Styxx (DH #33) by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page A

again.
    Styxx caught her wrist and held it with his injured arm. The tip of the knife hovered directly over his heart which was what she’d have stabbed had he not stopped the blow. “ Matisera ?”
    “I’m not your mother, you whoreson!” She snatched her hand out of his weakened grip. Then, cradling the knife in both of her hands, she fell against him, using her full body weight to bury the knife deep in his chest.
    Styxx sank to the floor as his guards finally rushed into the room to seize her. Stunned and in shock, he stared up at the ceiling in horror of what had happened.
    His mother had stabbed him.
    Repeatedly.
    The knife was still buried in his flesh … all the way to the hilt. Biting his lip, he reached for it and jerked it out. Warm blood soaked his clothes as he waited to finally die. A sharp buzzing in his ears drowned out the sound of all the voices in his head, filling him with an unexpected sense of peace.
    “Styxx?”
    He heard his uncle’s voice from far away. But he had no desire to go back to the hell he lived in. Instead, he closed his eyes and waited for Hermes to take him to Charon so that the ancient god could ferry him to his final resting place.

 
    June 21, 9535 BC
    Styxx rubbed at his brow as boredom threatened to kill him while his father conferred with the musicians over what would be played during his sister’s coming-of-age banquet later tonight.
    In spite of what Ryssa thought, she was by far their father’s favorite. Even though his birthday was in two days, all preparations for his had been postponed in favor of hers. His father had even taken him aside three months ago to tell him as much.
    You understand, boy. She reaches her full majority and it’s not that important for you this year.
    Truthfully, he didn’t want any kind of celebration, ever again. Birthdays had never boded well for him, anyway. Neither his nor anyone else’s.
    At best all they did was remind him that he shared his birthday with a brother he was forbidden to see. And it wasn’t like he had any friends to invite. Only users trying to curry favor with his father or with him.
    Even if he had the delusion that someone might actually like him as a person, his ability to hear other people’s thoughts quickly squelched that idiocy.
    Princes had no friends.
    Although, here lately, he had plenty of girls, and even full-grown women, from all social classes, who made numerous advances toward him. But they didn’t care about him either. Rather they wanted to hold the bragging rights of being his first lover. Or better yet, become the mother to one of his bastard children so that he’d have to support them for their rest of their lives. He could barely move without one of them cornering him and stripping off her clothes or trying to fondle him, and while most men would welcome it, the fact that he heard their thoughts made him steer clear of their heartless traps. It was a total lust-kill when you knew beyond a doubt that the woman couldn’t stand you, and that she’d be talking about you as soon as it was over, and not in a favorable way.
    He’d rather die virgin than suffer any more ridicule for his ineptitude.
    “Father!”
    Styxx cringed at Ryssa’s angry shriek as she ran into the room, holding one of her elaborate himations in her arms. Whatever it is that ails her, please don’t let it be directed at me . Ryssa blamed him for everything—including his mother’s brutal attack on him last year.
    She wouldn’t have stabbed you had you not deserved it! My mother is a gentle woman who wouldn’t harm a soul. I know you, Styxx. You had to have said something awful to her to provoke it! She would never have attacked you otherwise. Admit it, you threatened or insulted her, didn’t you?
    Zeus help him, but if it rained tonight during her banquet, somehow that, too, would be his fault.
    His father stepped away from the musicians to greet her.
    “Look!” She shoved the garment at him. “They’ve crushed