Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 117

Eve

Fear settled into my gut, as heavy as lead. I had let it slip in the heat of the moment like a fool. My legs turned liquid.

I shook me, pulling me violently out of my reverie. "So tell me, Ellen," he growled. "What are you hiding me from me?"

My mind spiralled with lies that I could spew, it he continued to pry, he would find the deception. Just like I had feared, there would be hell to pay if he ever found it and everything that he had just promised reiterated just proved that without doubt.

Dread and horror coursed through me, my tongue tied for a long while. I swallowed thickly, trying to steady my breathing, but my chest felt tight, my lungs refusing to cooperate. Hades’ grip was unrelenting, his eyes burning with a mix of fury and something darker—something primal. Every fiber of my being screamed to run, to fight, to escape, but there was nowhere to go. I was trapped.

"I’m not hiding anything," I said, my voice shaking even as I tried to keep it steady. "You’re overreacting."

He tilted his head, his gaze narrowing like a predator watching prey that had dared to speak back. The low growl that rumbled in his chest sent a shiver down my spine. "Overreacting? Funny choice of words, considering you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Or perhaps…" His lips curled into a slow, predatory smirk. "A truth you didn’t want me to uncover."

My heart raced, my mind scrambling for a way out. His grip on my waist tightened just enough to make my breath hitch. I tried to push against his chest, but his strength was impenetrable, his body a wall of heat.

"You’re imagining things," I said weakly, my hands pressing against his chest in a futile attempt to create distance. "I don’t know what you think you heard, but—"

"Don’t lie to me, Ellen." His voice was quiet, but it held the weight of a storm about to break. His free hand slid up to my jaw, his thumb brushing along the curve of my cheek in a way that sent an involuntary shiver through me. The contrast between the gentleness of his touch and the harshness of his tone made my head spin. "I can smell your fear. It’s intoxicating. But what I want is the truth."

His thumb paused, pressing just under my jaw, forcing me to look up at him. The proximity was unbearable. His breath was warm against my face, laced with a faint, sanguine scent that clouded my thoughts. He leaned in closer, and I could feel the heat radiating from him, wrapping around me like a suffocating blanket.

"Every time you lie to me," he murmured, his lips barely brushing my ear, "you make it worse for yourself. Do you really want to test my patience?"

Desperation clawed at my throat. "I swear, there’s nothing—"

"Enough." His voice snapped like a whip, sharp and cold. His grip on my waist turned bruising, and my pulse quickened as he pulled me even closer, until there was no space left between us. "You’re a terrible liar, Red. You think I haven’t noticed the way you flinch when I bring up the curse? The way your heart races when I mention anything about your past?"

"I…" My words faltered, and panic surged through me. His closeness, the weight of his presence, the way his eyes bore into me—it was all too much. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

His lips twisted into a cruel smile. "Don’t you?" His hand left my jaw, trailing down my throat, his fingers brushing lightly over my pulse. "Your heartbeat tells a different story. It’s like a drum, Red. And I’m listening to every beat."

A shudder ran through me as his fingers lingered on my neck, just above my racing pulse. My mind screamed at me to think, to come up with something, anything, to distract him. But his presence, his voice, the way his body caged mine—it was impossible to think clearly.

"Hades," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "Please."

"Please what?" His voice was velvet, laced with menace and something more dangerous. "Please stop? Please let you go? Or…" His eyes darkened, his grip softening just enough to let his thumb trace a lazy circle on my waist. "Please keep going?"

My breath hitched, and his smirk deepened. He leaned down, his nose brushing along my temple as he inhaled deeply. "Honey and lavender. Always so sweet, even when you’re trembling. But tell me, Ellen, how much of that sweetness is real? And how much of it is a mask?"

I swallowed hard, unable to tear my gaze from his. "You think you know me," I said, my voice breaking but tinged with defiance. "But you don’t." It was feigned, a farce. My heart was in my throat.

His grip on my waist tightened again, a dangerous glint sparking in his eyes. "Then show me who you really are. Tell me what you’re hiding. Or should I force it out of you?" His lips brushed the shell of my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. "Because make no mistake, Red, I will find out. And when I do, there won’t be anywhere left for you to run."

"I don’t know what you want from me!" I blurted. He had an inkling, only that and nothing more. Because he is he knew anymore, he would not be here threatening the truth out of me. I would be on a cell, clamped down to a chair, getting prepared to be tortured until i was nothing than a shell and Silverpine...