Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 277

HADES

My breath caught.

No.

No, no, no.

I stood so fast the world tilted. The blood drained from my face, my lungs refused to open. I stumbled toward the bathroom—threw the door open like she might be there, brushing her teeth, frowning at the mirror the way she always did.

Nothing.

I spun toward the closet. Yanked the doors open.

Empty.

Not entirely—but just enough. A shirt. Her boots. Gone.

Gone.

My knees buckled against the frame. I braced myself with a hand on the floor, heaving, trying to suck air into lungs that had collapsed beneath a single word:

Goodbye.

"No," I rasped. "No, no, no, no—"

—You did this.

The Flux slithered through my ribs. Not loud. Not yet. But present.

You always do this.

I staggered back, ran. Out of the suite. Down the corridor.

I didn't even remember pulling the door open. I just remembered screaming.

"EVE!"

My voice echoed down the long white hallways like a curse I couldn't take back.

Security agents appeared. Stiff backs. Confused expressions.

"Alpha Stavros—"

"FIND HER!" I roared, slamming my fist into the wall. The marble cracked. "I want my wife found NOW!"

They moved. Fast.

Because I didn't look like their king anymore—I looked like a man with nothing left to lose.

And then—

"Enough."

Kael's voice. Sharp. Cutting.

He stepped out from behind the stairwell, eyes dark, lips set in a grim line.

"I lost her," I said before he could speak. My voice was broken glass. "Kael—I lost her, and I can't—I can't—" My hands trembled. "I can't breathe without her. Please help me. Help me find her—"

I turned, staggering toward the elevator.

Kael grabbed my arm.

I whipped around.

He didn't let go.

"I helped her go," he said.

The words didn't register at first. Didn't make sense.

"What?" I whispered.

Kael didn't blink.

"I helped her leave."

I froze.

Everything froze.

"She wanted to go. And I helped her."

My blood turned to ice.

"Where is she?" I whispered. "Where the fuck is she, Kael?!"

"You don't get to know that."

I shoved him. Hard. He didn't flinch.

"You let her walk into danger?" I snapped. "Her family could come after her. You don't know what—what if she gets hurt?"

Kael didn't back down.

"What if someone hurts her?" I shouted again.

Kael's expression twisted.

"Says the last person who hurt her."

The silence hit harder than a slap.

"She begged you to love her," Kael said coldly. "You played so much with your toy, you broke her."

I staggered back a step.

"If she could survive you," he added, "she can survive anything."

And that was it.

Silence rang like a scream.

Kael stepped closer, eyes sharp with rage and heartbreak. "Do you know what it feels like to hate someone you love? Because I do. Every time I see you like this, I remember the boy who shielded me from a monster, only to become him."

I sank deeper.

He crouched again, voice quiet now, bitter as ash.

"You don't get to walk a straight path to her anymore."

He leaned close, inches from my face.

"You'll have to crawl through hell to find her. Through your sins. Through everything you destroyed. She doesn't need saving anymore. But you do."

His words hit bone.

And then—

He stood.

"Get up."

I didn't move.

"Get up, Hades."

When I still didn't, Kael reached down—roughly—grabbed my arm, and hauled me to my feet.

I stumbled. My legs shook. But I stood.

Barely.

Kael let me go and reached into his pocket.

"She left one last thing," he said.

My breath hitched.

"She decrypted the memory card," he continued. "Said the password was something only she and Ellen would have understood."

I frowned.

"What was it?" I rasped.

Kael met my eyes.

"Mara is waiting." He told me. "Just when you think that bitch couldn't be anymore insidious."

"What?" I was still in a daze

Kael sighed like he wanted to smack me. "Eve will return but she needs distance, right now we should be at forensics."

He dragged me along but each time I wanted to sprint back...

"I need space, Hades," She had said just last night and who was I but a grovelling mad man who would have to respect her wishes even as the thought of not seeing her made me want to put a bullet in my skull.