“You don’t remember? I used to use that for my own men to motivate them. It got me stabbed once. Apparently, what works for Greeks doesn’t work for Spathi Daimons.”
“Honestly, no, I don’t remember. And it got me stabbed a time or two, too. Besides, I can’t really take credit for it. It was something my mentor used to say to me all the time.”
“And what would he say about this?” Urian held up a bottle of wine.
“Brôma theôn.” Food of the gods.
Urian handed it to him, then dug out the opener and two glasses. “I’m going to hazard a wild guess that you’re a little short on supplies. Would you like me to bring you something?”
“I can make do, but some fresh water would be nice. It doesn’t rain here, and it doesn’t get quite hot enough to make a lot of condensation. It’s been difficult to desalinate the river water, which I can’t figure out why it’s salty …”
Urian scowled at something he hadn’t known about the island. Or Styxx, for that matter. “Why didn’t you stay where your supplies were?”
Styxx dug a fork out of the backpack and sat down to eat. “I haven’t received any.”
Urian was aghast at the last thing he expected to come out of Styxx’s mouth. “What have you been living on?”
Closing his eyes, Styxx savored the unfamiliar taste. He swallowed and wiped his mouth before he answered. “Clams mostly … whenever I can find them. Coconuts. Some greens I found out back.” He took a drink of wine, then sighed in appreciation. “What?”
“Nothing.” Urian grabbed the backpack up. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”
Styxx nodded as he kept eating. “Urian? What’s this called?”
It took Urian a second to realize that Styxx was as innocent about the world as he’d been when he was first made human. Damn, that was pathetic. “Spaghetti.”
“It’s really good. Thank you.”
“Parakaló.”
Urian hated leaving Styxx alone. But once again, he found himself hiding a massive secret from those around him. Weird that this seemed to be some recurrent theme in his life and he didn’t know why. He’d done so much to avoid drama, yet that bitch kept hunting him down just to put stress on him he didn’t want.
So here he was again.
But what else was he to do? He couldn’t let the poor guy starve. Styxx needed help and it wasn’t in him …
Yeah, okay, so maybe it was in him to turn his back on people and not care. Urian was a bastard that way. Yet there was something about Styxx that was so familiar. A kinship he couldn’t deny. Maybe because he looked so much like Acheron and he owed Acheron so much.
Whatever it was, he found himself back in the temple where Styxx sat at the pool with his feet dangling into the water while he stared off into space, at nothing in particular.
“Is this what you do at night?” Urian asked him.
Styxx got up and pulled his jeans down. “There’s nothing else to do, really. Sometimes I go outside and stare at the moon.”
“You must get a lot of sleep.”
“Not really.”
Urian couldn’t imagine living like this. And he’d always thought his life was lonely. “How are you not crazy?”
Styxx snorted. “Who says I’m not?”
Touché. Perhaps they all were. “I couldn’t take three days of this boredom without being stark-raving mad.”
“As far as prisons go, trust me, this isn’t so bad. No one’s sticking hot brands on me or beating me, and I’m not chained to anything or drugged. Best of all, I don’t have to bend myself in half to lie down.”
Urian cringed at what he was describing in a monotone, yet the scars on his body said that he spoke from absolute experience. “When were you a prisoner?”
Styxx laughed bitterly. “Honestly? In the whole of my extremely long life, I’ve only spent roughly a high grand total of fourteen years where I wasn’t imprisoned for one reason or another.”
