Book Excerpt

September 13, 9530 BC

Bethany toyed with the ring on her finger as she waited, yet another day, for a visit she was certain would never come again. Her Hector was dead. She knew it.

If not from their war, then from his homecoming slaughter that had all but destroyed Prince Styxx’s Omada Stygian. While her family had laughed and rejoiced over the treachery of the Greek dogs, the news had struck her like a blow.

Hector had to be dead or he’d have come to her by now….

Sick to her stomach and saddened more than she’d ever been, she started to rise, then felt a sudden presence near her. “Who goes there?”

For several heartbeats, she heard nothing.

Then a deep, low whisper answered her. “A weary soldier who is fearful that he’s been forgotten or replaced.”

Tears filled her eyes and choked her. “My Hector has not been forgotten and he could never be replaced.”

Only then did he kneel by her side and pull her against him. He was much leaner than he’d been, but also much more ripped. His muscles were even larger and harder than before. She cradled his head in her hands as he rocked her in his arms.

“I lived only for the chance that I could come back and hold you again.”

Her tears flowed down her cheeks. “I hate you for the pain you’ve caused me in your absence. You beast! The fear that you were dead and burned…”

He sucked his breath in sharply as she touched his back.

“Hector?”

“I’ve returned, but not in one whole piece.” He pulled away and carefully sat down on the ground by her side.

“What happened? Why did you remove my amulet?”

“Once we reached Greece, I foolishly took it off to toy with it. I had no idea we were about to be attacked by our own allies. But have no fear…” He placed her hand over his wrist to show her that it was back in place.

“You were hurt?”

“I certainly didn’t stab my own back. Though given my superior incompetence, I’m surprised I haven’t found a way to do so.”

She kissed his cheek. “Is it just your back?”

“Sadly, no. I took ten-and-four stabs to my back, hand, side and front and one to my left cheek, just to make sure I was good and humiliated.”

She touched his face.

“Not that cheek, my sweet. That one wouldn’t have bothered me so.”

In spite of the seriousness, she laughed. That explained the peculiar way he was sitting, but… “You are not funny… can I do anything to comfort you?”

He pulled her hand to his lips and inhaled her skin before he nibbled her fingers, then he stretched out on his side… with his left cheek up. “You comforted me the moment I saw you here. I swear you’ve grown even more beautiful in my absence.”

She lay down, facing him. “I’m scared to touch you for fear of causing you pain.”

He placed her hand over his heart and held it there so that she could feel the rapid beat through his chiton. “Even if you hurt me, I’ll enjoy it.”

“You’re masochistic.”

“I am indeed.” Sighing, he laid his head down on his arm, next to her head, then moved her hand to his cheek so that she could feel the expressions on his face. “What pains me most is that after all these months, I can’t make love to you like I’ve dreamed of doing every single night.”

She moved her hand to toy with his curls that wrapped around her fingers. His hair was shorter than when he’d left, but it was still long enough to tease her. “Has anyone ever told you that your voice is very similar to Prince Styxx’s?”

“And when did you hear his voice, my lady?”

“Several times when he’s been in public. But you’re nothing like him.”

“How are we so different?”

She kissed his nose. “You are sweet and precious. And there isn’t an arrogant bone in all of your body.”

“Perhaps the prince isn’t as bad as you assume.”

She arched a brow at that. “You defend him?”

“I’ve suffered and bled for him these many months past. I’d have to be a royal bastard to not defend him now.”

She made a face at him. “Let’s not bicker over my opinion of your worthless prince. You’re the only man I want to think about right now.” She kissed him lightly on the lips. “I’ve missed you so.”

Styxx closed his eyes as she licked and teased his chin. This alone had been worth coming back for.

But even as that thought made him smile, fear made his stomach ache. He’d heard the same contempt in her voice when she spoke of the prince as his family had for him. How would she react if she learned who he really was?

Never mind the fact that for almost three years now, he’d lied to her.

She would hate you as much as everyone else. Worse, she’d never forgive him. She’d think that he’d mocked her and, like Ryssa, accuse him of horrible things he’d never thought or done or intended. And if she ever learned of the wretched, degrading bargain Apollo had forced on him…

He wanted to vomit as fear and hatred mingled inside his heart.

Why can’t I find someone who can accept all of me? The only one who did was Galen. Only he saw Styxx’s heart and understood his real intentions and actions.

“Why are so sad? Did I say something wrong?”

“No.” It was both a lie and the truth. He didn’t want her to censor her words around him. Not even when they kicked him in the crotch and left him bleeding. “I’m not quite the boy who left you, Beth. I fear war has changed me.”

“How so?”

“In ways that are hard to define. I spent almost two years ankle deep in blood and body parts. I’ve held the hands of old men and young boys as they took their last breaths. I’ve seen boys who were far too young, who aren’t even old enough to shave yet, cut down and taken by illnesses we couldn’t treat. We burned our dead, day and night until the stench of it is permanently lodged in my throat and nose. There were days when the fighting was so thick that enemy arrows and spears blocked out the sun from us.”

Bethany’s heart clenched at the pain she heard in his voice. She knew each of the battles he spoke of and the horrors. But this was the first time she’d seen them through the eyes of the men who actually fought them. Men who didn’t know if they’d live through it or lose a part of their body…

Never before had she understood the fear of the families left behind and how hard it was to wait for a loved one they might never see again. Tears welled in her eyes as she wished she could take those memories from him. “How did you stand it?”

“I would think of you. Knowing you were here, depending on me to come back… that you would cry if I didn’t… I’m not sure I would have made it through some of the battles had you not been in my heart.” He rubbed her hand against the line of his jaw. “I definitely wouldn’t have ridden home so fast.”

She smiled at his humor, then kissed him. “I don’t ever want to be without you again.”

“Hopefully you won’t. I’ve heard that the city-states have joined together for another truce that should last.”

Bethany’s stomach shrank at his words. She knew just how temporary the truce would be. “Promise me, if something happens and we have to go to war again, you won’t fight.”

“I can’t do that, Beth.”

“Why not?”

Styxx clenched his teeth as he sought a reason he could give her that wouldn’t reveal his true identity. “How can I stay at home knowing that men who have fought by my side and protected me, men I have bled to protect, are going to die? As hard as it is to live with the memories of war, I would never be able to face myself as a coward.”

She didn’t take his words well, but neither did she speak against them.

Leaning forward, Styxx nibbled her lips, reveling in the taste he’d missed more than any other. “I’m tired of speaking and thinking about war. Tell me how you’ve been? Is your uncle still annoying you? Has your mother finally killed your Aunt Epi? How’s your sister? Did your grandfather ever get his sword back from his brother?”

Bethany was stunned by his words. “I can’t believe you remember all of that.”

“There is nothing about you I forget.”

Book Synopsis

Just when you thought doomsday was over…

Centuries ago Acheron saved the human race by imprisoning an ancient evil bent on absolute destruction. Now that evil has been unleashed and it is out for revenge.

As the twin to Acheron, Styxx hasn’t always been on his brother’s side. They’ve spent more centuries going at each other’s throats than protecting their backs. Now Styxx has a chance to prove his loyalty to his brother, but only if he’s willing to trade his life and future for Acheron’s.

The Atlantean goddess of Wrath and Misery, Bethany was born to right wrongs. But it was never a task she relished.

Until now.

She owes Acheron a debt that she vows to repay, no matter what it takes. He will join their fellow gods in hell and nothing is going to stop her.

But things are never what they seem, and Acheron is no longer the last of his line. Styxx and Acheron must put aside their past and learn to trust each other or more will suffer.

Yet it’s hard to risk your own life for someone who once tried to take yours, even when it’s your own twin, and when loyalties are skewed and no one can be trusted, not even yourself, how do you find a way back from the darkness that wants to consume the entire world? One that wants to start by devouring your very soul?
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In the book, Styxx keeps several sketchbooks where he draws. To see some of the entries, click here.

The Story Behind the Story

You know, I LOVE every book I work on, otherwise I wouldn't let it see print. I don't think it's fair to any of you to just chuck something out to have it on the market. I think too much of my readers and characters for that. My personal belief is that all of you deserve only my absolute best and that’s what I put into everything I write. The downside is that books do occasionally have to be moved because they needed more time to write or I wrote the book and it stunk and needs to be overhauled completely (Darkness Within). The latter is the hardest because once you get it in your head and set the story to paper, it’s hard to undo it and go in a new direction. But when something doesn’t work, a writer knows it and a reader will too so the project has to be set aside until the writer can remove their heart from it and look at it objectively. Or toss it and forget all the months/years of work you invested that can’t be salvaged. That truly is the hardest part. ALL books are written in blood and tears. But none are carved in stone.

That being said, there are some projects that really surprise you with a depth you had no idea would be there when you started it. Yes, I’m about to tease you all.

Styxx... OMG. Like Acheron, it’s a two part book. The first half that takes place in ancient Greece and Atlantis and then the modern day story. Writing it required me to go back page by page through Acheron, Night Embrace, and other stories. I NEVER forget my characters or their quirks, but the two books (Acheron and Styxx) tell a single story and yet rarely overlap. And as I wrote Acheron back in 2007 there were a number of scenes, for various reasons, I pulled out of the book before publication. And I went back to those original scenes too which are now in Styxx’s book in their entirety. In some ways, Styxx is like the unabridged edition of Acheron (yet it has almost none of the scenes you see in Ash’s book. They’re all new ones that show other aspects of Ash, Styxx, Ryssa, Xerxes and Estes).

I’ve always known the complicated dynamics of the brothers and their unique relationship. But even though I knew their past together and apart, I was so enraptured with Acheron that I wanted to hate Styxx and I treated him so unfairly, even though I knew why Styxx said and did the things he did. It wasn’t until I really crawled into his skin and saw his world through his eyes that my heart really, truly broke for him. In some ways, I think his past is worse than Acheron’s. Even more so than Acheron, he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Walking a tightrope in a category 5 hurricane with no net whatsoever. It’s so easy to judge people based on superficial facts that are shown to the world. But so many times, people don’t wear their tragedy out in public. They put on a brave facade to hide what really goes on because they’re ashamed or embarrassed or because they’ve reached out in the past and been ridiculed or worse, were called liars because no one wanted to believe the horror that makes up their lives. So you learn to pull inside yourself and to speak of it never. To smile even while you’re choking on bitter tears.

No, he’s not perfect. Neither is Acheron. They’re both volatile people who lash out in anger from the pain of a brutal past. Both trying to cope with things they can’t change, things that overwhelm them and with people who hate them for a birth they had no choice in. Two sides of a single coin.

I think Styxx said it best:

They were brothers. They played. They laughed. And they fought for everything they were worth. But whenever the fighting was done, they would dust off and be friends again.

Always and forever.

The heartbreak comes when other people divide them, but the true tragedy is when the two brothers divide themselves because they don’t want to be hurt anymore, by anyone. Not even their twin. Both Ash and Styxx made mistakes while trying to protect themselves. They both lashed out at each other in anger and fear. And at times, even hatred.

They started out together so pure and innocent. A united force against a brutal ancient world that’s very different from ours. Best friends. But sadly, it didn’t stay that way. As Savitar says in the book- The gods make kings, fools and pawns of us all... In equal turn, but not in equal length.

Unfortunately, the world and their own personal pain came between them for a very long time. Again, I’ll use Styxx’s own words: Time changes all things. And seldom did they change for the better.

I want to go on, I really do, but I don’t want to spoil any of the journey for you. I went in to this wanting to hate Styxx. To punish him, but he won me over fast, and he taught me a lot of lessons along the way. His whole book is about learning to dance while hell itself rains down on you. To find that inner core of strength to defy the gods, fates and enemies who are determined to destroy you. Most of all, it’s about the seen and unseen consequences of judging and misjudging others, of personal sacrifice and forgiveness. Learning how to reach out and not let the past destroy your future. To see people not for what we want them to be, but for who they are and learning to love them not only because of who and what they are, but sometimes even in spite of it. Most of all, it’s about family:

They were brothers. They played. They laughed. And they fought for everything they were worth. But whenever the fighting was done, they would dust off and be friends again.

Always and forever.

I am so proud of both my boys. Acheron and Styxx. Both imperfectly perfect.

And with that, I will leave you with one last quote from the book- The most beautiful heart of all is the one that can still love even while it bleeds, and especially after its been broken into thousands of pieces.

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I know, I know. I've said a million times that I was too mad at Styxx to write his story. Ever. I know...

Then one day as I sat quietly thinking, Styxx walked in and sat down next to me.

"I have something to tell you."

I wrinkled my nose at him. "I don't want to hear it. You're an @$$. Go away."

He didn't listen. Instead, he made me realize that I, like everyone else, including Acheron, had misjudged him. I saw the events of the past not through Acheron's eyes. I saw them through Styxx's and what an awakening it was.

As I've always said, there are three sides to every story. Yours. Theirs. And the truth that isn't clouded by human emotions that filter everything. I'd had two sides of the story all along. Acheron's and the unemotional truth. What I never had before was Styxx's point of view. I let my own emotions cloud him to me, and like others, I saw him only as Acheron did. But things aren't always what they seem and people only remember the part of the past they experience and/or have been told. And they seldom know everything. Most of all, we can't look into the heart of someone else. At least not until now. Styxx is so much more than I ever knew him to be.

As with Zarek and Valerius, I think all of you will agree with me when you read the book. And in many ways, it's another story of Acheron. You will see events that weren't in his book and I know Styxx will win you over. In all honesty, he was done wrong and it will break your heart. Misjudged, condemned, betrayed and abandoned... There's a whole side of him that no one knows. Even now, it brings tears to my eyes.

Book Benies

**NOTE TO READERS**

The key to reading Styxx is to remember that you never saw anything in Acheron through Styxx's eyes. You only saw Ryssa and Acheron's viewpoint. No one ever saw how Styxx was treated when alone with his father. You "heard" things, but you didn't see them. What is shown in private and what is shown in public can be quite different. And people's emotions color everything. How many times have you said something innocently and someone accused you of saying it in a snotty or mean tone when you definitely didn't? There was much going on in the background that only Styxx knows about. As the tagline says, there are two sides to every war.