Moonlit Vows Of Vengeance

Chapter 124: Hollowwood

We spent the rest of the night hiding in the ruins of the old temple. Lyra stood watch while Lucas stitched his own wound without flinching. I wrapped my arms around my knees and sat in silence, replaying everything.

The altar.

The vow I almost made.

The choice I almost couldn’t make.

And the truth I could no longer avoid.

"I’m still cursed," I said. "Still broken. Powerless."

Lucas crouched in front of me. His voice was quiet. "You’re not powerless. You’re just being forced to play by their rules."

"And if I don’t?"

"Then we break their game."

Lyra leaned against the far wall, arms crossed. "You’ll need allies. Real ones. Not just wolves in royal robes. And you’ll need to figure out what exactly the curse is binding—your power or your will."

Lucas looked at me. "I’ll help you find the truth. Whatever it costs."

I swallowed. "Even if the curse demands my greatest love in exchange?"

He didn’t blink. "I already told you. If killing me restores you, then do it."

Lyra’s eyes flashed. "No," she said sharply. "Don’t even say that again."

Lucas turned to her, surprised.

Lyra’s voice cracked. "She deserves a choice that doesn’t involve death. Haven’t you both sacrificed enough?"

The silence between us was raw. Heavy.

Then Lucas exhaled slowly and sat beside me, our shoulders brushing. "We’ll find another way."

I nodded.

I didn’t know if I believed it.

But I wanted to.

The night passed slowly.

We stayed hidden in the temple until dawn, when Lyra finally spoke again.

"There’s one place left," she said. "A cave. Old magic. The wolves call it the Cradle of Shadow. If your curse can be broken, that’s where the truth will reveal itself."

"How far?" I asked.

She gave a small smile. "About three days. Maybe less. But the path is cursed. Wolves go in and don’t always come out sane." noveldrama

Lucas’s hand found mine. "Then we go together."

I looked at them both.

One was my past.

The other... maybe my future.

But neither would leave me behind.

Not anymore.

And suddenly, for the first time in moons, I didn’t feel like a pawn on a board.

I felt like something else entirely.

A queen.

Or a monster.

Maybe both.

The forest was older than anything I had ever seen. The trees loomed high, their twisted roots tangled like veins across the ground. The deeper we walked, the quieter the world became. Birds stopped singing. The air grew colder. Even the wind held its breath.

They called it the Hollowwood.

It remembered every soul who entered. And it made sure you remembered, too.

Lucas walked beside me, silent, tense. Lyra led ahead with a hunter’s grace, her dagger drawn and eyes alert. We’d been walking for hours since sunrise. None of us had spoken since the last fork in the trail, where the bones of a wolf lay rotting beside a hollowed-out tree.

"I feel like we’re being watched," I whispered.

Lyra didn’t turn around. "You are. This forest sees through your skin."

Lucas reached for my hand. I hesitated—and then let him.

"It messes with your mind," Lyra continued. "Makes you hear things. Remember things you’ve buried."

"Great," I muttered. "So it’s cursed and nosy."

Lucas gave a quiet chuckle, but even that sounded strained. "Don’t let it in. Whatever voice it uses... it’s not real."

But what if it was?

Because soon, I did hear something.

"Athena..."

I froze.

It was a whisper, soft and aching. Familiar.

"Athena..."

I turned toward the sound, heart pounding. Between two trees, a shadow moved.

It stepped forward.

Matteo.

No. It couldn’t be. He was dead—slaughtered before I ever crossed realms. But he looked real. Skin pale, shirt stained with blood, eyes hollow.

"You left me," he rasped.

My knees buckled. "No—I didn’t, I didn’t know—"

"You let them take me," he said again. "You ran."

Lucas grabbed me. "It’s not him. It’s the forest."

But the illusion—whatever it was—kept speaking.

"You never looked back," it hissed. "Because you wanted to be free. Admit it."

I clutched my head. "Shut up."

"You killed me, Athena."

And then it was gone.

Lucas held me tightly as I trembled in his arms.

"You okay?" he murmured.

I lied. "Yes."

But something inside me had cracked.

Lyra didn’t look back. "Don’t engage with them. Don’t speak to the voices. The more you respond, the deeper the forest claws in."

"I didn’t know it would do that," I breathed.

Lyra’s voice was flat. "It shows you what hurts most."

Lucas’s jaw tensed. "Then we need to move faster. Before it finds anything deeper."

But it already had.

Because when the next voice came, it was my mother’s.

Her real voice.

The one I hadn’t heard since the day she tried to bind my power with blood magic and chains.

"Athena... why couldn’t you be soft?"

I squeezed my eyes shut. "No."

"Why couldn’t you be what we needed?"

"I’m not listening—"

"Why couldn’t you be good?"

My chest felt like it would cave in. I bit down on my tongue until I tasted blood.

And still, I kept walking.

But the forest wasn’t finished.

Later, it turned its claws on Lucas. I didn’t see what he saw—just that he fell to his knees without warning, fists in the dirt, breathing like he’d just run through hell.

"Don’t," he snarled to the air. "You don’t get to say her name."

Lyra crouched beside him but didn’t touch him.

"I killed them to protect her," Lucas growled. "I killed them all."

He looked up at me, eyes wild. "I didn’t want you to find out that way."

The world tilted.

"What did you do?" I asked.

He didn’t answer.

But Lyra did. Her voice was sharp.

"He burned half the rebellion’s council when they tried to trade you for a ceasefire. They weren’t bluffing. And neither was he."

Lucas didn’t look ashamed.

Just empty.

"I told them," he whispered. "Touch her, and I’ll gut the moon itself."

I didn’t know what to say.

So I said nothing.

We camped that night beneath a circle of stone trees—natural pillars that had grown into a ring, the bark etched with old symbols that pulsed faintly in the dark.