Lucine is Naksu

Lucine kept seated on the couch, wrapped in the blankets that had covered them both moments before. She kept her head down while he moved away towards the fireplace and stared into the fire with the expression of someone whose mind was somewhere far away and scary.

“It's been six months...six months that you have been here. How come I didn't notice anything before?”

She looked up as she answered him.

“You had no way of knowing, I gradually developed the skills. The night I killed them, I transformed even though it wasn't a full moon. Now I can feel a huge energy inside me, even in human form. I have long range vision, strength far beyond normal, and some other bonuses. Not to mention my nose, this mixture of smells drives me crazy sometimes. Everything was appearing little by little after that day. I still have a hard time controlling it, but I think I'm doing well”.

“Doing well? It's a miracle that you didn't kill anyone or yourself”, said Aram, visibly worried.

Lucine pushed the covers away, got up, and walked toward him.

“And what did you want me to do? When I put an end to those worms I wasn't exactly thinking about that, I was just thinking about escaping from that hell! When I transformed I was very scared, and I knew that I couldn't tell anyone or everyone would see me as a menace”.

"Because you are a menace, Lucine! You have a power that you don’t understand and can’t control, you should have told me from the beginning”, he answered nervously.

“You’re not naive, you can’t believe I’d give such information to my enemies, to someone who just needed an excuse to kill me”.

He stared at her seriously for a moment and she boldly sustained his gaze.

“Is that what you think I am, an enemy?”

“And what did you expect?”, she gestured exasperated. “I was dragged and forced to marry a drunk, rude and decadent Lycan, who had already killed my entire clan! Did you expect me to consider you an ally? You always made my situation and options very clear”.

Aram took a step back, as if he'd been hit, those were harsh words. Despite everything he did not imagine Lucine saying something like that, which only contributed with his certainty that he knew almost nothing about her.

A drunk, rude, decadent Lycan, she had said. Those words weren't a lie, but this didn't make it any less embarrassing to hear that from himself. He began to speak, even though he wasn't sure what to say.

“I…”

“There is no point in denying that you were at your worst! When I arrived, it took me two weeks to collect all the empty drink bottles and remove the smell of alcohol from the house. That only increased my panic, I couldn't stop thinking that you might drink and get violent”.

When Lucine finished venting, she watched him and felt a little pity. He was head down, as if he were shocked and ashamed by all the things she had said. But it was all true. It wasn't fair that she was accused and he kept being the pious Lycan who gave her shelter. However, she also couldn't deny that she had been treated well by him the entire time she'd been there. She tried to control her tone of voice and kept talking.

“You were an enemy... maybe you still are... I don’t know anymore. My head is confused after all these months. Maybe that’s what they call Stockholm syndrome”, she said, walking across the room, trying to contain the avalanche of feelings that dwelled inside her.

He smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“You’re just forgetting that I wanted you here as much as you wanted to be here, we both ended up stuck in this. The way you ended up here was horrible, but I tried to do the best I could with the situation”.

“I know, the worst thing for me is this, not being able to say that you are a miserable son of a bitch, because despite everything, I am good here. Do you realize how much this sucks? I can't hate you for keeping me here!”

“Well, I guess now no one can keep you anywhere you don't want to be. I suspect it's been a while since you were able to leave if you wanted to”. 

It was implied in her silence that he was right.

“My situation hasn’t changed since I got here. I may have more strength and some skills now, but I still don’t know what to do with them. Apart from the fact that I have nowhere to go”.

Aram was silent for a moment. It was definitely no longer possible to keep her there against her will, so the safest thing would be to make sure she knew what to do with those skills. He took a few steps across the room, as if trying to find a way out of the problem.

“I think the only way to try to minimize the damage is for you to learn the minimum you need to survive and not kill anyone. At least not on purpose. Don't you agree? Would you like me to teach you how to use your skills?”

"Would you really do that?", she questioned him.

“Regardless of how we ended up here, I consider you my responsibility. You can’t go out into the world like that. You stay and learn a few things, and then, if you want to go, no one will really be able to stop you”, he said, shrugging his shoulders, as if the statement was obvious.

She nodded her head in agreement.

“Okay, but your arm is hurt, it's not good to force it”.

“Don't worry, we'll take it easy. Can you then transform whenever you want?”

She sat down again in one of the armchairs in the room.

“I feel like I can, but I can't. I feel like something is missing, like an on/off switch, you know? It must be similar to when you transform”.

“Let's see if what works for me works for you”.