167. From the Corner of My Eye
From the Corner of My Eye
I saw Perses’s fists clench.
I saw Pallas hold Zelus close,
the boy clutching his robes.
A palpable fear hung in the air.
Leto took my other hand,
and as I looked into her eyes
I saw it there, the mirror of my thoughts.
We should have told them.
We should not have left
such a task to Metis alone.
She may have failed us,
but we had failed her first.
Oceanus finally spoke out loud.
‘Your father’s choices as king
were not our choices to make.’
A raven-haired Goddess amongst
Zeus’s siblings let out a bitter laugh.
‘You would have left us to rot
in his stomach for eternity. You had
choices. You chose our suffering.’
Zeus put his hand on her shoulder
to calm her.
He then turned back to Oceanus.
‘As this was your choice, mighty Titans,
we decree you incapable
of reigning over the realms.
We decree you unable to rule
with the nobility and dignity
required of great leaders.’
It was as though the very hall
had darkened to the threat
of an endless abyss.
It was my father, thus far holding back,
who stepped forward, his eyes
a hurricane of anger.
He shouted, ‘Insolent children!
You have no right to decree
anything. You have no say here.
You are in the house of Titans
and we do not bow to strangers.’
I had never seen him so enraged,
never known Coeus the Calm
to hold such fury in his voice.
It was in that moment I felt it.
The full scale of what was to come.
Our world was about to change,
and how the old Titans handled
what came next would define
our entire future.