Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 347

Chapter 347: The Mark’s Control

It itched as I ran but the last thing I could do was care. The wind rushed past my ears, dragging the sound of my breathing into a blur. Thorns bit into my ankles, the cold earth tore at my soles, but I didn’t stop. Couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

I waited for the alarms to ring. For the sirens to blare. For my name to thunder through the air like a curse, chased by orders and the echo of boots.

But there was nothing.

Just the ragged pulse in my throat and the sharp beat of fear in my chest.

No bells. No voices. No crashing gates.

Only the sound of leaves whispering secrets to one another.

The sun hit my skin, blinding me but I welcomed the pain.

I broke into the clearing, heart hammering, breath caught somewhere between panic and disbelief. For a split second, I stood still, chest rising, sweat clinging to my back, eyes darting around like prey expecting a hunter.

Still nothing.

Relief swept over me so violently it almost knocked me to my knees. My vision blurred for a moment, not from tears, but from release. From disbelief that I’d made it even this far.

The forest swallowed me like a secret. Dense. Unforgiving. Alive.

Branches clawed at my skin like warnings. Roots curled like fingers around my ankles, but I pushed through, further and further, until Faculty 14 was no longer a silhouette behind me—just a weight in my mind.

I didn’t know how long I’d have before they noticed.

But for now... I was free.

But for how long...

I grimaced as the itching in my arm grew but I could risk touching it, not now, until I was far enough, but could I ever be far enough? How did the accursed mark work?

Fear seized me before I even pulled up to sleeve to look down at it. My heart flipped painfully in my chest as it continued to pulse.

I did want to wait to find out what it meant

I jumped into a sprint again

It started as an itch. Then it stung.

Then it burned.

Each step forward was like running through glass. My breath hitched, catching in my throat as I pushed harder, deeper into the forest, trying to outrun the fire gnawing up my arm. I dared not look at it again. Not yet. Not while I still had a head start.

But the moment I heard the sirens, something inside me shattered.

WEE-OO. WEE-OO. WEE-OO.

The blare sliced through the trees like a blade, echoing across the canopy in cruel triumph.

"ALERT: Subject Ellen Valmont has escaped containment. Section 9 lockdown initiated. All tracking officers report to grid sector twelve. This is a live manhunt. Engage with extreme caution."

My name. My name screamed into the wild.

A sob threatened to burst from my chest but I choked it down with a curse. Run. Just run.

My feet pounded against the earth, the sound of boots now crashing in the distance behind me—multiple sets. Shouts. Weapons. Collars.

The mark on my arm throbbed again, worse than before.

It wasn’t just burning now. It was pulling—a hot, clawing weight dragging me back like invisible hands had closed around my spine. I staggered, nearly tripping over a gnarled root, and gritted my teeth as the pain surged.

"Kaia," I whispered. "Please—"

Silence.

Only the sound of blood in my ears and the dark, empty chasm where my wolf once lived. Hollow. Gone.

The Hollowing had taken her. Stripped me bare.

The mark pulsed again—harder, deeper—and my knees buckled.

A voice followed. His voice.

"My darling girl," my father’s voice filtered through the trees like a spell, soothing, wrong. "You’re frightened. I know. I know this isn’t what you thought it would be. But you’re not alone."

I cried out, slamming my palm into a tree to stop from collapsing. "Get out of my head."

"You’ll have power, Ellen. The kind only the blood of the moon can give. But first... we need yours. Just a little more."

"No—"

"It won’t be long now. You should remember our deal."

The mark flared like molten iron.

This is not real. This is not real.

But it was. Not a hallucination. Not a memory. Control.

The mark wasn’t just tracking me.

It was turning me around.

I could feel my body shifting without my will. Like marionette strings had sunk into my skin. My limbs trembled as I tried to resist, panic clawing up my throat like a second heartbeat.

"Turn around," he whispered gently, "and we’ll forgive this mistake. You’re still our blessed one. You still matter, Ellen."

Tears sprang to my eyes—not from emotion, but from the sheer force of the agony that followed.

This wasn’t just a curse.

This was Vassir’s horn at work. Five years of conditioning. Subtle. Invasive. Mind control etched into my very blood.

How many times had I said yes without knowing?

Not this time.

Not this time.

With a roar, I slammed my fist against the nearest tree, ignoring the crack of pain in my knuckles.

"I’m not yours!" I shouted into the void.

And I ran again. Even as my body screamed. Even as the mark tried to pull me back like a leash.

Because if I stopped now... I wouldn’t be me anymore.

It was still fighting me.

The mark—that cursed, crawling rot—kept tugging at my nerves, trying to twist my limbs back toward the sound of boots and teeth and loaded guns. But something was off. Different.

It wasn’t as strong.

I didn’t know why. Maybe the moon. Maybe the flare of power I felt back in the cell before I broke free—when the lights had flickered and the air had stilled like time itself paused for breath.

All I knew was that the grip had loosened.

And I had to move while I still had the chance.

The shouts grew clearer. Rough. Barked. Familiar.

Too close.

I dropped low into the brush, crawling through the undergrowth on shaking limbs. My body was on fire. My breath came in short, tight gasps. But I was quiet. I had to be quiet.