Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 290

Eve

"The feeling is less than mutual," I replied coldly, glacing behind him.

He caught on. "You are looking for my brother. He is in the kitchen. He cooked the meal." His supplied lightly, almost conversational in a way that would have disarmed me if I was not as paranoid as a feral cat in a cage of wolves.

"I don't care who cooked it," I said flatly. "I'm not eating anything either of you touched."

Rook didn't look surprised. If anything, he looked... tired. Like he'd expected it.

"We figured as much," he said. Rook's jaw tensed, the barest flicker of something unreadable crossing his face.

"I want you alive," he said simply.

I blinked, thrown for just a second—not by the words, but the way he said them. Not righteous. Not pitiful. Just... matter-of-fact. As if that was all there was to it.

"I can take a bite of the food if that's what you need," he added, nodding toward the tray.

"I need you to understand I'm not that easy to win over," I replied coolly.

His lips twitched, not quite a smile. "Didn't think you were."

I took a step toward the door. "If I'm not a prisoner," I said, voice flat, "then I'd like to leave now."

He didn't move at first.

So I added, "Or do I have to get you out of the way?"

That made him blink, tension flickering across his expression.

But then, to my surprise, he stepped aside. Slowly. Deliberately.

"You can leave," he said, his voice lower now. "But you…"

His sentence stalled.

His hand dipped into his pocket. _{freёwebnovel.com}

Not for a weapon—but his phone.

He checked something. A message? The time? I didn't know, and I wasn't sure I wanted to find out.

That hesitation was enough.

I made for the door.

But I hadn't taken three steps when he stopped me in my tracks with a single sentence.

"We know what happened."

I froze.

My entire body went cold.

Slowly, I turned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He met my stare without flinching. "Some of it. We're not Obsidian's intelligence team, but my brother and I have eyes. We worked there before. We have friends within those walls. Word travel fast. You were framed. You were most likely tortured."

My throat tightened. But I scoffed, masking the tremor in my chest with bitterness.

"Didn't take you for the type to believe misinformation."

I moved again, trying to brush past him.

"You used to cower," he said, his voice quiet. "Back when we first met. You had defiance in your eyes, but you shook. You hesitated. You looked for permission to be strong."

He took a step closer—not threatening, just steady.

"You don't do that anymore. You move like someone who's had to earn every piece of herself back with blood. A lone wolf winning a fight without shifting, against three half-shifted Lycans? That doesn't happen by accident. That's evolution. That's pain."

I snapped my head around, locking eyes with him.

I didn't speak.

Didn't need to.

My silence screamed.

"I know you didn't bring me here out of the kindness of your heart," I said. "Or some pretentious sense of gratitude. So what is it, Rook? What do you really want?"

He inhaled through his nose, slow and measured. Rook's gaze stayed steady on mine, as if he was weighing every word before it left his lips. Then he spoke, quiet but not uncertain.

"Don't you need allies?"

I didn't answer.

He tilted his head slightly, voice low. "The Obsidian Royal Tower is no place for a lone woman. No matter how strong she is."