Sherrilyn Kenyon - Acheron

In her current incarnation, Xiamara's everchanging skin tone was red, marbled with white. Long black hair framed a pixieish face where large red eyes glowed with concern. Xiamara's son Xedrix shared her features, but his skin was marbled with red and orange, something it often did when he was nervous. "What do you need, akra?" Xiamara asked, addressing her with the Atlantean term for lady and master.

Apollymi had no idea why Xiamara insisted on calling her akra when they were more like sisters than master and servant. "Guard this room from everyone. I don't care if Archon himself demands entry, you kill him. Do you understand?"

"Your will is ours, akra. No one will disturb you."

"Do their horns have to match their wings?" Basi asked as she spun around the bedpost while eyeing the demons. "I mean really. You'd think to be so colorful, they'd have more variety. I think Xedrix would look better if his were orange."

Apollymi ignored her. She didn't have time for Basi's stupidity. Not if she were to save her son's life.

She wanted this child and she was willing to do anything for him.

Anything .

Her heart hammering, she pulled her Atlantean dagger from her dresser drawer and held it in her hands. The gold hilt was cold against her skin. Black roses and bones were entwined and engraved down the steel blade that glowed in the dim light. It was a dagger meant for ending life.

Today it would be used to give it.

She winced at the thought of what was to come, but there was no other way to save him. Closing her eyes and gripping the cold dagger, she tried not to weep, but one tear slid from the corner of her eye.

Enough! She roared at herself as she angrily wiped it away. This was a time for action, not emotions. Her son needed her.

Her hand trembling from fury and fear, she went to the bed and lay down. She pulled her gown up, exposing her belly. She ran her hand over her distended stomach where her son was waiting, protected and yet in danger. Never again would she be this close to him. Never again would she feel him kick and turn in restlessness as she smiled in tender patience. She was about to separate them even though it wasn't time yet for Apostolos to be born.

But she had no choice.

"Be strong for me, my son," she whispered before she sliced open her stomach to expose him.

"Oh, how disgusting!" Basi whined. "I'm-"

"Don't you move!" Apollymi roared. "You leave this room and I'll rip out your heart."

Eyes wide, Basi froze.

As if knowing what had happened, Xiamara appeared by her side. The red-and-white-skinned demon was the most beautiful and loyal of all of Apollymi's army. In silent understanding, Xiamara lifted the baby out of her and helped Apollymi seal herself shut.

The demon removed the blood red scarf from around her neck and wrapped Apostolos in it before she held him out to Apollymi and bowed low.

Apollymi pushed the physical pain aside as she took her son into her arms and held him for the very first time. Joy spread through her as she realized he was whole and alive. He was so tiny, so frail. Perfect and beautiful.

Most of all, he was hers and she loved him with every part of herself.

"Live for me, Apostolos," she said, her tears finally flowing. They fell like ice down her cold cheeks, glittering in the darkness. "When the time is right, you'll return here and claim your rightful place as king of the gods. I'll make sure of it." She placed her lips to his blue forehead.

He opened his eyes then to look at her. Mercurial and silver, just like hers, they swirled. And they held within them a wisdom far beyond even hers. It would be by those eyes that mankind would recognize his divinity and treat him accordingly. He brushed her cheek with one tiny fist as if he understood what was meant for him.

She sobbed at the contact. Gods, it wasn't fair! He was her baby. She'd waited a lifetime for this and now…

"Damn you, Archon, damn you! I will never forgive you for this."

She held her son close and never wanted to let him go.

But she must.

"Basi?" she snapped at her niece who was still swinging around the bedpost.

"Mmm?"

"Take him. Put him in the belly of a pregnant queen. Do you understand?"

She let go and righted herself. "Um, I can do that. What about the queen's brat?"

"Merge Apostolos's life force with that of the queen's child. Let her know by oracle that if my child dies, so does hers." That would protect him more than anything else.

But there was one more thing to be done. Apollymi jerked the white sfora from her neck and held it to Apostolos's chest. If anyone suspected he was her son or any god detected his presence in the human realm, they would kill him instantly.

His powers would have to be bound and locked away until he was old enough and strong enough to fight back. She placed the orb to his chest and watched as his godhood slid from him to the sfora. His tiny body turned from blue to the pale skin of humanity.

Now he would be safe. Not even the gods would know what she'd done.

Clutching the sfora tight in her hand, she kissed his brow one more time before she held him out to her niece. "Take him. And don't betray me, Basi. If you do, Archon will be the least of your fears. So help me, I won't rest until I bathe in your entrails."

Basi's brown eyes widened. "Baby in belly. Human realm. Don't tell anyone and don't mess up. Got it." She vanished, instantly.

Apollymi sat there, looking at the spot where they'd been. Her heart screamed out, wanting her baby returned.

If only…

"Xiamara, follow her and make sure she does as she was ordered."

The demon bowed before she vanished.

Her heart broken, Apollymi remained in her bloodied bed. She wanted to weep and to scream, but why bother? It would do no good. Her tears and pleas wouldn't prevent Archon from killing her child. His brats had him convinced that Apostolos would destroy their pantheon and replace Archon as the king of the gods.

So be it.

Her body aching, she pushed herself from the bed. "Xedrix?"

Xiamara's son appeared before her. "Yes, akra?"

"Fetch me a stone from the sea, please."

He appeared confused by her order, but he quickly complied.

When he returned, she wrapped the rock in swaddling. Weak from her son's birth and her own anger and fear, she leaned against Xedrix and held his arm. "Take me to Archon."

"Are you sure, akra?"

She nodded.

The demon helped her back to Katoteros. They appeared in the center of the hall where Archon stood with his daughters Chara and Agapa-ironically the goddesses of joy and love. The two of them had been born parthenogenically the first time Archon had looked at Apollymi. Together the goddesses had sprang out of his chest. His love for Apollymi had been legendary. Until he'd destroyed it by asking for the one thing she'd never give him.

The life of her son.

Archon's features were perfectly formed. Tall and muscular, he stood with his blond hair shining in the dim light. Truly, he was the most beautiful of all gods. Too bad that beauty was only superficial.

His blue eyes narrowed at the bundle in her arms.

"It's about time you came to your senses. Give me that child."

She moved away from Xedrix and placed the stone baby in her husband's arms.

Archon glowered at her. "What is this?"

"That is what you deserve, you bastard, and it is all you'll ever get from me."

By the light in his eyes, she knew he wanted to strike her. He didn't dare. They both knew who the stronger god was and it wasn't him. He ruled only because she stood at his side. To rise against her would be the last mistake he'd ever make.

By Chthonian law, one god was forbidden from ever killing another. To do so would bring their wrath down on the foolish god who'd angered them. The punishment for such actions was swift, brutal and irreversible.