Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 249: Did I hurt you?

"I might...’’

Esme trailed off.

Aleister turned around, only to find the presence of another man in their vicinity.

’’Jer,’’ Esme strode towards Jeremiah, ’’We need to talk about something else,’’ she said when the man’s gaze wandered off to Aleister and her.

’’Hmm?" Jeremiah tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

A white butterfly fluttered around his hand.

Esme gasped and leaned back from his touch to look at the butterfly, ’’So pretty.’’

Jeremiah glanced at her in adoration, ’’Were you saying something?" he asked softly.

That got Esme’s attention. She tilted her head, feeling Aleister’s piercing gaze focused on the side of her face, ’’Our wedding,’’ she smiled at him, ’’Can we do it sooner than we had initially decided?"

Jeremiah’s eyes sparkled when he heard her words, ’’Es...’’

’Crash’

The cup in Aleister’s hand shattered to pieces as blood dripped on the green grass, drop by drop, staining it red.

Esme was about to look in that direction but Jeremiah grabbed Esme’s hand and pulled her with him, ’’Let’s talk somewhere else.’’

Once they were gone, Leo fluttered his wings and made his way to Aleister. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He sat on the grass and soon his body transformed into its original form. He sat near the man’s feet and nuzzled his face near his leg, trying to get his attention.

But Aleister sat there frozen looking in the direction Esme had disappeared as the blood from his hand started staining Leo’s white fur.

...

Luciana did not know how far she had walked away from the castle. There was a stretch of the forest behind the Crystal Castle and as she started walking inside, angry tears rolled down her cheeks.

She wiped them with the back of her hand.

Liar. He was again doing that. Just like the first time, he made her believe that they were friends but it turned out he never lost his ulterior motives.

He made her believe that he felt for her but again it was all a lie.

’’Lucy,’’ Cardan huffed as he stopped behind her, ’’Can you not walk so fast?’’

’’Leave,’’ Luciana hardened her tone as she continued stepping forward.

Cardan grabbed her wrist, ’’Stop.’’

Luciana shrugged his hand off with a strong force but his grip did not loosen and that annoyed her further, ’’Just let me go. I don’t want to have anything to do with you, Cardan. Stay away from me.’’

’’Nothing to do with me huh?" he turned her around and looked at the angry tears on her face, ’’You said you don’t feel anything for me. Now, you say you have nothing to do with me then what is this? Why are you crying?"

He gathered the pearls in his hand and closed his palm. When he opened his palm, those pearls were strung together in a wave-like accessory. He raised his hand to her hair.

Luciana slapped his hand away, ’’Don’t touch me.’’

He did not budge as he set the string of pearls in her hair, ’’You need to answer me first. Why are you upset, Lucy? What did I do?"

Luciana did not know what she was feeling and she refused to acknowledge anything blindly. Why did she pour tea on him? Why did it feel so suffocating when she saw that woman leaning closer to him?

She had not felt that way before. Not even when she used to like Aleister.

As he gently pulled her closer, Luciana pushed him away as she pursed her lips, ’’You should stop doing this. You know you are tainting my reputation with your actions. In the future, when I marry some man, I do not know how this would affect me—’’

One moment, she was still on her feet, snapping at him, and the next moment, she was pinned to a tree with her legs wrapped around his torso as he kissed her fiercely.

There was no gentleness in the graze of his lips like last time. There was only possession and love. He kissed her like he was claiming her.

All the breath was knocked out of her chest as she acted on her instinct and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled him closer, indulging in the feelings that coursed through her heart at his touch.

Cardan took her bottom lips between his teeth and nipped at it as he caged her in his arms.

Luciana could feel the heat between them through the layer of their clothes. She felt something hard rubbing against her.

As he angled her head to kiss her deeper, Luciana’s back rubbed against the tree and she winced.

She sucked in a cold breath of air and Cardan stopped.

He pressed his forehead against hers, ’’Did I hurt you?" his voice was gentle, and the angry haze in his eyes started fading when he glanced at her pained expression.

Luciana shook her head slowly. It had nothing to do with him. The wounds that her father had inflicted on her were still raw. While leaving the manor, she hurriedly changed her clothes and cleaned the floor.

Lucian was nowhere to be seen and Luciana left from the empty route so that no one would see her wounds in her mer form.

Cardan placed her down on her feet and slowly stepped back.

Luciana felt the immediate loss of warmth from her body.

But before she could dwell on that feeling any longer, he pulled her into his arms gently, looking into her eyes.

’’I wanted to provoke you. I thought you would come to slap me or jump on me to make your claim,’’ Cardan whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead, ’’But as it turned out, I do not know you as well as I believed. You cried and it broke my heart.’’

Luciana’s heart softened.

’’I don’t want to do it ever again,’’ he held her hand and placed her palm on the side of his face, ’’Let me get to know you better, Lucy,’’ he nuzzled the tip of his nose with hers.