'She tried to kill me,' Lucian was still processing what had just happened, 'No, not tried, she succeeded...sort of. She killed me, but I didn't stay dead.'
He thought they were the same when it came to their love, but this showed him how different they were. While she would rather eliminate him, he would rather eliminate everyone around her.
Unbelievable. Instead of a welcome back with a kiss, he got a blade in the gut.
'I feel like I should be more upset about it. Why am I not?'
His fingers traced her chest, her heartbeat steady under his touch. No matter how much he wanted to do it, he couldn't.
'What if she dies before me? What would I do with myself then?'
Her brows knitted as she opened her eyes.
He remained quiet, wondering if he would be stabbed again.
They blinked their eyes open at the same time, and she immediately bolted upright. She slid away from him, scrambling to the edge of the stone slab.
Her wide eyes darted from the pile of bloody clothes, to the bloody water, and then to his face, and the now clean bandages around his waist.
Lucian ignored the dull pain in his stomach, and turned to face her.
She jumped down from the slab and backed away.
"I'm going insane..." She sat on the ground and covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking. "I have officially lost my mind. He's haunting me. Of course he is. Of course he's here to torment me even after death."
She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down by speaking to herself as if it could bring her back to reality, more than her thoughts could, whatever they were, "He's not moving. He's a vision. That's all. Just...ignore him. It's not him. He's dead. Don't look at him. It's not real. It's a hallucination."
He grabbed her shoulder and she screamed. Her scream echoed in the cave as she ran out of the cave and into the forest.
Lucian closed his eyes, going back to playing death.
Celine returned to the cave a few minutes later, peeking inside to check on him.
"Why are you not following me?" she asked cautiously, her head barely visible behind the wall of ice, "Aren't hallucinations supposed to follow you around and make you miserable?"
He didn't respond.
She inched closer, her steps hesitant. When he still didn't react, she walked around the stone slab, looking at him from every angle. She reached out to touch his face, and he opened his eyes to blink at her again, startling her.
"Get out of my head!" She shouted, her hands hitting the side of her head, "I will not let you mess with me anymore. I'm done with you. You are dead, so just...just disappear!"
He grabbed her hand, and she snatched it away, backing off again. The cycle continued. She would get closer, and he would scare her off with a small movement, making her scream and run away.
After the fifth round, she was so exhausted that he managed to grab her and pull her into his arms.
"Get out! Get out! Get out of my head!" She hit her head continuously, "I don't want you here! I don't want to see you! Go away!"
He pressed her face into his chest, muffling her screams, and squeezed her hard enough to stop her from struggling, "You can't get rid of me, Celine. I'm here to stay, whether you like it or not."
She finally gave up and cried into his shirt. Her fists stopped hitting her head, and she clung to his back, her tears wetting his shirt.
He rubbed her back soothingly, "You tried to kill me. I should be the one upset right now. You don't get to cry."
She hiccuped, her arms tightening around him. "You are not real. You are just a figment of my imagination. I need more sleep, and when I'll wake up tomorrow, you'll be gone."
He waited for her to fall asleep, but she remained awake, her face buried in his neck.
"I won't disappear, you know," he whispered, "You have to deal with me."
She eventually nodded, accepting her fate. Her hand reached up to touch his face, caressing his cheek. Her eyelids were drooping from fatigue.
Lucian used the chance for a pee break. The outside of the cave was well lit by the sun, and he made sure to hide his tracks as he did his business.
When he came back, he washed his hands in the ice cold water and brushed his teeth with the powder he found in one of the bags. The wound in his stomach was itchy, and he resisted the urge to scratch it.
He returned to Celine's side, deciding to play dead for a bit longer.
She accepted that she couldn't get rid of him after the short nap, and was now trying to get used to him.
Like this, the whole day went by, with her taking short naps through it.
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Celine was visibly weaker, getting easily tired. He doubted it was a blessing. No courtesans had this type of reaction to giving away blessings. They would just run out and have to recharge.
"What's happening to your body?" he asked, his hand brushing her hair back, his fingers stroking her cheek.
"Not enough hate, so I'm dying," she answered, making Lucian choke on his spit, "What? I thought you knew. Aren't you my hallucination?"
"How would I be able to keep the Lucian in your head believable if I'm not as clueless as he was?" he asked, saving himself from another stab, "What do you mean by not enough hate...From whom?"
"The Crown Prince, King Eon, the pink rat...," she yawned.
"Is it your curse doing this to you?"
"No… Learning both blessings and curses comes with a price," she said, closing her eyes, ready to take another nap, "Hate helps, somehow...it makes my body strong enough to wield both."
"Will my hate help?" Lucian asked.
"I think so..." she mumbled, drifting off to sleep. "I'm sure my own hate is keeping me alive right now..."
"..." Lucian left the cave to order his ferals to pass on a message to his Vices, to spread some bad rumors about Celine. Nothing terrible, just enough to make the people hate her.