Page 17 of Styx
and rested his hand on my head.
‘You are destined for more
than you ever dreamed of.
Be patient, my child.
You do not know
what the future holds,
only the Fates do.’
There was something
about the way he spoke,
his voice low and rumbling
like an oncoming hurricane.
He knew something about me
that I was unaware of.
Something even my mother
did not yet know.
The Arrival of My Sisters
Each time I was summoned
to my mother’s chambers for a new birth,
I saw fewer aunts than before.
In my childish naivety
I thought that this was because
all immortals delivered easily.
But it was because my mother simply
kept on giving birth;
perpetually there was a fresh new son
nursing at her bosom,
until my father gave her the title
of the Goddess of Nursing too.
That day when I was summoned to her aid,
I knew something was different
