He paused to grab them a bit of steak from their larder. “Shh, Nero, Leo … it’s all right.” Urian tossed the raw meat onto the golden platters set on the floor next to Sheba’s throne.
They immediately pounced on the food.
Archie was the first to gape at Urian’s half-naked state. “Damn, Uri. What happened to you?”
Scowling, Theo moved to his side so that he could paw at Urian’s hair, which now flowed just past his shoulders. “What’s this?”
Urian snatched at the tiny braids Sheba had plaited with care that were interwoven throughout his hair with beads. While it was the fashion of his father’s people to keep their hair length just below their ears, Sheba’s tribe wore theirs much longer. Urian’s now fell past his shoulders. “It’s a sign of nobility among their culture. The long silver and gold beads mean that I’m their ruler.”
“And the eye makeup and face paint?” Theo fingered the intricate pattern that Niva painted along the left side of Urian’s face and hairline every morning and from the tip of his nose to just under his chin.
“It’s tradition, moron.” Just like the ruby stud in his left ear that said he was a free man and not owned by his wife—which was a rare thing for her tribe. “And also indicative of our rank in their society.” Urian scratched at his bare shoulder. “So is there a point to your visit? Or were you two bored and thought, what the hades? We’ve got nothing better to do, let’s go annoy Urian?”
Archie rolled his eyes. “And here we were actually missing you.” He glanced over to Theo. “Why again?”
Shrugging, he held his hands up. “I don’t know. Maybe because we had something to show him?”
Now that was a scary thought. “What? Did the two of you finally locate a single brain cell between you and you needed someone to show you how to use it?”
Archie shoved him.
The moment he did, an arrow went whizzing for his heart.
Urian barely caught it before it landed in the center of his brother’s chest. Had he been a breath later, it would have killed his brother instantly.
Eyes wide, Archie went pale. “What the—”
“Halt!” Urian snapped as his wife’s guards moved forward to slaughter his siblings. Smirking, he returned the arrow to Birgit, who’d shot it. “I appreciate your protection, but I’d be most upset if you killed my brother for his stupidity.”
“Forgive me, Majesty.” She cast a warning glare at Archie before withdrawing back to the doorway.
Both of his brothers gaped in shock.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Urian gave them a smug grin. “Not your little brotherhere.”
“Apparently.” Theo let out a nervous laugh. “Damn, Uri. How are you doing with it all?”
Some days were better than others. But he wasn’t the kind to share those thoughts.
So he cleared his throat. “Why are you here again?”
Recovering their earlier mischievousness, they exchanged a grin. Then, they pulled open their tunics to expose their chests to him. More to the point, the Daimon’s mark that now rested over their hearts.
Urian’s stomach shrank at the sight. For several seconds, he didn’t react. He couldn’t. Honestly, he didn’t know how to respond to their news. While a part of him was glad to know they wouldn’t die horribly from Apollo’s cold stupidity, another part was sick with the thought of how they’d have to live from this night forward.
That their futures could end in a single heartbeat if they didn’t kill on time …
As precarious as life was for an Apollite, it was so much more for a Daimon.
Theo sobered. “Aren’t you happy?”
“More confused than anything.” He scowled at Theo, unable to understand why he’d convert so soon when he didn’t have to. “You still had three years left until you turned twenty-seven.”
“I know, but Archie was afraid.”
That he understood. They were only a few months away from Archimedes’s birthday when he would have to make a choice. But …
Archie rubbed at his neck. “I couldn’t do it, Uri. I tried so hard … I did. Theo had gone with me and I had the human there. Compliant. I had the human’s will mesmerized to my own, just as Solren had taught us. More than willing to surrender his soul to me. The human was a bastard dog with no regard for anyone—he abused everyone around him, I figured he deserved to die so that I’d have less guilt killing him. I mean, the world is better off without his ilk. And he was more than willing to give up his soul. But then he started whimpering and begging pathetically, and I … I couldn’t do it.”
