Hades' Cursed Luna Chapter 123 In The Dark

Eve

"Sparring blind?" I echoed incredulously.

Hades didn't even look at as he retrieved cuffs and a black blindfold. "You heard the first ti, Red." He rose to his full height, entering the ring once again. "For the first challenge, you're sparring blind." He reiterated with infuriating calm, as if he hadn't just said the most bizarre thing known to man. So much for leveling the playing field.

I felt a migraine coming on. "I can't believe you," I grumbled.

He raised a clueless brow. "Can't believe what about exactly?"

I pointed an accusatory finger at him, my voice turning acidic. "They call you the Hand of Death, and you take my sight in a bid to make lose." After what had happened with Jules just yesterday, I couldn't deal with more suspicions. The paranoia was eating alive. It was a surprise I hadn't ended up having nightmares.

"So?" he asked easily. "Are you saying you want to back out? You want to run away?" Mockery seeped into his tone.

I felt the ebbing in my head turn into pulsing. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to ward off the growing ache in my skull, but it did nothing as I stared him down. "I'm not running away, you fucking bastard," I all but growled. I stilled.

What was happening to ? I had grown so irritable and sharp-mouthed. I didn't even have to look in a mirror to know I wouldn't recognize myself. Training with Hades was supposed to help defend myself—an outlet for the negative emotions slowly eating alive. But now, it felt like it was pulling sothing to the surface—a part of myself I hadn't even known existed.

I glanced at him, my heart hamring against my ribs. The smirk on his face remained unmoved, as if he wasn't shocked by my outburst. He seed pleased. He was doing this on purpose. This was what he wanted. In so sick, twisted way, he was molding .

My eyes narrowed. "Was this your plan all along?"

Hades tilted his head, the faintest flicker of amusent crossing his face. "What plan, Red?"

I stepped closer, unable to keep the accusatory edge from my voice. "To twist into… this." I gestured vaguely at myself, frustration simring beneath my skin. "You keep pushing, provoking—like you're waiting for sothing to break."

His silver eyes glinted, unreadable as they swept over . "Maybe I am."

I felt the words like a spark to dry tinder, igniting the fire that had been burning too close to the surface these past few days. "Why?" I demanded. "Why are you trying so hard to turn into soone else?"

Hades took a slow, deliberate step forward, and despite myself, I matched it with a step back.

His gaze pinned in place, sharp and wholly wicked. "Because the version of you standing here now isn't enough."

The breath punched out of . "Excuse ?"

"You heard ." His tone was calm, but the weight behind his words pressed down like iron. "I don't need the Ellen who flinches at shadows and second-guesses herself. I need the Ellen who survives. The one who doesn't hesitate to bite when soone pushes too hard."

I clenched my fists at my sides. "And if I don't want to beco that?"

"Then you'll die." His voice was like a cold blade against my skin. "And I don't plan on letting that happen."

A cold silence stretched between us, and for a mont, I couldn't tell if the anger rolling through was directed at him or at the truth in his words.

"You don't get to decide who I beco, Hades," I said, my voice quieter but no less sharp. "You're not fixing . I'm not broken."

His smirk returned, slow and predatory. "Aren't you?"

I hated the flicker of doubt his words stirred.

Before I could respond, he dangled the blindfold in front of , raising a brow. "Still want to spar, or should I start preparing your funeral?"

I glanced at the cuffs in his hand. "You're taking away my ability to fight back too?" I shook my head. "Why am I not surprised?"

He shrugged before turning his back to , the cuffs dangling from his fingers. "They're for , Red. Do the honors, would you?"

I blinked, caught off guard. "I'll be blindfolded, and you'll be…"

"Cuffed. Yes, Red."

I took the cuffs and latched them onto his wrists with a quick snap. He put so space between us before turning to face . "Now, inject with the inhibitor." He gestured to the bag.

Dread filled my gut as I followed his gaze, a lump forming in my throat. I opened my mouth to refuse, but when my eyes t his, I saw the warning there. His eyes had darkened to a deep, ominous gray. The threat was clear—inject him, or we'd spar without it. And I would lose.

I didn't wait. I exited the ring and retrieved the black matte box from the bag. My hands shook as I returned, offering it to Hades.

That obnoxious brow rose. "As you can see, my hands are unavailable at the mont."

I sighed deeply, rolling my eyes as if my legs weren't threatening to give out under the weight of the mont. I slid the box open, unveiling its sinister contents: a needle and a filled syringe.

Tremors passed through as I took out the instrunt and assembled it.

Hades' gaze bore into , heavy and unrelenting. "You've injected before. What's the matter now?"

I swallowed hard but didn't answer. The action felt more daunting this ti. The adrenaline had worn off, leaving only cold reality behind. I pierced his skin with the needle and pushed the contents in until the syringe was empty.

"Done," I mumbled.

"Your turn, Red," he said softly.

I snatched the blindfold.

The soft rumble of his chuckle followed as I tied it over my eyes, plunging the world into darkness.

"Good," Hades said, his voice unnervingly close. "Now, let's see how sharp those instincts of yours really are."

I listened intently, trying to track his movents by sound alone. The first brush of air against my left side ca too late—Hades' shoulder barely grazed mine before I spun, lashing out blindly.

My fist t nothing but air.

"Focus," he whispered sowhere to my right. I whirled toward his voice.

Another shift, this ti behind . I felt him before I heard him, the heat of his body looming too close for comfort.

I lashed out again, aiming low, but he sidestepped with infuriating ease.

"You're listening for the wrong things," Hades' voice ghosted over my shoulder, his breath a near-whisper against my neck. I spun toward him, but his bound hands brushed lightly over my wrist, twisting just enough to throw off my balance.

I stumbled, biting back a curse.

"Stop relying on sound alone," he murmured, circling . His presence was a constant, unnerving pressure in the dark. "Feel the shifts in the air. The vibrations in the floor. You're focusing on my footsteps, but you should be tracking the way I breathe, the heat between us. All the little things you keep ignoring."

I clenched my fists. "I'm not ignoring anything," I lied. He was right. I was only focusing on sound.

"You are."

His voice was so close it sent a jolt down my spine. I swung without hesitation, knuckles grazing the empty space where he'd just been.

A low chuckle echoed from behind . "You're predictable, Red."

"Stop calling that." That damn word.

"Make ."

I lunged, ignoring the slight tremor in my muscles. But the second I moved, his leg swept out, knocking mine aside just enough for to falter. His body pressed into mine, pinning against the ropes.

"You're hesitating." His breath skimd the side of my face, and I hated how aware I was of it. Of him. "You won't last long out there if you keep waiting for the perfect mont."

"Get off ," I ground out, twisting in his hold.

But Hades didn't budge. His body pressed lightly against mine, pinning with an ease that was more infuriating than intimidating.

"You're wasting energy fighting when you should be conserving it," he murmured. "Relax. If I wanted to hurt you, you'd already be on the mat."

"Comforting," I bit out, squirming under his weight. "Real motivational speech."

His smirk practically radiated through the dark. "You asked for this."

I shoved hard against him, and this ti, he let go. I stumbled back, and just then I felt the tremor on the mat behind . Instinct kicked in. I swung my leg back, fast and hard.

My foot connected solidly with sothing. A sharp grunt followed, and Hades fell back onto the mat with a dull thud.

I ripped off the blindfold just in ti to see him sprawled beneath , his bound wrists pinned awkwardly behind him. His silver eyes flicked up to et mine, narrowed but still glinting with sothing far too amused for soone who'd just been knocked down.

Before he could recover, I straddled him, planting my knees on either side of his hips and pressing down to keep him pinned.

"Not so smug now, are you?" I panted, strands of hair sticking to my damp forehead.

Hades arched a brow, his gaze dragging lazily over , lingering just a second too long on the space between us. "Smug?" His voice was rougher than usual, breathless from the impact. "I'm impressed, Red. Didn't think you had it in you."

I leaned in, letting more of my weight sink onto him. His muscles tensed beneath , but he didn't resist. "There's a lot you don't know about ."

His lips curled into that damnable smirk. "Is that so?"

I hated how quickly the heat in his eyes made second-guess what I was doing. How easily the bastard could turn a situation into sothing else entirely.

"Don't get comfortable," I warned, shifting just enough to press his bound wrists harder into the mat. "You're not going anywhere until you admit I won."

His gaze dragged up to mine. "Then I won't be admitting it anyti soon," he said, voice low and far too smooth. "Because why would I want to go anywhere?"

I froze for half a second, pulse spiking.

The way he said it—slow, deliberate—sent sothing flickering dangerously in the pit of my stomach. "You can keep here as long as you want, Red. I'm not complaining."