Second Chances Read online

  Ash frowned at him. “Why?”

  “I want to know my brother. ”

  Ash scoffed at that. “You don’t have a brother,” he reminded him. It was somethingStyxx had proclaimed loud andclear throughout the centuries. “We only shared a womb for a very short time. ”

  Styxxdid something he had never done before. He reached out and touched Ash’s shoulder. That touch seared Ash as it reminded him of the boy he’d been who had wanted nothing more than the love of his human family.

  A boy they had spat on and denied.

  “You told me once, long ago,”Styxx said in a ragged tone, “to look into a mirror and see your face. I refused to then. But nowMnimi has forced me to look at my own reflection. I’ve seen it through my eyes and I’ve seen it through yours. I wish to the gods that I could change what happened between us. If I could go back, I would never deny you. But I can’t. We both know that. Now I just want the chance to know you as I should have known you all those centuries ago. ”

  Angered at his noble speech and at a painful past that no mere handful of words could ease, Ash used his powers to pin him back to the wall, away from him. Styxxhovered spread eagle, above the floor, his face pale as Ash showed him his powers. He could tell byStyxx’s thoughts that he was aware of exactly what he could do. Even though they were linked together, Ash could kill him with a single thought. He could

  shred him into pieces.

  Part of him wanted to. It was the part of him they had turned vicious. The part of him that belonged to his real mother, the Destroyer.

  “I am not a god of forgiveness. ”

  Styxxmet his gaze without flinching. “And I’m not a man used to apologizing. We are linked. You know it and I know it. ”

  “How could I ever trust you?”

  Styxxwanted to weep at that question. Acheron was right. How could he trust him? He’d done nothing but hurt his brother.

  He’d even tried to kill him.

  “You can’t. But I have lived inside your memories for the last three years. I know the pain you hide. I know the pain I caused. If I stay here, I will go mad from the screams. If I return to the Vanishing Isle, I’ll languish there alone and in time I will probably learn to hate you all over again. ”

  Styxxpaused as grief swept through him at the truth. “I don’t want to hate you any more, Acheron. You are a god who can control human fate. Is it not possible that there was a reason why we were joined together? Surely the Fates meant for us to be brothers. ”

  Ash looked away as those words echoed in his head. It was a divine cruelty that he could see the fate of everyone around him, except for those who were important to him or those whose fates were intertwined with his own. He held the fate of the entire world in his hand and yet he couldn’t see his own future.

  How screwed up was that?

  How unfair?

  He looked at his “brother. ”Styxx was more likely to skewer him than he was to speak to him.

  And yet he sensed something different about him.

  Forget it. Erase his memory of you and leave him here to rot.

  It was kinder than anythingStyxx had ever done to him. But deep inside, down in a place that Ash hated was that little boy who had reached out for his brother. That little boy who had cried out repeatedly for his family only to find himself alone.

  Should Ash deny that boy, too?

  He setStyxx back on the ground.

  Ash didn’t move as memories and the emotions they reawakened assailed him. He could senseStyxx was approaching. He tensed out of habit. Every timeStyxx had ever drawn near, he had hurt him.

  “I can’t undo the past,”Styxx whispered. “But in the future, I will gladly lay my life down for you,

  brother. ”

  Before he realized whatStyxx was doing,Styxx pulled himclose.

  Still Ash didn’t move as he feltStyxx’s arms around him. He’d dreamed of this moment as a child. He’d ached for it.

  The angry god inside him wanted to shatterStyxx into pieces for daring to touch him now, but that innocent part of him. . . that human heart, shattered. It was the part that he listened to.

  Ash wrapped his arms around his brother and held him for the first time in their lives.

  “I’m so sorry,”Styxx said in a ragged tone.

  Ash nodded as he pulled away. “To err is human, to forgive divine. ”

  Styxxshook his head at the quote. “I don’t ask for your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. I only ask for a chance to show you now that I’m not the fool I was once. ”

  Ash only hoped he could believe it. The odds were against them both. Every timeStyxx had been given an opportunity to assuage their past, he had used it to hurt him more.

  Closing his eyes, Ash teleported them out ofTartarus and intoKatoteros , the realm that had once been home to theAtlantean gods.

  Styxxpulled back to gape at the opulent foyer where they stood. Everything was white and crisp, almost sterile. “So this is where you live,” he breathed, awed by the beauty.

  “No,” Acheron said as he folded his arms over his chest, and indicated the tall, gilded windows that looked out over the tranquil water that stretched toward the horizon. “I live across the RiverAthlia , on the other side of theLypiShores. There is noCharon to ferry you across the river to my home so don’t bother looking. ”

  He was completely confused by that. “I don’t understand. ”

  Acheron took a step back from him andStyxx was puzzled by the suspicion he saw in his brother’s silver eyes. “I will see to it that you have servants and all you could ever desire here. ”

  “But I thought we were going to be together. ”

  Acheron shook his head. “You made your choice and you wanted to come here. So here you are. ”

  But this wasn’t what he wanted. He’d thought. . .

  Styxxtried to approach him only to find his pathway cut off by an invisible wall. “I thought you said to err is human, to forgive divine. ”

  Those swirling, silver eyes burned him. “I’m a god,Styxx , not a saint. I do forgive you, but trusting you is another matter. As you said, you shall have to prove yourself to me. Until then, you and I shall take this one step at a time and then we shall see what is to become of us. ”

  And as soon as those words were spoken,Styxx foundhimself alone.