Styx (Goddesses of the Underworld #2)

20. Out of Breath

Out of Breath

I lay on the shores for a long time,

feeling the still-warm sand

under my heaving body.

Until I felt the tide,

cold and sweet against

my shame-warmed skin.

It wasn’t so much

that I could not tolerate

the brutality of the dismissal.

But more that it was my father,

my sole ally, my protector,

who had betrayed me.

I should have known better

than to trust anyone

in this family.

After all, our greatest legacy

was a father butchered by his son

and exiled to a place no one knew.

Why was I expecting loyalty

from Oceanus, a God who still called Kronos

brother after what he had done to their father?

Not even just brother.

He honoured him as king.