Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 251

Hades

"We could do it, Hades," Kael murmured, his tone hesitant.

I stopped in my tracks and let the silence drench us both. "What?" I asked quietly.

He took a step toward me, his footfall unsteady. "We should let Elliot undergo a paternity test like... she said. It would clear—"

My head snapped toward him, silencing him. "You believe her crap, Beta?"

The use of that official title made his shoulders bunch. He swallowed, glancing away briefly before his eyes returned to meet mine, filled with uncertainty. "The evidence against her is immense, but it's..."

"Eve?" I cut him off, taking the name straight out of his mouth. "Because it is Eve, isn't it?" I asked.

He said nothing. The hallway's tension was like a noose around our necks.

"You haven't answered me. You want me to toss away evidence because she is... Eve?"

"No..." He gulped again. "But I... you know her..."

"I don't know her. A couple of weeks ago, I didn't even know she was Eve. A couple of weeks ago, I didn't even know she was the cursed twin—or a Lycan for that matter."

"Jules tried to tell you..."

My gaze darkened enough for him to stop speaking. "But she didn't tell me. Time and time again, her dishonesty has been highlighted."

"But you forgave her—because she had her reasons. After all she had been through. You empathized with her because her family's actions had made her paranoid..."

"I never forgave her," I cut him off, the statement feeding the darkness that had started to fester beneath the heartache.

He startled, his expression morphing to one of confusion. "But you..."

"I simply let it go because it didn't matter who she was, the type of creature that she was, or what her goddess-forsaken name was. In the end, she fit right into my plans. It didn't change the fact that she would be useful. The marker in her blood still remained. Her name didn't change that."

Kael turned ashen. "You don't mean that. You wanted her to be THE Luna."

"A crown on her head would not erase the marker in her blood."

"No, Hades, I know you are hurt..."

Hurt. That word was a gross understatement.

"I know what she did. She said herself that she wasn't in control."

"Probably another lie," I dismissed.

"Probably..." he echoed. "There is still a possibility that she didn't lie." _{ƒreewebɳovel.com}

"Yet her credibility is in hell. I am not the leader that lets his sentiments lead. The evidence is glaring, and its implications are clear as crystal. Only a fool would dismiss that."

"Still... you wouldn't do that to her. You wouldn't extract everything..."

Only then did I smile and turn away from him. "Watch me, Beta. Watch me."

I walked away, giving him the choice to follow or turn away.

The Montegues were farther down the hallway, waiting for me.

Soon, we reached them.

Lucinda stood prim, her hands folded like this was a formality. Felicia's skin was still pale, even after she had been cleaned up. Montegue himself stood in the middle, unmoving.

"Hades," Montegue greeted, voice rough. "We want the Princess turned over. To us."

Kael's posture shifted behind me, stiffening.

Felicia stepped forward, tone too smooth. "She murdered our kin. She attacked me. The punishment should be ours to deliver."

"No." My voice sliced through the space, firm.

Montegue's brow lifted. "You would protect her?"

"I didn't say that." I kept my gaze locked on him. "But she is not yours to punish."

"And why is that?" Lucinda's voice cracked like ice.

"She killed my father and brother—you seem to have forgotten that little detail—and because the Fenrir's marker is still active in her blood," I said coldly. "And it will be harvested."

The air thinned.

Felicia's smile cracked.

"You mean to desecrate her instead?" she said sharply, her voice rising with a veneer of righteous horror. "As if that justifies sparing her from a punishment she deserves?"

"She killed my family too," I said, low and unshaking. "Leon. Danielle. My unborn child. Don't speak to me of justice as if you carry more grief than I do."

Felicia reeled like I'd struck her, but it was Montegue who took a step forward, his eyes burning with the fire of a man who had already buried too much.

"She took our blood," he growled. "Ripped our lineage apart. You talk of value, but what value remains when honor is lost? When our dead are nothing but… samples to be dissected?"

"She is still bound to something ancient," I replied. "The marker in her blood is rare—perhaps one of the last. Its extraction may serve to protect what lives are left. To ensure no other kingdom suffers the fate of ours."

"You would turn her into a resource," Lucinda whispered, horrified. "After holding her as your Luna?"

"She was never Luna," I said sharply. "A crown never graced her head. And whatever bond we shared—whatever illusion I allowed myself to believe—it ends today."

Kael looked away, jaw clenched, grief warring with disbelief.

"Do you even hear yourself?" Felicia snapped. "You speak like she's a thing. A weapon. Not a person."

"She became a weapon the moment she slaughtered them," I said, voice hardening. "You want her punished. I want justice. But I will not hand her over to a grieving house with vendettas. She will be stripped down to what makes her dangerous. And what makes her useful."