Chapter 55: Not so gentle
Ruelle blinked at him. The pitter-patter of rain now faded into silence. She blurted out,
"You hate humans."
Lucian didn’t deny it. "I do." His voice was smooth, effortless. A truth so straightforward, so absolute, that it required no further explanation.
She watched as he sauntered to his desk, picked up the lit candle, and dragged the chair toward the bed. The soft scrape of wood against the floor filled the silence. He placed the candle atop the seat.
When he turned back to her, she murmured to herself in confusion, "But you helping me..."
A faint smirk ghosted across his lips before disappearing. "What better way to spend an evening than stabbing a human’s ears?" The words were casual, as if they held no real weight. He closed the distance between them, his tone bored. "It might quench the rage. Don’t mistake it for anything else."
Ruelle hesitated. "You don’t have to—"
Lucian cut her off by plucking the needle from her grasp with effortless precision. His gaze flicked over her face—assessing, calculating—before turning away. He walked toward the bed and sat down, tapping his hand against the beige bedspread.
"Are you going to let me do this," he drawled, red eyes glinting, "or waste the entire night standing there?"
She wasn’t sure if she should accept his help, but the thought of struggling with the needle herself was far worse. She murmured, "Okay."
Walking to the bed, Ruelle carefully perched on it, keeping enough distance between them that she had to lean forward slightly for him to reach her.