▃▃▃ ᴅᴏɴᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ʜᴇʀ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴏꜰ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴏᴏʟ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱʜᴇ ɪꜱ ꜰᴜʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ʙᴀᴅ-ᴊ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴡᴏʀᴅ
▃▃ ʙᴏᴏᴋ 1 ▃▃ In which the only daughter of Persephone sneaks on a quest to see the world for the first time since she's been at camp. The daughter of wisdom...
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𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⭑ ‧₊˚ ⋅ જ⁀➴๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭
With a burst of power, vines cracked through the floor beneath Adrien's feet, coiling around his legs before he could dodge. He cursed, struggling, but Elara didn't look at him. Her focus was fixed—unshakable—as she shoved Dominic back, hard enough that his shoulders hit the stone wall with a dull thud.
Before he could react, her dagger was at his throat—jet-black Stygian iron glinting with divine malice. It had been an earring a second ago, delicate and unassuming. Now it pulsed like it was alive, thrumming with her fury.
Her eyes burned, glowing faintly with the power Nyx had gifted her.
"I should've killed you," she snarled. "Back in the cemetery. When i first met you."
Dominic didn't flinch. His breath hitched, but the smile that tugged at his mouth wasn't afraid. It was maddeningly soft.
"Then do it," he said, voice low, lazy. "I'm right here, starlight."
Elara's fingers trembled. She pressed the blade harder against his skin until it drew a line of shadowy black blood, but he didn't stop smiling.
Every time she looked into his eyes—those dark, infuriating eyes—all she saw was love.
All she could recall was his touch—how his fingers brushed hers like a promise. The flowers he'd tuck into her hair without a word. And the look—gods, that look—like she was everything
But none of it was real. None of it.
"Tell me," she snapped, "how long were you lying to me? Was it all fake, or did you enjoy it when you twisted the knife?"
He flinched. Just barely. But she saw it.
"Elara—"
"No. Don't say my name like you have the right."
Her voice trembled, not with weakness, but with fury. "You held me. You kissed me. You looked me in the eyes and told me you loved me. And then you stabbed me. You let Luke put his blade in my side, and then you helped twist it like it meant nothing."
Like I was nothing.
Dominic's jaw tightened. "It wasn't nothing."
"Oh, so it was just... strategic?" Her laugh cracked in the air like broken glass. "Was I a mission, Dom? A task to complete?"
She hated how much it hurt. How much she wanted to believe it.
Adrien groaned from behind her. "Can we—can we not do the whole murder-foreplay thing today?" he said, trying to tug at the vines without triggering more thorns.
