Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 241

241 The Mercy That Cuts Deeper

Arya’s POVO

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By the time Lev and I returned to the bedroom, my body was still warm from everything that had

happened outside, but my mind had not settled. Not even close. The meeting was over. Marcel had

been dragged down in front of everyone. The sound of Lev’s voice in that hall still lingered in me. Calm.

Cold. Certain. He had not raised it much, yet every word had landed like a blow. I had seen powerful

men before. I had stood beside one. I had fought for one. I had bled for one. But this had felt different. James often commanded by force, by expectation, by the weight of what others feared he could do.

Lev did not need any of that. He stood there and the whole room bent around him anyway.

The bedroom was quiet when we entered. Too quiet after everything. The lamps had been turned low.

A soft glow spread across the room, touching the bed, the dark wood, the open curtains, the edge of

the carpet beneath my feet. It should have felt peaceful. It almost did. But my blood was still moving

too fast under my skin. My thoughts were still caught between the look on Marcel’s face and the way

Lev had watched him break.

I moved a few steps into the room and turned slowly, taking a breath I did not realise I had been

holding. Lev closed the door behind us. I heard the click. Then silence again.

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When I looked at him, he was already looking at me

There was amusement in his eyes. Dark amusement. The kind that only made him more dangerous. His jacket was gone, and the sleeves of his shirt were still rolled from earlier. His hair had fallen

slightly out of place. He looked less like a Union leader in that moment and more like a man who had just done something brutal and had enjoyed doing it. That should have unsettled me. Instead,

something warm twisted low in my stomach.

I folded my arms over my chest, mostly because I needed something to do with myself.

Lev started walking towards me. Slow. Unhurried. Too sure. He stopped close enough that I could feel

his heat. Then one corner of his mouth lifted.

“Well?”

I blinked.

“Well what?”

His eyes moved over my face like he was studying every reaction I failed to hide.

“What do you think of my leadership skills?”

For one second I just stared at him. Then a laugh escaped me before I could stop it. It came out soft at

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first, then fuller, because of all the things I had expected him to say, that had not been one of them. He watched me laugh like he liked the sight too much.

“Your leadership skills?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head, still half laughing.

“That is what you want to ask me after tonight?”

“It seems important.”

I looked at him in disbelief.

“You are unbelievable.”

His expression did not change.

“That wasn’t an answer.”

I let out another breath and looked away for a second, because if I kept staring at him, I might laugh again, and it would feed whatever smug thought was already taking shape in his head. When I looked back, he was still waiting. Still watching. Still too calm.

“You want the truth?”

“I always want the truth from you.”

That did something to me. It was such a simple thing to say, but with Lev, simple things did not stay

simple. They sank deeper.

I swallowed.

“You were scary.”

His mouth curved more. Actually pleased. My heart did a small foolish thing in my chest at the sight of

“Scary?”

“Yes.”

He took one step closer.

“Only scary?”

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I lifted my chin.

“Very scary.”

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He made a low sound in his throat like that answer satisfied him more than it should have.

“I see.”

“You enjoyed that far too much.”

“Enjoyed what?”

“Making everyone in that room afraid to breathe.”

His gaze sharpened with quiet pleasure.

“They should be.”

I stared at him. There it was again. That certainty. That hard edge beneath everything else. No

apology. No pretending. He did not try to soften what he was. And God help me, I liked it. I liked it far

too much.

He noticed the shift in my face. Of course he did.

“You liked it too.”

It was not a question. I should have denied it. I should have hidden it. Instead I felt heat crawl into my

cheeks, and that only made the look in his eyes deepen.

“I did not say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

I exhaled through my nose and tried not to smile.

“You are very pleased with yourself.”

“I had a good night.”

I should have rolled my eyes harder than I did, but I could not. Not when he was looking at me like that.

Not when all that iron in him softened only slightly around me and somehow became more dangerous

because of it.

For a moment I just stood there with him, the air between us warm and taut. My laughter had eased

something in me. The tension in my shoulders loosened a little. But not enough. Because underneath

that small moment of lightness, I still knew what tonight had really been. I knew what he had done.

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The smile faded from my face first.

Lev saw it happen.

He always saw it happen.

Mers

The room felt quieter then. My chest tightened, not painfully, but enough to make me speak before I

could think better of it.

“You stripped him for me.”

Lev said nothing.

I held his gaze. I did not need to say Marcel’s name. We both knew who I meant.

“You did that for me.”

His expression did not harden, but it changed. The amusement stayed, though smaller now. More

private. He tilted his head slightly.

“You caught me.”

The way he said it almost made me laugh again, but this time I did not.

I shook my head.

“Don’t joke.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“Only a little.”

My throat tightened. I hated that it did. I hated that I could still be so affected by any of this. By ki

ndness. By protection. By a man choosing my pain as something worth answering. I had once belie

ved that was what love looked like. I had once believed that standing beside a man and building with

him meant he would never be the one to break me open. I knew better now.

I looked away because suddenly my eyes were stinging.

That was all it took.

Lev stepped in fully then and closed the space between us. His hand came to my waist first, warm and

firm. The other moved up, gentle at the back of my neck. He drew me to him with no force at all, and