Hades Doctor

Who is the Fool?

"What did you do?" I snarl when the lights fade away.

Apollo sensibly steps back, his smile mischievous. "Do not get so hostile woman, healing is my forte. I did not harm your beloved."

It was really as if the one with a smile like the summer sun had grown two black horns, and with gritted teeth I turn my back to him feeling the smooth forehead of the god who was still asleep and realise he was speaking the truth for the once scorching skin was cooling, the fever finally breaking.

"Why is he not waking up if you cured him." I hide well my gratitude, wary of  god wore two skins of dawn and dusk, one warm and kind, the other devious with impending darkness.

And it seems he had been waiting for a few words of appreciation as he frowns clearly displeased, yet silver eyes were shimmering with amusement. "His condition isn't simple in the least and with the current strain he is undertaking-"

He does not finish his sentence and my scalp tingles when silver eyes take in my stiff form though I did not fully grasp the meaning behind his words it told of an upcoming calamity.  "Don't fret, he will wake up eventually. And it isn't my fault that he is not instantly back on his feet since I don't really specialise on...curses."

It was as though a thunderbolt had struck from the sky, turning my blood cold, my heart frantic.

"Curse?" The word frequently ran through my mind, never tiring and forever haunting, but it was rarely voiced by my tongue.

He shakes his head. "I can't tell you, because I never tried to risk my head trying to find out." His response came quickly, blind to my panic, to the lips that were turning pale from fear.

"So you don't know."

He fiddles with the carmine belt that added the only colour to his spotless white. "Yes."

A painful throb birthed in my head and for a while my eyes did not lower to the god of the Underworld. He had only once ever spoken of his ailment, and I knew from that instant that the reason to it was a safely guarded secret known only by few who could be counted in one hand. But a curse, it was far beyond what I had imagined.

"Can you cure him?"

"Completely?" I nod, but he shakes his head again. "I am afraid that I cannot. Besides, your beloved isn't a sunny boy."

I swallow back the words of anger from meeting his contempt fully aware that an arguement was useless.

He suddenly laughs. "You don't like it, don't you? You are just holding back because you realised it wasn't me who cast the curse."

I evade the fingers of honey that reached for my chin and move away in cold refusal. "Why did you help him when you dislike him?"

He was taken aback for a moment before his usual nonchalance replace it. "I am infamous for my medication Elizabeth. If the other gods misunderstand my unwillingness for my incapability to treat him my reputation would be stained."

His eyes were the same as that of a boy bragging of his good score and his smile unflattering, but I sensed it was only the synopsis to a bigger truth, a much larger secret, and his swaying moods made it difficult to determine whether the rest placed me at a disadvantage.

"I see."

The curt reply causes his dark brows to crease as he bents to my height, his hands crossing over his chest when searching my face for a more colourful reaction and when he doesn't he frowns.

"I should get going before he wakes up, it wouldn't do me good if I idle around after bullying the Underworld's kardiá."

Car...what?