but Pallas stopped him.
‘I will tell her,’ he growled.
Then he looked at me. ‘Your father,
Hekate, was my brother.
We grew up together
and he was my dearest friend.
So when the war came,
Of course I chose his side.
But then… we were losing…
and Styx and I had four young children.’
He hesitated and looked at Styx.
My stomach clenched.
‘Styx went to Asteria.
They shared a childhood, and were
dear to each other once. She asked her,
beggedher to talk to your father.
If he had surrendered,
his punishment would not have been
quite so harsh. But your mother
refused to listen. So… we…
We had no choice left.
We had to turn to Zeus.’
The sickness of these words
spread like ivy through my mind.
‘You… youbothbetrayed my parents?
ForZeus and the Olympians?!’
Styx had betrayed my mother.
Styx had betrayed my mother.
All this time I thought it was just Pallas,
but no. It was Styx too.
