I followed the familiar path and finally arrived at the pavilion.

The moment I reached the top, I glanced around and spotted her.

She was there.

Mother stood at the edge of the pavilion, gazing out silently as though she was lost in her own myriad of thoughts.

The moment my boots touched the final step, she turned.

Time seemed to fracture.

She was... devastating.

Silver hair, long and straight like liquid moonlight, cascaded down her back and over one shoulder, the strands so fine they shimmered with an almost hypnotic sheen.

Her eyes, matching that same ethereal silver, locked onto mine with glacial intensity.

They weren’t warm. They weren’t welcoming.

They were cold, piercing, the kind of beauty that made men forget how to breathe, then regret ever remembering.

Her face was flawless: high cheekbones, full lips painted a deep, blood-like crimson that stood in stark contrast to her pale, almost translucent skin.

A single silver strand had escaped to cling to the curve of her neck, drawing my gaze downward before I could stop myself.

She wore something that should have been illegal on a mountain this cold. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

A long, form-fitting robe of the thinnest black silk clung to her body like a second skin, the fabric so sheer in places that the faint outline of her curves was impossible to ignore.

The high collar framed her elegant throat, but it plunged dramatically between her breasts, revealing a tantalizing valley of smooth, pale flesh that rose and fell with each measured breath.

The robe was slit high on both sides, exposing long, toned legs with every subtle shift of her weight.

Delicate silver embroidery, cursed runes that pulsed faintly, traced along the edges, accentuating the swell of her hips and the narrow cinch of her waist.

A thin silver chain belt hung loosely around her hips, the ends dangling and swaying gently like an invitation.

Despite the freezing wind whipping around us, she looked untouched by the cold.

If anything, the chill only made her more alluring, her nipples faintly visible through the silk as the fabric molded to her body.

She radiated an aura of untouchable seduction.

Cold, distant, yet so powerfully feminine that my blood heated instantly, a dangerous throb settling low in my gut.

"Aristarkh," she said, her voice flat and devoid of any real emotion.

Velvet over ice, smooth, low, and completely without maternal warmth.

It slid into my ears and wrapped around my spine like a caress that offered nothing in return.

I swallowed, forcing my expression to remain neutral even as my gaze betrayed me for half a second, lingering on the way the silk shifted over her thighs when she took a single step closer.

"Mother," I replied, my voice steadier than I felt.

The word tasted strange on my tongue, heavy with darker intent.

The moment I arrived, I activated Hades’ eyes silently.

A faint hypnotic pulse rippled outward, invisible to anyone without cursed perception.

I kept it subtle at first, just a gentle thread slipping into the edges of her mind, barely noticeable.

She didn’t flinch. Didn’t even blink.

Instead, the corner of her crimson lips curved into the smallest, coldest smile I had ever seen.

It wasn’t amusement. It was simple recognition.

"You’ve grown bold," she murmured, her tone still perfectly emotionless.

She took another step forward.

The slit in her robe parted further, revealing the smooth, pale skin of her inner thigh all the way up to the soft curve where leg met hip.

My pulse spiked.

I forced myself to meet her eyes directly and let the hypnotic current of Hades’ eyes flow stronger, threading deeper into her thoughts, slowly reshaping them.

"It’s been too long since I last saw you properly," I said evenly.

"I decided to come and visit my beautiful mother."

At the word "beautiful," something shifted.

It was as though I had spoken a forbidden word.

I still remembered what had happened the last time I tried something similar.

But this time, I was far more confident.

Silently, just as her silver eyes flickered ever so slightly, a strange thought arose in her mind, planted by my power.

’He called me... beautiful again?’

She paused, taking in the words.

Previously, she would have dismissed them as meaningless or too abstract.

Yet for some strange reason, a faint, unfamiliar warmth stirred in her chest.

’Strange...’ Elizabeth muttered internally.

She furrowed her brows almost imperceptibly, feeling as though something was off, but unable to pinpoint what.

She stepped closer and stopped just an arm’s length away.

Close enough that I could smell the faint, intoxicating scent of frost and night-blooming flowers clinging to her skin.

Close enough that if I reached out, my fingers could brush the silk over her waist and feel the heat radiating beneath the thin fabric.

My mouth went dry.

The cold aura around her clashed violently with the burning heat pooling low in my veins.

She was my mother, elegant, untouchable, terrifyingly beautiful.

And yet every inch of her body screamed seduction in the most lethal way possible.

The way the silk hugged the full swell of her breasts.

The way her hips curved invitingly beneath that loose silver belt.

The way her long, toned legs looked like they were made to wrap around a man’s waist and pull him in deeper.

I pushed harder with Hades’ eyes, layering the influence gradually, making the warmth in her chest spread slowly, making her body begin to betray her mind.

Another thought bloomed in her head, soft and unbidden:

’Why does his voice sound... pleasing today? Why am I noticing the width of his shoulders... the intensity in his eyes?’

Elizabeth’s silver gaze remained cold on the surface, but I could sense the subtle crack forming.

She tilted her head slightly, another strand of silver hair slipping forward to brush against the exposed skin above her plunging neckline.

"You should not speak such words lightly," she said, her voice still flat and emotionless.

Yet there was the faintest hesitation beneath it now, a microscopic delay that only I could detect.

I didn’t back down.

I let my gaze drift slowly over her body, deliberate, unhurried, before returning to her eyes.

The hypnotic pulse deepened, weaving obedience and subtle longing into her thoughts.

"Mother... you are beautiful," I repeated, voice low and steady, reinforcing the suggestion.

"More beautiful than I remembered. It feels... right to say it now."

A new wave of warmth flooded her mind, stronger this time.

Her pale cheeks didn’t flush, her control was too perfect for that, but I felt the shift inside her.

A quiet, growing urge to hear more, to let the words sink deeper, to allow the strange heat between her thighs to linger instead of dismissing it.

’This feeling... it’s wrong. But why does it feel... acceptable when he says it?’

She stood there motionless, silver eyes locked on mine, the thin black silk still clinging to every curve, her nipples faintly outlined against the fabric from the cold.

The silver chain at her hips swayed once as she shifted her weight, the movement drawing my eyes downward again.

I took one small step closer, closing the distance until only a breath separated us.

The hypnotic current flowed steadily now, eroding her emotional walls bit by bit, planting seeds of submission and forbidden desire.

"Tell me, Mother," I murmured, voice soft yet commanding.

"Have you missed me at all?"