Hades
The silence that followed Silas's outburst was brittle.
Like bone under too much weight.
Across the table, Eve had gone still—her face unreadable, but her hand had curled into a fist in her lap.
I didn't flinch. Didn't even blink.
Instead, I leaned back in my seat slowly, deliberately, like I was weighing a man's worth by how fast he could hold his tongue.
"You seem troubled, Ambassador," I said coolly. "Would you like the entity currently riding shot gun in my skull to clarify the implications of that name?"
The temperature in the room dropped.
Montegue's brows twitched. Kael went tense again. Silas paled a full shade—his lips pressing into a thin line of regret.
"I—" he began.
But I raised my hand.
"No?" I offered mildly, my tone mocking the civility he'd clung to moments ago. "Then I suggest you let the matter lie, before your curiosity courts something far less diplomatic than I am."
Silas stiffened. The others shifted. No one volunteered to back him up.
He cleared his throat, gaze flicking away. "Never mind."
"Good," I said flatly. "Let's get back on track."
Montegue raised a brow. "Then we need to agree on the parameters. The Rite isn't something we improvise. There are conditions."
Cain leaned in, voice low but steady. "It has to be performed where the original bond was first enacted."
Silence fell again.
Cain didn't blink. "Eterna Noctis."
Eve looked up, confused. "I'm sorry—where?"
Montegue answered. "The burial grounds of Elysia. The first Matriarch. The place where the moon touched earth. It's protected by legacy rites. No one outside of the Stravos bloodline has stepped foot there in over two centuries."
Gallinti stood, jaw tight. "And now we're letting a werewolf desecrate it?"
"Watch your mouth," I said, the words sharp enough to cut glass.
He froze.
I didn't raise my voice, but the threat was there—coiled, direct, inevitable.
"She's not desecrating anything. She's upholding the legacy Elysia died for," I said, my eyes locked on his. "If that's a problem, say so now. Loud enough for me to hear."
No one did.
Cain broke the tension with a shrug. "Then it's settled. The Rite will be performed under the next full moon. At Eterna Noctis."
I looked at Montegue. "You'll handle logistics. The site is to be sealed. No press. No spectators. Council only."
"Understood," Montegue replied.
And just like that, it was real.
We'd set the date.
We'd named the place.
And now, all that was left… was to survive it. If she would survive it, especially not being a lycan but judging by visions, I highly doubted that Elysia's spirit would mind.
The flux spoke now, uncharacteristically quiet. >"She is her reincarnation after all."
---
>"That is not my child!" The flux's tone was acidic
as soon as my eyes fell on Elliot, the moment I stepped into the room.
The words hit like acid in my chest.
I froze in the doorway.
Elliot was asleep, small and quiet, one arm flung over his head like he didn't have the weight of an empire dragging behind his blood.
But I did.
And now… so did he.
> "Get out," I hissed internally. "This has nothing to do with him."
The Flux laughed. Cold. Crooked.
"Everything has to do with him. He is the proof, isn't he? The mistake. The consequence of your infidelity. While Elysia's bones lay beneath Eterna Noctis… you bred with another. Now that I have found her reincarnation, there is a chance..." His words escaped my mouth filled with venom.
I staggered, one hand bracing the wall as the pressure in my head built, molten, relentless. My claws cracked through the skin of my fingertips unbidden. I hadn't summoned them.
Elliot shifted in the bed. A small sigh.
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