Epilogue
Thanksgiving Break, One Year Later
Sadie
Vermont smells like cedar smoke and the promise of snow.
I’m curled up in the window seat of Lucan’s fire-warmed family lodge, writing in my notebook while sipping on steaming-hot cocoa with marshmallows.
My hand cramps from gripping the pen. Since I started writing the story that I’ve been planning and researching for a year, the words have flown onto the page like I’m possessed.
“What are you working on?” comes Lucan’s voice.
A moment later, his hand rubs the back of my neck.
Finishing the sentence I’m writing, I lift my gaze to him. “I think the novel is taking shape.”
“The dystopian romance?”
“Yep.”
“Finding love in darkness,” he says. “Am I in it?”
“It’s fiction.”
“That’s not an answer.”
I jiggle my shoulders. “You might see yourself in the forceful, overbearing enemy insurgent.”
“Fuck yeah, he sounds amazing. I want to read it.”
“It might be rubbish.”
“Ha. Not a chance.” Lucan yanks the notebook from my hands. “Your creative writing professor said your story for the midterm exam about the violin maker was splendidly captivating.”
“What?” I ask. “We haven’t even received our marks back yet. You looked on the faculty server?”
“Sorry. Spoiler.”
“You’re despicable.”
“Hey, I said I’d tell you everything I do. And I have to keep an eye on your professors.” His teeth flash in a brief snarl. “Due to the last one being a homicidal monster.”
“Okay, fair. Since you’ve graduated now, I guess you have to stay informed somehow.”
Lucan puts my notebook on the seat. “When you’re a famous author, will you stock your books at Ink & Ivy?”
“That sounds overly confident.”
“Why?” He shrugs. “It’s your bookshop. You can do what you like.”
I chuckle. “No, I mean, I don’t know if I’ll finish writing a book, let alone publish one.”
For Christmas last year, Lucan said the only gift he would accept from me was a signed deed to Ink & Ivy Books.
Tipsy on eggnog, I gave him what he asked for.
“You’ll finish,” he says. “I’ll lock you in a room and chain you to a desk if I have to.”
Kneeling on the window seat, I slide my hands under his black cashmere sweater to feel his hard abdominals. “But I might like that.”
Lucan kisses my forehead, pulling me closer.
“Consider it arranged.” He runs his hands through my hair, scrunching the strands at the base of my skull and tilting my head. “We have a few hours before my family gets here. Then come the caterers and decorators. It’ll be hectic. We should enjoy the peace while we can.”
“Yeah?” The corner of my mouth twitches in a smile. “What did you have in mind?”
Since arriving at the lodge in the morning, we’ve already had sex three times.
He traveled to Brussels for work earlier this week, and our four days apart left us both in shambles. Because I had exams, I had to stay at Darkbloom instead of going with him. He practically devoured me on the tarmac when I met his private jet at the airstrip.
We live at the penthouse most of the time, but I still have my dorm room for when he’s away.
Being with my friends on campus is nice, and having a social life without worrying that a killer is after me is even nicer.
I’ve joined a book club, a French language club, and the Ghosts of Darkbloom Society.
I’m yet to meet any ghosts, but the parties are fantastic.
Whenever I’m on break from college, Lucan likes to surprise me by taking me somewhere new. So far we’ve traveled to Singapore, the Maldives, Italy, and Bhutan.
Except for holidays. We spend those with his family, who now feel like my family.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” asks Lucan in amazement, like he can’t believe his luck.
I try to look away to hide my embarrassment, but he holds my head steady.
“Do you?” His voice vibrates in the root of my spine.
“You make me feel beautiful,” I whisper.
“Good. What else do I make you feel?”
“Loved.”
“Mmm. What else?”
He hooks his thumb in my mouth, tugging down my bottom lip. Keeping eye contact, I take his wrist and push his hand under my skirt.
His pupils flare with arousal as he feels my wetness through my underwear.
“This,” I say. “You make me feel this.”
With a groan of anticipation, he plunges two fingers into my tight entrance, still fisting my hair with his other hand.
My eyelids flutter closed with the sensation of his firm thrusting.
He kisses me deeply, tasting like wintergreen gum and cocoa. His tongue drives to the back of my mouth, and mine pushes back just as hard.
Shedding our clothes in fitful bursts, we don’t even make it to the bedroom.
Lucan fucks me right there on the window seat, with me moaning his name as he strokes me toward climax.
When we recover from sex, Lucan and I dress for warmth and head outside.
“I want to show you a place,” he says as we walk down the driveway that’s covered in trampled autumn leaves.
Dense woods surround the lodge and an icy blue lake. The bare branches against the silver sky create a serene, minimalist beauty.
My lungs fill with crisp air. “What place?”
“I used to go there with Parker and Hannah when we were kids,” replies Lucan. “I didn’t show you last year because it’s a hike and you were recovering from your injuries.”
I sigh. “I was fine by then, yet you hardly let me up from the lounge in front of the fire.”
“I didn’t hear you complain.”
“Why would I? You kept bringing me snacks and toying with my hair while we played board games with your family.”
“Uncle Gareth will want a rematch after you thrashed him in Scrabble.”
“Bring it on.”
We climb a winding, half-hidden path to a wooded hill overlooking a misty valley and the lake.
“Wow,” I say, taking in the picturesque landscape. “Very cool.”
“Yeah, it is.”
Without turning my head, I can tell he’s looking at me.
Lucan’s attention has always felt tangible, like he has a gravitational pull of his own.
When we’re in public together, I feel like I’m in a protective bubble exclusive to the two of us. It has little to do with his wealth and power, and everything to do with who he is as a person.
Breathing clouds of steam, he pulls me to him and strokes my cheek. My face burns from the cold and the pleasure of his proximity.
“I love you, Sadie,” he says.
A flower unfurls in my chest. “I love you.”
“Hearing those words from your lips never gets old.”
“That’s lucky, because I think you’ll hear them once or twice more.”
“Damn right I will.”
Lucan reaches inside his coat.
My heart skips several beats when he pulls out a small black-velvet box.
He drops to one knee while I try to remember how to breathe.
“I could live a million lives and I would love you in every one.” He opens the box to reveal a sparkly, delicate diamond on a simple band.
“I’ve been carrying this around for a year.
It belonged to my maternal great-grandmother.
A bona fide family heirloom, with no tracker installed, unless you want one. ”
The ring is stunning, but I’m looking into his eyes, my vision blurring with tears.
“Will you marry me?” The merest tremor threads his deep voice, like he’s practiced this moment every day since he started carrying the ring.
I don’t need to think about my answer. The word leaves my mouth like the easiest thing I’ve ever said.
“Yes.”
As he stands, Lucan’s face relaxes into a grin. He kisses the tip of my nose and then my lips, which is when I feel him shaking slightly.
Or maybe that’s me, because my blood feels alive with something like joy.
“I know you want to wait until after you graduate to get married, but this will satisfy me for now.” He touches my left hand. “May I?”
“You may.”
He tugs off my glove. “I got the ring inscribed.”
As he shows me the engraved script inside the band, I read aloud.
“I see my future in your eyes.” I exhale a puff of steam. “This is like the confession I picked from the box at the Founder’s Feast. You wrote that?”
Lucan smirks, his cockiness returning in full force after his brief show of nerves. “Mmhmm.”
“How did you know I’d be the one to pick it?”
“I didn’t.” He slides the glittering ring onto my finger. “Some things are just destined.”
* * *
Thank you for reading Coveted!