Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 295

Hades

The silence collapsed in on itself.

Cain took a step closer to Eve but kept his gaze locked on mine.

"You don't get to vouch for her now just because you remember how to feel."

I wanted to rip his tongue out. To shut him up before the room remembered too clearly the sins I hadn't yet paid for. But the worst part?

He wasn't lying.

The Flux screamed to strike, to rend, to silence. But I just stood there, watching Eve—begging her with my eyes to say it wasn't real. That this was some elaborate punishment. That Cain was a temporary wound. A ploy. Something I could outlast.

But she didn't say anything.

She didn't look at me.

She didn't have to.

Because I knew.

No...

She couldn't do this.

Cain turned back to the council.

"She needs someone in this room who won't flinch when the tide turns. Who doesn't look at her and see a ticking bomb or a blood sample."

"You have no authority here," Montegue snapped, voice clipped. "You are not in council."

Cain smiled without humor.

"Ah, but that's the funny part, isn't it? Just because I don't sit in your leather chair doesn't mean I don't control a seat."

His voice dropped, but the weight in it made Silas go pale.

"Do you want me to list what I control?"

He turned to Gallinti.

"I know your Eastern trade routes are backed by silver-mined goods smuggled through Hollow's Point. I know your chief enforcer is siphoning off ammunition and selling to the Black Tier Pack quadrants. I call the shots on that front—and you know it."

To Montegue:

"Your daughter facilitated the death of the late king. I have the ledgers. The timestamps. The communications."

He smirked, fangs gleaming in the dimly lit room.

"Her own husband, as well as her father-in-law. If I wanted to see your empire burn, I'd just have to leak a single article."

He turned, gesturing to Eve.

"I have a witness. Eve Valmont of Silverpine—her father's unwilling weapon in a massacre that your daughter took part in."

My breath stilled in my lungs.

She told… him.

She trusted him enough to reveal something that took months for me to find out.

Four days out of the tower and she had spilled it all—allowing him to weaponize it against the council.

Silas stood up.

"This is treason."

Cain's grin widened.

"This is leverage."

He faced the room again. Calm. Measured. Deadly.

"I know who she is. I know Felicia is the facilitator. I know the Obsidian bloodlines are cracking at their seams. But I am not sworn to silence. Not bound to your codes. Which means, if I want to make her seat valid—I can. And if you try to double-cross her... I will destroy her."

He turned to Eve.

"You have my allegiance. Not as a prince. Not as a councilman. As an ally to the savior of Obsidian."

She inclined her head once.

And for the first time in a long time—I felt powerless.

Because Cain wasn't just protecting her.

He was legitimizing her before the council using his influence over their trade and knowledge of their secrets.

Our secrets.

And this—Eve had facilitated.

And there was nothing I could do to stop it without destroying her all over again. Without losing her all over again, if I hadn't already.

Every nerve and cell sang with the hum of betrayal at what she was now doing, and within a second, I had torn Kael's grip off my arm, buzzing with apprehension as I made my way to her.

The room fell into a tense hush, rapid footfalls the only sound that echoed as I reached her.

"What are you doing?"

I should have sounded like I felt—vulnerable, desperate, and hurt—but my voice was a growl laced with incredulous fury.

"What the hell is this?"

The distance between us was a single breath, and I wanted nothing more than to pull her to me. But when she finally lifted her gaze to mine, my pulse stuttered.

The distance was far more than I could have ever comprehended.

Up close, it was akin to staring into the eyes of a stranger.

Those turquoise orbs—whirls of bright marine blues and sage greens—had dimmed completely.

I killed something in her.

She was a corpse. Cold, but breathing.

It was Danielle all over again.

I tried not to shake, tried not to frighten her. _{freewebnσvel.cѳm}