Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 216

Hades

Felicia didn't speak right away. Her lips parted, but no words came out, her throat working like she was trying to swallow something down. That wasn't a good sign.

I stood slowly, the chair groaning beneath me as I leaned forward, hands braced against my desk.

"Felicia." My voice was low, even. A warning wrapped in a whisper. "You have exactly five seconds before I start assuming the worst." My jaw clenched, onyx claws revealing themselves. "And trust me, I mean the absolute worst."

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, a nervous tick she rarely showed.

"I—" She stopped, curling her fingers into fists. "Mutts are so fucking ungrateful. I inform him that his own daughter is losing her mind, and then he pulls this shit?" She gasped incredulously, laughter—mirthless and hollow—bubbling out of her, only pouring gasoline on the flames of irritation that had already been lit in my chest.

"Ah," I drawled, my patience evaporating. "So it's bad."

She scoffed, but it was weak.

"Oh, now you believe a werewolf? Are you that easy to fool? Don't you see why he would spit out that rubbish—"

I moved.

At the speed of darkness, I was in front of her before she could react, my hand slamming into the wall beside her head. The force cracked the plaster, a web of fractures spreading outward like veins of rage.

Felicia inhaled sharply, her body going rigid. For all her bravado, for all her sharp words and sharpened claws, she knew.

I leaned in, lowering my voice to something dark and low.

"I know my enemies, Felicia. I know their lies, their tells. They deceive, they manipulate—but judging by your reaction, I know. And so do you."

Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

"Don't take me for a fool just because I haven't killed you yet," I murmured, tilting my head. "Because you are not the first bastard to try and cross me. And unlike them, you have the unfortunate privilege of standing this close to my claws."

A shadow of a shiver ran through her, but she masked it well.

"Hades," she started, voice softer now, more measured, as if trying to rein me back.

I bared my teeth in something that wasn't quite a smile.

"Save it."

Felicia exhaled through her nose, frustration slipping through the cracks in her usual smooth veneer.

"But you did something," I countered.

Her jaw tightened.

"I gave them misinformation."

I held her gaze for a long, stretching silence. The shadows in the room pulsed, responding to the storm raging inside me.

Felicia wet her lips again, her voice a whisper now.

"He tricked you. He wants to divide this family. Divide and conquer—the oldest trick in the book. You can't seriously believe that..."

I wanted to laugh in her face, but the last thing I felt was mirth.

"You quite literally informed them about my wife—"

"Their fucking daughter," she countered.

"You are the most insufferable creature I've ever had the displeasure of knowing," I snarled, my claws curling as I fought the urge to put them through the wall beside her head.

Felicia huffed out a dry laugh, tilting her head like she was amused. But I saw the tension in her shoulders, the way her throat bobbed as she swallowed whatever sharp remark she had brewing.

I leaned in closer, until there was barely a breath between us, my voice dropping to something lethal.

"I know you, Felicia. I know you better than you'd like to admit. And I know for a fact that you didn't do this out of the kindness of your nonexistent heart."

Her smirk faltered just slightly, the flicker of something else—something dangerously close to unease—crossing her features before she masked it.

"You don't trust me," she murmured, feigning a pout.

I scoffed.

"Trust? If I ever wake up one day and find myself trusting you, I'll take it as a sign that I need to put a bullet in my own skull."

She rolled her eyes. That feigned nonchalance had returned.

"Dramatic." She felt cornered, that fucking feigned nonchalance had returned.

"Honest," I corrected.

Felicia sighed, running a hand through her hair as if I was exhausting her, but I saw the gears turning in her head. She was calculating.

"You're right," she admitted finally, her voice quieter now.

"I didn't do it out of kindness. I did it because..."