Lena heard the information but didn't move as she sat at the table. Her mind raced as she tried to process it. The doctor continued talking but the words went unnoticed by the Princess. One more problem on top of everything else they were dealing with? Now wasn't the time for that.
The only time that the man in white did anything except for talking at her was when she got up to move.
"Ah. I don't think that you should be doing that yet. You need to take some more time to rest." Lena slapped the hand away that tried to stop her without a second thought.
"You already told me what you need to. I don't think it is your place any longer to tell me what to do beyond that." Her voice came out hollow, low, and threatening as she stood from the hospital bed.
"I don't' want you to even breath a word about this to anyone else, is that understood?" She only offered the doctor a side ways glance as she leaned over to put her boots back on. She ignored the throbbing pain in her head from the shift in her blood pressure. All she needed to do was eat something and it would be fine.
"Er. I don't wish to argue with you but I do think it would be wise to tell someone else. In the case of complications and such. It's my job as a doctor to tell you such things." Lena only offered a small scoff in response to his spiel.
"And I as a patient have a right to reject whatever it is you're telling me and do as I please. It is my choice to say anything. A choice that you don't have a right to take away." In a space where she didn't have a lot of autonomy, Lena would take ahold of whatever piece that she could get. Until everything evened out and she could figure out what to do next.
"For once Samuel, I don't think right now is the right time to do that." Richard spoke up. His eyes remained focused on Marcus as he spoke without moving. No point i getting in the middle of a family scuffle but advice could be warranted.
"Marcus isn't like Jovani. The same kind of rules don't apply to him as they do your cousin." Being the one who taught Marcus, Richard knew that well. He even had first hand experience with how the other tossed the rules out without a second thought.
If Richard didn't think Marcus would react, he'd have placed a hand on Samuel's shoulder and forced some distance between them. The kid obviously still didn't understand what he was getting into. The electric energy coming off of Marcus was getting dangerously high. Much further, and the other would burst. Who he would decide to take it out on though would remain to be seen.
"I may not know who I am dealing with but there is no one who is above the rules. If everyone here is part of the family, the rules apply to them regardless of their position. Even the boos isn't exempt from following them." Samuel lowered his head slightly as he stared Marcus down. The determination daring the other cousin to argue with him on this matter.
Could he though? After all, if the rules weren't good enough for Marcus, why should Samuel have to follow them when it came to being sworn in?
"Though Marcus, You can say you're above the rules if you want to. That would just mean I don't have to follow them either. No sense at that point in going forward with whatever you had planned." Samuel's shoulders struggled slightly as he shifted away a moderate angle. His body posture an evident brush off that the other Vedova Nera cousin didn't take very well.
"Sammy, I don't think that you have been in this world long enough to understand how things work. You don't-" The next words didn't come out though as Samuel suddenly turned on him.
"Marcus, you don't get to call me by that name." Anger over the simple use of a name? Did it have some sort of special meaning? Oh, that could be fun to find out.
"Sammy? what is wrong with using that name?" Marcus took the innocent route as his head tilted to one side again, eyes simmering as he watched his younger cousin's reaction. Had he somehow managed to hit a hidden nerve with the other?
"Almost every Samuel I've known I've always referred to as Sammy. A good nickname Sammy is. Very much so for those you're quite fond of and I'm indeed quite fond of you, Sammy." Marcus even went so far as to pat the other on the shoulder, a gleeful smirk dancing on his lips as he waited for what he hoped wouldn't be a disappointing reaction. Could he have finally found a fun toy in his cousin?
"Leave." Marcus found his eyes widening once more. That wasn't the reaction he'd thought would come from the other. Leave? Well, that was simply no fun. Why would he leave before he found out the answer to the question he was looking for?
Or... Marcus's eyes narrowed slightly as he took another hard look at Samuel. Maybe he had been going about looking at this toy the wrong way...
"I told you once, and I don't want to have to repeat myself on either count. Leave right now if you can't maintain any form of respect." Although Samuel looked as though he were about ready to explode between his darkened eyes and clenched fists, he didn't engage with Marcus. No rough grabbing or hits. No jousting in his personal space, ready to fight the moment the other moved. No. Instead, he used words. Words to push back and deflect the other without having to raise even a finger.
What kind of exactly was his younger cousin? Surely even he had to have that dark side somewhere. It always ran through the family after all.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l