Epilogue

EPILOGUE

I t had been months since Rose had thought of the terrible staircase in Osten house. With the mist plague victims restored, Luc’s magic school project, and her duties to the Norden and the Compass Points, Rose was rarely alone.

Sitting on the balcony of her and Luc’s bedroom, reading, was a welcome moment of peace. Compass Lake was at its most beautiful as the sun was rising. A soft fog coated the lake that, in another time, could have been much more worrisome. But the mist plague was gone, the continent was restored, and the Compass Points did their best to bring forth the future they all dreamed of.

The pine and cinnamon scent hit her before she saw him. Luc groggily stumbled onto the balcony and took a seat next to her on the giant daybed. It had been her one furniture purchase since becoming Norden Point. It was wide enough for them both to sprawl out, and the hours they spent relaxing here at the start and end of each day were some of her favorites.

“Did the heroine get her happily ever after?” Luc asked as he snuggled beside Rose, throwing an arm across her waist and pulling her close. His magic wrapped around them. It was never far from Rose since they’d been reunited.

“I think she did,” Rose said with a smile, setting her book on the table. She rolled into Luc’s warmth.

“I knew she would,” he said, pressing a kiss to her neck.

“It was a little sketchy in the middle there,” Rose said. She could feel the exhale of a soft laugh against her skin as he journeyed lower.

Her lips parted as his mouth covered her nipple over her shirt. His hand, in no hurry at all, slipped under her sleep clothes and explored her skin, traveling toward her other breast.

“I’ll admit I think she deserves the happily ever after she got.”

Luc’s hand cupped her breast under her shirt, kneading it as he replied, “Oh, she deserves so much more.” Then he took her nipple between his teeth.

She hissed in pleasure, her body awakening at his touch.

The hand working her breast dropped lower, teasing the band of her undergarments until Rose was begging him to remove them.

“I guess our heroine doesn’t like to wait,” he laughed.

“Or maybe she’s waited long enough,” Rose replied. She didn’t have time to enjoy their banter as he removed the final obstacle between them, granting him full access to her center.

She gasped as he explored her heat. His fingers swirled and slid. Her body arched to him—her bound partner. It had been months, and this bond between them was still a daily exploration. She would never grow tired of it.

“Neither will I,” he spoke to her through the bond.

The heat, the pleasure already building in her body, built with his words. Their bond heightened their intimacy in ways she didn’t know possible. He was inside her in more than just the physical sense when they were together. She couldn’t get enough of him.

“I assure you, it’s a mutual obsession,” he said as he slipped another finger inside her.

She bit his shoulder to cover her moan. Though no one could see them on the balcony, they weren’t exactly in the privacy of their bedroom.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked. The silk and sin in his voice told her he already knew the answer.

A growl slipped through her lips as she replied, “Don’t you dare.”

His chuckle was low as his weight slid further down her body. Her body buzzed in anticipation as his mouth came to rest inches from where his fingers worked. His breath on her core had her bowing further into his touch. As her body lifted of its own accord, he granted her the friction she sought.

The first lap of his tongue had her fingers tangling into his hair as she reached to pull him closer.

His laugh was sinful again as he resisted. “Don’t rush me,” he said as his tongue lapped again in a long, smooth stroke.

Something like a whine slipped from Rose’s lips as his tongue and fingers worked her together. She could feel his lips curve into a smile as her body responded to his every move. He took pride in learning her every reaction.

Heat built rapidly. Her fingers in his hair didn’t have to pull him closer. He devoured her with a single-minded focus. She couldn’t process how much she loved him—how obsessed she was with their bond—how much she believed she had her own happily ever after, just like the heroine in her romance novel.

Then, all her thoughts scattered.

Luc didn’t stop. His fingers and tongue wrung every drop of pleasure as she rode the wave of her release.

She felt boneless as he crawled back up her body, rolling over next to her. Her hands reached for him, cupping his face and pulling him into a scorching kiss. The taste of him, mixed with her own, already had heat building again in her core. She rolled on top of him as their tongues twisted together.

“My turn,” she said through the bond, their mouths otherwise distracted. Her hands explored his naked torso. The definition of his muscles had her wanting to lick him. She settled for pressing kisses and nips on her path down his body, removing his undergarments as she sought her prize.

His length sprang free, and her hand explored, working from root to tip. Her tongue swirled the head in a tease that had Luc hissing before she took him in her mouth. The steel and silk of him mixed with the pine and cinnamon that was always present. She hummed as her tongue swirled, her mouth working to bring him as much pleasure as he’d brought her.

Her hand at his base worked in tandem with her mouth. He twitched and hissed again in pleasure. His reaction to her was its own high. She met his gaze; the adoration in his was more than she deserved.

“It will never be enough,” he said into her mind, then his lips curled into a wicked smirk.

Then he was moving, lifting, and flipping them, sheathing himself inside her. A moan escaped as her body, more than ready, welcomed him. They moved together, each anticipating the other’s wants before they could articulate. It was a language they would practice for the rest of their existence.

“Luc,” she whispered as his mouth sought hers, their tongues sliding together in an exploration that never stopped. Her fingers scratched his scalp, and his pace quickened, both building toward their shared goal. Everything they’d been through had brought them this. She wouldn’t change it for anything. Luc’s lips captured Rose’s moan as she reached her peak. He thrust through her pleasure before finding his own. The couple collapsed into each other’s arms in their shared bliss.

Luc kissed her again. He opened his mouth to speak when a growl echoed across the lake.

Rose knew that growl. She’d heard it many times. It wasn’t an alert of danger—well, not for the continent, at least.

“I guess he finally decided it was time,” she said.

The echo of the growl quieted, but Rose could picture the willow tree as it separated and took shape into the crossing Carter would use to return to the Lady of the Veil.

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