Nox Lunaris

Hades

We faced each other on the bed, my hand stroking her hair, the other resting against her back as I steeled myself to let it all out. The things I had kept within me for the past five years—the story I should have told at her funeral, the truth I should have spoken when I finally laid her to rest, like she deserved.

"It started with a game of chess," I murmured, tracing slow circles against Eve's spine. I wanted to feel every shift in her body, to sense where the words might hit too hard—so I would know when to hold back, when to let the past spill free. "Between my father and the Obsidian Council. The men who beat him would have their daughters married to his sons."

"You and Alpha Leonard," she muttered.

"Yes. Leon and I."

A tremor passed through her, faint but unmistakable. My hand stilled on her back. "What's wrong?" I pulled her closer, searching her face. "You shuddered."