Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 311

Eve

Elliot sat idle in the bath as I washed him. I'd added extra soap—enough to fill the room with bubbles so thick they could almost float—but he didn't react. Not even when one landed gently on his nose and popped.

He just stared into space.

His shoulders were hunched, eyes distant, lips parted ever so slightly like he was listening to something I couldn't hear. Or trying not to.

I knew what this was.

I knew what that monster said had done to him.

The Flux's voice didn't need to touch skin to leave a scar.

I gently splashed some water toward his chest. Just a little ripple to stir him.

Nothing.

So I scooped a handful of bubbles and slapped them softly onto his shoulder. Then another—onto his chin this time. Slowly shaping a frothy white beard that curved around his small, solemn face.

He blinked, startled, and looked at me like I'd just done something… wrong.

His lips moved wordlessly, brows knitting, and for a second I thought he was about to cry. The air tightened in my lungs.

He's not used to this.

Not to play. Not to softness.

He tried to reach up to wipe the bubbles away, but as his fingers fumbled against the foam, a strange, choked noise escaped him—one that made me freeze.

Not a cry.

Not a whimper.

It was—

A sound. Broken, wheezy—but sharp.

A laugh.

I blinked at him, startled.

He made it again. Brighter. Shorter. A clipped rush of air that might've been nothing to anyone else, but to me?

It was everything.

"Elliot…" I whispered.

He was laughing.

My chest stuttered, tears threatening for a whole new reason.

A real, honest-to-gods laugh—his laugh—burst out of him in another puff as he flung his hands through the water. Suds surged around him as he whirled his arms, bubbles catching the light and swirling like little moons.

Then he scooped a thick mass of bubbles, eyes gleaming now, and shaped them on top of his head—forming a lopsided hat.

He looked ridiculous.

And perfect.

I gasped. "Sir Elliot of the Bathtub Kingdom," I said dramatically, wiping fake tears from my eyes. "You look positively regal."

He giggled silently and scooped up more bubbles, motioning toward me.

"You want me to wear one too?"

He nodded and leaned forward to crown me with a matching bubble hat and beard combo. I stayed very still as he shaped it, his tongue peeking out slightly in concentration.

When he was satisfied, he reached back and gave a sharp nod, like a general inspecting a soldier.

"You've got skills, little man."

He puffed his cheeks proudly.

I grabbed my phone from the sink with one hand, angling it carefully. "Alright, hold still."

Click.

The screen lit up with an image I hadn't known I needed.

Him. In a bath. Smiling.

Like the world hadn't broken him.

His eyes were unfocused, red-rimmed and glassy. "H-Hades…" he choked, clutching weakly at my forearm. "He's in the lower sector… the restricted lab…"

"What for?" My voice was already shaking. But I knew.

Gods, I knew.

"To inject more of it," Kael rasped. "The Vassir's Vein—he wants to take more."

"No." My heart slammed into my ribs. "No, no, no—after what just happened, after what the Flux did to Elliot, to me—he can't—"

"He's not him anymore," Kael cut in hoarsely. "I tried to stop him. I tried, Eve. But… it wasn't Hades who looked back at me."

I could feel myself shaking now. "How much?"

Kael opened his mouth, and for a moment I thought he'd lost consciousness—but then he whispered:

"All of it."

I stared.

"Fifteen doses."

The words echoed through me like a detonation.

My mind stalled.

"No," I said again, this time barely more than breath. "That's… that's suicide."

Kael gave a weak shake of his head, bloodied lips curling in something too bitter to be a smile. "It's worse than suicide, Eve. You don't understand."

Kael coughed again, and I felt the tremor in his frame. He was fighting to stay conscious, not for his sake—but mine.

"Hades won't survive it," he said, voice ragged. "Not his body. Not his mind. The Flux… it feeds on what Vassir's Vein weakens. If he takes all fifteen doses, it won't just burn through his nervous system or rot his organs."

"What then?" I demanded, already knowing the answer and praying I was wrong.

Kael's eyes met mine.

"It'll fuse with him. Fully. Permanently. There'll be no Hades left to exorcise. No mind to bring back. No soul to salvage. Just the Flux wearing his skin."