Epilogue #2
Inside the case lay stacks of gold coins. Hundreds. Thick and heavy and shining like they had been stolen from a king’s treasury.
Stunned, I knelt beside it. “Are those real?”
“Real,” Cassian confirmed. “They belong to Cristian. Always have.”
Cristian lifted a handful of coins and let them fall back into the case. They clattered loudly. “How did you transport this from Europe?”
Cassian shrugged. “I met with old acquaintances. People who owed us. People we helped. People who have held our things for centuries. It pays to have connections, especially the kind who do not die.”
I blinked hard. “You two are terrifying.”
“Thank you,” Cassian said.
Cristian frowned. “Why now?”
Cassian leaned on the back of the couch.
“Because I finally can. Because I am free. Because we are not puppets anymore. And because you deserved it.” He stretched.
“I am tired. Not tired enough to sleep. I want to sit in the dark for a while.” He jabbed a thumb toward the stairs. “I will be in my room.”
Without another word, he wandered upstairs and shut his door.
I turned slowly toward Cristian. “What are you going to do with all that money?”
“I am going to spoil you.”
My stomach flipped. “Cristian.”
“It is the correct choice,” he said simply. “I like giving things to you.”
My cheeks warmed. I covered my face with both hands. “This is unfair. You cannot say things like that.”
He moved my hands away from my face and kissed my forehead. “I can.”
I melted into him as he slid his arms under my legs and back. Before I could ask what he was doing, he lifted me against his chest with no effort at all.
I gasped. “Cristian, what are you doing?”
He strode toward the stairs. “I am carrying you to our room.”
“Why?” I asked, even though I knew exactly why.
He smiled at me like I was the best choice he had ever made. “Because I want to ravish you.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Then go.”
He took the stairs two at a time. When we reached the master bedroom, he set me on the bed and brushed my hair back with careful hands.
My heart knocked hard against my ribs. “You look like you want to say something.”
He sat beside me and cupped my cheek gently. “I woke because of you. By accident. A moment I never imagined. You saved me on purpose.” His thumb brushed my jaw. “I did not think I would ever have a life again. You gave me one.”
My throat tightened with emotion. “Cristian.”
“I want every day with you,” he said. “Whatever it looks like.”
I slid into his lap, straddling him, my hands curling into his shirt. “Then you have me.”
He kissed me, all slow and warm and sure, gripping my hips like he knew exactly what he wanted.
The room went quiet except for our soft touches and deepening hunger.
He trailed his mouth down my neck, and I clutched his shoulders, breathless and full.
“Say it again,” I whispered.
He pulled back enough to meet my gaze. “I love you, Nadia.”
I smiled. “And I love you.”
The world had opened for us.
He undressed me languidly, as if we had all the time in the world. “Lie back,” he said, his voice rough with desire.
I did, watching him through heavy-lidded eyes. He removed his clothes slowly, revealing all that hard muscle that made my mouth water. My lips twitched into a smile before he climbed onto the bed, his skin against mine sending shivers down my spine.
For a moment, we just lay there, wrapped in each other’s arms, sharing breath.
Then he lowered his head to my chest and kissed it lightly, trailing hot breath up to my neck.
“You saved every part of me. Even the parts I did not think could come back. You are my certainty. My peace. My choice. And I love you with every part of myself.”
His words filled me with warmth from head to toe. “I love you, Cristian. With my whole self.”
He took my earlobe between his teeth. “You taste like sunshine,” he whispered against my skin.
He trailed kisses down my neck to my collarbone. His hand brushed the inside of my thigh. My breath hitched.
Desire coursed through me like lightning. “Cristian.”
He looked up at me, his eyes dark with need. “You are so beautiful.”
I let out a shaky breath, and he kissed down my stomach, leaving slow, hot trails as he went. His lips found mine again, this time hungry and demanding. I moaned into his mouth as his tongue plundered deep, tasting and teasing.
I arched into him, pulling him closer, desperate for him to be inside me. He whispered, “Such a greedy girl. Patience, my love. I want you to remember that I cherish every inch of you.”
His mouth found my breast, sucking softly while his fingers teased the other nipple.
I moaned as he traced a line down my abdomen with his tongue, making me squirm with need. “Tell me you want me,” he commanded against my skin.
“I do,” I breathed out, trying to catch my breath. “I’ve never wanted anyone like this.”
His tongue found its way to where I really wanted him, and I cried in ecstasy. “Don’t forget to look at me,” he said against my skin.
I opened my eyes and met his gaze, feeling his warmth spread through me like honey. “My good girl.”
I couldn’t contain myself. His words. His tongue. His perfect fucking body. The orgasm tore through me like lightning. He growled his approval, licking his lips before moving back up my body.
“Open your legs for me.”
I did, whimpering as he entered me. It felt like coming home.
“So good,” he murmured against my ear.
With every long stroke and deep thrust, we moved as one, our hearts beating together, our bodies connecting. He touched every inch of me, leaving a trail of fire across my skin. My body ached from wanting more of him.
He kissed my neck and then my collarbone, his teeth nipping softly. I cried out from the sweet pain and pleasure mixing through me. “Beautiful,” he breathed against my skin.
His breath shuddered out as his grip on my waist tightened with a need that rocked something deep inside me. He kissed the curve of my neck again, open and slow, tasting my skin like he had waited centuries for this exact moment.
He groaned softly, the sound low against my throat, then I felt the sharp, careful pressure of his teeth at the place where my pulse moved under his mouth.
He bit with deliberate control, just enough to break my skin.
Warmth surged through me, strong and deep, stealing any words I might have tried to form.
The sound I let out was made from pure need.
I clung to him, my hand gripping his shoulder as the sensation spread through my whole body. It wasn’t pain. It was connection. It was trust turned into something physical and overwhelming.
He took only a small amount. Just enough to feel me, to taste me, to hold the moment between us without letting it take more than either of us could give.
His tongue flicked over the bite, then he kissed the spot softly, pouring his devotion into it. It was the kind of kiss that said he cherished me more than he wanted to consume me.
I shuddered and framed his face with both hands, pulling him up to me.
“I feel you,” I whispered. “All of you.”
He moved faster inside me, his rhythm matching my cries and moans.
I wrapped my legs tighter around him, pulling him deeper inside me as I felt my second orgasm building.
It crashed through me with a force so powerful I thought it might break me in two.
His cries mixed with mine as we found our release together.
Cristian collapsed on top of me, panting and sweating but content.
The room went still, like it always did when we had given each other everything. The sheets were warm under me, and my muscles were deliciously loose. Cristian lay half on his side, propped on one elbow, watching me like he was trying to memorize every detail of my face.
Not hungry. Not frantic. Not overwhelmed.
Just in love.
His fingers traced my cheek in slow, steady passes. “You are all right,” he said softly.
“I am more than all right,” I said. “I am whole.”
He let out a sound that hit low in his chest, the kind he only made when he was truly at peace, then pulled the blanket up over both of us and settled close, his forehead touching mine.
I placed my palm over his heart. “You are steady,” I whispered.
“You are the reason,” he said. “I never knew I could have this.”
“This?” I teased lightly. “Or me?”
“Both,” he said without hesitation.
My smile spread. He always did that to me. He always knocked me off balance when he said the truth like it was the easiest thing in the world.
“I love you,” I said.
He closed his eyes for a moment. “Say it again.”
“I love you.”
His hand slid into mine under the blanket. “I will spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret choosing me.”
“I won’t,” I said.
He nodded. “I still want to earn it. Every day.”
I laughed softly. “You already do. You do the dishes. You don’t scare the neighbors anymore. You haven’t called a single friend of mine a peasant in weeks.”
“They deserved it.”
“They did not,” I said, nudging him gently.
He dipped his head and kissed my temple, squeezing my hand under the covers.
The hum of the ceiling fan lulled me into that soft place before sleep could claim me. Outside, the tree branches tapped against the window. The whole world felt warm and wide and ours.
Cristian rested his chin on top of my head. “Nadia.”
“Hmm?”
He shut his eyes again. “You gave me a life. Not a curse. Not a duty. A life.”
I snuggled closer until our legs tangled. “And you gave me a place to land.”
He nodded slowly. “You changed everything.”
“So did you,” I said.
He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “Stay with me.”
“I am not going anywhere.”
He swallowed, emotion thick in his tone but steady. “Stay with me in all the years to come. Stay here. Stay in this bed. Stay in our home. Wherever that is. Stay in my life.”
I cupped his face with both hands. “I am yours.”
He kissed me softly, nothing urgent now. Just love. “I will protect this,” he whispered into my mouth. “You. Us. What we built.”
“And I will fight for it,” I said. “Every day.”
He tightened his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. I nestled against him, resting my head over his heart as he traced slow circles on my back. The room felt weighted in comfort and something warm and permanent.
“You should sleep,” he murmured.
“Mmm. Probably.”
He held me like I was his home, and I held him like he was mine.
My final thought before sleep caught me was simple and certain.
I woke him by accident. We saved each other on purpose.
And the rest of our life waited right outside that door.
Thank you so much for reading