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