Until the World Falls Down

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

N ell’s sweet voice flooded my veins.

“ Enver .”

The sound of her needy, whispered plea made my chest expand with an emotion I’d forgotten and caused the darkness that always lingered at the back of my mind to thin. The warmth of her body underneath mine seeped into me, a balm against the chill that never truly went away, even with my heart back in my chest.

Her fingertips ran down my back, leaving searing trails of pleasure in their wake, and a groan rose in the back of my throat.

The darkness dispersed even more.

She had been in my world for a little over a week, in my home that had once been my prison. After the curse broke, my castle had returned to its former state. No longer tied to my mental state, the walls were free of ruin and despair, the tapestries and rugs were no longer torn and faded, the gardens outside were flourishing once more.

But I could not say the same for myself.

A phantom pain stabbed through my chest, and I gritted my teeth against it. The darkness started to encroach again, a coldness seeping back into my bones. After a century of not feeling, the return of my emotions was overwhelming, the extremes nearly driving me mad. I was either euphoric or wrathful, disconsolate or exultant. The smallest of things could trigger a shift in my temperament.

Yet what I felt strongest was cold fury. It stirred within me, a bone-deep hate taking over every waking thought if I let my mind drift. Toward the curse. Toward the one who had cast it. Toward the one who had been the cause of it.

The taste of vengeance lingered on the tip of my tongue, and an ever-present urge to enact it inundated my body, causing my muscles to flex and my blood to boil.

Nell shifted beneath me, calling out my name again, this time breathless. My gaze drifted down, a spark of possessiveness igniting in me at the sight of her writhing under my hand encased too tightly around her throat. Her pretty blue eyes burned into mine, her perfect lips parting to form my name again.

My grip slackened, but she only tilted her head back, baring her smooth neck to me further.

The darkness retreated again.

I leaned down and kissed her, drinking her in, allowing her to calm the cold fury inside of me, replacing it with a fire and heat only she could kindle.

I knew she was worried about Evangeline. I knew she felt guilty. She believed she’d stolen me from Evangeline. I saw it in the way she tensed before I kissed her, the way she would fall silent after I touched her.

It only made me want to kiss her more. Touch her more. Remind her I belonged to her—only her—and that would never change.

It would be easier when I could explain everything to her, but now was not the time for that. Nell needed to adjust to my world before I told her of its intricacies.

Of how I would reclaim everything that had been stolen from me and destroy all who had wronged me. I would return the century of suffering I had endured tenfold.

For now, though, I would leave Nell ignorant of the darkness inside me.

For now, I would indulge myself.

Indulge in her.

I took one of her wrists in my hand and pinned it above her head, my lips leaving hers to trail a path down her neck, biting down over the now almost-faded puncture wounds Dio had left on her neck, causing her to moan sweetly. I would leave a mark over them every day until they disappeared entirely. Until nothing remained of her encounter with him. Until there was no trace of him on her. No trace of anyone but me.

“Enver,” she said again, and I knew I would never tire of it. It had been too long since someone called my real name, too long living under a false guise.

I would never go back to being Verofer. He was as dead as the ones who ruined him were soon to be.

Nell’s legs wrapped around my waist, drawing her lower half up and into mine, grinding herself against my hard length. The scent of her arousal surrounded me, something I had not been able to appreciate as much before. The curse had taken more from me than my memories and my emotions. It had stripped me of my innate abilities and instincts. It had boiled me down to almost human— if humans could survive for over a century and control shadows.

And as Nell had said once, humans could not do that.

The memory had a faint smile crossing my face.

Nell’s free hand wandered over my shoulders, up my neck, and to my newly pointed ear. Desire rushed through me as she thumbed over the tip. Once she had gotten over the initial surprise of their shape, she quickly figured out they were a sensitive spot.

And she was merciless in her torture.

A low rumbling came from my chest as I fought the urge to bury myself deep in her and show her how merciless I could be.

Instead, I tore her hand away, placing it with her other above her head, conjuring my shadows to keep them bound. They curled around her, anchoring her arms in place, and she arched further into me, a sigh leaving her lips.

“Do not move your hands my little lover, or I will have my shadows do more to you than hold you down,” I warned her.

She swallowed, and I traced the movement with my fingers, her skin soft under my touch. After hiding my shadows for so long, the fact I did not have to around her filled me with an immeasurable sense of satisfaction and freedom. She did not truly understand the weight of my shadows, but she embraced them and took pleasure in them.

It made me wonder if my kind would have still been destroyed had they used their shadows for pleasure instead of power.

Then again, I planned to exert both kinds of power. One for control over others. One for control over Nell.

“I want you inside me,” she panted.

“Is that how we ask for things, pet?”

She flushed at my word choice, and my blood ignited again with lust. My hand slipped between us, then under the hem of her bunched up night dress, my fingers teasing her skin as I moved closer and closer toward the heat radiating from the apex of her thighs.

“Please,” she tried.

I ignored her, my fingers slipping into her underwear, the back of my hand brushing against the soaked fabric as I dipped two fingers inside her without warning. Her hips jerked in response, a cry filling the air, and I bit down hard on a nipple poking through her dress, making her cry choke into a whimper. Her walls clenched around my finger, and all I could think about was how she would feel around me when I was inside her.

But not yet.

I released her nipple and slid my fingers out of her, making her look at me with desperate, pleading eyes.

“Your desperation is calling out to me again,” I told her, though the connection between us the labyrinth had allowed me to feel had disappeared. “You already have me, my little lover. What more could you yearn for?”

“It’s never enough,” she said breathlessly. “I want more and more of you. I will always be desperate for you.”

Satisfaction rippled through me, and I lost the little restraint I had. My fingers curled into the delicate fabric of her dress, and I tore it down the center. The sound of the silk ripping and her soft gasp sent another surge of desire through me. The tattered dress lay on either side of her as I moved down her body, spreading her thighs, taking one long lick through the drenched fabric of her undergarments before ripping them away with a jerk of my hand.

Nell took in a sharp breath, looking down at me. “Y-you could have just taken them off! You didn’t have to ruin them!”

“Consider it a preview.”

“Of what?”

“Of how I will ruin you, my little lover.”

Her eyes widened, and I took a moment to appreciate the sight of her spread and splayed before me.

I pressed a kiss to her inner thigh, soft and teasing, and smirked as she trembled. Agonizingly slow, I trailed kisses higher and higher until my mouth was hovering over her heat, purposely letting my breath wash over her. I waited, listening to her shallow breaths quicken again until her hips began to rock up, trying to press against my mouth.

Her scent drove me wild, and her eager movements only increased my hunger for her. I had wanted to take it slow and tease her, but now all I wanted was to taste her, to drown in her.

And I would not deny myself.

I would not deny myself anything anymore.

My hands gripped her thighs, fingers digging into flesh as I parted them wider, holding her open and at my mercy. I descended on her and groaned as her taste exploded on my tongue, the sound mingling with her own moan. My mouth closed over her, lapping up her arousal, licking and sucking with no rhythm, no patience, no focus on what I knew drove her wild—only on sating my craving.

Her scent, her taste, her sounds… They all sent the darkness retreating further. The fury replaced by need. The hollowness filled with her, her, her .

Her back arched off the bed as I finally circled her clit, settling into a pattern as I increased my pressure and pace, flicking my tongue over it before sucking.

“Oh, God,” she moaned, her body writhing against my hold. “Please?—”

“God? Not quite. I am more monster than deity, my little lover,” I murmured, my lips brushing against her tantalizing warmth as I spoke, causing her to shudder. “I will not give you divine pleasure. I will devour you instead.”

Her hands pulled at the shadows restraining her. “Enver?—”

I nipped at her, cutting her off, making her body jerk, and then I soothed it with a slow circle of my tongue, savoring her taste, her pleasure, her moans.

“You’re not a monster,” she gasped out.

I lifted my gaze to her face, seeing her staring back down at me. Her pupils were blown wide with desire, but her expression was a mix of affection and determination .

The phantom pain stabbed through my heart again. I released one of her thighs to thrust two fingers into her in response. Her head fell back, and I returned my attention to her clit, sucking, licking, and circling, all while pumping my fingers in and out of her, the wet sounds of her arousal almost drowning out the sound of my name spilling from her lips.

She wanted me to believe her. She thought I had said I was a monster because of the words she once used against me.

But I had not.

I was not a monster for what had been done.

I was a monster for what I would do.

The darkness crept forward again.

“Enver!”

This time, her whimper was of pain, not pleasure. I released her thigh, glancing at the deep indents my nails had left in them and noticing my shadows had woven around her legs, constricting and crushing. My gaze shot to her face. She wrenched her eyes shut, her teeth biting into her lip as if trying not to cry out again. The shadows around her wrists had also tightened, the skin underneath the black coils already reddening.

They loosened, then withdrew as I reined them in, my jaw clenching. My shadows were harder to control with the loss of my relic—another victim of the labyrinth.

Nell’s eyes opened as I freed her wrists, but instead of pushing me away, she reached for me. I did not stop her as her hands tangled in my hair, urging me up toward her. I braced myself on my elbows above her, taking in the shy, affectionate smile on her lips. Smiling as if I had not just hurt her. As if she did not know my shadows could have easily broken her.

As if she did not realize that the monster in me could easily ruin her.

She pulled my head down, and I kissed her, allowing her to distract me from my thoughts. Her hips rolled against mine, and she sighed into my mouth as one of her hands drifted down my chest and stomach and into the loose fabric of my pants, wrapping around my length. Our kiss turned fierce and hungry as she stroked me, her grip tightening as I ground myself into her palm.

When I could not take anymore, I sat back to rid myself of my clothing, tossing it to the floor before positioning myself between her thighs again. Her gaze swept across my body, resting on the scar on my chest. The way her eyes softened made the hollow ache return. Her lips parted as if to speak, but before she could, my hand slid into her hair, tugging her head back as I drove into her.

The heat and slickness of her core engulfed me, making us both groan. Her walls fluttered around me as I bottomed out, her body going still, fingers digging into my shoulders as she adjusted to my thickness.

I hid a smirk against her neck. I thought she would get used to it, but I also took pleasure in the fact that she had not.

Withdrawing, I pulled out completely, then drove back into her, the force of it jolting her body. My teeth scraped the column of her throat, and she choked out a cry when I repeated the motion, feeling the vibration of her voice under my lips as I pressed a soothing kiss against the spot. She tightened around me, and I could not stop a low groan from escaping me.

In response, she rocked her hips up, thighs wrapping around my waist, one of her hands tangling in my hair. “More,” she pleaded.

I released her hair to hook my arm under her knee, pushing it toward her chest, angling my hips to plunge in harder, deeper, faster. “As my little lover desires,” I murmured.

Her head fell back into the pillows, her eyes fluttering shut, her lips parting in soundless gasps. With every thrust, her breasts bounced, and the sight enthralled me, the feel of her around me enticing me to sink deeper and deeper .

It was not enough.

A shadow formed, sliding over her stomach, splitting to curl around her breasts, their tendrils sweeping against her nipples, making her back arch, her body roll against mine.

It would never be enough.

Her eyes flew open as another shadow moved between us to tease her clit. “Enver!”

“Mm, I do love the way you say my name when you are falling apart,” I said, holding her against me as I sheathed myself inside her, remaining there for a moment, grinding against her. “Such a sweet cry. Call for me again, Nell. Tell me who you belong to. Who you are begging for.”

“You,” she breathed, squeezing around me as my shadows teased her, coaxing another rumble from my throat. “I’m begging for you, Enver. Only you. Desperate only for you.”

Her words hit their mark, possessiveness and desire burning through me, and I resumed thrusting into her, swallowing her gasp with a bruising kiss. The bed shook, the headboard colliding into the wall as I slammed into her, my shadows continuing to work her over as her thighs trembled, her breathing growing more and more ragged.

I tore away from her lips, watching her unravel beneath me. Her eyes locked onto mine, her fingers threading into my hair, keeping me facing her as her walls constricted around me, quivering, ready to snap.

As if I would look away.

As if there was anything worthier of my gaze.

“You are beautiful,” I told her, my voice rough, and she moaned.

I commanded a shadow to slide inside her heat next to my shaft, stretching her further. The effect was immediate. Her back bowed off the bed, her orgasm ripping through her, causing her to clamp down on me, creating an exquisite sort of torture as I continued to drive into her, the tightness and friction making it harder and harder to restrain myself.

She released my hair in favor of gripping the bedsheets, her head rolling from side to side as I did not relent. “Enver,” she said, half a moan, half a whine.

“Again,” I demanded.

She shuddered but did not resist. Did not try to escape my hold or shadows.

I smiled at her obedience.

More shadows materialized, wrapping around limbs like ribbons, dragging her hands higher above her head until her arms were fully stretched out. Their darkness contrasted against her white skin, the sight causing a satisfied hum to vibrate from my chest. I let her shaking leg down, placing it back around my waist, admiring how my shadows twisted and twined around her.

She looked up at me, cheeks flushed, lips swollen, eyes glazed over. Her fingers twitched in their bindings, breath coming sharp and short.

My hand moved to her throat.

She tensed, her breath catching, but I only softly stroked my fingers along her skin, coaxing her to relax. My shadows paused their ministrations at my will, giving her a momentary respite. I knew it was hard for her to calm down—that she was sensitive from her first orgasm, and everything must have felt more intense, but my touch won out.

Her muscles relaxed, her lashes fluttering.

And then I tightened my grip, pressing my thumb against the hollow of her throat, my shadows resuming their teasing. She let out a small sound, her walls clenching around me as I started thrusting again, driving myself impossibly deep. Her hips rose to meet me, and it was my turn to moan, my hand around her throat flexing before increasing the pressure on it.

She let out a choked noise that set my blood on fire. Her body shook, her legs slipping from my thighs. I used my free hand to grip her thigh, bringing it back, holding it there as my pace increased. I could feel the pressure rise in me, pleasure shooting through me with each thrust, with each breathless sound from her. My muscles tensed, and I gritted my teeth, trying to stave off my release, wanting her to come again first.

She was close. I could tell by the way she fell silent, her body straining against mine, teetering on the edge.

I knew what she needed to send her over.

Dipping my head down, I brushed my lips against her ear before I spoke. My voice was low and dark, my words serving as both a promise and a warning. “You are mine.”

Her pulse beat frantically under my fingertips as she whimpered her response, and then her body seized, her core convulsing around me as she came once more. The sensation wrested my own release from me, and with a groan, I buried myself into her. My body spasmed as wave after wave of ecstasy tore through me, hot spurts of my release filling her, each one followed by a jerk of my hips.

The phantom pain in my chest subsided, and the void filled once more, even if only temporarily.

I released her throat but did not pull out, intent on staying like this as long as possible. Inside her. Feeling whole at last. She only managed to take in one deep inhale of air before I stole her breath once more with a kiss. The shadows melted away, and she wrapped her arms around my neck as she kissed me back, not caring about her lack of oxygen.

“My little lover,” I murmured against her lips.

I would never let her go.

The darkness inside me stirred as if it agreed.