simi chewed at her beef as she considered his words. “How can you not know?”

Akri poured himself a goblet of wine. “You know my limitations, Simkey. I don’t know if Leucious will become my friend, or if he’ll somehow impact my future. Or maybe it’s because once he realizes Noir is his father, he becomes a full god, and I lose the ability to see anything about him. Take your pick.”

Perhaps. Any of those would make it so that akri wouldn’t see anything. It was unusual and interesting. Simi continued to think about it while eating.

All of a sudden, Leucious appeared beside their table again.

Akri scowled at him. “Is something wrong, Your Highness?”

Leucious scratched at the neck of his leather armor. “I …” his voice trailed off. He seemed to go between anger and some emotion Simi couldn’t name.

Finally, he put a small rag doll down on the table beside her. “Never let anyone scare you, girl. Not because of Acheron. Because you are unique.” And then he rushed off even faster than the first time.

With a frown, akri picked up her doll to look at it curiously. “I think you made a new friend, Simi.” He held the doll out to her.

Simi took it, then put the doll’s hand in her mouth to taste it.

“No!” Akri pulled the doll away. “It’s not food, sweetie.”

“Then what do you do with it?”

He smiled gently at her. “You play with dolls.”

“Play? The Simi doesn’t understand.”

He returned the doll to the table. “I guess Charonte don’t have human dolls, do they? Human girls pretend the dolls are their babies and they practice being mothers with them.”

That didn’t make sense. “Why?”

“The same reason little boys play with soldiers. So that we can pretend to be grown up for a little while.”

Simi was trying hard to understand. But it seemed silly to her. “But why?”

He shrugged. “It’s what kids do. It comforts them.”

“Human children are very strange, akri. Why won’t you let me eat them?”

Laughing, he shook his head. “Eating humans is wrong.”

“Not what my matera said … or yours.”

“It’s what your akri says.”

Simi let out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. Not kiddy eats. Or grown-up eats.” She chewed on another piece of meat. “Moo-moos are good, though.”

She paused as she caught another whiff of Mot. Turning her head, she tried to find him in the small human crowd, but there was no sight of him anywhere.

Even so, a chill went up her spine. Mot didn’t like akri. He wanted to hurt him. She knew that with every part of her being. And the best way to hurt her akri was to hurt his Simi.

I better watch for the evil.

Mot wouldn’t be happy until he made akri cry.

Leucious was furious as he made his way back to their horses. He still didn’t know why he’d bothered to try and apologize to a little girl, even if she was Acheron’s.

His father would beat him for such rancid stupidity.

For such weakness.

He was seven-and-ten. A man. No, a ruthless warrior who’d proven himself in battle. Even his father, King Tesiah of the Brakadians was proud of him and that was no easy feat.

Tesiah was a brutal warlord who had murdered all four of Leucious’s older sisters for no other reason than they’d been born daughters.

And I’ll kill you too, brat, if you disappoint me.

That was no idle threat. Just a promise made by a man who looked for any reason to beat his son.

If his father ever learned he’d purchased a doll for a little girl, there was no telling how badly he’d be punished for it. Knowing Tesiah, he’d probably make him eat the doll.

Why did I do such a thing? One moment he’d been walking past the female merchant selling them and the next …

He bought one because he’d wanted to see Simi smile.

It’d been stupid really, but Leucious couldn’t help it. Simi had been absolutely adorable in her reaction when he’d growled at her. Utterly unexpected. And her laughter had been infectious and heart-warming.

At least, he’d realized all that after his initial anger had faded.

As he neared his black warhorse, his servant bowed low enough that he almost touched Leucious’s boots. He barely gave it a thought as he swung himself up into the saddle. The moment he did, his men came rushing from all areas of the town so that they could ride with him. Not out of loyalty but rather fear of what his father would do to them should they lag behind.

Maybe he should be as cruel. It was what his father preached relentlessly. Some days, he was tempted. But unlike his father, he didn’t really enjoy hurting others. Rather, he saw it as an unfortunate necessity that came with war and power.

Because sadly, there were those who only responded to threats. Or violence.

As typical, Grim pulled up the rear of their army with the swagger of someone who begrudged Leucious the summoning. Leucious was well aware of how much the former death god hated him even though they were allies. It literally bled from every pore of Grim’s body. At any moment, he expected the former god to try and slide a blade through his back.

Honestly, he had no idea why Grim traveled with them. Grim was one of the generals who had served the original Malachai—a demon so fierce and angry that the Malachai was feared by all of its kind and most of the gods. Which made sense as the Malachai was descended from Apollymi—the first goddess of death and destruction.

Leucious had only gone up against the current Malachai as a child, when he was serving in his father’s army. Thankfully, he’d been too young to fight the demon who had laid waste to ninety percent of his father’s troops. Even his father had barely survived and had lost an eye for his effort.

It was that battle that had caused Grim to defect to their side. He’d saved Tesiah’s life, and Leucious’s father had granted him amnesty for it. Not that anyone really trusted Grim.

How could they?

Once a traitor, always a traitor . Only a fool would forget that, and Leucious was never foolish.

“Where are we riding to, my lord?” Grim asked.

Leucious glanced at him over his shoulder. “Ledea. My father is already there with a contingency of men. We’re to combine forces and take on the Ikkidians.” Provided their king didn’t surrender as soon as he learned of their approach. It was what anyone with a brain would do.

But there were still enough brain-dead kings who wanted to fight. Who thought they could win against Tesiah. And they might have stood a chance had Leucious not been born. For whatever reason, he’d yet to fail in battle. Seldom had he been wounded and even then, only a minor scratch or bruise. For whatever reason, Leucious appeared invincible. So much so that even their own troops were beginning to fear him.

They believed him to be a demigod or demon. But no one said that out loud. To disparage Leucious’s mother was a crime he punished personally and violently.

Still, he heard their fearful whispers.

Evil bastard. He reveled in the title as much as his father did. Better to be feared than respected.

And he was feared.

Except for an adorable little girl with black pigtails who’d laughed in his face.

Even now, the thought of Simi made him smile … something his father would punish with a backhand. Men didn’t smile. It was a woman’s trait.

And yet he kept seeing Acheron’s daughter and her impish, adorable courage. Which made sense given the unholy power of her father. No one was quite sure who or what Acheron was. Tesiah called him a necromancer who’d come to their court when Leucious was a young boy. He still remembered the first time he’d met the giant Acheron who’d towered over everyone, even their tallest warriors.

And those swirling silver eyes …

They said he was of an unnatural origin.

Which made him curious.

Leucious slowed his horse’s pace so that he rode beside Grim. “What do you know of Acheron?”

Grim narrowed his gaze on him as if he were trying to understand Leucious’s sudden curiosity. “He’s the son of gods.”

That made sense. “Which ones?”

“Apollymi and Archon.”

Apollymi … she was Braith after Braith had forsaken her siblings and gone to live among the Atlantean gods after the Primus Bellum. Archon was the king of the Atlanteans. At least until Apollymi had destroyed him.

And if that was true … “He’s half-brother to the Malachai?”

“To the original one, yes. The latest … he is an uncle many times removed.”

“So, he’s cousin to you, then?”

Grim nodded.

Well, that explained Acheron’s innate hatred of Grim. Nothing like family to stoke the flames of hatred. And who could blame him? Grim was the reason all the Malachai had been cursed to be conceived in violence to do violence, and to die violently.

But that left him wondering about Acheron’s innate secrecy over being a god. Everyone Leucious knew would revel in that fact and exploit it. Not hide it. “Why doesn’t Acheron tell people who he is?”

Grim let out an evil laugh. “Acheron was cursed by the gods when he was born. The Atlantean pantheon did their best to kill him.”

That was an interesting tidbit to know. “Obviously, they failed.”

“No, they didn’t. He was killed by a Greek god and brought back against his will.”

Leucious gaped, then quickly caught himself. Rule number five of his father’s lengthy dictates, never let anyone know they surprised him. Always appear calm and decisive.

Brutal, in all things.

“I assume his mother brought him back?” After all, Apollymi would make sense.

Grim shook his head. “She’s a goddess of destruction. Those powers aren’t hers.”

Good to know. “Then who did it?”

“Acheron.”

Now Leucious was completely confused. “Acheron brought himself back?” That was unheard of. “He’s that powerful?”

Mot nodded. “Beware his powers. He’s not just a god. He’s something more.”

“And that is?”

“A god-killer.”

Leucious snorted in denial of something that was impossible. “You can’t be both.”

“You sure? Because he is.”

Again, it was impossible. Forbidden by the oldest and highest powers. God-killers had been created to make sure no god abused his or her power. Whenever they did, a god-killer could end their lives and absorb their powers to ensure the stability of the universe. A god with those powers …

It would be disastrous.

“How can he be both?”

Mot’s grimace turned intense and warning. “That is the question, isn’t it?”

Yes, it was. “And the answer is?”

“No one knows. Not even Acheron. He’s a strange anomaly.” And with that, Mot turned his horse away.

Leucious didn’t bother to call him back. He was too busy digesting those words.

Acheron was a Chthonian god-killer. Those were a small handful of creatures who’d been born randomly from anyone, other than the gods, so that they could destroy gods who abused their powers and preyed on humans.

Or others.

Because of that, no god was allowed to be both. So how could Acheron?

Did it even really matter?

Acheron wasn’t his target. His father had always been clear on the matter … Prey on humans and ignore those with more power lest they decide to prey on them.

Leucious wasn’t the bully his father was. There was no honor defeating those who were weaker. He preferred to fight those who were his equal or better. It was how he stayed honed and ready.

Because the one thing he knew to be true.

Everything changed. And the things that changed someone the most were those that they never saw coming.