Epilogue
DRAVEN
Gunpowder perches on Nox’s shoulder. He gently strokes the raven’s feathers as he gazes out at the fields of baneberry. The wind is warm for the first time in months, signaling the end of winter.
From inside Harker Mansion, the sound of maniacal laughter rings out. Mia has been trying to teach Aries and Bones how to paint. They suck at it and it’s the most amusing thing she’s ever seen. I chuckle every time Bones curses at the canvas in Spanish, and Aries throws his paintbrush to the floor like a child having a temper tantrum.
Mia knows I can’t sit still long enough so luckily I dodged that bullet. I have no desire to pick up a paintbrush. Besides, I’ve been too busy staffing her house and watching over the poison fields. I’ve always been the more serious one out of the three of us, anyway.
Now that things have settled, I’ve been urging Bones and Aries to have more fun. I’ve kept them suffocated in my darkness for so long, it’s only fair that they finally get to exhale.
“Take off your clothes,” Nox murmurs.
I’m so lost in my own thoughts, I don’t realize he’s watching me until now. “Excuse me?” We’ve fucked each other senseless in the last few weeks but it’s the middle of the afternoon and we’re outside. A dozen or so workers harvest the fields just a few yards away from us.
“You need to relax. It’s a beautiful day. Take off your shirt and pants and come sit by me.” He pats the spot next to him on the stone bench.
I’m dumbfounded. My suits are my armor. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not as big of an exhibitionist as you are.”
He laughs. “Flowers cannot grow without sunlight. You’re shielding yourself from demons that live inside you. Not out. Take off your clothes so you can feel the wind at your bare back. Scrunch your toes in the grass.”
Maybe I don’t wanna fucking grow. But I already have. Day by day, Mia and Nox bring me farther out of my toxic shell. I sigh as I unbutton my shirt. “This is childish. We are grown men.”
“I’ve never been a child. Only this. But innocence lost can be found again, Draven.” Nox jerks his head toward my pants. “Off.”
I strip down to my boxer briefs and shudder. I don’t think my body has seen the sun since I was a teenager. Back when Aries, Bones, and I used to swim in the lake. “If this is some sick joke where you run off with my clothes, I will murder you. Devil or not.”
He laughs with his whole chest. “I see why she’s so enamored with you. Your grumpiness is charming. Now come sit and enjoy the day with me.”
The stone bench is cold against the backs of my thighs but it doesn’t take long to warm up. Gunpowder caws and makes his way over to my shoulder. He hasn’t done that in years. I let out a deep sigh and close my eyes. He’s right. The sun feels good on my skin.
“Your darkness is self-inflicted. It’s who you are because you chose it to be that way. It’s okay to let the light in sometimes.” Nox covers my hand with his .
“How did you get to be so wise? You’ve been living inside Mia’s pussy for twenty-five years,” I growl. I’m half-teasing but also annoyed that he’s almost never wrong.
He shrugs. “Consciousness is a mystery, is it not? Even for a devil like me.”
Mia’s shrieks of laughter grow louder. I turn to see Bones and Aries chasing her through the yard. I can’t stop the grin from forming on my face. I love all three of them so fucking much. We fit. And my affection for Nox grows by the day. Aside from the carnal lust we have for each other in the bedroom, his soul is like mine. We are two fragments from the same whole. Two pieces of a puzzle that remains hidden.
I turn my hand and lace my fingers through his. “I’m glad you’re here.”
He pulls his lips into a smirk. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone you said that.”
A euphoric wave of laughter billows out of me. My fingers spark and tingle as he squeezes my hand. Mia, Aries, and Bones freeze. They look at me like I have two heads. Like I’ve gone mad. Maybe I have.
I keep going until my belly hurts and I can barely breathe. It’s orgasmic. Exquisite. I feel young again. Free.
They see it too. They feel it.
And soon we’re all laughing and chasing each other around the yard like children. We kiss and dance and hold hands as we rediscover that one last sliver of innocence we still have left. A ray of light, faint as it might be, that loosens that shadowy grip around my neck.
We let ourselves feel everything.
Tragically beautiful. Still vulnerable. Ever dark…
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