Epilogue
EVELINA
“So…” My brows knit as I peer out the window at the dark trees whipping past the Range Rover. “I feel that Andrés wasn’t really kidding when he said we were no longer welcome on the Knightsblood campus?”
Which does sort of suck, because I really enjoyed the class I was teaching up here, and I loved my students.
On the plus side, I’ve been talking to Kir and Madame Kuzmina about starting a class for immediately pre-professional students at the Mercury, and they both seemed to like the idea.
Also, a few of my favorite girls from Knightsblood are going to be moving to New York after they graduate this spring, and they loved the idea of getting back into the studio together.
“Debatable,” Vaughn grunts from the driver’s seat. “Also, he’s back in Spain doing…whatever the fuck dynastic jerk-offs like him do with their time.” He grins as he glances at me. “It’s not like he’s festooning the front gates of the place with our photos and ‘do not let in’ taped to them.”
I giggle. “Okay, but still—”
“And anyway, we’re not going to campus.”
Earlier, he lured me out of the city by saying we were going to go hiking in the Hudson Valley north of the city. Instead, we ended up heading northeast into southern Connecticut.
We’ve just had an amazing day in Hawthorne Hollow, the super cute little coastal town down the hill from the cliffs that Knightsblood sits on.
We had lunch and then did some antiquing, where I managed to find a gorgeous porcelain figurine of a ballerina for Gordon Stone’s wife, Katherine, who collects them.
The Stones have actually become good friends, especially after Vaughn elevated Gordon to an even more senior position within the Syndicate.
I mean, it’s the least he could do after everything.
While Jameson Beaumont was part of a coup against Vaughn, Gordon, it turns out, was not. His only crime was that decades ago, he was one of the members of the upper ranks of the Syndicate who ousted Quentin.
While Vaughn’s grandfather was whispering in his ear about enemies and power, he was also using him as a tool for revenge against his own personal enemies from years before. And after everything that happened, Quentin’s “proof” against Gordon was proved to be bullshit.
After lunch and antiquing, Vaughn and I still did go on a hike, where he pinned me against a tree with my hands above my head and my panties stuffed in my mouth as he fucked me, came all over me, then fucked me a second time with that cum still dripping down my skin until he filled me with a second load.
Hashtag blessed.
After that, we had dinner and then watched a girl with an incredible voice play acoustic versions of Velvet Guillotine songs in the park in the middle of town.
And now, we’re…
“Wait, so where are we going?”
He exhales. “It’s a surprise, princess.”
I make a face. “You know I hate surprise—”
I yelp, squealing a little as his hand shoots out to pinch and twist one of my nipples through my top. His hand immediately slides down between my legs, and I whimper when he rubs my pussy through my jeans.
“Yeah, tell me again how much you hate being surprised,” he smirks as he brings his hand back to the wheel, turning the car off the main road.
I poke my tongue out at him, shifting in my seat at the heat he’s left me with.
When I look out the window, I realize I know where we are. And when the car pulls into the little parking lot next to the clearing that overlooks the town, the campus, and the ocean, I grin.
“Oh man, I don’t think I’ve been to Griswold Hill since—”
“The night I chased you?” he murmurs. He grins at me. “Neither have I.”
He pulls to a stop at the very top and switches off the engine. We get out, and I blink when he pulls a blanket and a bottle of wine out of the trunk.
“Someone came prepared.”
“You have no idea,” he murmurs with a smile.
We lay the blanket down on the moonlit grass and open the wine—no glasses, but who cares.
Vaughn sits, and when I settle between his thighs, he pulls me back against his chest and wraps his arms around me.
I snuggle and tangle myself up in him as he takes a sip right from the bottle before passing it to me.
I take a drink and pass it back to him. He just sets it to the side before he wraps those big arms around me again.
“There’s something I want to ask you about trying…something I want to do with you.” He takes a slow breath. “But it’s a big ask, and I want you to know, the safe word still totally applies.”
Holy shit. I haven’t even thought about our safe word in months. But also…what the heck does he want to “try” or “do” that merits reminding me of it? I mean, at this point, listing the things I haven’t done with him, sexually speaking, would be faster than listing the ones I have.
“Okay,” I blush, sinking into his chest. “A little apprehensive, but curious.”
“Good,” he murmurs into my ear as he reaches a hand behind him. “I want your everything.”
His hand is suddenly in front of me again, at eye level.
Holding a small box.
“I want your love, and I want your body. I want that apprehension and that curiosity. I want all your yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows, Evelina.”
Oh my God.
His thumb pushes the lid of the small black box open, and the moonlight glimmers off the ring inside.
“I love you more than anything in this world or the next, and I want my life to be your life and yours to be mine,” Vaughn growls into my ear. “I want you to marry me.”
There’s no hesitation.
No need to think.
I just whirl, throw my arms around him, and tackle him to the ground.
“Yes.”
The ring slips onto my finger.
His mouth crushes to mine.
We scramble to our feet, he chases me, then he catches me as I squeal.
Or maybe it’s me who catches him.
Or maybe we catch each other.
Or maybe it doesn’t really matter, because neither of us is ever letting go.
The Jaggerverse will continue with Dark Descendants, a new next-gen dark college mafia series set in the world of Knightsblood, coming spring 2026.