103. A Promise
A Promise
We all rested uneasily once Hyperion
had set the sun and Nyx was out
painting the sky black again.
When Perses finally slept, I crept out
of the chambers we shared
and knocked softly
on Styx and Pallas’s door.
To my relief,
it was Styx who opened it.
‘We must talk,’ I told her urgently.
She nodded and left the room.
We headed to the balcony
that overlooked a silver moon
nurtured by my mother, the clouds
reflecting its glow against a midnight sky.
‘Styx,’ I asked her, ‘do you know
what fear feels like?’ Styx stared at me.
‘We are immortal. What do we have to fear?’
I took a deep breath. ‘Do you remember
when we first met in the cave,
and I got trapped underwater?’
Styx nodded, our first meeting
was seared into both our minds.
‘I pictured an eternity,’
I began softly. ‘I pictured an eternity
trapped there, in the water,
with no one to free me or speak to.
I imagined never tasting nectar again,
never knowing love, or seeing the sunlight,
imprisoned forever underwater.
We may be immortal, Styx,
but there are still ways to hurt us. What is
immortality if we have to spend it alone?’
‘Asteria, I had known loneliness
a long, long time before I met you.
I know its pain well.’
She reached out and took my hand.
‘As long as we are together,
nothing will ever happen to you.’
I squeezed her hand for comfort,
then asked her,
‘Can we make a promise?’
Styx nodded.
‘No matter what happens
between us, we will look after
the children we will have one day,’ I said.
Styx’s eyes filled with tears.
‘Asteria… I would never let harm
come to your child.’
She put her arms around me,
a rare thing for her to do. ‘I promise.’
For the first time in a long time,
I let my body loosen. Letting go of all
the fears I had been carrying for so long.
And the voices in my head
became a soft hum
instead of a cry in the dark.