104. The Message
The Message
Styx and I spent the night talking
about how our lives had changed.
We tried not to speak of the unknowns
that were facing us both,
instead considered only the possibilities
now that we were consorts of two brothers.
‘We can make our own family,’
Styx told me. ‘And it will be kind.’
I agreed. ‘Our children will be good
to one another and not hurt one another.
We will not play the strange games
that other Gods play.’
Perhaps it was naivety. We were
young, determined our friendship
would form the basis of our families.
Perhaps it was hope. That we
could build a more beautiful thing
than what we had been given.
But the next day,
when we all met together in the halls
where their parents had laid
a morning feast, I saw him.
One of my father’s messengers.
There was a grave look on Eurybia’s face.
She turned to me and said,
‘Your father has asked for you
to return at once.’
I frowned. What could possibly
have happened in the short time
I had been away?
And then, Crius said words
that chilled me to my very bones.
‘You sister Metis has disappeared.’