Apollymi appeared in the hallway right in front of him. “Would you like to see sunlight?”
He bit his lip in indecision, unsure of what his father would say. He’d told him to go to bed. But he also said that they were to always obey their goddess …
Smiling, she held her hand out toward him. “I promise this one won’t hurt you, and you won’t get into trouble for it. Come, child.”
Too thrilled to say no, he ran to her and took her hand into his. She screwed her face up at the urine on his clothes. “Your brother is disgusting.”
He wouldn’t argue that, since Paris had a habit of wiping things on him that oft caused Urian to beat him.
As soon as her hand closed around his, he was clean and fresh again. “Thank you, akra!”
“You’re very welcome.” She led him through her halls to her dark garden and toward a pool in the back where black roses bloomed all around and scented the air with their crisp sweetness. Urian wasn’t sure how they managed to grow in the darkness, but for some reason, those flowers thrived in the shadows.
Two of Apollymi’s winged Charonte demons stood guard on each side of her magical marbled perch. Their beautiful brightly colored flesh made them appear inviting and kind, but he knew firsthand that those looks were very deceiving, as the Charonte were a vicious warrior race more prone to eating anyone or anything who came near them than striking up a friendly conversation.
Neither made a sound or a move as Urian and the goddess drew near the rippling pool of black water. If he didn’t know how much they loved to eat stray little boys, he’d have thought the demons statues. But Urian was well versed in how much the Charonte lived to dine on wandering Apollites they found in places where the Apollites shouldn’t venture in this domain, as his father had often threatened to feed him to one whenever he or his brothers misbehaved.
Even so, he sucked his breath in sharply at the beauty of them and the goddess’s garden. “What is this place, akra?”
“My special looking glass. ’Tis a mirror where I can gaze out and see the world above and what happens in it.”
“Oooo!” He leaned over and reached with one finger to touch the black water that ran backward up the stone wall instead of down, toward the pool. “How does it do that?”
Wrinkling her nose at him, she winked. “Magick!” she breathed.
He giggled.
With a kind smile, she took a seat on the marble at the side of the pool and motioned for him to join her.
Urian skipped to her side.
Reflected in the midnight ripples of the pool’s water, he saw the deep sadness in her silver eyes as she looked down at him and brushed her hand through his straight hair. Hair that was as white as hers. “Why are you so sad, akra? Is it because I’m not as handsome as Paris?”
She pulled him into her lap. “Don’t be silly, Urian. You’re far more handsome than your brother could ever be.”
“Not what others say.”
“They’re wrong.”
He would argue that, but even he knew better than to argue with a powerful goddess who could kill him with a sneeze. “Then what hurts your heart?”
She brushed her hand across his cheek in a gentle caress that caused the Charonte demons beside them to stir in nervous alarm. “You remind me of a boy I once knew. He was curious like you and forever getting into trouble.”
“Was he named Urian, too?”
“Nay.” She touched him lightly on the nose. “He was named Monakribos. But I called him Kree.”
Those were strange names. “What happened to Kree?”
A tear fell from her cheek where it turned into a bright diamond against her pale skin. Urian marveled at the sight of it. “He fell in love, Urian, and the gods killed him because they are cruel. You must promise me that you’ll never fall in love. For love is a stupid, harmful emotion and it destroys everything it touches.”
“That’s what Baba says, too. He says that love makes people crazy and weak.”
She nodded in agreement. “He’s right. Your father is a very wise man.”
“Then I shall never love.”
“Good boy.” Kissing his head, she leaned down to dip her hand into the black water of the pool so that she could stir it in a circle. “Now close your eyes, Urian, and think about the sun you want to see.”
