The Luna they betrayed became Untouchable

Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Sophia had been in the Underveil Market only twice before in her life—both times in secret, both times for reasons she’d never spoken of to anyone. She knew exactly where she was going.

She drew the hood over her head, walking as fast as she could. She’d chosen to come in the middle of the night, a time when Kael wouldn’t come looking for her, not while he was buried under the pack’s endless demands.

The market hadn’t changed since she’d last set foot in it. The same bruised lanterns, the same cloying sweetness under the smell of ash, the same low murmurs following her from every stall she passed.

She’d learned long ago not to look anyone in the eye here. It wasn’t out of fear, exactly. More that curiosity was its own kind of currency in a place like this, and she had none to spare.

She drew the hood over her head, walking as fast as she could. Ignoring the calls from the other vendors, she soon stopped outside the velvet curtains.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside. Her gaze fell on the one she’d come to find, except he was walking toward the inner parts of the stall with a woman already beside him.

"Lennox." She called, and the man paused mid-step, turning toward the sound. His eyes flashed with recognition the moment he saw her.

"It’s you." His eyes glinted. "Who would’ve thought." He turned back, beckoning another man forward to lead the auburn-haired woman away.

Lennox stepped closer to Sophia as the woman disappeared behind a second curtain.

"What brings you by? Five years, is it, Sophia?"

Sophia’s jaw hardened. "I need your help, Len. I need a potion."

Lennox smirked—this was his specialty, after all. "Tell me, shall I show you your future, or—"

"No." Sophia cut him off before he could finish. Her life was bleak enough without confirmation of what it would look like in a few years’ time.

"Give me a spell. A potion. Something to take me out of the crisis I’m in."

He studied her for a long moment, then hummed low in his throat. "Come with me."

He led her through a corridor. The corridor narrowed the further they walked. Sophia kept close behind him, arms crossed tightly over her chest, refusing to let the chill of the place show on her face.

They reached a small chamber at the end of the corridor, shelves lined with jars of things Sophia didn’t let herself look at too closely. Lennox gestured for her to sit on the single stool positioned before a low table, though she remained standing, the same as she always had in his presence.

"Tell me what plagues you, Sophia." He settled behind the table, folding his hands. "In detail, this time. I’ve little patience for guessing games tonight."

She hesitated only a moment before the words came out in a rush, sharper than she intended.

"I need something that binds. Something that makes a man feel the bond—truly feel it—whether the Goddess ever meant it for him or not."

Lennox’s brows lifted slowly. "You’re asking me to forge what nature refused to give."

"I’m asking you to do what you’ve always done," Sophia snapped. "Make the impossible feel real enough that no one questions it."

"That’s not a small thing, and you of all people know that." He leaned back, studying her. "A forced bond doesn’t simply sit quietly where it’s placed, Sophia. It fights. It strains against what’s true, every single day you keep it standing. And when it finally gives—because it will give, eventually, they always do—it doesn’t break gently. It takes everything down with it. Sometimes the one who cast it most of all."

"I don’t care," Sophia argued.

"No," Lennox said, almost gently. "None of you ever do, until you’re the one standing in the wreckage." He shook his head but reached for a small dark bottle regardless, setting it on the table between them. "This will do what you ask. A few drops, undetectable in wine or water. It won’t forge a true bond—nothing forges that—but it will convince his wolf one exists. Convincingly enough that even he won’t question it."

Sophia’s fingers closed around it before he’d fully released his grip. "And the price?"

"The usual." Lennox’s smile thinned. "Though I confess, I find myself curious tonight. What exactly plagues your soul, Sophia?"

Sophia’s jaw hardened. She wasn’t going to tell him that now. She knew he could just lean in closer and see all he was curious of, and even then, she didn’t care.

Lennox stared at her. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the lady from before. She was done now, clutching the vial she’d purchased tight in her hands. Her maid stepped forward and passed the pouch of coins.

"I hope it fulfills what you wish for, my Lady. Have a safe journey," he replied.

Sophia turned to look at the woman. She didn’t catch her full face but froze for a second when she saw the crest on the woman’s veil. It was the Valemont estate crest.

Sophia’s brows furrowed as she watched the woman and her maid walk away. Which of the women in the Valemont estate had auburn hair? And most especially, which of them would come to the Underveil Market—and for what too?

Sophia looked back at Lennox, whose gaze was already on her, studying her.

He smirked. "Ask away."

Sophia’s eyes narrowed. "That woman. The one who just left. Who is she?"

Lennox’s smile widened, clearly enjoying himself. "Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?"

"I paid you for the potion. I didn’t pay you for secrets."

"You paid me for a binding potion," he corrected, his voice smooth. "Secrets are a different currency entirely."

Sophia’s jaw hardened. "You greedy thief," she gritted out, taking out the pouch she’d pinned to her waist and throwing it at him.

Lennox caught it instantly, taking out a silver coin and twirling it between his fingers.

"What do you want to know?"

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