Epilogue
Sebastian
Glancing down at the beautiful woman sleeping with her head in my lap, I try not to allow the visions of her in the trunk of Courtney’s car, her limbs heavy and unresponsive, to fill my mind.
I try not to remember the paralyzing fear I felt every time she opened her eyes only to fall back into oblivion again.
It’s been years, but I’ve still never forgotten how it felt when she finally woke up and spoke to me, because a part of me thought I’d lost her, and that it was my penance for not being a better man.
Starling is my reason for everything. She’s been my entire universe since I was seventeen years old. I never saw a future without her in it, and my single-minded intent to make her mine and keep her forever never allowed me to envisage what I’d do without her.
I love my wife. I love our life. I’ve loved every good, bad, or heartbreaking moment of our story. I loved her when she was scared. I loved her when she was broken, and I love her now that she’s become a phoenix whose light shines so bright it blinds me.
I love who she is and who she will be. I love her fight. I love her submission, and I love how she loves me.
I’ve heard her say too many times that every day that she loves me more than she hates me is a day she picks me, but I’ve always needed to be more than picked. I need her to want to share each breath I take, to know that nothing about her works without me.
I’m not sure if she’ll ever feel that way, and that scares me more than anything except losing her.
Starling has proved to me over and over that she’s not broken anymore, and our new normal has become me learning to accept and embrace that.
Because she’s too good for me, she gifted me her body to control and took back her mind. She gave me what I needed, and in return, I opened the cage I’d imprisoned her in and set her free.
Now there are no more locks, bars, or cages. There’s just us, changing, evolving, and learning how we stay bound together without crippling either of us. Now I see how perfectly humbled we’ve become. How perfectly imperfect we are.
Since the day I met her, I’ve fought to keep everything the same.
I saw her. I claimed her. I took her. I broke her, then I fixed her.
I put her in a cage that was too small and the wrong shape.
I risked everything I value most in a life of privilege and excess to possess her instead of trusting her.
I don’t think I’ll ever stop feeling the desire to control her, but I’ve learned that she’s always been the one who truly holds the power in our relationship, and I’m just the one lucky enough to be loved by a perfect Little Bird.
Obsession, obligation, obliteration, oblivion, and now pure, beautiful obedience—we’ve had it all, and our story has barely begun.
The end
This story has found a happy ever after, but there are always more chapters after the epilogue, especially when there’s a brand-new generation of psychos ready to find their own obsessions.