Until the World Falls Down

Chapter 14

14

T he bed was missing Enver’s warmth when I woke up. I rolled over, tangling myself more in his comforter. I blinked a few times groggily, scanning the room for the enigmatic man and finding him standing by the window. A living sculpture framed by the velvet curtains that fluttered around him. He stared out the window, unmoving, wearing nothing but loose cotton pants that rode low on his hips. Even after all this time, the sight of him stole my breath away. The broadness of his shoulders. The elegant lines of his well-defined back. The way it tapered down to his trim waist. The way the morning light kissed his flawless skin. He was too beautiful. Too perfect.

And I was helpless to resist the draw he had on me.

He seemed lost in his thoughts, standing as still as a statue as I shifted to slide out of the bed, keeping the sheet wrapped around my naked body.

The moment my bare foot hit the floor, Enver turned toward me, as if pulled by an invisible thread connecting us. All the tension in his body visibly melted away as his gaze landed on me .

And then, he smiled.

I froze.

It wasn’t like his normal smiles. Not the usual arrogant twist of his mouth or the typical teasing smirk that so often made an appearance. No. This was something new. Something full of emotion. It started as a gentle curve of his lips, gradually unfurling until it blossomed into something tender and intimate.

Something real . Devastatingly, heart-achingly real.

It lit up his face—softening his normally sharp features and causing my pulse to quicken as he drew closer. “Enver?” I asked cautiously, perched on the edge of the bed, looking up at him.

“Good morning, Nell,” he greeted, stooping down to kiss the crown of my head, the blinding smile still playing on his lips as he straightened. “I hope you slept well.”

“What…?” I trailed off, unsure of how to phrase my question. “What’s wrong?”

His eyebrow arched, eyes glimmering in amusement. “Nothing is wrong. Why do you ask?”

“You seem… different,” I ventured.

He laughed.

Laughed .

“Do I, my little lover?” he asked, his voice a silken purr. “How so?”

I rose from the bed, keeping the sheets swaddled around myself, and he immediately closed the distance between us, tucking me against his bare chest and dropping another kiss into my hair. “Did something good happen?” I asked cautiously.

“Only good things happen when I am with you.” His smile still hadn’t faded as I looked up at him. His eyes crinkled as he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You are adorable when your hair is a mess.”

I just stared at him, growing more and more confused and concerned. Was this one of his shadows impersonating him? “Do you feel okay?”

He tilted his head, his smile shifting to something more playful, his thumb caressing my cheek. “Yes, but I know how I could feel even better. Care to indulge me, my dearest Eleanora?”

Before I could respond, his hands slid under the sheets covering me, grabbing hold of my bare waist. I jumped at the coolness of his touch, and he chuckled, bringing his head down to nuzzle his nose into my neck.

I didn’t move, still disconcerted by his demeanor. It was almost as if he was…

Happy.

I pulled back from him, pushing against his chest, looking up into his eyes again. His smile faltered a bit at my rejection, but another easy one replaced it soon after, and he released me, adjusting the sheets so they covered me again.

“Enver, did Neima complete her labyrinth?” I asked, letting the sheets slip down so I could see the pendant on my chest.

The ruby nearly filled half of the setting now, another piece having appeared while I was sleeping. Even without Enver saying it, I knew Neima had completed her labyrinth. It had to be true, then—a piece of the gemstone appeared with each completed labyrinth layer. But why? How? What did it mean? What would happen when it became complete?

“Hm.” Enver closed his eyes briefly. “She has. I suppose that would explain the new feeling within me.”

“What do you feel, exactly?”

“Warm, when I look at you,” he murmured. “As if you are in my veins, running through me, filling me with a warmth that seeps into my very bones, staving off the cold I have grown accustomed to.” He paused, seeming to search for the right words. “I feel… weightless, too. As if the world is not as heavy a bu rden to bear as I previously thought. Not when you are here with me.”

My heart lurched as my mind latched on to a thought before I could stop myself— what if it isn’t happiness? What if it was love that had returned to him? Why hadn’t I thought about that before? That love could return to him. That the way he felt when he looked at me could be more than just happiness.

I couldn’t stop the way my stomach knotted. The way my pulse picked up. The way hope bloomed in me.

My voice carried that hope as I spoke. “Do you only feel that way about me?”

Enver thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “No. Seeing the sun shining across my garden also evokes the same feelings in me. Although, it is not as intense as it is when I look at you. Nothing compares to that.”

I faltered. Neima had wanted happiness. That was most likely the emotion that had returned to Enver, not love. His description of happiness made sense, too, but it didn’t ease the swift disappointment that swept through me, leaving me feeling hollowed out. It squeezed the air out of my lungs and burned my throat.

Enver’s brows drew together, his expression growing concerned. “You are upset,” he said. “Why?”

I lowered my eyes, unable to find my voice, the sincerity of his concern only making everything hurt more. I’d only let myself believe it for a second. Imagined only for a moment that he could love me. That he would. Yet the pain of disappointment cut deeper than it should have.

And it’d led me to a harrowing realization.

It wasn’t only lust that drove me toward Enver. It was something more. Something that planted its roots deep in my desperate heart and grew every time he touched me, threatening to blossom into something dangerous and terrifying. Something that would only lead to my own heartbreak in the end.

Enver couldn’t love me. I couldn’t forget that. But I did. Over and over again. I let myself forget it. Let myself fall deeper into his arms.

I was doing what I always did. Giving myself up to someone who would never love me in return.

Enver placed a finger under my chin, tilting my face up to meet his probing gaze. I turned my head, taking a step back from him. I needed to leave. To put distance between us and dig up these unwanted feelings before they bloomed into something uncontrollable. My muscles tensed, eyes scanning the room, searching for an escape.

“No. Do not run away now,” Enver said, his voice soft and entreating as he reached to take my hand. “Stay with me. I want to feel more of this.” His fingers skimmed up my wrist to my shoulder, where the slipping sheet had revealed my skin. “More of you.”

“No,” I said, and he paused. My pulse raced, and I swallowed hard. “I don’t want to.”

His hand retreated, and this time, my rejection had a flash of hurt crossing his face. “You do not want me to touch you?”

“No,” I repeated, lowering my eyes. “I don’t.”

My words were a lie. I longed for him to touch me, to kiss me. But I knew that was exactly what would tend to the emerging feelings inside me. The more he held me, the more they’d flourish. They’d flower until their thorns pierced me and left me bleeding and raw.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“But that is everything I…” he trailed off, his jaw setting. “Very well.”

I refused to meet his gaze, focusing on the hollow of his throat instead. I didn’t want to see what his eyes held. I attempted to move around him. “I’m going to continue the labyrinth now.”

He blocked my path but kept his distance. “Stay with me,” he said again. “Just a little longer. I will not touch you. You have my promise.”

I stopped, now glancing up at him. The smile had vanished from his face, replaced by the impassive expression he’d worn when we’d first met. He stood stiffly, tension radiating from his frame, having lost the ease from before. My chest tightened in response, guilt coursing through me. I was why the happiness he’d felt for the first time in a century had already waned.

“Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll stay.”

His shoulders relaxed, and his expression turned fond. “There is somewhere I would like to take you. But first, have a bath. I will have a meal prepared, too. You must be hungry.”

Food was the last thought on my mind, but I nodded anyway. I didn’t know what the labyrinth would hold for me next, and it would be better to eat in case it would be awhile before I had another chance to. Enver gestured toward the bathroom, but he didn’t follow me in, allowing me privacy as I relieved myself and started the bath. I washed myself thoroughly, using the floral scented soap from before. As I glanced down between my thighs, the memory of Enver between them had heat rising to my cheeks. I clamped them together and put it out of my mind.

No more. I needed to focus on completing the labyrinth. I needed to get home before I trapped myself here forever.

I climbed out of the bath, found a clean towel in a wardrobe, and dried myself off. The door creaked open, and I whirled toward it, finding a shadow sliding inside, a set of clothing hanging over a corporeal tendril.

I watched it cautiously, remembering the night before, how the shadows had held me in place so Enver could?—

No .

Out of my mind.

I reached for the clothing, surprised to find my underwear and bra in the pile, now clean. The idea of the servants being forced to clean my clothing didn’t sit well with me, but I was grateful not to have to go about the day commando. I slid into the pants, Enver’s again, and pulled the shirt over my head, tucking it in. I still swam in his clothing, but it beat wearing another dress. I didn’t like how they made me feel like I was stealing something from someone.

“Thank you,” I said to the shadow.

The shadow seemed to bow at me. Or maybe I was crazy.

When I followed it out of the bathroom, it led me to a small table I hadn’t noticed before, now placed in front of a window in Enver’s bedroom. Enver was nowhere to be seen as I sat at it, feeling the warmth from the sun outside on my back and shoulders.

The sight of the food in front of me had my mouth watering. Toast, jam, eggs, potatoes, sausage. Maybe I was hungrier than I thought.

Enver suddenly appeared across from me, materializing from the shadows of the curtains. I jumped, banging my knee on the table. I grimaced, my hand going to the sore spot, rubbing it soothingly. Enver raised an eyebrow as he took a seat. “Did I startle you?”

“No,” I lied.

A hint of a smirk crossed his face, but he said nothing, lifting an empty plate and filling it with an assortment of the food in front of us. I relaxed, seeing him at ease with me again, our earlier exchange seemingly put aside. He was dressed now, wearing a loose shirt that showed off a good portion of his scarred chest. I averted my gaze, feeling like I was invading his privacy when I looked at his scar.

He buttered two slices of toast, adding them to the plate, and then slid it over to me. “Here. ”

“Thank you,” I said, taking it from him. Our fingers brushed and Enver quickly retracted his hand, placing it in his lap. I hesitated when he didn’t move to make a plate for himself. “Are you going to eat?”

“I never have much of an appetite, but I suppose I can.”

I watched him pick up a plate for himself, taking some potatoes. His response confused me. He never had an appetite, yet all the times I’d been in his dining room, the table had been lined with enough food to feed dozens. Thinking about it, though, I’d never seen him eat anything besides the peach he’d tasted. Did he even need to eat? If not, then what was with all the food?

I slid the plate of sausages closer to him as he scanned the table, deciding what else to take. “Here.”

He shook his head. “That is for you. I do not consume meat.”

“You don’t? Why not?” I asked. “Oh, wait, I’m not judging you or anything. I’m just curious,” I added quickly.

“I…” Enver trailed off, shaking his head. “I cannot seem to recall why.”

I chewed on a piece of my toast, watching his grip on his plate tighten before he set it down on the table, his jaw tight. The food I’d seen before made even less sense now, unless he had considered what I might eat even that first morning together. There’d been a variety of meats on the table. But maybe he didn’t choose what his servants cooked?

“I suppose my memory has faded with time,” he said after another moment, his voice terse and distant.

He didn’t touch his food after that. I ate quickly, feeling like I’d brought down the mood again. When I finished, I stood up from the table. His gaze followed my movement, a frown still on his face. “Finished?” he asked. “Shall we go?”

“Um, do you happen to have toothpaste?” I asked.

“Toothpaste? ”

“Like to clean your teeth? Is that a thing here?”

“Ah,” he responded, nodding. “I have something for that. In the bathroom, you will find a black jar by the sink. It might not be quite what you are used to, though.”

I stood up from the table. “I’ll take anything at this point.”

Especially if Enver ever wanted to kiss me again.

I blinked. No . I couldn’t have thoughts like that. What was wrong with me? What didn’t I understand about not letting him touch me again? I shouldn’t even be entertaining the thought. I shoved it out of my mind as I made my way back to the bathroom, finding the jar in question. Inside was some kind of salt scrub. I did the best I could with it, scrubbing my teeth with my finger until they felt clean.

I rinsed out my mouth, my gums feeling assaulted by the scrub. Never again would I take modern-day amenities for granted. I caught my reflection in the mirror, leaning closer, inspecting my skin. It looked dry and dull, with the effects of stopping my skincare already visible. My hair looked just as dry as I picked up a wavy lock and sighed.

I watched Enver appear in the bathroom doorway through the mirror’s reflection. He casually leaned against the door frame, folding his arms over his chest. “Something wrong?” he asked.

“No,” I said, turning away from the mirror to face him. “I’m ready to go now.”

“You are beautiful.”

His unprompted compliment made my cheeks burn. “I’m average,” I said because I was incapable of accepting any compliment.

He pushed away from the doorway, approaching me with slow strides. I held still, my knees going weak at the look in his eyes. The one I so often saw in his eyes before he kissed me—one full of longing and desire.

“No,” he said softly, lifting his hand to my cheek, but not touching me. His fingers hovered centimeters away, and the heat radiating off them made me ache for his touch. “You are anything but average. You are beyond what I can put into words. You are my fantasies brought to life. My wishes fulfilled, and my dreams realized.”

“You’re good at saying pretty words,” I said, my voice coming out breathless, his proximity leaving me light-headed.

His gaze swept my form, taking in my nervous state, the corner of his lips curling up into a small smirk as he stepped back, his hand returning to his side. “That is not the only thing I am good at, my little lover.”

I couldn’t stop the heat pooling in my lower stomach at his response. “D-didn’t you want to show me something? Let’s go.”

He continued to smirk as I brushed past him, heading for the bathroom door. Sunlight blinded me as I stepped through and found myself outside. For a moment, I thought I’d returned to the garden with Neima and Paloma, but as my eyes adapted to the brightness, I recognized Enver’s flower garden. We were in the same area where I’d met Isla for the first time, and I could hear the water flowing from the fountain I’d found before.

I looked at Enver behind me, surprised to see the hedges of the garden maze had started to grow again, green sprouting from the once brown limbs. “Are your gardens also affected by your connection to the labyrinth?” I asked.

“It would seem so.”

“But this part of the garden has always been…” I trailed off, remembering how Isla had said Enver didn’t let anyone come here.

But it was too late. Enver had already realized what I was about to say. He gave me a sharp look. “You have been here before?”

“By accident,” I explained. “I got lost in the maze.”

“Were you alone? ”

I hesitated. Isla had helped me out, and I didn’t want to throw her under the bus, but I didn’t want to lie to Enver. His gaze burned into mine, waiting for an answer. “Yes,” I said.

He continued watching me for a moment, a frown flitting across his face, and I got the feeling he didn’t believe me. “Well, now I understand how you passed so much time in the maze if you ventured out this far,” he said. “Your sense of direction must be poor if you ended up here.”

I looked back up at him, my mouth falling open, indignant. “What? My sense of direction? Your maze literally has illusions ! I don’t think anyone would have a good sense of direction when you’re supposed to walk through dead hedges! Those things are thick!”

He chuckled, and I realized he was teasing me. “That is quite unfair of me, I suppose,” he conceded.

I could feel myself flush, and I stubbornly turned my head away from him. “If you think about it, it’s your fault the maze led me here. So, you can’t be mad.”

“I am not mad. Perhaps if it was anyone other than you, I would be. But not you.”

Enver began walking away, and I trailed behind him, fighting off the warmth his words left me with. “Why don’t you want anyone to come here, anyway?”

“There is no significant reason. Only that this garden is where I spend the majority of my days. It is a personal place for me. A private sanctuary of sorts.”

“Really? Why here, out of your entire castle?”

Enver slowed his pace, allowing me to fall into step beside him as we moved through the garden together. “I feel calm when I am here. There is a familiarity within this garden that soothes me, though I cannot place it.”

I remembered the feeling of safety that had washed over me when I’d fallen into the fountain. Was that how Enver felt? What caused it ?

“It reminds me of how you make me feel.”

I glanced at Enver, my heart skipping a beat. “In what way?”

“The warmth you fill me with,” he continued, his voice dropping lower, eyebrows drawing together. “I remember feeling it before here. A long time ago.”

“You must have enjoyed gardening,” I said, bending over as we passed a patch of carnations. Their sweet aroma wafted up to me, and I took in a deep breath, savoring the scent.

Enver stooped over next to me, snapping one off its stem and handing it to me. “Perhaps I did.”

I took it from him, running a finger over its delicate petals. “I think this is the first time I’ve received flowers from anyone.”

He considered me for a moment, then knelt next to the flower patch, gathering a dozen more carnations. I watched as he bundled them together with a vine before straightening out and presenting them to me. “Take these as well.”

A smile broke out across my face as I took the makeshift bouquet from him. “Thank you.”

He paused, staring at my face.

I frowned, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “What is it?”

“Your smile.”

“What about it?”

He curled a lock of my hair around his finger before setting it aside. “It makes me… happy. I wish to see you smile again.”

My breath caught, and he brought his hand down to press his thumb into the corner of my mouth, pushing my lip up. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the weird grimace he’d forced my mouth into or my dumbfounded expression, but whatever it was drew another affectionate chuckle from him. I didn’t say anything, didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, the amusement on his face turning to something intimate. His eyes locked on my lips as his hand slid to my neck.

A wave of heat swept through me as he leaned in. My eyes fluttered shut, but a moment passed, and nothing happened. When I opened my eyes again, Enver’s eyebrows had pulled together, and he had straightened out. His hand dropped, his back turning to me, bending over to pick up another flower.

Disappointment welled in me, but I had no right to feel that way. I was the one who told him not to touch me. I was tired of myself and my conflicting feelings, but he made it so hard to resist him.

“Even if I gave you every flower in this garden, it would not be as many as you deserve,” Enver said as he tucked the new flower into my bouquet.

I clutched the carnations to my chest, the sincerity of his words making my heart race. “Then you’d ruin it. You can’t give me everything.”

“I would try, nonetheless. And it would be worth the effort. There is nothing I would not do for you.”

Our gazes met, and I knew from the look on his face that he wasn’t only talking about the flowers anymore. I turned away again, focusing my attention on the garden. I needed to change the topic. “If you can leave your castle, why can’t you just abandon the labyrinth?”

“I told you before that I am tied to it,” he responded and started walking down the dirt path of the garden again. “I cannot leave for long periods of time.”

I stayed at his side. “What happens if you do?”

Enver hesitated before answering. “When I am gone, the labyrinth decays. The longer I am away, the more I can feel its pain. An ache forms in my bones until it becomes unbearable. I can feel the labyrinth pulling at me no matter where I go, trying to wrest me back to it.”

“What if you didn’t return?”

“The labyrinth would drag me back.”

“It would?” I repeated, alarmed.

He shrugged. “It would seem my connection to the labyrinth runs deep. I am willed to remain here and maintain it as much as I am willed to find the poor, desperate souls who sustain it. Should I venture too far or for too long, I would be forced to return.”

“I don’t understand. The labyrinth really feeds on people’s desperation?”

“It would seem so,” he answered.

“What happens if you don’t bring anyone here?”

“I face losing my remaining emotions.”

“How do you know?”

His shoulders tensed. “I have learned the consequences of noncompliance firsthand.”

I fell silent, my fingers curling tighter around the stems of the carnations. So he’d once tried to go against the labyrinth and had been punished for it. He sounded as trapped as I was—no. It was worse than that. I at least had a chance of escaping the labyrinth. He couldn’t leave at all. He’d been stuck here for over a century and would continue to be for who knew how long. Endlessly forced to do the labyrinth’s bidding while risking losing what little he had left of himself if he defied it.

My heart squeezed as we continued through the garden. I pitied him. But how could I pity someone who’d trapped countless people in his labyrinth? Even if he had no choice, it didn’t make up for all the suffering he’d caused.

Enver’s steps came to a halt, his gaze crossing the garden, falling on the statue of the beautiful woman. My eyes followed his line of vision, watching the water flow down her marble body. Enver remained quiet, preoccupied with his thoughts, as my own drifted away from his plight. They went to the hands that had sunk me into the water, leading me to the heart pendant that now rested in the valley of my breasts. I remembered feeling the same way then as Enver said he felt here. Calm. Serene.

Even now, gazing upon the statue, I could feel a weight lifting off my shoulders. Her beautiful features shimmered as the sunlight reflected off the water that trickled over her body.

“Does this statue mean anything to you?” I asked Enver. “Do you know who she is?”

“She has been by my side throughout these unceasing years,” he responded. “I am fond of her, but if you are asking me why she exists here, I do not have an answer. I do not remember.”

Enver had been alive for over a century. It made sense he would forget things, but I didn’t understand how he could forget so much. Especially important things—like how he’d become part of this labyrinth. Or why his heart had been torn out. Not remembering the statue or how the garden made him feel wasn’t anything compared to those two things, but he didn’t even seem to question his memory loss. He just accepted it. Accepted it the same way he accepted his fate.

I suddenly remembered Aki’s words.

There’s a dark, terrible magic surrounding him. One I do not envy.

A grim and hostile curse.

How could I have forgotten? I inhaled sharply, twirling toward Enver. “Enver, Aki told me you’re cursed. Could it be that a curse is keeping you here?”

Enver didn’t outwardly react to that. His attention was still on the statue. “Yes, I have considered that before.”

“Why do you sound so unconcerned?” I asked, startled by his nonchalance. “What if the curse is what’s keeping you tied to the labyrinth? What if it’s why you lost your heart and your emotions?”

“Even if that is the case, there is nothing to be done about it.”

“What? That’s all you have to say? Can’t you break the curse?”

He didn’t answer, his jaw clenching .

“Aki said he felt the magic within you,” I pressed. “He was sure someone cursed you. If you agree it could be a curse, why haven’t you tried to break it? You’ve never tried to? In all the time you’ve been trapped here?”

A muscle in his cheek twitched, but he still didn’t respond.

His silence only fueled my incredulity. “Why aren’t you saying anything? What if you’re a victim of the labyrinth just like I am?—”

“And if I am not?” he cut me off, finally meeting my gaze, his eyes now hard and cold. “What if this is not a curse? What if I am the monster you have accused me of being before?”

My voice caught in my throat at his change in demeanor. “I don’t?—”

“What if I am the reason the labyrinth exists in the first place?” he demanded, advancing on me, the space between us rapidly diminishing. “I could have cast out my heart, my emotions, and my memories myself and created this nightmare. I could be the reason you and everyone else are trapped here. I could be the cause of everything. What then, my little lover? Would you still consider me a victim?”

I stared at him, refusing to flinch away. Even as he loomed over me, the carnations crushed between our chests. “Enver.”

“Do not make the mistake of thinking me innocent. It will only lead to disappointment.”

“You didn’t do this to yourself,” I said, shaking my head.

“How can you be so sure?” he responded, voice sharp. Accusatory.

I didn’t blame him. He couldn’t remember why he’d become like this. He had no reason to believe what I was saying. No reason to trust my instincts. I couldn’t imagine how often he’d grappled with his forgotten past or current predicament over the years. I couldn’t imagine what it was like not to remember who you were. What you’d done. How you’d ended up where you were. Why you were trapped and torn apart .

But still…

“I’ve seen your pain,” I told him, the words tumbling out of me. “Both physical and emotional. Even if you couldn’t feel it before, it has always been there, like the scar on your chest. I felt your empathy when you told me you understood what it was like to feel trapped and then reached out to console me—when you encouraged me to continue the labyrinth despite wanting me to stay with you.”

Enver went still. “That does not mean anything.”

“Yes, it does,” I said softly. “You may have lost your emotions, but you didn’t lose your humanity. I’m sorry for ever calling you a monster, Enver. The labyrinth may be cold and unfeeling, but you aren’t. I know that now.”

He stepped back, giving the carnations space to breathe again, but his expression didn’t change, remaining stony. “Even if I did not bring the labyrinth on myself, and I truly have been cursed, I am still undeserving of your misplaced compassion.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, watching as he lifted a hand to the carnations, his touch light as he brushed his fingertips over them, reminding me of the way he so often caressed my cheek.

“I must have deserved it.”

His words caused my heart to sink. “You think you deserved to be cursed?”

“A curse strong enough to bind me to this labyrinth and cause my immortality is not one set upon me for nothing,” he said. “I must have done something unforgivable that I cannot remember.”

“Immorality?”

“I cannot die,” he said icily.

I couldn’t bring myself to ask how he knew that. “What if you didn’t deserve it?” I argued. “What if you didn’t do anything? Why are you so quick to take the blame?”

“Why are you so quick to absolve me of it?” he returned, his eyes narrowing. “Why are you now so intent on believing I am anything but the cruel monster you once thought I was? I am still your heartless enemy who has taken you here against your will and has not allowed you to leave. You seem to have forgotten.”

My pulse quickened. “I gave you my consent.”

I thought my response would have allayed his belief he was the villain here. Made him realize the point he was missing—that he hadn’t forced me to do anything. Something he had been so adamant about before. And I understood why now. Enver was the only one truly trapped here, forced into a situation he never wanted within the labyrinth.

But my words had the opposite effect of what I wanted. His shoulders tensed, and his hand fisted around some of the carnations before he jerked them back to his side. Their fragile petals fluttered to the ground between us as he stared at me with a growing, cold awareness. The muscles of his jaw worked beneath his smooth skin, and when he finally spoke, his voice was low and strained. “You are beginning to care for me.”

My stomach lurched, and a rush of adrenaline shot through me. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. And I couldn’t get myself to respond. To deny it.

My silence answered for me.

Enver fell back, creating more distance between us, his face becoming an unreadable mask. “Leave. Continue the labyrinth.”

The abruptness of his order sent my heart racing. “Enver?—”

“You forget yourself, my little lover. I am not a kind man. I am not the victim you wish me to be. Leave before you mistake my manipulation for kindness again. Before your desperation for love becomes your downfall.”

“I…” I couldn’t speak, my pulse thundering in my ears. I couldn’t understand why he was saying this. He wanted me, di dn’t he? So why was he pushing me away? Why was he rejecting me so harshly? “I’m not forgetting,” I finally got out. “I just don’t believe you are what you think you are. Is it really that wrong to want to reassure you?—”

“Leave,” he repeated roughly. “This is who I am in the end, Nell. Who I am cursed to remain. Trapped, forgotten, and alone.”

Alone .

Despite his rejection tearing through me, I focused on that one word. A feeling I knew so well yet failed to recognize when it was laid right out in front of me. “Alone…”

Enver’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch as I spoke, and he turned his head away, attempting to hide his face.

But it was already enough. My heart nearly stopped. Because now I knew how to describe the hollow atmosphere that haunted Enver’s castle. How to explain the darkness and melancholy etched into the stone walls. To explain the dust on the unused furniture. The dozens of seats at the dining table that only ever hosted one occupant. The chill that clung to every corner. The stillness that permeated every corridor. The quiet that blanketed the air.

Loneliness had cast its dark shadow over every possible inch of his castle, transforming it into a shell of what it should have been. A loneliness reflected from the man who ruled over it.

Enver was lonely.

A lump rose in my throat as I looked at him, the way his dark form stood out against the sea of bright flowers beyond him. “You’re lonely,” I whispered.

His gaze snapped back to me, his eyes flashing. “No. I am not lonely. Do not tell me how I feel.”

“I’ve seen it. In your castle. Your garden. Your eyes.”

“You are overstepping, my little lover,” he warned, tension radiating from his broad shoulders. “Stop there. ”

I ignored him, a flutter of nerves building within me as I moved closer to him. He’d said before that he’d had three emotions when we’d first met, but only two people had completed the labyrinth. I’d thought it was a slip of the tongue, but it wasn’t. It meant one of his emotions had always been with him—that loneliness had always been with him. “I don’t understand. Why is it loneliness? Why have you always had that emotion when you’ve been forced to remain alone for so long? How could someone be so cruel? It’s… It’s…”

“Stop.”

“No wonder you’re so desperate to keep me,” I whispered. “You don’t want to be alone anymore.”

“That is enough .”

The fury in his tone left me breathless. His nostrils flared, and I paused for a moment, swallowing. I’d never heard him speak like that. I didn’t know why what I was saying was making him so upset. It wasn’t his fault he was lonely. There was nothing wrong with feeling lonely, either.

And now that I was here…

A rush of determination coursed through me as I pushed on. “You said you feel happy because of me. Then maybe I can lessen your loneliness the same way?—”

“Ah, you are right,” he interjected, his gaze turning deadly. “Perhaps you can lessen this feeling of isolation the same way you gave me happiness.”

A jolt of unease washed over me at the new mocking edge in his voice. “I want to help you.”

He smiled, and it held none of the warmth it did earlier, replaced with a cold emptiness. “Then have sex with me,” he said. “Come back to my chambers with me, spread your legs, and allow me to take what I want from your body.”

I froze, my pulse stuttering.

“You want to lessen my loneliness, do you not? Then allow me to bury myself deep inside you. Give me the warmth of your skin as I fill you. Allow me to use your body as my new private sanctuary until I feel less alone.”

The carnations slipped from my hand, falling to the ground at my feet as my hands trembled. “What?”

“You will allow me to, will you not?” Enver continued, his voice turning imploring now, a false sweetness lacing his words. “You want to ease my loneliness the same way you gave me happiness after all, no?”

I fought to speak over the lump growing in my throat. “You were only happy because I had sex with you?”

“What else would it have been?”

I took a shaky breath, my eyes searching his face, and the indifference displayed there made my chest ache. “That’s really all it was?”

“Yes. I do not have it in me to feel anything else for you.” His smile dropped, his expression hardening. “Or did you forget that, too?”

“You… You said…” This wasn’t good. The lump in my throat grew more prominent. It burned.

He regarded me coolly. “I said what I had to in order to convince you to stay with me. I did not know it would work so well. That you would give yourself so freely to me in exchange for the illusion of a happily ever after.”

Something stabbed into my chest, and I retreated back from him, finding it hard to breathe. My eyes stung, and my lips quivered when I tried to speak again. “I don’t believe you.”

“What reason do I have to lie to you, my little lover?” he asked, the breeze tousling his black hair, gentle where his words were not. “I have you trapped here, and now it seems you are quite fond of me. There is no reason for me to deceive you anymore. If I asked you to lay with me right now, to give yourself to me so I could feel happy and less alone, you would. Am I wrong? ”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t move. My body felt heavy and cold.

“I need you, Nell,” Enver murmured, his voice softening, attempting to lure me in with a soothing tone. He held his hand out to me, palm open and inviting. “Let me have you. Come to me, my little lover, and let me find solace within you.”

Despite the nausea in my stomach, despite knowing I shouldn’t, I still reached for him.

Something akin to anger flashed in his eyes, and his hand dropped before I could take it within mine. A storm brewed in his gaze as shadows formed around us, rising from the grass, blacking out the garden. “I see you have learned nothing from the labyrinth,” he spoke as the shadows swirled around us. “Still so desperate for love. Even from someone who cannot love you back.”

The lump in my throat choked me as I tried to respond, and all I could do was stare at him as the shadows surged on me. I didn’t fight them as they dragged me into their darkness.