House of the Rising Son by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page A

eyes flashed red. “He needs to find another.”
    Galen shook his head. “How could you have not told me? I’m your brother! Your twin! When did you marry?”
    â€œWhile you were all gone,” she answered for him.
    Malphas cursed as he glared at Aricles. “Have you any idea the shit storm you’re about to unleash?”
    A tic started in Aricles’s cheek before he nodded. “It’s why I backed down from the fighting.” He glanced over to Hector’s body as tears blinded him. “I didn’t want anyone hurt. Least of all Bathymaas.”
    Malphas growled. “Now I want to punch you.… But I understand.” He rubbed his hand against the gold necklace that never left him. “The heart wants what it wants, and nothing will deny it. But damn…” He turned his glare to Bathymaas. “Damn.”
    Monokles scowled. “So what does this mean?”
    Malphas gestured to Bathymaas. “The gods will attack her for this. Openly. Those who hate her will say that she can no longer perform her duties because she’s been corrupted by the touch of a mortal. And they will be after Aricles with everything they have.”
    Phelix narrowed his eyes on Aricles. “I still don’t trust him. He bowed out when we needed him most.”
    â€œTo protect his wife,” Haides reminded Phelix. “Right or wrong, I doubt there’s a one of us who wouldn’t do whatever he had to to keep his woman safe.”
    Monokles nodded. “He’s right. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my wife and her honor.”
    Galen hugged Bathymaas and then his brother. “I hate you.”
    â€œI hate you, too.”
    Bathymaas scowled at Aricles who smiled at her then explained their contradictory words. “We don’t mean it, my lady. Rather, it’s our way of saying that we’re still mad, but are willing to forgive.”
    â€œMortals are so strange.…”
    Caleb nodded in agreement. “And we have a man to bury and mourn. Let us attend to that and then we’ll deal with this next disaster.”
    Bathymaas teleported Aricles into his tent so that she could clean him up and dress him. “I can’t believe you allowed them to do this to you.”
    He shrugged. “I would gladly suffer this and more to keep you safe.”
    And that was why she loved him so. Brushing his hair back from his eyes, she sighed. “Apollo will be coming for us.”
    Aricles swallowed hard as a wave of pain went through him. He started to tell her what Apollo had done to him, but the words froze on his tongue. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud the horror of that day.
    Please don’t hate me, Bathia, when he tells you what he did to me.
    But in his heart, he knew that she would never look at him the same way once she learned of it. And that made him every bit as sad as the loss of Hector.
    It’s all my fault.
    He should have been strong enough to fight Apollo off.
    And now.…
    Kissing her on the brow, he knew that he had to do something to stop Apollo. And what he intended was as stupid as it was brave.

January 23, 12,248 BC
    Aricles frowned as he heard a fierce fight going on in Bathymaas’s temple. Grabbing his hoplon and xiphos, he ran toward it as fast as he could to find Apollo blasting Bathymaas.
    Without hesitation, he went for the god and attacked him with everything he had.
    Apollo cursed as Aricles knocked him away from her. The Greek god blasted him, but Aricles didn’t care. He ignored the pain and continued on, beating the god until Apollo was pressed against the wall.
    Unprepared for Aricles’s ferocity and skill, Apollo staggered back then fell to his knees. “Everyone is going to know about the two of you! Everyone!” Then the coward vanished.
    Releasing his battle cry, Aricles still wanted the bastard’s blood for attacking his