“Try me.”
“I can’t,” he hissed.
“If you won’t tell me, you can explain it to Heracles.”
Dolos’s face tightened. “He can’t know.”
She took a step toward him. “Why, Dolos?”
The healer looked like a cornered rodent, eyes darting from her to the dead shade. Then his body sagged.
“Heracles’s power isn’t his own.”
Danae’s brow creased in confusion.
Dolos’s hand trembled as he held up the bag. “This elixir is what makes him strong. He doesn’t know...he thinks it’s just a tonic to help heal his wounds. Can you imagine what the truth would do to him?”
She couldn’t grasp what he was saying. “He’s a demigod...that’s why he’s strong.”
“There are no demigods.” Dolos’s eyes shone bright with fear. “The mortal children of gods have no powers.”
A cold ripple ran down her spine.
“Of course we do.”
“There’s no point lying. I know the truth.”
Her heart beat at a nauseating pace. “What about the heroes of old? Perseus, Bellerophon—”
“All lies,” Dolos whispered. “Gods-woven illusions to extend the reach of the Twelve’s divinity.” Anger, deep and long repressed, twisted the healer’s face. “But that was not enough for Zeus. He is fixated on passing on his divine powers to a mortal son. He believed Heracles might finally be the one, but it was not to be. Still, Zeus wanted him to be the greatest hero that ever lived. He did terrible things to Heracles, things no one, especially not a child, should ever have to endure. He’s been taking the elixir for so long he’d die within a year without it.”
“But...all the deeds he’s done...heisa hero,” Danae said weakly.
Sadness shone in Dolos’s eyes. “Zeus arranged everything. He planted creatures for Heracles to defeat—the hydra, the Nemean lion, the Erymanthian boar. All so his son’s heroic deeds would be a part of his legacy.” He barked a mirthless laugh. “Do you really think a merchant ship just happened to be passing at the exact moment he and I needed rescuing from the Doliones shore? I sent a message to Olympus. I got us out of there and back on course as I have always done.”
The legend of Heracles, just another deception by the gods.
“All this time, you’ve been working for his father.”
Dolos twitched, rage pulsing through his jaw. “I hid the truth from him so he could have some sort of enjoyment from the life Zeus has forced him to lead, and because of me when he finally leaves the mortal world, he will be raised up to the heavens. He will be made into a star and shine forever, and all of this, all the pain, will have been worth it.”
Silence, glaring as the snow, settled between them.
Danae’s mind was a cacophony of confusion, but one thought rang clear above the rest. The healer had known all this time that she was no demigod.
“Dolos, I can explain...” She took a step toward him.
“You lied to him too. You lied to all of us.”
Fear curled around her like smoke, seeping into her heart. But she did not need to be afraid. She knew that, whatever happened, Heracles would come with her. The omphalos shard did not lie. It was fate.
“You’re right. We should both tell him the truth. Together.”
Dolos expelled a sharp breath. “You don’t know Heracles, like I do. He’d kill us both.”
Danae took another step toward him. “I won’t let that happen.”
His eyes grew hard. “Whatever you are,” he whispered. “You are no match for Zeus. No one is.”
