Page 174 of Styx
where Metis and Zeus were,
I saw they were still wrapped up
in each other’s arms,
Metis telling him,
‘I have finished the spell.
The stone is ready for you.’
From a bag on her hip,
she removed what looked like
a glowing crimson-and-gold ruby,
so large she needed two hands to hold it.
Zeus took it from her,
his eyes glinting with bloodlust,
raising it to the light to see it.
‘And no one is any the wiser?’
‘None of the old Gods asked any questions
and when Nyx did, I told her
it was a matter of fate.’
A shudder coursed through my body.
When had Metis become so good
at this game of lies?
Perhaps it was my father’s mistake.
It was he who made her
the Goddess of Wisdom and Cunning.
He thought she would turn out like him,
the God of Intellect, with such gifts.
Instead… she was a Goddess of Endings.
Instead, she had become the reason
that everything we knew might fall.
Zeus kissed her lips again.
‘You are magnificent.
