Page 29 of Styx

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.

When My Breath Returned,

slow and soft,

shallow and then deeper,

I raised myself from the wet sand,

lifted myself from the ocean’s waves.

If I was a true Goddess,

I would not have run out