Page 223 of Styx

frowned as though he sensed the pain

inside my voice, inside his father’s being.

‘I did not keep this from you as manipulation.’

Pallas rubbed his face in exhaustion.

‘You kept it from me because

you were considering taking the offer,’ he said,

his voice edged with a cold fury.

I opened my mouth to protest,

but he was not wrong. Metis had offered me

the one thing I had spent my immortality desiring.

Power.

Recognition.

Goddesshood.

The ability to mould my own destiny.

‘I told her no. Despite it all.

I told her no.’

Pallas stayed rooted to the spot,

just far enough away from me

so that I could not touch him.

‘Your integrity is why I fell in love with you,’

he told me, his voice softening slightly.

‘The way you refused to bow down

to the fate you were given, no matter

how unfair your father and Kronos were.

No matter how cruel your siblings.

I fell in love with you because I thought you knew.’

I paused and stared into his eyes, not fathoming.

‘What did you think I knew?’

Pallas gazed at me, his features betraying surprise.

‘That you were already powerful, Styx.