Page 201 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

Womanhood

Pallas had once asked Styx, when he thought I was not listening, whether I would ever become a woman.

It may have occurred to them that perhaps keeping my abilities from me was stopping me from becoming the Goddess I was meant to be.

I felt as though I had been trapped as a girl for a century.

But the moment I left the rubble of the palace Styx and Pallas had built me and Thanatos asked me where I wanted my new home to be, I knew.

It would be at the banks of Mnemosyne. Close to the Realm of Night, but not quite within Nyx’s territory.

Close to Thanatos’ own palace, but not too close to him either.

Easy enough for Charon to reach, but far enough that I would have my solitude to work on the gifts of my godhood.

Thanatos told me on our journey there that the love I had of mixing herbs and potions was actually another facet of my power.

He called it mageia . Magic. And he said I was either a pharmakis , a maker of potions, or an aoidos , an enchantress.

Too little was known of mageia ; among the Gods, only my mother knew how to practise it.

This practice too was a threat to the order of the Gods.

I was starting to feel as though my entire existence was a threat.

Perhaps this was what womanhood was. The dangerous knowledge of who you are and what you could do with that power if pushed.