She didn't understand that. Why would they keep him locked inside this small room? "Did you do something wrong to be imprisoned?"
"My only crime was being born to parents who have no use for me. My father doesn't want anyone to know his eldest son is deformed so here I'm to stay until I die of old age."
A foreign pain fluttered in her stomach as she felt sad for him. There were times when she felt imprisoned, too, though no one had ever made her feel freakish by any means.
She looked down at his muscular legs. "Is that why your feet are bare?"
He nodded as he wrapped the cloak around his body and raised the cowl over his head. "I'm ready."
"What about your shoes?"
He looked baffled by her question. "I haven't any. I told you, I'm forbidden to leave."
Now that she thought about it, she realized he hadn't been wearing any shoes in her temple either. "Won't your feet be cold?"
"I'm used to it."
She curled her toes in her shoes as she considered walking over winter stones barefoot. It would be a miserable feeling that not even a human should bear. Shaking her head, she manifested a pair of warm leather shoes on his feet. "There now, much better."
Acheron looked down in amazement at the dark brown shoes lined in fur. They felt so strange against his skin. But they were incredibly warm and soft. "Thank you."
She smiled at him as if the shoes pleased her as much as they did him. "You're welcome."
The next thing he knew, they were in the center of town. Acheron gaped at the sight of them standing by a well. No one in the busy crowd seemed to notice the fact that they'd just appeared out of nowhere. He immediately drew his cowl lower over his face to make sure he was shielded from those around them.
"What are you doing?" Artemis asked.
"I don't want anyone to see me."
"Oh, that's a good idea." An instant later, she wore a richly woven cloak that was pulled up around her face in a way identical to his. "How do I look?"
Before he could prevent it, a smile curved his lips at her innocent question. He quickly banished it. He knew better than to smile. It always got him into trouble. "You're beautiful."
"Why does saying that make you uncomfortable?"
Acheron clenched his teeth at the simple truth that had haunted him the whole of his life. "People destroy beauty when they find it."
She cocked her head. "How so?"
"By nature, people are petty and jealous. They envy what they lack and because they don't know how to acquire something, they try to destroy anyone who has it. Beauty is one of those things they hate most in others."
"Do you really believe that?"
"I've been attacked enough to know it for a fact. Whatever people can't possess, they try to ruin."
Artemis was stunned by his cynicism. She'd heard such comments from some of the gods. Her father, Zeus, was always making similar statements. But for such a young human . . .
Acheron was strangely astute at times. She could almost believe his claim of divinity, but she knew better. He was just a little more perceptive than most humans.
"Where do we go?" she asked, changing the subject.
"The common gate is over here." He led her toward a small door where a group of unwashed and filthy humans gathered.
Curling her lip in repugnance, she pulled him to a stop. "Should we be going through the common gate with common people?"
"It costs to go through the others."
How could that possibly be a problem? "Don't you have any money?"
He frowned at her. "No."
Sighing, she manifested a small purse and held it out to him. "Here. Get us decent seats. I'm a goddess. I don't sit with common people."
He hesitated before he obeyed her. Hesitated. No one did that. Yet he seemed oblivious to the fact that she was divinity. On one level it insulted her that he could be so cavalier and on another it intrigued her. She liked the feeling of being nothing more than a woman with a man.
Especially one so incredibly handsome.
But he did need to respect her godhood. She was, after all, the daughter of Zeus. She could kill him if she chose to.
Then why didn't you? His dare echoed in her head and she again saw him so proud and defiant in her temple. He was definitely an odd human.
And she liked that second only to his beauty.
Artemis stayed by his side as he purchased their seats and led her to an area that was sectioned off from the peasants. The seats here were less crowded and filled with nobles and the families of senators. Acheron paid more money to buy her a stuffed pillow that he set down on the stone for her comfort.