Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 403

Chapter 403: You Were There?

Hades

I watched Cain feed Sage, each time making a train whistle sound just before she took a bite. The mess hall that Maera had provided for our now-awakened men to eat dinner was filled with the chatter and light rowdiness of a group of men sitting together. Kael laughed at a joke I didn’t tune in to hear before his eyes slid over to me.

I knew I was worlds away from all this. Lavender and honey scents danced around me, red hair slicing through the current reality. Her smile—kind eyes looking down at me as she cradled my face, Elliot in her arms, green eyes twinkling like gems in sunlight.

I was a world away because I was back home with Eve and Elliot. The war would not be in the background, playing over our lives and peace. Eve’s wish for a divorce once all this was over was a ticking clock. It was painfully bizarre—the way I wanted time to slow down so we wouldn’t get to the inevitable, but still wanted it to hurry, because every second in this war was a second they were in danger. I was torn between wanting to freeze us in a moment that didn’t exist and wanting to fast-forward to the end just to make sure they survived to see it.

The laughter in the mess hall blurred into a low, indistinct hum. My hand rested on the table, knuckles white, nails digging into the grain. I could almost feel the warmth of her fingers brushing mine—not in memory, but in the way longing could turn into something so vivid it might as well be real.

It was a dangerous thing—how longing could build its own world, complete with the weight of her hand in mine, the faint tremor in her breathing when she was half-asleep, the soft sound Elliot made when he buried his face against her neck. I could live there forever if I let myself.

But forever wasn’t on the table. Not for me. Not for us.

Cain’s laugh, sharp and too close, cracked the illusion like glass. I blinked, and the lavender was gone, replaced by the tang of stew and woodsmoke.

He was leaning across the table now, elbow brushing my plate. "You’re chewing on something, and it’s not the food," he said low, his gaze quick but pointed.

Kael noticed too. His smile from whatever joke he’d been part of had faded, replaced by that steady, measuring look he gave me when he knew something was festering under my skin.

Then Sage, blissfully unaware of the heaviness between the three of us, tipped her head toward Kael with a smear of sauce bright against her cheek. "Will I have to feed you again?" she asked, like the very idea was both a chore and a royal duty.

A ripple of chuckles went around the table, but Kael’s response was softer than the mood. "I think he can manage, Your Majesty," he said, though there was still grit in his voice.

Sage frowned at him in clear suspicion, then pushed his plate closer anyway before returning to her own meal.

And just like that, reality pulled me back again. The war. Maera’s proposal. The decisions that could cost all of us more than we could afford.

I turned my head toward her end of the table. She was already watching me.

I hadn’t seen her come in. One moment, the end of the table had been empty, and the next, Maera sat there as if she’d been waiting all along.

Her posture was composed, but her eyes... her eyes gave her away. Worry sat there like a shadow, sharpening the edges of her face. It wasn’t the calculated concern of a commander delivering strategy—it was the kind that came when the bad news had already settled in your bones.

My stomach twisted into tight, biting knots. I didn’t need any more. Not tonight. The incomplete mark on Kael’s skin, the way his voice had cracked describing it, her earlier proposition—they were already more than I could process without splitting open.

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