Page 91 of Styx
Was I so very small to my parents
that telling me first didn’t matter at all?
‘No’
The word spilled from my mouth
like the waves of a stormy river.
At first no one looked at me.
So I spoke louder and firmer.
‘NO!’
At my near shout, the rejoicing
stopped. My father finally
looked into my blazing eyes.
‘I will not be given away
like I am a plaything.’
My words were laced with
the sharp edges of my fury.
‘You cannot do this to me.’
My father’s eyes turned turbulent
as his gaze upon me became
withering. ‘You will do as is asked
of a daughter of the house of Oceanus.’
I glared back at him.
‘I am your daughter now, am I?
How convenient for you.
To name me daughter at your pleasure,
but dismiss me when I need you
to be my father.’ A gasp rose from
my sisters who stepped back.
My father’s mighty dark river,
which ran under the obsidian
below our feet rumbled, a noise
