Not a single vein throbbed on her temple.
Not a single twitch of her fingers.
Nothing.
Lucian clicked his tongue. "It's a miracle I'm willing to spend a night in the same bed as you. And it's only to repay you for the emotional labor, nothing else."
"Just be quiet already," she said. Her gaze flickered to the side as if she couldn't even muster the energy to be angry. "For once, stop talking and listen to me. For once, start using your brain instead of your mouth."
"I'm not shutting up," Lucian declared, patting the bed, inviting her back, "Not until you get back here and listen to me first."
"You are not shutting up?"
Before he could blink, she shoved him onto the bed, climbing over him, straddling his stomach, no, his wound, "─!!!!"
"Bark for me then," she whispered.
Lucian groaned in pain, her fingers slipping dangerously close to his pants, like she didn't even notice or care about the blood spreading through his bandages.
"Go ahead," she said. "Spew more nonsense, and don't you dare stop until I give you permission. Show me what a real dog does when it's desperate."
His hand shot up to push her away, but she was dead weight on top of him, "You crazy—"
"Ah ah," she cut him off, fingers already slipping inside his pants, "Don't curse at a Lady, it's rude. Maybe I should get you a muzzle. A nice leather one, snug around that big mouth of yours."
His eyes widened, his hands grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands away from his crotch, "Have you lost your mind? Do you even hear yourself?!"
His knee shot up, tossing her off him.
Or at least, it should have.
The moment he tried to move, she was right back on him. He was going easy on her, and she took full advantage of it.
Their earlier closeness made his body ready all along. It was a natural reaction, and there was no way she couldn't feel the growing pressure beneath his trousers. Her layers of petticoats rustled. With open-crotch drawers, there was no need for her to pull her skirt down.
"I lost my mind the moment you entered my life," she muttered, sliding her hips lower, drawing away from his wound and closer to the heat between his legs.
He groaned between clenched teeth. His grip on her wrists stayed firm, keeping the only barrier between them intact.
"And I haven't stopped losing it since you decided to stay in it," she continued.
His heart skipped several beats before settling slowly after another bout between sanity and madness.
He wasn't sure what kind of face he was making, but it seemed to be enough to make her pause, just for a second.
"Why are you complaining again? Weren't you begging for this? For my unwavering attention?" She tilted her head, staring at him from above with an intensity that would have made anyone else squirm. "I can't afford to spend another day waiting for you to decide what you want. So I'll just have to take what I want first. What's one more humiliation, right?"
The fury inside him grew and spread, filling his veins, burning him alive.
She leaned forward until their foreheads touched, "Too tired to bark anymore? It's fine. I can settle for a good whine too."
"Get off," he ordered, his breathing strained. Ah, he was doing it again. He was rejecting her as if hadn't spent the entire night craving for her closeness. That's how it should be. She was not supposed to get what she wanted, only he should. She owed him that much, "Off, now, I won't repeat myself again."
"Or what?" she asked. Her teeth hovered over his mouth, ready to tear, to bite, to rip away his words in the most brutal way possible.
But before she could sink in, he pushed her back. His boot drove into her stomach, the force hurling her back.
She crashed down onto the ground, the impact forcing her to gasp for air. Her eyes were wide open, her lips parted, as she took in gulps of air. Coughs and chokes escaped her mouth, blood dripping from the corner of her lips.
'She is faking it,' his mind said. 'She is faking it,' his mind repeated, 'Don't fall for her tricks again,' his mind begged.
Lucian's anger still simmered inside him, the urge to get up and finish the job growing stronger. He wanted to reduce her to nothing, to make her feel the same desperation she had instilled in him.
But the sound of her choking on her blood... the way her body shuddered as she gasped for air...
He felt his rage dissipate, giving way to the familiar guilt that always followed.
She reached her hands toward him, her eyes watering.
He staggered towards her, and kneeled next to her, "HELP!" he yelled, "Lady Rochefort got hurt. Someone get in here! Quickly!"
Celine wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him, as she coughed. "You can't... marry someone else," she choked out, "Not allowed... I forbid it."
"Shut up, you stupid cactus," he choked back, the street rat in him shredding through his gentlemanly mask. "Just shut the hell up."
"You shut up..." She laughed, the sound dying off in a fit of coughs, "...If you listen, I'll give you...a treat."
She refused to let go, even as someone came in and tried to pry her off of him.
This time, she didn't faint. She continued to blabber no matter how much everyone urged her not to. It was as if she was punishing him for not listening to her, for not giving in to her will.
This time, even Patch was no longer calm and collected, "My Lady, please let go. He almost killed you. That bastard, he—he, he─"
Celine laughed in response, a broken sound that was half a laugh, half a sob, "Cactus is the...cutest insult someone has ever called me, you know?"