Page 164 of Styx

‘I am sorry. Forgive me, my love.’

Something shifted in his expression.

A relief shone in his eyes.

‘You Are Forgiven a Thousand Times Over’

His words warmed and soothed my cold heart.

I had become so used to protecting myself

that I only trusted Asteria completely.

But Pallas, Pallas had been there all along.

I was about to answer him as he pressed

his lips to the inside of my wrist,

when Eurus’s husky voice resounded,

‘Aigaion.’ And gently,

she led the breeze that carried us

all the way down to the mountaintop.

This mountain was in Crete, which knew

warmth better than cold, but the peak

remained snowy throughout the year.

Somewhere on these ranges,

there must be other immortals.

Perhaps Metis knew of this but had

kept it to herself all these years.

A sharp pang of sadness resonated

through my very bones as we

stood on the mountaintop.

Eurus watched us with a hawk’s eye.

‘Is this not where you needed

to be?’ How could we explain it was,

but we did not know

where to look.

I saw amusement cross Eurus’s face