Page 113 of Styx

whilst my mother would fret

after they would speak in secret.

When I thought back to this moment later,

perhaps I should have seen

the darkness that lurked

around the corner.

Perhaps I should have seen

how quickly my world was changing.

How nothing would ever

be the same again.

A Call

With Pallas and Styx now happily united,

my clandestine meetings with Perses

had come to an end, causing a sadness

I could not understand nor speak of.

As Metis and Leto talked to me,

often I did not hear their words,

they would repeat themselves

until finally they gave up.

What was this strange ache

my body was putting me through?

It seemed undivine, unholy.

I could not understand it at all.

Until one twilight, when I was sitting

on the marble steps outside

my father’s palace, I looked up

and saw Perses walking toward me.

‘Asteria,’ he said softly,

‘may I please speak with you?’

My heart was suddenly ablaze