She glared at him. “Will you do it or not?”
“Of course I will.”
He followed her to the stern deck. Tiphys raised an eyebrow as they settled down behind him but said nothing.
She sat with her back against the side of the ship so her hair would fall into the sea, with Hylas working around her. She’d been right to ask him. He was gentle and careful with his knife. But she couldn’t help laughing at the concentration on his face when he knelt in front of her, tongue poking between his teeth, to make sure he was doing an even job.
“You won’t be laughing when I make you look like the twins.”
“Don’t you dare!” She could see Castor’s and Pollux’s bald heads glistening in the sunlight on the mid-deck.
Behind them, Telamon, Atalanta and Heracles were playing a game of petteia. The hero’s face cracked into a jovial smile as he slapped Telamon on the back for winning a round.
“Did you hear what Heracles said on the island during the fight...” She twisted to look at Hylas. “When he was about to kill Hypsipyle?”
Hylas looked blank.
“About the gods? His father?”
He hesitated. “Yes.”
“Have you heard him blaspheme like that before?”
Hylas turned her head back so he could continue cutting. “We shouldn’t talk about it.”
“Does he not fear the gods?”
“Of course, he does.”
“It didn’t sound like it.”
“You don’t know him.” There was an edge to Hylas’s voice she hadn’t heard before. “Everyone thinks they do because they’ve heard the stories, but he’s so much more than just his father’s son. He’s been through a lot, more than most could survive without going mad, and still he sees the best in people. He gives them a chance when no one else will.” Hylas stood and handed her the knife. “It’s done.”
Before she could thank him, he turned and walked away across the deck. Her eyes lingered on his back for a moment before returning to Heracles.
A kernel of thought that had been planted in the battle on Lemnos sprouted roots. If Heracles really did dislike his divine father, perhaps he would be glad to see an end to Zeus’s reign. Perhaps he might even help her bring about the King of Heaven’s downfall.
She barely dared to hope, but perhaps they were destined to find Prometheus together.
30
Spoils of the Sea
“Land, starboard side!”
Startled by Tiphys’s voice, Danae slipped from where she’d been leaning on the prow rail, gazing into the marbled sea. An uneventful two weeks had passed since theArgoleft Lemnos, with little for her to do but stare at the empty ocean.
Jason appeared beside her, following the navigator’s leathery finger to a bank of rock coming into focus through the haze, nestled in the fingers of a large bay. Danae squinted. What she’d first taken for a cliff face, now appeared to be the yellow stone wall of a vast fortress.
“If my eyes don’t lie,” said Tiphys. “I’d say that’s Troy.”
“Yes,” Jason breathed excitedly. “Priam’s kingdom.”
As they watched the shore, a fleet of ships emerged from a harbor in the shadow of the fortress wall. Their crimson sails were emblazoned with white suns overlaid by crossed black tridents, and gilded figureheads spearheaded their prows.
“The royal fleet!” said Jason. He turned to Danae, his eyes dancing. “It is not widely known, but Prince Paris of Troy himself spent much of his youth as a farmhand, oblivious to his true parentage.”
“Perhaps it is a sign, Captain,” said Danae. It did no harm to occasionally stroke his ego.
