Free House of the Rising Son by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page A

what?”
    Leto let out a heavy sigh. “We have to catch her breaking the rules.”
    â€œAnd how do we do that?”
    â€œWe follow her, dear boy. Sooner or later, she’s bound to screw up something.”

October 22, 12,249 BC
    â€œIs it just me or does it seem like the gods have a vendetta against us?”
    Aricles looked up from his carving to meet Hector’s gaze. “They want us dead.”
    â€œAh, good. I’m not the only one who’s noticed. And here I thought it was just me.”
    Grimacing, Galen moved to sit on the foot of Aricles’s bed. “It is disconcerting, isn’t it? And battle isn’t all I thought it’d be.”
    Aricles arched his brow at his brother’s somber tone. “Is that remorse I hear?”
    â€œIt’s remorse. I keep going back to that day on the farm when they came to recruit us. Do you remember what you said to me while we packed?”
    â€œNot to forget your cloak?”
    Galen laughed and shook his head. “You told me that battle wouldn’t be the same as the war games I’d played. That the day would come when I’d grow tired of walking through blood-saturated fields.”
    â€œAnd has that day come, brother?”
    He nodded. “I never gave thought to how young some soldiers would be. Or how wroth the gods would become with us.”
    Hector let out a heavy sigh. “I think we are all feeling that. I swear one of the soldiers I killed today couldn’t have been any older than fifteen … if that.”
    Haides moved to sit on Galen’s bed next to them. “It’ll soon be four years since I was last at home. My sister has married and had two children since I left.… I miss my family.”
    Galen sat back. “Our brother had a baby … a son almost a year ago and we’ve seen nothing of him. And for some reason, I keep thinking of Talia.” He met Aricles’s gaze. “Do you remember her?”
    â€œShe was beautiful and thought you hung the very moon in the sky.”
    Galen smiled sadly. “Aye, she did. But she was too circumspect for me. I always thought she’d be a better match for you.”
    Aricles bit back the reminder that Galen’s other problem with her was that she’d refused to bed him. “And now?”
    â€œI should like a wife with such morals and convictions, and sweet nature. One I can trust to remain faithful to me should I ever be away. Do you think she might still be available?”
    â€œI know not, little brother.”
    Haides jerked his chin toward Phelix who was asleep on his bed across the room. “Ever notice even he has stopped sharpening his sword?”
    Monokles nodded as he joined them. “I keep thinking of something my father used to say to me—Fight on, my son. Not only with sword and spear, but with everything you have.” Sighing, he shook his head. “But now, it’s the words of an Athenian priestess that haunt me—you should reach the limits of virtue before you take up your sword and cross the border of death.”
    â€œWe’re all homesick.” Aricles glanced at each one in turn. “But we have taken a vow to fight for our goddess and for the people of our homelands. As the old saying goes, only the dead have seen the end of war. We cannot forget that well begun is only half done. People have learned to watch for our red cloaks and black armor. They turn to us for protection now. How can we abandon them?”
    Galen sighed wearily. “Interesting words considering the fact that you’re the only one of us who didn’t want to be here.”
    Aricles paused his carving. “I still have no desire to make war. But I am not a coward and I won’t have the gods or anyone else making that allegation toward me.”
    â€œHe’s right,” Haides agreed. “They would mock us if we withdrew.”
    Aricles offered them a sad smile.