"Feels bad to be limbless and at someone's mercy, doesn't it?" he whispered in her ear as if she had been asking for it, a little revenge for her earlier actions.
Celine reached for the syringe, but Lucian used his arm to hold her, his other hand pushing the plunger down. He then pulled the syringe out.
Her curse spread through his chest like a plague, threatening to suffocate him, but he had caught her off guard, and she was already succumbing to the drug's effect.
The candlelight she used to read the journal reflected on her skin, the water around her turning red from the blood dripping down her neck. It was just a small amount, but it looked ghastly in the clear water.
"I don't want you to belong to anyone else, Celine," his voice broke, his fingers pressing on the wound, "I don't want to let you go... I can't.... Does it mean I don't love you enough? If I did, I would have let you go and not hurt you like this, right? But I swear that I do."
With her focus shattered, her curse dissipated before it could take full effect.
He lifted her from the tub and wrapped a towel around her, holding her body in his arms.
He carried her to the bed and laid her on it, then went to pick up an outfit for her. He chose a long-sleeved shirt and riding pants. While dressing her up, he sent his intention to the two ferals, who accompanied him. They rushed to get his carriage ready.
Lucian knew Celine wouldn't follow him. She was not the type to hide and let others devour what the Rocheforts had built or let them rewrite its history in their favor.
'Would you hand Glory to your enemies and let them trample it as they wish? You don't trust the Rocheforts to protect you, so why would I trust the Glory to do any better?' That's what she had said when they discussed moving to the south.
Who cared if the Rocheforts would be wiped out as a result of her absence? Or that he would be hated for doing this to her? At that moment, he only cared about securing her for himself.
He quickly grabbed his things, including the journal, and put them in his bag, then threw it over his shoulder.
Then he picked Celine up like he would pick up his sleeping son, walking toward the fireplace.
There were secret passages leading from the house to the woods, and he wanted to use them to escape. She revealed them to him, thinking that they could be used for their secret meetings. She was showing her trust in him by endangering her house's safety, and he was breaking it.
He was activating the mechanism to the hidden door next to the fireplace when the estate's bells suddenly rang.
The guards began searching for the intruder, dog's barks and shouts following. They knew something was wrong, but how? They shouldn't have realized her disappearance yet.
'Her curse...her curse must have spread to them,' Lucian realized, his grip tightening around Celine. They wouldn't be able to escape together anymore. She trusted him, but not enough to give him the full power of her fate.
'The day we stop choosing power over love, is the day we surrender our future to someone else,' her words returned to him despite her silence. Neither of them could afford such a sacrifice.
Lucian returned to her bed and carefully placed her on it. "I just wanted to prove that I wouldn't leave you," he whispered, trying to salvage his actions. He quickly injected her with the antidote and wiped the blood from her neck with his thumb.
He hoped that she would wake up and stop the emergency alarm before they found her in this state.
A part of him wanted to wake her up with a kiss, like a twisted version of a fairytale. If they caught them in the act, they might be labeled as eloping lovers and be forced to marry.
Then the crown would find out that she wasn't the brainless shrew that everyone believed her to be, and send her to trial for tricking the crown. And Lucian would be branded as her accomplice. They would both be hanged, or worse, publicly executed.
Lucian kept thinking about the worst scenarios as Celine's body began to stir from the antidote.
Her fingers twitched, and her eyes moved under her eyelids, "You....insolent...rat."
"I'm sorry. I panicked, I didn't know what else to do," he confessed.
Her eyes opened, glaring at him with all the hatred she could muster.
She turned her head away from him, unable to look at him any longer. It was worse than her curse. Her rejection left his heart in shambles.
"My brother was right...you will turn me into your mother...you sick bastard," she slowly regained her strength, "Are you...going to cut off my legs and keep me locked up in a room too? Disfigure me so nobody could recognize me? That's what is going on in your head, isn't it?"
Lucian took a step back, almost tripping over his feet, "I...I wouldn't... I love you─"
"─GAH! You think I will let you hide me from the world like some dirty secret?!"
He flinched from her shouting.
She grabbed the cup from the nightstand and threw it at him. He dodged it, and it hit the wall, shattering into pieces. She continued to throw everything she could reach at him, pillows, trinkets.
Lucian covered his head, crouching down, and watched her from between his arms. The alarm had been turned off, and the barking was fading, but the ringing in his ears persisted. It was the sound of her curses.
She made him confront the exact monster he spent his whole life trying not to become. It was his biggest fear, and she slapped it right in his face.
"Why am I bothering with you when there's a better option at the palace!" She screamed at him, her face red from anger, "I can have a crown, power, respect, and anything I wish for. But no, I had to set my eyes on you! What do you have that is so special?! Your dirty looks?! Your fake smile?! Or your pathetic need to be loved?! I should have taken my chances with the Prince─"
"Enough!" Lucian roared back, his anger exploding out of him, "He will bore you to death in a week! You will be driven mad by his lack of personality, and you will be back in my arms begging for me to take you back! That's who you are, Celine! You don't know what you want until I give it to you. So stop pretending that you have a choice, because you don't!"
The chasm between them had grown wider than ever. He wasn't sure if it was even possible to cross it anymore. He didn't want her to get engaged. It would be like sharing her with the prince, and he couldn't stand the thought of it.
"So this is the end?" she asked, her voice suddenly calmer than before. "After I take over the throne, I will make sure to invite you to my coronation, and maybe then you will listen to my confession. The one you will not dare reject in front of the entire world. Until then, stay out of my way."
She dismissed him, ending their argument.
It was for the best, he thought. They were getting nowhere with this.
His feet moved on their own, taking him to her side, ignoring her warning, "What if I decide to stay in your way? Make you cheat on your fiancé, force you to have an affair with me?"
Instead of running away with his tail between his legs, Lucian did the one thing Celine hated the most: he challenged her core principles.
He knew how much she hated infidelity. She would rather break up with Lucian and not be forced into a situation where she would have to doubt her own loyalties.
Yet, he taunted her with it, showing her that he was not going to let her go. She could marry a hundred men, and he would still haunt her like a man possessed.
They were the same in that sense, again, mirroring each other's madness.
He would flee from his own overwhelming, suffocating love just to maintain his control. He would run from his own heart, but he would never, ever leave hers.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
This chapter revealed Lucian's biggest fear. The moment he becomes like his father is the moment he will lose his shackled powers. Little Lucian hated his father for locking up his mother, etc. etc. Now our Big Lucian is in a huge stalemate because of it, lmao.
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