Damn it! He’d give anything to find out who she was. But right now, he didn’t dare. Not while he was being called.
His little timid rabbit would have to wait.
Taking care to make sure no one saw what he was doing or where he was headed, he made his way through a hidden back door, into Apollymi’s palace and down the hall that led to her private garden where she spent most of her time by the pool she’d first shown him many years ago when he’d been a small boy seeking daylight. A pool he’d visited many times in secrecy since that fateful dawn.
He slowed as he drew near her position.
As always, she was breathtaking in her beauty. Ethereal and strangely serene in her sadness that tugged at his heart. He’d never seen anyone so graceful.
Her long white-blond hair was dressed in tiny braids that coiled around her face in an intricate style that framed her delicate features. The back of her hair had been left free to fall in waves over her thin, pale shoulders. Her long black gown fanned out across the dark stones, blending with it as if she were part of the landscape. A cold, brittle piece that would mercilessly crush anyone who dared disturb her.
Someone sane would run as far away from this place as they could. But he’d been summoned, and so running seemed more like suicide. Therefore, he stepped forward so that he could kneel before her and bow his head. “Akra.”
She pulled her hand from the black waters and wiped it off in the folds of her gown. “You were incredibly brave today, Urian. A credit to your solren.”
“Thank you, akra. I try.”
“No, Urian. You succeed.” She rose to her feet so that she could approach him. A peculiar air hung around her. One that was unfamiliar to him and left him puzzled as to her mood, which was even more somber than normal.
Cocking her head, she narrowed her gaze. “Should we discuss this?” His shield appeared between them.
Urian’s eyes widened as he realized why she was angry at him.Ah … crap, not this again. Why didn’t I listen to my mother?
“I meant no disrespect, akra.”
Instead of anger, a strange light danced in her pale, swirling eyes. “None taken, but I imagine your solren was quite put out by it.”
That was a mild way of stating his mood. “He said you would be livid.”
She pursed her lips. “I have to say that Styxx of Didymos was no friend of mine. And I find it …oddthat you would admire such a beast, given what he did to Atlantis.”
Urian shrugged. “He was strong and resourceful. Fearless.”
“And he almost marched his army up the steps of Katateros, into the hall of the gods.”
“So it’s true?”
She nodded. “But for an act of treachery on the part of Apollo, Styxx would have defeated Atlantis, and this would have been his home. He would have ruled us all.”
“Is that why you hate him?”
“Nay, child. My reasons run much deeper than that. And are far more personal.” Her grip tightened on the shield until her knuckles turned as white as her hair. But after a moment, she let out a ragged breath. “However, I won’t take your hero from you. A boy should always have someone he looks up to. Someone he aspires to be. And as much as I hated that bastard while he lived in the mortal world, I will grant you that he was fair to his men in war. An undefeated commander in battle. There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that even a mangy dog has noble traits when he’s not scratching his fleas or licking his balls.”
Urian wasn’t sure how to take that last bit. Especially when a moment later she changed his shield so that Styxx’s phoenix merged with her dragon emblem to form a unique chimera of the two.
A Daimon symbol.
With a motherly smile, she held it out toward him. “Here,m’gios.You shall form a Stygian Omada of your own and lead it for me. Your army will eclipse Styxx’s and be remembered long after his is nothing more than a forgotten memory.”
Stunned and amazed, he gaped at her graciousness. “Thank you, akra. I shall do my best to honor you both.”
“I know you will.” There was a longing in her gaze that he didn’t understand. It lingered with a haunting pain.
As he started to leave, she stopped him.
“Answer me another thing, Urian.”
“Akra?”
