No hope.
Urian was her sole comfort. Her light in this abysmal darkness. The irony of that, given his name, wasn’t lost on her. And it was only part of why he meant as much to her as he did.
“Are you crying?”
She blinked the moisture away, not wanting him to see her weakness. Of course not. The stench of you is what makes my eyes water.
Urian laughed. He never took offense at her teasing because he knew she didn’t mean it. She could never really insult him. “I don’t believe you.”
You should. When was the last time you bathed, anyway?
Tsking, he shook his head at her as he feigned insult. “Fine then, I shall eat this alone.”
You don’t eat.
“Oh yeah. I forgot.”
Flopping down by his side while taking care not to harm him with her dragon’s body, she nosed at the food, which actually was very tasty. Thank you, Uri.
Urian smiled at his irritable dragon. He didn’t know why he found her cantankerous nature so amusing when such demeanor from his brothers drove him to outright violence.
Yet he adored her.
Everything about her, even her insults.
And he loved doing things for her whenever he could. Large or small, it made no never-mind to him.
Happy that he’d pleased her, he climbed onto her back and lay against her spine, between her wings so that he could scratch between them where she couldn’t reach.
She let out a contented sigh and spread her black wings wide on the dark grass. Her sides began to vibrate in a soothing way that was a dragon’s equivalent to a purr. The first time he’d discovered it, she’d almost rolled over and killed him.
Now, they’d found a happy compromise that allowed him to scratch her back and her to lie peacefully without causing him injury.
The tips of her wings fluttered in time to her purr.
Urian stretched out along her spine. “So what did you do all week?”
She scoffed. Ate. Bathed. Slept. Circled the garden. Slept a bit more. Thought about setting fire to Apollymi … you know, the ushe. What about you?
“Fought with my brothers. Fought with my sister. Was punished by my father for fighting with my siblings. Trained to fight. Was lectured on why fighting was bad, which confuses the hades out of me. Got snubbed a few dozen times by everyone around me. You know, the ushe.”
Sorry.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind. Kind of used to it.”
I hear the lie in your tone.
Yeah, and he felt the lie in his knotted gut. How he wished it didn’t bother him. “And here I thought I was being subtle.”
She turned her head so that she could look at him on her back. So what do you want, my Uri?
He sighed wistfully. “I don’t know. When I was little, I wanted to see the sun. To walk out into daylight. Now … I want to rip out Apollo’s throat.”
Don’t you want a family?
Urian shook his head. “I have all the family I need. Most days more than I want.”
She laughed. But what about love? A woman of your own?
That was beyond him. No female would ever feed him. He’d given up all hopes of that useless dream and reconciled himself to his cold meals. Which disturbed him most of all. As Theo and Archie kept pointing out, he was destined to die an unwanted virgin. “I don’t believe in love. At least not what the poets peddle.”
You’re young.
Perhaps. But there was no way to miss the disdain and suspicion that hovered in the eyes of everyone he met. Or to miss hearing their whispered hate. How he cursed his superhuman ears that allowed him to pick up every syllable of their vicious gossip.
He sat up on her spine. “What? You disagree about love?” Of all creatures, he would have assumed she’d be with him on this topic.
Aye. I know the love of which they speak.
“Then you’re lucky.”
Xyn fell silent as she thought about it and realized that Urian was wrong. She wasn’t lucky to love him. Not as long as he felt the way that he did about the subject.
Not as long as he thought of her as his pet and had no idea how very human she was beneath her scales.
To love someone born of another species, who didn’t believe in it, was without a doubt the cruelest fate ever devised by the gods who hated them all. And she wished she could tear out her heart and stop it from beating. Because as long as it beat, it would always beat for a man who would never return her love to her.
October 17, 9512 BC
Missing Xyn and wishing he were with her, Urian paused as he saw his sister on a stoop near one of the abandoned temples of the old gods who’d once called this realm home. Diafonia’s temple. The Atlantean goddess of discord. Born to the rulers of the underworld, Misos and Thnita, she and her sister Pali—goddess of strife—used to walk the human realm, where they would set humanity and the Atlanteans at each other’s throats. Just for fun. And usually for no other reason than they were bored.
He’d never understand that kind of cruelty. Any more than he’d understand his grandfather for cursing them.
It also baffled him why Apollymi would choose Pali and Diafonia as her favorites, given their cruelty. Yet even so, that hadn’t been enough to spare them from her wrath when she’d rained down her vengeance against her family.
It was said those two goddesses had been among the first to fall.
Which made Urian’s blood run cold. Treachery never knew any limits. It always came in the darkest of night and from where you least expected it.
From the hand of the one you trusted most.
No one could ever be trusted. Especially not with your life or well-being.
Not wanting to think about that, Urian headed for Tannis, who appeared upset over some matter. She hadn’t looked this despondent since their father had forced her to change her name from Dyana to Tannis because he refused to have her go by a name that honored Apollo’s sister who’d abandoned them to die.
As soon as his shadow fell over her, she looked up with a startled gasp, then settled down in relief.
He scowled at the sight of her utter misery. “Are you all right?”
She dabbed at her wet cheeks. “Fine.”
He didn’t believe that lie for an instant. “Last time you said that to me, it preceded your hurling a shoe at my head. And the other at my groin.”
The latter of which had landed true and caused him endless suffering that still made him flinch.
His reminder almost succeeded in making her smile. Or perhaps that came from the urge to launch another shoe at him. “That’s because you were annoying me at the time.”
“Am I annoying you now? I just need to know if I should be ready to duck and cup … or not.”
She laughed, then choked on a sob.
He instantly sobered. “All right, I know you’re not fine.” Worried, he knelt down at her side. “What’s wrong?”
Her lips trembling, she reached out for his red chalmys and clutched it, then blew her nose into the thick wool.
Okay, that was disgusting and under normal circumstances he’d take serious issue with her actions. Tonight, however, he forced himself to be patient with her and not cringe too much. “You’re really lucky you’re my sister and crying. Otherwise I’d kill you if you were one of my brothers. Or anyone else.”
She looked up at him so that only her eyes were visible over the scarlet material. With one dainty sniff, she finished wiping her nose off on his cloak before she lowered it. “Sorry. Would it help if I said it’s one of the reasons you’re my favorite brother?”
Scoffing, he glanced down at his soiled garment. “Not really. Mostly, because I know that for the lie it is. You much prefer Paris or Ophie.”
“That’s not true.” She rubbed the wool together, trying to remove some of her damage.
Urian unpinned it. “Here. You might as well take it now. I’ve no further use for your snot rag.” As he moved to fasten it around her shoulders, he paused at the sight of the bruising on her neck. Her throat had been brutally ravaged. “Who did this to you?”
Panic flared in her eyes. “It’s nothing.”