Or controlled like Artemis did.
Simi looked at him and smiled, and all the pain of his past was gone.
His heart warming, Acheron moved to the bed so that he could stroke her soft cheek. “She is perfect, isn’t she?”
Alexion chuckled. “Our daughters always are. She is funny and remarkably sweet. Thank you for sharing her with me.”
Acheron stepped away and nodded. “I really am sorry about what happened to you. I wish I could make it better.”
“You have. This makes the horror bearable.”
Nice way of putting it. “Simi has a way of doing that.”
“Peoples … stop talking. The Simi sleepy! Go to your rooms or bring eats.”
Acheron smiled. “Sorry, Simkey. Have a good sleep.” Leaning over, he kissed her forehead and left.
Alexion followed him out of the room, then headed toward his section of the temple.
Acheron wanted to say something, but he’d never really had a friend, and he was still uncomfortable around others. Too many years of being beaten and tortured. People had never been kind to him and as such it left him antisocial.
Even though he was currently a god, he continued to avoid others for fear of being harmed. While no one could physically hurt him anymore, his feelings were another matter entirely. Those were far more fragile than he wanted anyone to know, or even admit to himself.
And it was why he was determined to make sure no one hurt Simi’s. Or harmed her in any way. No one had ever been there to protect him.
But he would always protect her. No one would ever make her feel as low and base as others had made him feel. She was not insignificant, and he would kill anyone who made her cry.
You know that’s irrational.
He did, but it didn’t matter. After all, he was his mother’s son. Apollymi had destroyed the world as he’d known it over what had happened to him. While he appreciated the thought, it didn’t change the fact that she hadn’t been there when he’d needed her most.
When he needed anyone to reach out and tell him he wasn’t worthless. Or alone.
Simi would never have those feelings. She would always have him here to defend her. Here to tell her how wonderful she was.
And now she had Alexion, too. Together, they formed a weird family. But family, nonetheless.
A god, a ghost and a demon.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
11
5656 BC
“There’s a new Malachai.”
Thorn looked up from his desk to where Shadow stood across the room from him. “Don’t you knock?”
“Not when it’s something this important.”
Fair enough.
Thorn sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Have you seen him?”
Shadow nodded. “Adarian Malachai. He slaughtered his father more brutally than any Malachai before him.”
Given the atrocities Thorn had seen from a Malachai, that was quite a feat. “Dagon?” he asked, wanting to know where his half-brother stood on this matter.
