Epilogue: The Beautiful Ruin

The moon had moved across the sky, casting long, skeletal shadows of the headboard on the tangled silk sheets.

The room was silent, save for the hum of the air conditioning and the heavy, rhythmic thrum of my own heart—a heart that no longer felt like it belonged in my chest. It felt as if it had been physically removed, branded with Caspian’s name, and shoved back in.

I lay on my stomach, my face pressed into the pillow, my wrists finally free of the steel but still tingling with the ghost of the restraint. My body was a map of his possession.

I could feel...