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There was nothing abnormal about the commission. A request to clear out a cave of Hilichurls in the Brightcrown Mountains of western Mondstadt—something Lumine had done tens, if not hundreds of times in her years working for the Adventurer's Guild.
The commissioner, Katheryne told her, had asked to remain anonymous. This was also not abnormal. Some people simply wanted a problem sorted, and nothing more.
Lumine set out from the city just after dawn with Paimon in tow. It was a pleasant spring morning, and the breeze blew softly at their backs as they made their way through the winding roads towards the mountains. When midday came, they ate a lunch of hash browns, pickles, and sweet pastries Lumine had picked up from Good Hunter this morning. The pastries were some of Paimon's favourites in all of Teyvat. Lumine lied that she was full up halfway through just to have an excuse to give Paimon the rest of hers.
They reached the foothills of the mountains around mid-afternoon. Paimon huffed wearily as she looked up at the slopes before her. “Why did we have to come all the way out to the mountains for one lousy commission? The pay isn't even that good.”
Lumine smiled to herself. How typical of Paimon to wait until after they'd made the bulk of the journey to start complaining.
“I don't see what your problem is. You don't even have to walk,” she said playfully.
“Flying takes effort too, you know,” Paimon replied with indignance, performing a little backflip in the air to prove her point. When she came up, Lumine noticed her eyes drifted towards a nearby sunsettia tree located just off the path.
“Say, Paimon. Why don't you relax here and I'll make the trip up to the cave myself? That way you don't have to worry about over-exerting yourself.”
“But you'll be alone!”
Lumine's smile widened. Both of them knew that Paimon was about as useful in a fight as a paper umbrella in storm winds. Besides, she'd noticed her eyes flick towards the tree at least twice more in the time they'd been speaking.
“I'll be fine,” Lumine reassured her. “It's just a few Hilichurls. Nothing the Honorary Knight of Mondstadt can't handle.”
She used the title deliberately, knowing that it would be the reassurance Paimon needed. And it was. After promising that she'd be back before sundown, Lumine set back off along the path while Paimon made herself comfortable under the sunsettia tree.
It didn't take long for the trail to become thin and rocky as it climbed the hillside. Lumine had taken this route several times before, opting to use it as a shortcut through the hills instead of the longer, flatter road around the edge of the ridge that carts and horses used. She wasn't the only one. Albeit steep, the path was well-defined by centuries of foot traffic. At one point, she encountered a cairn alongside a sealed bottle of Dandelion Wine and a written offering to Barbatos to protect the travellers on this route. She laughed softly to herself at the thought of how happy Venti would be to encounter such a shrine out in the wilds like this.
Then she lifted her head, looked up at the mountain ridge and the sun descending behind it.
Daylight was dying, and she had a job to do.
She carried on for a while, then took a right onto a narrower, wilder trail that ran parallel to the ridge. This she followed until she spotted it up ahead. The mouth of the cave was little more than a crack in the rocks, just big enough for a human to squeeze through.
Certainly too small for a Mitachurl to use.
Lumine's hand flew to the hilt of her sword, hanging at her hip. She'd been lying when she'd said there was nothing peculiar about this commission. It was the reason why she'd been so insistent that Paimon sit it out. Camping Hilichurls left evidence of their presence in the environment around them—discarded bones from the animals they caught for meat, drag marks in the ground from the logs they hauled in for firewood—but she hadn't encountered so much as a single scrap of activity along the trail.
What was more, if there really was a Hilichurl camp within this cave, then why would someone spend both their time and Mora posting it as a commission? It wasn't like the cave was located on a common travelling route. If anything, it was better that a group of Hilichurls congregated here than near a human settlement where they could cause harm.
The sight of the cave entrance only confirmed what Lumine had suspected all along. She was walking into a trap. Either an extremely clumsy one, or an extremely clever one.
Clumsy, because there was no way that someone who knew Mondstadt as she did could possibly fail to see through the errors in the commission.
Clever, because whoever had set the trap knew that she would march straight into it anyway.
The smell of stagnation was the first thing to hit Lumine as she pushed her way through the gap in the rocks. The air was closer in here, the sound of her pulse thudding in her ears louder than it had been out on the trail. She paused to summon a flame in her palm. The light illuminated a long, winding passage that made her feel like she'd just stepped into the guts of a giant snake.
At least with the walls this narrow, there won't be any places for my mystery commissioner to ambush me from, she thought to herself.
Nevertheless, she proceeded at a slow, wary pace. It didn't take long for the light from the outside to fade until she was left with just the Pyro flickering in her hand. Whenever she brushed up against the walls, she was met by the sensation of cold, wet rock. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, and it only added to the apprehension stirring at the base of her stomach.
When she could sense she was nearing the end, Lumine activated her elemental sight. The world shimmered around her, dyed in the colours of the various elements most people couldn't see. Ribbons of Hydro threaded their way across the walls. Dendro bloomed in the patches of moss lichen struggling at her feet. The Pyro she'd summoned was the most prominent. The scarlet flames leapt about like something alive, so vivid that she almost missed the spark of pale blue up ahead, brief but unmistakeable, like a sliver of elemental energy someone was trying to conceal.
Cryo.
As the world faded back to its regular colours, Lumine continued forward, albeit a little faster this time. The passage opened up into a cavern. She had no idea how big it was, but if the way the air felt lighter than the thick, heavy atmosphere in the tunnel and the fact her light didn't reach the edges was anything to go by, then it was at least the size of the Favonius Entry Hall. She swallowed. If a group of Hilichurls were to make their camp inside this cave, then this would be the place to do it. But there was no sign of them. No sound but the fire crackling in her hand and her own quickening breaths rushing through her throat.
Except she wasn't alone. Lumine knew this. She'd known it from the moment she'd detected the hint of a Cryo Vision up ahead of her—the moment she'd confidently slipped into the mouth of this cave knowing that she could best whatever trap her commissioner had set for her.
And now, as she felt a hand close around her mouth, she knew that she'd let that confidence get the best of her.
She reached for her sword a second too late. Her assailant dug his nails into her cheek and dragged her back, forcing her against his chest. The next thing Lumine knew, something sharp was cutting into her throat. A blade.
The light in Lumine's hand guttered out. A pair of lips pressed against her ear, hot breath on her skin. “I wouldn't do that if I were you, Honorary Knight.”
Lumine froze. She recognised that voice. Had expected it, even.
It still didn't stop the way her stomach dropped.
“Hello, Lohen,” she whispered into his hand.
The Vice Captain giggled, low and sultry. “You don't sound very surprised to see me.” He tilted her head back further, allowing him to push his lips closer to her ear. “Did I give myself away that easily?”
You could say that, Lumine thought to herself, though the words didn't make their way to her lips. She moved in a flash, throwing her head back and feeling the crack of her skull meeting Lohen's nose. His grip on her face loosened. Lumine grabbed his knife hand and jerked it away from her neck, then shoved him back. She stumbled across the cave floor, eager to put as much distance between the pair of them, before spinning and summoning her Pyro.
“Stay back!” she spat.
The fire flickered to life, illuminating the space between them once more. Between her disorientation and the low light, it took Lumine a few seconds to take in the sight of Lohen. He'd dropped the knife in the midst of their struggle, and was now scrabbling around for it. When he snatched it up and straightened to face her, Lumine noticed the line of blood dribbling from his nose, the sheer excitement glistening in his dark eyes.
“Why did you bring me here?” Lumine mumbled.
“I think the question you should be asking is why you decided to come,” Lohen said. “You knew this was a trap, and yet here you are. Not that I would expect anything less from the almighty Traveller herself.”
He took an experimental step forward. The Pyro in Lumine's hand flared—a warning that she wouldn't hesitate to use it if she needed to.
“You posted a fake commission, lured me halfway across Mondstadt. If you wanted to speak with me, you could have just visited the Knights' Headquarters. Why go to all this effort?”
The blood had reached Lohen's mouth. He ran a thumb across his upper lip, then licked it off, his pink tongue flicking against the leather of his glove. Then, he smiled and spread his arms wide. Lumine noticed the curved blade of his glaive sticking out from behind his shoulder. “It's just more fun like this. Away from the city, all those ancient laws and prying eyes... Wouldn't you agree, Honorary Knight?”
His words had a shiver travelling down Lumine's spine. She'd known enough of the Knights of Favonius for enough years to know that they were an eccentric group. Eula and her near-obsessive talk of vengeance for her clan. Kaeya and his secrets that seemed set to come spilling out whenever the pair of them shared a drink, but never did. Albedo and his... well, just about everything. The people who had once seemed so strange, even intimidating, to her had quickly become friends and comrades who she'd fought shoulder to shoulder with countless times and would gladly stand against the forces of the Abyss to save.
But what did she really know about Lohen? A week had passed since their initial meeting in the Thousand Winds Temple, and she hadn't seen him around once. Varka said that there was nothing unusual about that. An elusive little guy, he'd called him. Probably in the woods somewhere chasing the high of endless Wild Hunt kills from back in Nod-Krai.
Lumine had noticed his expression darken after that, just a little. He'd warned her that Lohen could be a little strange sometimes, and not to let his mannerisms get to her. When Lumine had asked him what he'd meant by that, he'd laughed and told her not to worry.
The look had remained with her since, though.
She took a deep breath now, pushed her shoulders back and straightened her spine. Strange or not, Lohen was still a Knight of Favonius. Like all Knights, he had a code of conduct he'd sworn to uphold.
“Vice Captain Lohen,” she said slowly and stiffly, hoping that the reminder of his rank would knock some sense into whatever thoughts were going round his head now. “I am requesting—no, I am ordering you, as both a fellow Knight and citizen, to step aside and let me go.”
Lohen's eyes narrowed in amusement. “Order? Since when do you get to order me around?”
Lumine resisted the urge to back away as he took another step towards her. He seemed unfazed by the flame in her hand. His eyes stared straight past it, locked onto hers with an intensity that reminded Lumine of a circling wolf.
“You have no right to keep me here,” she insisted. “Let me leave.”
“Hm? I'm not stopping you from leaving.”
Lohen gestured behind him with a smile that practically dripped with faux innocence. Lumine clenched her jaw. He was lying. Not only had he planted himself directly in front of the exit to the cave, Lumine knew that the moment she so much as turned her away from him, he'd attack her again. Did he really think she wouldn't fight back just because they were fellow Knights?
No. The realisation hit her like a stone.
Lohen wanted her to fight him. Craved it, even.
It was written all over his body, from his bent knees to his gloved fingers, twitching as if he could already feel the metal of his glaive between them. Lumine was no stranger to people taking up arms with her. Every so often, she'd meet a bandit or group or group of them on the road who'd heard tales of the Traveller's deeds across and thought that goading her into a fight would be a way to prove their mettle—a venture that usually left them with egos as bruised as their arses.
But Lohen was no bandit wielding a clumsy, iron sword. He was a ranked Knight, trained and poised, and right now, everything about him screamed danger.
To test her theory, Lumine started to walk towards the exit. Lohen remained where he was. It was only when she was passing him that Lumine turned her head away for a heartbeat. Sure enough, there came a rustle, followed by a rush of air. Lumine jumped aside just in time to avoid the swing of the glaive, splitting the space her chest had just been occupying.
The second strike came a second later. Lumine was less prepared for this one, and only just managed to draw her sword in time. It met Lohen's blade with a clang that bounced off the walls of the cave and sent shivers through her teeth.
He jumped back with a cat-like fluidity, putting space between the pair of them once again. In her peripheral vision, Lumine noticed a brazier hanging on the wall. She flicked her hand. The old kindling caught, and it went up in a blaze of Pyro, lighting up the cave from a second angle.
Lohen's smirk deepened. He was holding his glaive with both hands now, his knife tucked back into its hidden sheath. It was shorter than most polearms Lumine had seen—probably built for speed rather than brute force. Lumine wondered whether he'd had it specially forged for himself.
“You're good with your elements,” Lohen remarked, visibly impressed. “The stories say you can switch between them at will without the use of a Vision. How absolutely fascinating.”
Lumine narrowed her eyes. Was he looking for a demonstration or something? Out in the open, she wouldn't have hesitated to use her elements to gain an edge—a gust of Anemo to knock him aside, a jet of Hydro in the eyes to startle him. Here in this cavern, though, with its close walls and creeping darkness, Lumine was more reluctant for fear of seriously injuring one or both of them. She decided to save them for a last resort.
Not only that, but she didn't want to give Lohen the satisfaction of a light show.
She vanished the Pyro in her hand and noticed the way Lohen's face fell. It didn't last long. His smirk returned, somehow cockier than before, as he stood up straight, twirling his glaive theatrically.
“Fine,” he said with a sigh of resignation. “I suppose a traditional fight it is.”
Lumine wanted to shout at him that she'd had enough of this—that she didn't want to fight him—but she wasn't given the chance. He lunged at her, swift and brutal, swinging his glaive hard at her head. Lumine caught it on her sword, then twisted to parry another swing, this time aimed at her legs. She whipped her sword arm away and made a swing of her own, aiming to catch his side with the flat of the blade. Lohen caught it effortlessly on the handle of his weapon.
His form was immaculate. Not that Lumine had expected anything of a Knight. Lohen was slim and lithe, and he took advantage of this, ducking around her like a trained dancer where a bigger opponent might have used brute force. The low light only made things worse. One moment he was in full view, bearing down on her with eyes lit up like a madman. The next, he'd slipped behind her, and it was all Lumine could do to rely on her instincts to bat his weapon away.
In other words, it was like fighting a shadow.
It was from the shadows that the attack came—a single, violent lunge that she noticed a heartbeat too late. Her thigh exploded in pain as it met the curved, razor-sharp tip of the glaive. She let out a cry and stumbled back towards the brazier, clutching her leg.
Thankfully, Lohen didn't follow her. He stood tall in the centre of the cave, visibly drunk on the thrill of combat. His silver-blue hair had become a little unruly during their fight, but other than that, he showed no signs of exhaustion. That annoyed Lumine far more than it should have done.
“Sorry,” he said with a shrug, as casually as if he'd simply bumped into her.
Lumine gasped as she pulled her hand away from her wound. The cut wasn't deep, but it was bleeding fast, the blood having already soaked through the layers of her dress skirts. When she moved her leg, white spots flashed at the corners of her eyes.
She turned those eyes on Lohen again. The pain sharpened her mind, but she could sense her rage building too, fraying it apart at the edges. Lohen slanted his head forward and raised his eyebrows in a look that was as curious as it was condescending.
“Here I thought the great Traveller was famed for her bladework,” he said, his tone low and smooth. “Looks like I was mistaken.”
Another spike of anger stabbed at Lumine. A part of her considered summoning her Pyro again and sending a blast of it towards Lohen just to end this, risk be damned.
Instead, she stood tall, raised her blade, and narrowed her eyes.
Lohen tilted back his head and smiled, gripping his glaive in his hand. “Wonderful.”
This time, Lumine was the one to strike. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she pushed off her leg and lunged for Lohen. He dodged her sword effortlessly. Another furious swing glanced off his blade. Each movement made the wound on Lumine's thigh sing, but she did what she was best at and pushed it to the back of her mind. She couldn't let her attention slip again. Not if she wanted to get out of this cave alive.
The thought sent a shiver down her back. Was that Lohen's goal here? To kill her? He was certainly fighting that way. For what it was worth, Lumine had no intention of killing him back. All she needed was an opening—a crack in his defences, a moment of distraction that she could use to slip in close and hit him with the flat of her blade. Not to kill, but to incapacitate.
Lohen spun away and lifted his glaive high, and there. Lumine saw her chance. She launched herself at him, ready to swing her elbow into his ribs and knock the air from his lungs before he could bring his weapon back down.
The world flipped. Lumine's head cracked against something hard.
For a while, it was all Lumine could do to lay there as the darkness swirled around her, suffocating her. Her head throbbed with pain. Nausea stirred in her gut.
She had to move, but her body had forgotten how to.
A shadow fell over her. Through bleary eyes, Lumine caught a glimpse of Lohen's smile. He'd managed to knock her over, but how? Both of his hands had been on his weapon, and Lumine would have felt it if he'd kicked the back of her ankle to trip her up.
But then, she moved her leg and felt the bite of something cold against her calf through her stocking. The bite of ice.
It was a dirty, underhanded trick, closer to the kind Lumine would expect from a Treasure Hoarder than a Knight. Lohen must have created the patch of ice with his Vision while she'd been distracted by her wound, then deliberately created a gap in his defence to lure her over. Lumine groaned. Her head didn't feel concussed, thank the Archons, but it throbbed. She reached out a hand to her side and scrabbled around for her sword, which had clattered to the rocks when she'd fallen.
Lohen let out a laugh. When he spoke, his words sounded distant—like he was standing in the tunnel she'd crept through to enter the cavern. “After all that, you're still willing to fight. Do you yield?”
Lumine had no idea what would happen if she said yes. Perhaps Lohen would let her go, having had his little moment of fun with her. Or maybe he'd kill her after all, keep her from running to the Knights and telling them what he'd done. He could have run her through with his glaive a hundred times over in the time she'd been down. At least he possessed enough chivalry to let her get back up before he executed her.
Lumine's hand found the hilt of her blade and closed around it. With a gasp, she rolled onto her front. Her movements were alarmingly sluggish. Still, she could feel her strength ebbing back to her now, her vision sharpening as she gripped the metal in her hand.
The sword slipped through her fingers and flew, spinning, across the cave floor. Lohen had kicked it away.
Before Lumine could so much as open her mouth, she felt the press of something warm and heavy on her back. She shook her shoulders in an attempt to free herself, but Lohen covered her fast, his gloved hand pinning down hers to keep her from reaching for her sword, the material and buckles of his uniform rough against her bare skin.
“Get... away from me,” Lumine huffed.
She tried to shake him off again, harder this time, pushing off the ground with her hands and kicking out with her legs. Lohen just pinned her down more tightly.
“I asked you a question, Honorary Knight.” For the second time since entering the cave, Lumine felt hot breath on her neck, the tickle of hair on her chin. “Will you yield to me?”
Yield... to me. For some reason, the addition of those two words had the hairs on the back of Lumine's neck lifting.
“Lohen, this is too far,” she hissed between pants.
“Do you think so?” he asked sweetly. “Allow me to take it further, then.”
And with that, he reached around, grabbed her chin, and tilted her face to meet his.
Lumine's cry of surprise was muffled by a pair of lips. Lohen led her mouth in a slow, gentle waltz, flicking his tongue against Lumine's even as she tasted the dried blood on his lips.
When he broke away, he let out a soft, contented sigh.
“There,” he whispered. “That wasn't so bad, was it?”
For a moment, it was all Lumine could do to process what had just been done to her. Her head had started to swirl with a dizziness that had nothing to do with hitting the cave floor.
“You... kissed me,” she whispered.
“I did,” said Lohen, then paused. “You seem stunned. Don't tell me it was your first?”
“Of course not,” Lumine hissed.
“Good.” Lohen's face was still close to hers, and the warmth of his breath tickled her cheek as he laughed. “Although I would have found it rather hard to believe if you'd said yes. A traveller as lauded as you, adored by everyone she encounters. You must have the entirety of Teyvat throwing themselves at your feet.”
He'd started to fiddle with the straps holding his cloak in place as he spoke, using the hand on Lumine's chin and the weight of his hips to keep her in place beneath him. Lumine kicked her legs and tried to claw at his forearm as her agency returned to her, but that only made Lohen dig his fingers more painfully into her jaw.
“All that choice, and yet here you are in my arms.”
“I'm not some trophy.”
“I know. I'm simply enjoying the moment.”
There came a rustle of material as Lohen shed his cloak from his shoulders, followed by a click. By the time Lumine realised what was happening, Lohen had already looped the leather strap that had held the garment in place around her wrists.
Panic flooded her nerves. Flames flitted between her fingertips.
Lohen slammed his hand on top of hers, dousing them.
“Let's not do that,” he said, a hint of danger in his voice. Even through his gloves, Lumine could feel the prickle of his Cryo—the one element she'd yet to master. “I'll make things very easy for you, Honorary Knight. If I see you summon your magic again, I'll slit your throat down to the bone. Do you understand me?”
Considering that he'd already slashed open one of her thighs, Lumine imagined that his threat was far from a bluff. She nodded.
She just had to wait for a proper opening. That was all.
Lohen buried his nose in her hair and breathed in the scent. “I'm glad to hear it.”
Then, he pulled the strap hard around her wrists and secured the buckle. Lumine winced at the bite of leather on her skin.
“The other Knights won't stand for this, Lohen,” she muttered. “It's just as you said. Everyone in Mondstadt knows who I am. Once they find out what you've done today, they'll strip you of your title. Cast you out.”
“Mm, maybe. But who's going to tell them?”
Lumine was about to ask him what the fuck he meant by that when she felt it. The press of a hand between her thighs.
She paled. She'd known it would come to this. Between the way Lohen had pulled her into his chest when he'd first placed his knife against her neck, to the kiss he'd pressed against her lips just minutes ago, his intentions had been obvious. A part of her had wanted to deny it. Of course a Knight of Favonius wouldn't dare to commit such an abominable act, even behind closed doors. It was unthinkable. Ludicrous.
And yet there was no denying the intention with which Lohen ran his hand up the inside of her leg, his gloved fingertips pressing tenderly against her soft skin. Lumine tried to squeeze her thighs together in protest, but it did little except make her wince as the pain in her cut flared. If anything, it spurred him on.
When she felt his fingers press against her underwear, Lumine started to thrash.
“What's wrong?” he cooed sweetly, ignoring her. “Don't you want me to touch you first?”
Lumine let out a snarl. As if she could possibly dignify that question with words.
Lohen was on top of her at an angle now, one hand gripping her shoulder now that he no longer had to worry about her using her own hands against him. He lifted a little weight from his hips and planted a knee between her legs—a position that allowed him to continue rubbing her while keeping his face close to hers.
“If you'd prefer, I can skip this part and go straight to satisfying my own needs, but I can't promise that I'll be gentle when I do.” His fingers drifted up and down Lumine's underwear, tracing the shape of her opening through the material. “Unless you actually get off on that kind of pain. That would be very interesting, indeed.”
The fact he was trying to pretend any of this was for her benefit made Lumine's insides twist with nausea.
“Personally, I find a little pain makes everything far more exciting.” Slowly, teasingly, Lohen pushed aside her underwear with his thumb. Lumine shuddered as she felt his cold gloves touch her skin directly.
He paused. “Oh. I certainly wasn't expecting that.”
Lumine knew exactly what it was that had caught his interest. She'd felt herself getting wetter as he'd been touching her—a result of the physical attention, and nothing more. Shame seared her cheeks.
“It's blood,” she lied.
“And here I recall you claiming you weren't a virgin.”
Lumine gritted her teeth at what she hoped was a tasteless joke. “Blood from where you cut me, you bastard.”
“Oh, yes. I did, didn't I?” said Lohen cheerfully.
Then, he pushed his hand forward.
Lumine let out a whine as she felt his two fingers slide inside her. Despite her wetness, it was a tight fit, and the gloves he was wearing made it even tighter. She bit her lip, resisting the urge to clamp down on him.
He wasted no time with her, pulling his fingers out almost all the way before thrusting them back in. Lumine tried to keep her breathing even, pretend his attentions were having little of an effect on her. But then Lohen pressed in up to the knuckles and curled his fingers into her walls, and she found herself letting out another moan.
“So wet for me,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the nape of her neck. “It's almost like your body is begging to be fucked.”
Lumine had no idea whether his words were meant to be teasing or a result of his delusions, but they had her grimacing nonetheless. “You're—ngh—a disgrace.”
Lohen giggled softly. “Am I, now?”
He slipped his fingers free from her cunt with a lewd, wet shlick, then dipped them lower. Lumine gasped as he started to rub against her clit, the leather slick as it glided across her skin.
“I know what it's like to be torn between duty and need, Honorary Knight. Your pride says to resist, but your instincts want to give in. Why not listen to them, hm?”
The thought was so laughable, so steeped in arrogance, that Lumine might have barked out a laugh had she not been in such a state of panic. None of her wanted this. If Lohen's threat earlier on had been a little less visceral, she probably would have chanced summoning her elements again just so she didn't have to endure it.
And yet she wasn't resisting him. At least, not as much as she should be. Sure, his promise of slitting her throat had terrified her, but Lumine had been up against a lot worse than one psychotic Knight during her time in Teyvat. Archons, just weeks ago she'd defeated the Doctor himself in combat. Why was it that she refused to push back against him harder right now?
Could it be that he was correct, and there was a part of her, small as it was, that was actually enjoying this?
Lumine flushed those thoughts from her head. Of course she didn't actually feel that way.
These were just her survival instincts talking.
Somehow, no matter the means, she would get through this.
The feeling of Lohen's breath on the back of her neck jolted Lumine from her train of thoughts. She huffed as he pressed a kiss against her, then swirled his tongue against her skin, hot and wet and possessive.
At the same time, the pace of his strokes against her clit intensified. Lumine arched her back as an involuntary heat started to build at the pit of her stomach.
“I can feel you breaking,” Lohen murmured into the side of her neck. He hummed softly, and Lumine could practically picture the taunting slant of his mouth, the way his eyes were likely glistening with excitement the same way they had been while they'd been fighting.
Another wave of traitorous heat bloomed inside her. She gritted her teeth. “Not a chance.”
She dug her bound wrists into the cave floor and tried to push herself up onto all fours—a position that would allow her a little more freedom of movement, at least.
Lohen pressed down on her with his hips, then closed his finger and thumb around her clit and squeezed.
The sound Lumine let out wasn't human.
“So, you do get off on pain,” Lohen exclaimed. “How absolutely wonderful.”
Lumine had no idea which part of her reaction was supposed to indicate she was enjoying this. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes, her clit throbbing even as Lohen went back to rubbing her. He moved faster now, his fingers becoming more focused, more ruthless in their attentions on her swollen bud.
“I always knew we were more alike than you were willing to admit, Honorary Knight.”
The thought horrified Lumine almost as much as the violation of her body itself. “I am—ah—nothing like you—”
She was cut off as Lohen slipped a thumb inside her cunt and started to knead it against her walls, pressing down on a sweet spot that had her arching her back.
“Oh? I think you are,” he cooed. “And I think it's only a matter of time until you come to realise it.”
Again, Lumine wondered what in the world he thought he could possibly achieve by spouting such delusional, arrogant rubbish. The thoughts quickly melted away, replaced by another surge of pleasure as Lohen sank his thumb more deeply between her walls. A moan spilt from her parted lips.
It was shameful. Humiliating.
But it had her leaning back into his hand all the same.
Lohen flicked his fingertips against her clit one final time, and at last, the heat inside Lumine surged to its peak. She whined as she came, far more loudly than she'd meant to, her thighs trembling and walls fluttering around Lohen's thumb. By the time she came down, she was a mess, gasping and shuddering against the cave floor.
She couldn't believe it. She'd actually climaxed from being abused.
As disgust mingled with some strange emotion she couldn't quite put her finger on deep inside Lumine, Lohen slipped his hand away. He hummed softly. “You've made quite the mess of my gloves.”
The next thing Lumine knew, something was being shoved between her lips.
“Clean them up,” he commanded coolly.
The taste of leather filled her mouth, mixed with the heady taste of her own slick. Lumine was still so disorientated from her climax that for a moment, it was all she could do to lay there and take it as Lohen rubbed his fingers back and forth over her tongue.
As he ventured a little deeper, Lumine gagged. She tried to bite down on him, but her teeth just sank into the leather.
Lohen giggled. “You know that biting me only makes me more excited, don't you?”
He pulled back his fingers, allowing Lumine a second to gasp down a breath before shoving them back in hard. Lumine's protest was transformed into a choked cry in her throat.
“What a beautiful sound. I wonder if you're this good at taking other things into your mouth.”
Lumine let out another whine as his fingers stroked the back of her throat. Any longer, and she was going to throw up.
“But maybe we can test that theory another time, hm?”
To Lumine's relief, he pulled his hand back. A string of saliva connected Lumine's lips to his fingertips. She spluttered as she caught her breath, her eyes stinging with tears.
Just how much longer did he intend to torture her like this?
The answer came to her as Lohen pushed himself to his feet, releasing her from underneath him at last. Her body felt heavy, like there were weights tied to her limbs. Still, she summoned her strength and tried to push herself up on all fours again. A sudden bolt of pain from her thigh had her sucking in a gasp through her teeth. In the heat of the moment, she'd almost forgotten about her wound. How much blood had she lost? From the wetness of her skirt and the top of her stocking, she imagined she was better off not knowing.
The low light of the brazier flickered across the space in front of her, sending undulating shadows across the floor. From behind her, she could hear the rustle of clothing. The thought of summoning her elements again flitted through her mind, but Lohen's threat hung heavy. Who was to say he wasn't fingering the hilt of his blade right now, just itching, aching for an excuse to use it on her.
Not that he needed an excuse at this point, considering what he'd done. What he was about to do.
Another spike of panic stabbed at Lumine just as Lohen brushed up against the back of her thighs. She rolled, wincing as her bare back met the cold stone floor, and kicked out. Lohen caught her ankle a second before her heel met his chin.
“Oh.” His dark eyes glistened in the low light. “Still a little fight left, have we?”
He was on his knees, leaning over her. His hand slipped down the length of her calf to her inner knee, which he pushed apart, allowing him to slot his hips between her legs. Lumine could feel something hard pressing against her thigh. Sure enough, she flicked her eyes downwards to see that he'd unbuckled the front of his trousers. His cock stuck up between the pair of them, achingly hard and already leaking at the tip.
He took it in his hand and tilted his hips forward until the shaft was resting against Lumine's soaked underwear. She tried not to give him the satisfaction of making a noise as he dragged the length of it up and down, rubbing against her over-sensitive opening.
Lumine glared up at him. “Is that what you want, a fight?” Her voice shook despite the anger in her words. She flexed her wrists, now clasped to her chest between the confines of the belt. “You're not exactly making it fair for me.”
“Heh. I know.” Lohen slipped his thumb around her underwear and pulled it aside again. Lumine swallowed as she felt the weight of his cock on her bare folds. “But I don't want to fight. Right now, I just want to watch you squirm.”
And on that final word, he thrusted himself inside her.
It was like the air had been knocked from her lungs. Lumine threw back her head and hissed as Lohen breached her, forcing himself in all the way up to the hilt in one fell swoop.
He wasted no time in setting a brutal pace, pulling back his hips all the way before slamming into her, over and over again. Like he wanted to split her in two. Like he wanted to make her scream.
And scream she did. Lumine hadn't so much as caught her breath before it left her in a cry of his name. She couldn't help it. Even the preparation of his fingers couldn't stop the agonising way her insides cramped around him as he hammered into her.
Lohen let out a shrill, breathy laugh. “Fuck, you feel even better than I thought you would.”
He eased her legs further apart using the hand on her knee, allowing him to press himself into her more closely. Through blurry, tear-soaked eyes, Lumine took in the sight of his face hovering above hers, his hair hanging down in messy tufts and the dim flames of the brazier kissing his cheek.
She reached out her bound hands and tried to scratch at his collar. Lohen caught her wrists with his free hand and placed a kiss to the back of one of them.
“If only you could see how pathetic you look right now,” he crooned. “The great Honorary Knight, struggling on the end of my cock.”
Out of all the times he'd said her title so far, this one felt the most taunting by far.
He released her wrists, then reached down for something. Lumine's blood turned to ice as the blade of his knife flashed in front of her eyes. She tried to smack his hand away, but Lohen evaded her easily. Cold metal met her collar. Lumine whined in terror.
He's actually going to do it.
He's going to kill me.
The blade nicked something. Not skin, not flesh.
The strap of her halterneck came loose. He'd cut open her dress.
“Mm.” The sound of Lohen's voice felt as distant to Lumine as the clatter of the knife by her ear. He grinned down at her. “You look terrified. Did you think I was going to cut you?”
Lumine's terror ebbed away. Anger rose up to fill the cracks.
“You knew what I would th-hink, you—ah—b-bastard, ” she spat.
Lohen cast his eyes downwards to her breasts, now rolling freely in time with his thrusts now that the material containing them had been loosened. Lumine groaned as he caught one of them in his hand and squeezed, his fingers sinking into her soft skin.
“Have you ever been cut during sex before, Honorary Knight?” he asked.
“Of c-course not.”
“What a shame. It's quite beautiful, really. The way the pain builds into something so intense, it feels like pleasure.” Lohen bit his lip as he thrusted back into her, his eyes glazing over for a moment. He was trying hard to keep his composure, Lumine imagined. Or maybe he was simply imagining her bleeding and crying beneath his knife. “I think you'd love it.”
“Wh-what makes you think something so s-stupid?”
Lohen lowered his face to hers. Lumine turned her head away, allowing him to brush his lips against her ear. His breath tickled the shell, feather-like, as he whispered, “Because you clenched around me when I mentioned it right now.”
Lumine stiffened.
Lohen dragged his lips down her jawline, kissing away her tears as he went. He was kneading her breast faster now, his breaths coming faster as his self-control slowly drained from him. “You did when I took the knife out, too. It's just as I thought. You want me to mess you up so badly, don't you?”
“N-no,” she whined. It wasn't true. She hated this. Hated him.
She let out a cry of surprise as Lohen pressed his lips to hers. Once again, he kissed her like a lover, groaning into her mouth and swirling his tongue against hers with a tenderness that felt jarringly at odds with the way his cock was ravishing her.
Lumine's breath hitched. This was dangerous. She could feel a little more of herself slip away with each slam of Lohen's hips, her rational thought melting with each second she spent latched to the warmth of his mouth. In its place, something bloomed. Something burning hot and forbidden that went far beyond survival instincts.
She'd felt a hint of it when she'd come on his fingers. Now, she understood with fresh horror what it was.
It was the thrill of being overpowered. The rush of adrenaline that came with facing danger.
Lohen was danger incarnate. It only made sense that Lumine was so deeply, helplessly attracted to him.
Archons, how she despised him for making her feel this way.
Lohen sighed softly as he broke from her lips. “Fuck, you're addictive.”
For the first time since he'd forced his way into her, his hips came to a still. Lumine wondered with disappointment if he'd climaxed during their kiss.
He hadn't. Pulling back to plant his knees on the ground, he slipped his hand beneath her knee and pushed both Lumine's legs sharply into her chest, folding her in half. His cock had slipped out of her in the process. Lumine caught a glimpse of it between her legs, rigid and dripping, before Lohen took it in his hand and lined it up with her folds. The moan he let out as he slid it back in made Lumine's heart flutter.
When he started to move this time, it was with less of a thrust and more of a grind. His hips rolled against Lumine's, his cock dragging over her walls with torturous precision.
“Fuck,” he murmured again, his voice far more shaky this time. “I just want to ruin you.”
Despite the legs folded against her chest and pinned in place by Lohen's, Lumine felt somehow closer to him in this position. His face was just inches from hers, his eyes fixed on her, drinking in her every expression through long, dark lashes as he spouted his filth. A layer of sweat clung to the strip of neck visible above his collar. For some reason, Lumine wondered what it would taste like if she licked it off.
“I could make you mine, you know,” he whispered, gasping as he plunged back into her. “I could—mhm—take you home with me. Just the two of us, satisfying each other's needs until the end of our days.”
Lumine could picture it well: lying on Lohen's bed, her head lolling as she drifted in and out of consciousness from whatever drug he'd dosed her with. He'd probably bind her wrists as he had now. Maybe her ankles, too.
Free of dreams and the expectations the world had placed on her shoulders. A warm, docile little pet who only had eyes for her master. A trophy whom Lohen could lavish with adoration and take out his frustrations upon as he wished.
The fact Lumine only felt the smallest stab of horror at that was more alarming than the vision itself.
“Or until you g-get—ah—bored of m-me,” Lumine stammered. Archons, she could hardly form a sentence anymore.
Lohen's mouth crooked up in a smirk. If Lumine had been a little more coherent, she might have noticed his hand creeping down the inside of her thigh to her blade wound. “Bored of you? How could I possibly get bored when you're so entertaining?”
As he huffed out the final word, a bolt of pain pierced Lumine's mind. She cried out as Lohen's fingertips sank into the wound, pushing her flesh apart.
“Lo—hen—!” she gasped. “W-what are you... Stop!”
The Knight only sighed down at her, as if her agonised pleads were the most beautiful sound in the world. He'd started to thrust into her faster, too, spurred on by his own sadism.
“Just push through,” he whispered. “You're almost there. I can feel it.”
In some sick, twisted way, he was right. The pain in her leg surged through Lumine, making her nerves flare and intensifying the ache inside her. Lohen leaning into her harder only made matters worse. She could feel his cock sink deeper between her walls with each manic thrust, as if his goal were to imprint every inch of himself in her memories.
Remember this pain, his body seemed to say. Remember how much you hate me.
Another movement of his fingers had Lumine shrieking. Blood was welling up around the leather now. She could sense it dripping down the side of her thigh, hot and heady.
Lohen lowered his mouth to her neck and sucked at her.
“Come for me, Lumine,” he muttered against her skin.
Perhaps it was hearing her name on his lips for the first time. Or maybe it was because her body couldn't physically take any more. Her climax was like nothing she'd ever felt before—a flood of pleasure so intense it felt like she was bursting from her skin, the only anchors the points at which the pair of them were joined.
The mouth on her neck.
The hips fucking her tenderly through her high.
The fingers stroking at her raw, bloodied wound.
Every one of them was a violation of her body. And Lumine had never felt more alive.
It felt like an age had passed when Lumine finally came down. Exhaustion was settling over her with worrying speed, the world flashing black at the corners. Whatever adrenaline had kept her conscious up to this point had clearly been drained to the last drop.
Through blurry, tear-soaked eyes, she noted Lohen leaning back on his haunches, releasing her legs from her chest. He looked down at his lap with a look of satisfaction, then rubbed at his cock. It looked a little softer now. Lumine realised with a start that he'd finished inside her—likely at the same moment that she had. Something that felt far more intimate than it had any right to be.
He turned his gaze to her, his eyes half-lidded above a pair of flushed cheeks. Then, he lifted his other hand to his face. The gloves looked wet. He placed a fingertip between his lips and sucked at it with a light moan, and only when she saw the smudge of red on his lips did Lumine realise he was sucking off her blood.
If Lumine had had a sliver more energy, she might have recoiled at what a grotesque sight that was. Instead, it was all she could do to fight to keep her eyes open as Lohen leant over her again and reached for her face.
“Sleep, Lumine,” he whispered with a smile.
The feeling of his bloody glove sweetly stroking her cheek was the last thing Lumine felt before she succumbed.
*
The last of the sun had just disappeared beneath the horizon by the time Lumine staggered from the rocky mountain path to the flatter, more stable ground below.
She'd been worried about having trouble finding Paimon again, what with the hours she'd spent away from her, but her companion soon made herself known with a scream of her name. She barely had time to look around for the source of the voice when Paimon slammed into her side and threw her arms around her as far as they would go.
“You're back! I'm so happy. You were gone so long, I thought you'd been hurt. I thought about going to find you, but then I worried that if you came back and I wasn't here, you'd panic and think I'd left you, and then you'd go to find me, and—”
She cut herself off mid-babble as she drew back her head and took her first proper look at her companion. Lumine wondered which part of her it was that inspired the alarm that flitted across Paimon's eyes. It could have been the slashed halterneck of her dress, which now lay open at the front to reveal her bare chest. Or perhaps Paimon had picked up on the reek of blood and looked down to see her bloody leg.
Alas, the observation she pointed out was so oblivious, so utterly Paimon-esque, that Lumine felt silly for expecting anything else.
“You're wearing a new cloak!”
Lumine pulled the garment a little more tightly around her shoulders. “I know.”
“Where did you find it?”
She paused. “I... One of the Hilichurls had it stowed away. I imagine they stole it from an adventurer.”
No matter the size or necessity, Lumine always felt strange telling lies to Paimon. Still, she'd no choice but to concoct suitable excuses for the various changes in her appearance as she'd made her slow, almost dream-like journey down the hillside. (“A Hilichurl grabbed me too hard” for her dress. “A Mitachurl caught me with its axe” for her leg.)
The explanation for the cloak had required a little more effort. Lumine had toyed with the idea of telling Paimon that she'd met another person up in that cave—a Knight of Favonius who'd helped her clear out the monsters, then lent her his cloak to shield her modesty during the journey home. Out of all the possible lies, it was the closest to the truth: that she had indeed met a knight, and that knight had indeed left her his cloak.
Best to leave out the part where she'd woken up after having passed out to find the garment tucked snugly around her shoulders, or that when she'd looked around the cave in a panic, the knight and his scattered weapons were already gone.
There was, however, one part Lumine was willing to share with Paimon. It took the form of a piece of paper she'd found in her dress pocket a little after picking her way, heavy-limbed and muzzy-headed, towards the cave mouth. She took it out now and unfolded it, noted the scrawled the same thickness of a fingertip and matching the hue of dried blood on her dress skirt.
See you soon!
Lo x
A familiar wave of anger flushed through her, followed by fondness, disgust, and finally, calm.
A scholar might have called it an afterword. A poet might have called it a love letter.
Lumine, on the other hand, considered it an invitation.
“What's that?” Paimon asked, eyeing the paper.
“Just something I found.” Lumine took one more moment to run her thumb over the letters one last time before turning her gaze to Paimon. “I don't want to worry you, so I'll tell you now. Over the next few days, I might be gone a little more often than usual. I'll make sure you're safe, though. And I'll leave you Mora for food.”
Paimon crossed her arms indignantly. “After the panic you put me through today, I'm staying by your side for the next month. Don't think you can bribe me with food!”
Despite the weight on her mind, Lumine managed to raise a playful eyebrow.
Paimon's stony expression cracked. “What kind of food?”
“Whatever you want. Apple pastries and herring rolls and anything you want from Good Hunter. Even...”
As Lumine's words faded to nothing, Paimon leant towards her, concern on her face. “Are you okay? You seem a little distracted.”
Lumine tore her eyes away from the slope she'd just descended and the dot of a cave mouth high up on the hill, barely visible now in the settling darkness. “Sorry, Paimon. It's just... I've got someone to sort out.”
Paimon's eyes lit up. “Ooh, a Treasure Hoarder? A Fatuus?”
“No.” Lumine turned her head to her shoulder, breathed in the familiar scent of the cloak wrapped around it, and grimaced. “A knight.”