Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 287

Eve

I would never bow. I would never submit. I told myself, repeating the words like a mantra as I continued down the unfamiliar streets of a city that had only been seen through the window of Hades car.

I twisted my neck, the snapping of my neck relieving some tension.

I continued my aimless trek through the asphalt path. It was not quiet, quite the opposite, actually as I bumped into people, lycans as they went about their night. It was strange that a few months ago, I would have been hyperventilating mess on the sidewalk if I found myself in this situation.

But now... I felt nothing as the frigid night air chilled me through my bones, I didn't even notice they were different as I occasionally stared up, staring at the city night lights, skyscrapers ...and the flickering neon signs that painted the buildings in hues of red and gold and green. Everything shimmered like a world I didn't belong to. A world that pulsed with life and colour and purpose.

And I…

I was just passing through.

I pulled the hood of the worn jacket higher over my head, fingers numb. Not from the cold—but from something deeper. Something hollower. Like my blood had been replaced with smoke and salt. I could still feel the phantom burn of the cuffs around my wrists. The ache in my limbs from where they had dragged me. The bile in my throat from the way Hades had looked at me—like I was something to be put down. Contained.

I crossed the street. Someone brushed past my shoulder. Another bumped my arm. They didn't even look twice.

That used to bother me. That I could disappear and no one would notice.

Now?

Now I crave it.

Let them pass. Let them not see me. Because if they did, they might recognize the monster beneath the borrowed clothes and blank face.

A bus screeched to a stop nearby. Its engine roared, releasing a gust of warm air tainted with exhaust. I didn't get on. I didn't even pause.

I kept walking.

One foot. Then another.

There was no destination. No plan. Just... away.

Away from Obsidian Tower.

Away from the ghosts.

Away from him.

> "Don't you want to see what is in it?," Kael had said. _{ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com}

Knowing that it was my sister who wanted me to see this 'truth', the last thing I wanted to see was another evidence of my sins.

I could still hear Danielle's screams. Still taste blood when I closed my eyes. Still feel the beast curled beneath my skin like a second heart.

Everything I knew was a lie. I just found out the world was ending in 18 months, and Silverpine civilians were none the wiser. They would be canon fodder in a war they had no was coming.

Hades had known, and even before all the allegations were levelled against me, he had kept me in the dark.

I could not trust my family.

I could not trust him.

I could only trust myself.

I could no longer afford to bow and submit for loyalty and protection... or love. I had to take my life by the reins.

I passed a storefront. Paused.

Where could start?

There was a mirror in the display. Cracked.

I caught a glimpse of myself in it. Pale. Hollow-eyed. Hair tangled beneath my hood. Lips chapped from the cold.

But it was the eyes that made me still.

There was no rage there.

No grief.

Only… exhaustion.

A monster.

At least I could now stare for longer than a second.

I didn't recognize myself anymore. And I wasn't sure I wanted to.

I turned away from the glass.

The wind picked up again, slicing through my coat.

I pressed my arms tighter to my body and...