Acheron turned his attention back to me. "Do the Atlanteans and Greeks share gods too?"
Maia laughed. "Don't you know about the gods, Acheron?"
He shook his head. "I only know the name Zeus because many use it to swear by and someone named Archon and Apollymi."
I frowned at the names of the king and queen of the Atlantean pantheon. "How do you know their names?"
He didn't respond, but the look on his face made me suspect that they must be some of the ones he could hear in his head.
"Well," I said, trying to lighten the sudden malaise, "Zeus is the king of the Olympian gods and his queen is Hera."
"I like Artemis," Maia spoke up. "She's the goddess of the hunt and of childbirth. She's the one who saved my mother's life when I was born and we were so ill. The midwife swore that we'd both die, but my father sacrificed and made offerings to Artemis and she saved us both."
Acheron smiled. "She must be a great goddess indeed and I owe her much that she allowed you to be born."
Maia beamed in happy satisfaction.
Over the course of the afternoon, I ran through a quick lesson of the Greek gods, but unlike the writing, Acheron had a hard time grasping all the names and their titles. It was as if they were so alien to him that he couldn't tell one from another. He constantly confused them.
We spent many hours there until Maia fell to sleep sitting beside Acheron.
His features softened as he looked down at her and cradled her in his arms. "She does this a lot. She'll be chatting away one moment and then fall sound asleep the next. I've never seen anything quite like it."
I smiled as warmth seeped through me. He looked so sweet holding her like a protective father. Given the brutality of his past, his ability to still feel compassion and to show tenderness never ceased to amaze me. "You love her, don't you?"
His expression was one of pure horror and then blatant rage. "I would never touch her that way."
His rancor baffled me until it dawned on me why he was so angry. In his world, love was a physical act and not an emotion. The very thought made my heart ache. "Love doesn't have to be sexual, Acheron. In its purest form it has nothing to do with a physical act."
Confusion lined his brow. "How do you mean?"
I gestured toward the girl he held so protectively in the shelter of his muscular arms. "When you look at Maia, your heart softens, doesn't it?"
He nodded.
"You look at her and all you want to do is keep her safe from harm and take care of her."
"Yes."
I smiled at him. "You want nothing from her except to make her happy."
He cocked his head curiously as he studied my face. "How do you know that?"
"Because that's how I feel about you, little brother. The love you have for her is the same as what I feel whenever I think of you. If you ever needed me, there's no hardship I wouldn't endure to be by your side as quickly as I could."
He swallowed as a haunted look came into his swirling silver eyes. "You love me?"
"With every part of my heart. I would do anything to keep you safe."
For the first time since he'd come here I felt as if I'd finally reached him. And then the most miraculous thing of all happened.
Acheron took my hand. "Then I love you, Ryssa."
Tears clouded my eyes as emotions choked me. "I love you too, akribos. And I don't want you ever to doubt that."
"I won't." He squeezed my hand. "Thank you for coming to get me."
No words had ever meant more to me nor touched me so deeply. My throat was so tight that I couldn't even speak as he let go of my hand to rise with Maia in his arms so that he could take her to her mother. I watched him walk away and hoped with every part of my soul that he would always feel that way toward me. I could stand anything except my brother's hatred.
March 19, 9531 BC
Today I decided to teach Acheron how to read from some of the scrolls I kept in my room. We'd barely begun when I noticed something very different about him.
The balls in his tongue were gone.
"You took them out," I breathed, unable to believe what I was seeing.
His expression was a cross between sheepishness and pride. "I made myself trust you. You say that I'm safe here and that no one is going to take me away again. I want to believe that. So I took them out and am going to trust in the gods that they'll keep me with you."
I cupped his face in my hands, delighted even more that he didn't stiffen, and pulled him into my arms so that I could hug him close. "You're safe here, little brother. I swear it."
For the first time, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back.
Never had anything touched me more.
I heard someone clearing their throat. Pulling back, I found Petra in the doorway with wine and cheese. "I thought the two of you would like a snack."
I nodded before I pulled away. "That would be wonderful. Thank you."
She inclined her head to me before she placed the tray on a small side table.
Acheron watched until after she'd left us alone before he spoke. "Do you ever think about getting married, Ryssa?"
I hesitated before I poured our cups. "I do sometimes and I wonder why Father hasn't procured me a husband. Most princesses are married long before they reach my age. But Father says he can't find anyone he deems worthy." I smiled. "Truthfully, I'm not in any great hurry. I've seen too many of my friends married to ogres, so if Father wishes to take more time to find me a gentle husband, I can certainly wait. Why do you ask?"
"I was thinking of Petra and her husband. Have you ever noticed the way they laugh whenever they're together? And when they're apart, there's a sadness to them. It's as if they can't bear to be parted even for a few minutes."
I nodded. "They share a great love of one another. It's a pity not all married couples are like that."
"Are our parents like that?"
I glanced away as my memories brought images of the way my parents had been before Styxx and Acheron's births. In those days, they'd loved each other passionately. Seldom had they parted and my father had doted on my mother with a love that appeared unending.
Then their sons had been born. Since that fateful day, my father couldn't stand to be near my mother. He blamed her for Acheron.