"There's just inches in between us
I want you to give in,
There is tension in between us
I just wanna give in
And I don't care if I'm forgiven."

Shameless - Camila Cabello

Spice -o- meter: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ i think. Correct me if I'm wrong lol. U all might need tik tok breaks. I tried so hard to get this out before Ramadan IM SORRY 💕💕💕

🛁

Leila's boldness caught in her throat, a fly in a web.

I missed gazing upon your face. I missed the timbre of your voice. I miss your teasing, your promptitude.

Often, she had little choice over what her heart felt now that it was loosened from it's cage. The only thing she felt in charge of, her cunning words. The princess would not reveal herself, whatever might be blossoming in her heart first. She had done so before he kissed her, and she would do it no longer. The thought of letting him know her feelings now ran deeper turned her to something withered, and unlike herself.

She let a chill seep into her as she crossed her hands politely over her skirts, "It's much more impolite to go and swim instead of report back to your wife. But alas, I'm glad to see you back. I have much to tell you."

Waiting for his reply sent her heart pounding in her chest. She witnessed his slight smirk from his profile as he regarded her words. It only increased tenfold as the prince turned around, chest shining as he used his quiet strength to lift himself out of the pool.

Leila couldn't help it, almost squeaking as he stalked forward. A panther, prowling with his taunting mouth showing his teeth. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe as he paused right before her. Soaked, rivulets of water flowing over his bronze body. Each path of water running over places she wished to run her tongue. Dripping, dripping, all the way down to the low line of his swimming clothes. The hem outlining his narrow hip, his navel where then the water disappeared.

She knew she had been caught, when her traitorous gaze flickered back up to his own and found him to be prideful under her scrutiny. A playful glint edged around the almost apprehensive emotion that passed over his face.

His lips moved smoothly, licking at the water that fell onto them from the stark black of his wet hair, "So cold, Ignis. That's all you have to say after being apart for so long? And to think you might've dreamt about me. Counted down the hours for my return. Maybe even shed a few tears in my absence. Slept in my bed?"

Leila tried to ignore the scent of hope in his words. Not yet. To say he was distracting would be an...understatement.

But they needed to talk before he attempted to seduce her. Which was working, as he eyed her through locks of his raven hair with an intensity that catapulted through her.

"That's rich coming from you. Didn't you invent stoicism. Restraint?" Leila commented wryly, avoiding everything else he said, "And surely the only thing you learned by leaving was becoming more arrogant?"

Taehyung stepped closer. Close enough that the water from his swim threatened to drip onto her, "It's not arrogance princess. It's transparency."

She crossed her arms over her chest, enveloped in the heat of his gaze. The heat that rose off his body in gray tendrils of fog.

"Am I supposed to decipher whatever that means?"

"You already know what I mean, Ignis."

"Let me see into your mind for once and maybe one day I could."

The prince smiled, the lines in his cheeks prominent, his gaze dropping from her own as he shook his head. "I'm not sure if you could handle what I am thinking about doing to you."

Her stomach dropped, her heart singing in a more frantic manner. The prince caught her change in expression, the softening of her eyes and the easing of her shoulders.

I have to tell him. I have to tell him. There's no time for his pretty words and pretty eyes and-

"Try me." The words swept from beneath denounced lips.

Shit Leila, where is your back bone?

Apparently a puddle of nothing, as the prince moved even closer to her, causing her backside to bump into some harder surface. Her eyes fluttered as he leaned forward, delicious and warm as he reached around her. His eyes catching her lips and moving closer yet and he's going to kiss me-

When he stopped an inch before her, his hand connecting the piece she leaned on. And pulled. Leila whipped around, shocked at the creaking sound of metal from the top of the dome, and the lever in which Taehyung kept his touch.

Leila looked from his annoyingly pretty, smirking face to the ceiling. Watching as the dome seemed to unfold upon itself. Moving over inch by inch, waning, waxing, until it was at it showed the full velvet blanket of night sky. The moonlight poured onto them like candlelit wax, drenching them until they were engulfed in a feathery silver.

It's beautiful.

The moon was positioned in the center of the dome and bathed light over the entire pool room. Once warm, now a pool of starlight.

Leila was too enthralled to be too bothered that he had pretended to kiss her to open up the room
to the sky. She couldn't hide her joy, hide her flux of power the feeling of it rushing over her limbs.

Thrumming.

Until she remembered the prince was only inches away, and stiffened.

Leila remembered seeing ancient images of divine beings, known as angels. And she wondered if maybe Taehyung might've been descended from them as well.

The immortui didn't seem unnatural in the light that was his opposite. But in a pure state. His dark eyes were bright, feverish as they took her in. His raven hair almost blue, his bronze skin an an echo of the sky above.

He cocked his head once again, his eyes everywhere on her. Memorizing, consuming, painting, taking in.

"So tense princess." The prince tsked, finally pulling away from their almost embrace, "I think you need to relax. Join me in the water?"

If only he knew how much the idea enticed her. How much she wanted to stay with him, talk of nothing important and forget everything else.

I need to tell him.

But his request woke her up. From the entrance she'd found herself in at just being close. The daughter of the moon cleared her throat, straightening her shoulders as she addressed him directly and without room for avoidance.

"I have something to tell you. Something that you need to hear. Swimming can wait."

"Can whatever you tell me be done as we swim together? Lessons are just as important, are they not?"

From the twinge of his lips, Leila knew he wasn't referring to any of their previous lessons. And for fucks sake her thighs snapped together under her dress, now aching with the thought.

His eyes found her lips again, from his stance across from her. Arms crossed over his chest to mimic her position, but he was not closed off. Not like before. Drip. Drip. The pounding of adrenaline in her body somehow made the drop of water from his body onto the floor sound of thunder.

Leila's eyes trailed over his muscled legs, his abdomen, the veins across his neck. "No it cannot."

Taehyung nodded, more water falling from his soaked hair. The moon turning the water the color of her divine blood, and Leila watched it. The smooth translucency dripped down the smooth planes of his stomach to the waist band of the cloth he was wearing on his lower half. Disappearing.

She sucked in a breath.

His unnerving smile only grew more golden, more breathtaking. Like her every reaction to him told him a secret she had yet to know herself.

He's different.

There was a lightness to him now. Like his return meant a new beginning and time away only reaffirmed it. No one would ever believe him to be the prince of the eclipse if they gazed upon him. But the glowing tendrils of the sun, casting its golden light in every direction.

Leila couldn't help feel it's warmth wash over her, a twin flame to the moon that swept from the sky, and rushed through her veins. Taking a deep breath she relaxed, returning a smile of her own to him.

What was an hour when they had hundreds of years ahead of them?

Her heart opened a fraction, her smile unfurling from lips which had already falsely protested too much, "If I go in, will you let me talk to you after?"

His head tilted the change in her tone, watching carefully as she moved away from the wall. Swaying her rounded hips.

"Get in the water and we'll find out." The quick prince instigated, voice low.

"Fine, spoiled brat of a prince. You always get everything what you want." Leila said with a shake of her head, no true malice weaved into the statement. In fact she was quite delighted that he was getting what he wanted right now. Some of the apprehension that seized her finally melted away in his presence.

Like everything would be okay.

"Not everything Ignis." He commented dryly, his throat working as he swallowed. His dark eyes tracing up and down her body as she moved closer to his wet body, "You can't go in wearing that."

Leila felt burning content as the confident prince seemed a little shaken by her proximity. At the thought of seeing her unclothed once again. She swayed her hips even more, exaggerating the movement until his lips parted, his eyes glazing over as she neared him.

She spoke slowly, in a low voice as she peered up at the taller man, "No, I can't. Can I? It's a shame that I can't reach the ribbons in the back to undo them."

"Here, let me." The prince offered, as Leila turned her back to face him.

She felt his breath on her shoulder blade as she pulled her long wavy hair over one shoulder. It brought her back to the night they had to share a bed, and how he'd offered to help despite not wanting to sleep near her.

How different things are now.

The prince pressed closely to her, just leaving enough room so that he didn't mess up her clothing. His warmness heated her, his hand a confident caress as they brushed against her shoulder, her neck before beginning to untie her. She felt every pull of the fabric, as it were coming from her spine and not the dress. Every close brush of his fingers near the opening. She could even feel the prickle of his gaze as he stared at her neck. The neck that still wore the crescent shaped amethyst he'd gifted her when she first arrived. His hands were not afraid to touch upon her anymore. Unafraid of the consequences. He pulled at the ribbons in a patient manner, but without the harsh, distant demeanor he'd held onto before.

When he finished, he placed a chaste kiss on the dip of her neck and shoulder. She shuddered underneath him, her eyes falling shut before she turned back to him.

A water wraith, he waited by the edge of the hot pool. Steam rose around him as he peered through raven edges, lips turned up at corner.

Leila raised a brow, before letting the entirety of her dress drop. Left with only her white under corset and her matching lace underwear. She bit her lip expectantly as her gaze fixated on the prince.

She kept her hands gently by her side, stepping smoothly onto stone. Letting her hair fall back over her almost uncovered chest. The moonlight enveloped her fully as she touched the water, a swell of power rising within her that made her neck and head fall back to the heavens and just take it all in.

Stepping into the pool like a rebirth. Of letting go. In their time together, and after when she told him of the vision, they would begin anew. Without the generational chains holding him back, without the threat of fate nipping at their feet.

They could just live.

The thought made her look back down at the prince as she now stepped down further. Up to her waist in water, his face now above her own. Her smile hurt the edges of her cheeks, stretching at lips that felt underused still after all this time. It blurred her vision, as wetness of something like effervescence filled her body.

Taehyung sighed, his eyes softening as he saw her smile. One that he hadn't witnessed before, unsure if she had ever created the expression. As if her past never occurred, as if she never had been told her emotions were inconceivable. Useless.

He couldn't help himself, as he lifted his hands to the sides of her face. The golden bronze spanned across her slim neck, curved jaw, and high cheeks. Her head tilted gently into his open palm, her teeth now hidden between honey lips. Her almond eyes still crinkled. The prince just kept running his thumbs across silver, obsessed with the way it made her gray eyes it's soul. Bathed her long hair in a glow, lit up her face that had once shown no emotion at all.

It didn't matter in that moment, that what she felt was for him. It mattered that she felt at all.

The prince couldn't get enough, his heart jolting as he pulled her in closer to his chest. Her silver eyes locked in on him, losing their softness and gaining a hungered edge. "Just look at you. You-just. When moonlight touches you it's, it's-" The prince said in a whisper, sounding breathless. His eyes drinking her in as he had only a week before from a sinful mouth.

Leila leaned forward, her eyes shading to a crescent as she stared at his parted lips. She stopped a breath away, removing his hands from her cheeks. Letting them drop into the water before she wrapped her arms around his neck, her nails dragging softly against his nape. Leaning past him to whisper in his ears.

"That's all you've got? I thought I wouldn't be able to handle what you wanted to say and do to me. Be sweet to me after, Taehyung."

She screeched when he pulled her into his body fully, laughing at his antics. Their wet flesh pressed upon each other as he pulled her deeper into the water, darkness pooling in his eyes. He nudged her cheek with his sharp nose, making her arch her neck.

"Have you been reading those filthy books I've given you?" He mumbled near her mouth, his body curved over her own as he held her easily in the water.

Her blood ran hot, hotter than the water. Hotter than his magic. Hotter than his increasingly paced breaths puffed against her skin, his eyes falling more and more into enamored slits of ember.

"Maybe."

He chuckled darkly, the sound licking across her skin. Her eyes fluttering as he continued to run his nose, a brush of his lips over her neck. Before asking in a husky manner, "Any new fantasies? You can have your way with me, however you'd like. And I would take it."

She bit her lip to keep from moaning, his words and his slight unyielding touches making her feel crazy. She could hardly think of anything, as her head was filled with nothing but pleasure and him, the feelings becoming simultaneous. But she managed to whimper out the last thing she'd come across in her late night ventures, when her sister and Lily had fallen asleep and she'd needed the prince's touch so desperately.

"There was one chapter...where the character was tied down. They couldn't move at all, frozen. A prisoner, as their partner was in complete control over their body."

The prince's mouth paused on her neck, just before he scraped his blunted teeth across a vein. His hold around her waist stiffening, even the water seeming to still in his paralysis.  

Oh god. I am so stupid. It was too much too soon. He thinks I am disgusting, doesn't he? He hates it. I should've just said something normal. Like, like spanking.

Leila pulled back slightly, trying to gauge her prince's reaction. He had his eyes screwed shut, his lips pursed as if in pain. When he let out a low grumble, Leila felt the lowest part of her stomach tighten in response. The prince let out a deep sigh, his pupils blown when he finally met her gaze again. His cheeks were dashed with red against bronze, his jaw clenched as he breathed out the words onto her skin, "And you wondered why I said you would be the death of me. We don't have anything here for me to-"

The princess relaxed again, now understanding he was accepting of the concept. The excitement bubbled further within her as she shook her head, a small smile dancing on her full lips, "Not me. You."

The prince's stare turned into obsidian, his hands running from her hips, to the dip in her waist, over her shoulders, and grasped at her forearms as she hung from his neck. He licked at his bottom lip, eyes narrowing until his shock at her request turned into something more deviant. He pulled her arms gently off of him, making sure they were shallow enough that she could stand on her own. Before holding out both of his wrists in front of his body, his muscles bunching and more prominent in their sheen.

(A/N: cough cough begging vs demanding?!?!)

His crooked smile unleashed her, "I'm all yours."

The young woman thought to herself that she was never going to let him go. And maybe somewhere along the line of their tumultuous meeting, she had become the captor, him the captive.

Leila pushed away the nervousness in favor of seduction. The witch that hid beneath her skin, and prowled the night when she neared him. Carefully, she spotted the slab of rock that created a sitting area in the pool. She pressed upon him until he ended with his back against it, chest heaving as he was caught between her and the roughness of the formation.

"Lift yourself up, and then sit back. Keep both hands in the water." Leila commanded, letting some of the void seep into her tone.

Taehyung nodded once, "Ignis." As if saying her nickname was a euphemism for 'yes'. He used his toned arms to lift himself onto the almost bench, leaning back against the lip of the bath. His legs sprawled out wide, princely as he took up space. He placed one arm over the side of the pool, and lifted a cocky brow in question of what she'd do next. His small act of defiance not going unnoticed.

At this point, the water was only just above his knees and the rest below. Leila swallowed as she stepped forward, lifting her now wet hands and placing them on his knees. She watched as he sucked in a breath, at her placement, at her touch. And tried to cover his reaction quickly with a quip.

"Am I to bind myself?" Taehyung insisted dryly. Though his eyes couldn't pull away from her glistening body as she situated herself between his spread thighs.

Strictness spread on her tongue, "You didn't do as I asked."

"You're too good at playing a tyrant. Was this part of your training?"

"No, being dominant over you just comes naturally."

"Careful now." The man pretended to wince, while lifting his arm and settling it back in the water.

Perfect.

She beckoned the moon's power to fill her. Called upon the pink salt that had been present in the water ever since the prince offered her lessons, a sign that she should have known meant that he was aware of her other powers. Imagined circles, circles of steel surrounding his wrists, and melding to the sides of the pool so that they stayed submerged under water. It took more effort to fortify them, the heat of her magic concentrated in her hands and chest. Leila blinked, a surge of pride at how far she'd come after only being able to lift droplets in a bathtub only six moons ago.

So gentle, so quick, the prince didn't even notice.

She let her hands relax in the water, only slightly winded, "Or what? You're bound. You can't move. And like you said, you're all mine."

The prince's eyes glinted like a ruby at the challenge. His expression falling quickly in a matter os seconds. Only to realize he couldn't really move. His wrists stayed down, attached to the side of the baths by silver rings of moving water. His shoulders strained, forearms pulsing as he attempted to rip himself away. His expression growing incredulous when he even used his own magic to attempt to pull at them, gold trying to melt the liquid shackles.

When he looked back at Leila, his eyes were wild. The prince had been convinced he would be able to get out, and that he would have to pretend for Leila's sake that he couldn't move. Shock turned quicky to pride, impressed with her growing abilities.

To something like fear as she moved closer, her hands shifting from his knees to the middle of his thighs.

"Are you scared? Do you not like this? I can undo you." Leila whimpered to him, her hands running further, further up his thighs. Ignoring the hem of his cut trousers as she scathed underneath them. Wanting to do anything but let him go.

He was an archangel before her, doused in silver light from above. His wings missing but found in the stoic curve of his shoulders. An outline of hazy smoke, as he looked at her through night crested lashes. Bones of his cheeks a hollow as he tilted his head, his jaw a line that fought with the softness of his mouth. In his position he was forced back so that his lined stomach was spread in length, light running over his contours instead of water, his hips an open book for her to read.

He swore softly under his breath, making her halt her movement.

"I think I like this far, far too much." Taehyung bit between a grimace, his head dipping to gesture to her place between his thighs.

Leila followed his gesture, landing on the apex of his navel. At the material that now covered the length that was hardening under her touch, his restraints, and her eyes on him.

Her lips curled in a feline smile, that inferno blazing once again. Drunk and spell-bound knowing he craved her, wanted her. That she had the ability to unravel and sew him back up.

"I think you'll like what I do next far better."

Leila lifted herself rising out of the water like a siren between his open stance. His eye lids already shaded the black and amber of his eyes, as they fell to her song. Lost in her eyes, paralyzed by her movements. Situating herself so that her lips hovered just beneath his.

Taehyung attempted to move forward, to close the gap between them. But she smiled dangerously, pressing onto his lips with her fingers and pushing him back against the hard edge. He was breathless as he feasted on her, licking her wet fingers with his hot tongue. Leila shook her head, letting him know she'd wait to kiss him as a punishment.

His intake of breath stoked the ache between her thighs as she moved to his jaw, placing a soft kiss there. Moving down to his veined neck, to which she pressed another embrace. Her soft pants filling the air as she moved her lips over the skin, and sucked. The man moaned beneath her, the sound lifting up into a higher lilt at the end, the sound touching her between her thighs so that his hand didn't have to. She tasted him there, letting her tongue run over his magma skin. He tasted vaguely of the water, salty. But underneath, was a clean sweetness, like licking the underside of a petal or the sap of a tree. Leila felt herself lose some of the seductive control she wished for, letting her hands fall from the edge of the pull to grip his well built shoulders. She let out a noise of pleasure as she continued her path, chasing the taste of him all the way to the hollow of his collarbone.

"How much did you miss me?" Leila asked, as she kissed upon every part of his body she dreamed about. Her eyes flicked up to him as she moved to his chest, her tongue slick as she licked from the top of his chest all the way to the flattest part of his navel.

His body bucked underneath her, his eyes clenching shut as he struggled against the water. She ran her hands down the same path, purposely avoiding where he needed her to run her nails over his thighs.

Taehyung struggled to breathe as he tried to answer. Just as he settled again, she ran her nails even closer to his length. So that lines appeared across the smooth surface of his skin.

"Tell me." Leila crooned, repeating the motion.

The prince worked his jaw, a strangled laugh leaving his lips, "Succubus."

Leila frowned, this time letting her thumb brush over the material that covered his hardness. The man jolted, pulling on the shackles that held him down. The veins on his neck showed as he swore, his chest heaving and wet as he met her awaiting gaze.

"I missed you, Ignis. So much that sometimes my chest would seize, just thinking about seeing you stand before me once again. It was unbearable to be without you for a week. You're more beautiful than everyone, that much is true. But you're also smarter, wittier, and much better at putting me in my place when I need it. When some bastard councilman would speak and ask for my opinion, I'd sit there and think of what you would say. And trust me, there has never been a moment in history I cared about anyone's opinion but my own. I took myself in my hand so many times this week, and it did nothing to quell the ache I have for you. I would whisper your name to fall asleep, just to find it on my lips as soon as I awoke. And I became devastated when I realized that indeed you were not lying next to me. I need all of you, and I need it now."

The impact of his statement was a blow to her stomach. Leila was left flustered, pulled from her temptress mask. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes, and she willed them away. But tonight, she let the warmth she felt from him stay and settle into her heart, her chest, her lungs, her mind. Tonight, it felt like there was no chance it would be all ripped from her. The way she looked at him was open, without deception or concealed feeling.

Leila didn't know still if he loved her, or he was shrouded by lust. Yet, he made her feel as if he did, as if he could. And that was enough for a heart that had been bred into ash.

She abandoned her slow seduction.

Leila needed him to know she wanted just as much, if not more.

She clawed at the material covering him, fraught with emotion. His lips parted as she freed him from his confines, taking his hardness into her grip with a fervor unknown to any before. Wanting to inject herself into him so he breathed her out, just to consume her again.

She needed him to want her so badly nothing could hold him back.

His hips jerked, her palm sliding over his velvet warmth with ease. The prince stifled another deep sound as he bit his lip, never looking away from her. Even as she scratched over his hip bone, holding onto him where his muscles met his center line and narrowed even further.

His deep voice couldn't help but rasp out of him when she took him in her mouth.

"Ignis, Ignis, Ignis-" The prince whispered for her like a prayer, through a mouth slurred with overwhelming desire. Words ending and cries beginning as she took him all the way to the back of her throat. Letting the salt of him hit deep within.

Leila hummed, her lips tightening over him at the sound of her given name while in his entirely overwrought state. It was depraved, pulling on her stomach and between her thighs with every moaned repetition. She wanted him to forget all of his troubles. About being the perfect ruler. About showing too much or too little in front of others. She wanted him to know that while he may had lost his family, she had gained him as such.

I want you to feel good. I want you to feel how I feel when I see you. That pulse in my chest, that flutter beside my heart. The relentless agony.

The princess boldly moved her hand to the skin beneath his length, massaging it in her palm slowly. She began to work her mouth, up and down. Making sure to look up at him through dark hooded lashes and the fringe of hair that began to curl around her face from the steam. Her cheeks burned, burned as hot as the water that still covered her bottom half as she licked in time with her movements.

Gods, the rush of it. The power that came not from the moon, but from the connection between them as she stoked him as she would a fire.

The prince of the eclipse was left in ruins, his eyebrows clenched together. His eyes barely able to be kept open, but he willed them to. His usually witty-without-end mouth was silenced as he struggled against the wall. His hips moving and his arms straining at his sides. Every lick, every movement forced an incomprehensible sound out of him.

The man seethed as Leila ran another line from the bottom of one smooth vein, all the way up to the crown. Circling it with a smile, as her other hand squeezed at the base. Taehyung practically growled, his head falling back as he flexed his forearms. His voice so tense, so weak, so beside himself, "You're going to fucking kill me Ignis."

Leila sucked on him harder, focusing on the top. And letting go with a quick pop of her lips, "Will you die for me?"

Her voice came out an aroused drawl. He was not the only one who had succumbed to the passion between them. She barely understood her own movement, her body acting of its own accord. Her mind only filled with him. Only him. Only him.

The prince's length twitched in her mouth, his answer a moaned promise, "Yes."

Yes.

Leila was drunk on his lust, his every movement and twitch and curse, as she kissed the head of him, "Would you kill for me?"

She didn't even know what she was saying, what she was feeling. As an unknown curse, deeper than lust deeper than anything bloomed within her body.

Taehyung gasped out, "Yes, Ignis, yes. Anything you ask of me."

"Good." And then she took him into her mouth again, letting him hit the back of her throat and the roof of her mouth. Using her tongue to swirl around every other part of him she could. Sucking, and sucking till the roof of her mouth felt sore, her throat tight. 

The man let out a cry, the veins in his neck bulging as he let it fall back onto the stone. Yes, yes. Leila sighed with him, her hand pumping even as he released himself into her mouth. He lifted his hips, his length pushed further between open lips as she swallowed him. Savoring the taste and letting him pour into her, and she'd take all of him. 

The prince heaved as she pulled her mouth off of him. Staring at the moon and sky as if to ask the deities to spare him. 

The princess preened when his dark eyes fell back onto her own, his hair sticking to his neck. Their eyes stayed connected, too hungry to look away. Too speechless to fill the silence with banter. His cheeks a deep burgundy as his released continued to drip onto his stomach. Leila lifted herself, licking off the rest of him, making him release another almost pained groan.  

The prince had enough of being tied down. 

Taehyung pulled, and pulled against the water around his wrist. His bare chest lit up gold again, thin ropes of it flowing to the water to again attempt to remove himself from the restraints. His brows furrowed as he pleaded to her, a of both desire and feral abandon. His deep voice was guttural, "Fuck, let me touch you Leila. Let me go so I can make you feel good."

Leila felt his promise in her stomach. His insistence only amplified her delirium. 

"Hmm." The young woman hummed, feigning thought. Secretly she loved watching him struggle, to fight so hard to just simply meet her flesh with his own.

"Let me touch you, or I'm going to go mad. Let me touch you. I-I need you so fucking badly."

Leila whimpered quietly, the pulse between her thighs becoming too much. He was too good with words, too good with his hands, too good with his mouth. Too good at pulling at her heart, even with his hands tied. 

With a wave of her hand, the water around his wrists flowed into the rest of the pull. She sighed, an attempt to sound casual, but it only was meant to calm her racing heart. To settle herself even as he stared at her like she were the only star in the sky. Like he would mold her in his hands, now that she finally let him go.

"Fine, but only because you beg-"

Taehyung threw his arms around her waist, her hips, lifting her out of the water with ease. He laid himself back against the pool, letting her body fall on top of him. He grunted with the impact, but did not care. Leila grabbed frantically onto his shoulders to stay upright, as the man fixed his stare on her lower half, ripping the small bit of lace off of her body. 

"Oh, oh." Leila moaned out, feeling her skin connect with his abdomen. 

The prince made no response, his eyes swirling pits of shadow. Watching her carefully as he moved one hand to her bra, and unclasped it. Her breathing increased as it fell away from her chest, letting it fall off the rest of the way. And yet he still only looked into her eyes. 

Now every inch of their wet bodies pressed together. As naked as they ever have been simultaneously. It felt like they were two metals in a furnace. Melding so that where she ended, he began. 

It was exquisite. Him smooth and hard and impossibly decadent against every part that needed him. And she could see it in his eyes, that he was just as effected by slide of their skin together. 

"Kiss me." Taehyung said, all command. 

I want to, so badly. So badly.

Leila bit her lip coyly, somehow. Despite being just as possessed as him by whatever spirit that merged between them, wanting to see just how far she could take him, "No."

She expected him to protest. To beg again. To just wrestle the kiss from her, as she wished he would.

Taehyung smirked, leaning back further. Leila yelped as the only thing that held her up from falling back into the water was his hands on her thighs. Now she straddled across the upper part of his chest, her naked skin meeting his. His back flat against the cream colored stone. Gone was the whimpering man. 

Here, the prince of the eclipse returned, noble and dominant even poised under her. Raven hair, high cheekbones, and swollen lips over biting teeth. His eyes shining, a beacon amongst the prowling darkness he inhabited. 

"Then ride my tongue Leila. Smother me in you until you're all that I know." 

I have sinned, I have sinned, and I will sin again. 

"Fuck," Leila let slip from her impossibly aroused mouth. His words a vice cutting into her, spilling her out. 

The prince let out his own snarl of pleasure, pulling her forward so that her center rested upon his awaiting lips. Leila's back arched at the initial contact, her world turning upside down. Pleasure? She had thought she had known it. She had been it's friend before, and now she was it's lover, as her dark prince hummed deeply from underneath her. His grip tightened around her back to keep holding her up straight, his fingers creating divots in her ribs, in her hip. 

"Taehyung, holy fucking-" She barely gasped out, her hips beginning to move onto his face on their own accord. 

He only held her tighter to him, causing her to grind harder onto the surface of his tongue. Her mouth was wide open, her hair falling wildly around her as she looked down. His face was painted with ecstasy, his eyes fluttering as he licked expertly onto her. He's unreal. When he caught her gaze, he winked, before diving into her further. He used his hands to move along with her hips, rocking her harder against him. 

He devoured her. All vipera in this moment. All entitled prince. All hers. 

Leila moaned his name endlessly, "Taehyung, Taehyung-". Until the sounds became one long song. His fingers squeezed her every time she did so.

The moonlight burst from above them, but Leila swore all she could see or feel was gold. 

Every move of his tongue becoming more sensual, at the sound of his name shattered from her. 

He consumed her. Until she was nothing, until he was everything. Waves came onto her shore, cresting and cresting, the ache building within her until her thighs shook-

When the prince pulled his mouth away from her.

"Taehyung." The name ripped out her, a whine of anguish. She attempted to put her hips down on him, down anywhere on him, but he held her away. Easily, as if she were simply air hovering above him. And not a writhing, chaotic mess. 

The man smiled, still keeping the expression, as he lowered her near his mouth again. Words whispered against her aching skin, "I just wanted to make sure you needed me, as much as I needed you. And you do Leila. You're like a drunk without wine. A star without the sky. You need me so badly, you'll fuck my shoulder just to get off. My thigh, my hand. Anything to get me out of your head, even for a matter of seconds."

You never leave my head. Not even in the throes of euphoria. 

The prince let go of her waist with one hand, keeping her weight shifted to the left. The cold air above the pool or his mouth did nothing to soothe the need undulating in her. She felt sick, sick with her release that did not come. Sick because with every word he spoke, he'd been right. She was gone, a witch like most people thought her to be. 

But then he placed his fingers at her entrance, lifting a dark brow, "Do you want this?"

Leila nodded, not trusting her voice. And the man let her sink down on his rings fingers, the bite of metal intoxicating with the warmth of his skin. She started to ride them again, chasing a high that would not come without more of him. 

But he watched, his eyes taking in every movement of him entering her. Entranced as they disappeared in her wetness. His voice was in hell as he encouraged her, "You're going to take me so well, Leila. Riding my fingers as if it's me in you." 

Leila cried out, moving her hips harder. Words like please, and touch me tumbling and stumbling out over each other. The prince bit his lip, slowly letting it go as he captured her eyes with his own, "I must obey princess." 

Her body fell apart when he placed his lips over her most sensitive part, sucking and licking in time to her movements. Moaning against her skin, just as pleasured as she, by just tasting her. 

I love Taehyung. I love the prince of the eclipse. I need him. 

The prince pulled away only slightly, still tonguing her and moving his lips across her as he revealed another secret, "I love feeling you tremble because of me." 

Thoughts that cracked open as her mind broke along with her, her hips quaking over him as she came onto his mouth as he asked. Leila wasn't sure if she cried out, sounds unknown to her own exploding from her voice. Scratchy and raw and primal. She pulsed wildly, her vision blacking as it squeezed within her. Raising her all the way to the sky just to return her back to earth. 

I think I cease to exist.

Leila slid down his body, his grip loosening enough as he slid himself into the water with her. She was haggard, struggling to breathe as her warm cheek leaned on the flat part of his chest. She felt the rumble of his laugh as he fixed her legs to straddle his waist beneath the water. Dipping his mouth to her shoulder and pressing slightly. 

"Ignis." He repeated onto her skin, stroking her wet back. Running his fingers through her damp hair that fell over both of them. Turning her to flesh, rebuilding her bones, and filling her with blood. That name, that name he called her since her first month living here. The name she had refused to know the meaning of.

She was tired of being scared, of what could come between them.

This, the press of her chest against his. His calming strokes on her skin.

That is all that mattered. 

After several minutes of him letting her settle, Leila lifted her heavy head from his body. She saw the glimmer in his eyes as he did so, though he kept his smile small so that she didn't believe him too be mocking her recovery. 

"I have to tell you now. Before I ask you to do that again, and damn everything else."

Her voice was hoarse, barely an utterance. She swallowed, her cheeks falling deeper into rose as steam continued to rise around them.

Taehyung held back his laugh, but answered suggestively, "Don't tempt me." He looked at her once more, tugging on her heart as he pushed her wet hair away from her cheeks. His eyes grazing across every feature of her face, "Let me just do something first. And then you can tell me." 

Leila nodded, her body too deliciously exhausted to fight. The man lifted her off of him, adjusting his shorter trousers as he pulled himself out of the water. He went to a section of rock that held bath supplies, more salts and various liquids. Pulling out a milky-filled bottle and a jar of what looked like herbs.

Giving her a boyish smile, he waltzed forward. Letting the soap run out of the whiter bottle into the bath, and emptying the herbs into the pool.

She watched, as water her put in dispersed. It turned the water into honey, and some floral scent she couldn't place. Maybe a hint of vanilla. As the herbs got closer to her, she realized they weren't herbs at all, but rose petals darkened with wine. The alcohol keeping them moist and fragrant. Her heart warmed as she turned back to find the prince lighting several candles, and placing them around the edge of the bath. She had told him in passing her favorite thing to do was bathe in silence, to sit and think surrounded by candlelight and pretty scents. A luxury she enjoyed her entire life, even before. 

Can he be more perfect? 

The prince showed he cared in little ways. Ways that could go unnoticed by others. But he never forgot what she told him, even small things in passing. Things that wouldn't matter to anyone else. 

Taehyung eyed her carefully, gauging her reaction as he returned back to her. The water was now a pristine white, blotted with rose petals. The candlelight warming the silver that flowed from the top of the dome. 

Leila smiled shyly as he sat down next to her, his arms wrapping around her again. He carried her again, placing her between his thighs. Her back flush against his front.

She traced across the skin of his forearm that was wrapped around his waist. Arching comfortably, sighing so deeply she wondered if she ever felt this relaxed, at peace before this moment. He was hard against her back, his muscles toned with years of training. But velvety and warm. Strong. Caring. Detailed.  He took a deep breath, letting the warmth of the back settle and soak them into a calmer bliss.

Just together. 

Her stomach somersaulted again. Words that she needed to get out, stories that were given to her that she needed to tell. But now, with him finally back, she was losing her courage. She stroked his arm in a softer manner, her fingers trying to remember the feel of it. 

The man sighed again, abnormally content. Leaning down to her open neck, and pressing a soft kiss. Another, right at the seam of her jaw. 

Leila's heart stuttered. Caving in on itself, as a swell of emotion broke within her. Tears almost threatening to spill, so, so foolishly. Even as he held to her, even as he kissed her, even though they were divine and could live for hundreds of years it felt like it would never be enough time with him. 

Tell him.

"I dreamt more of Sorina's past while you were away." Leila said bluntly, her eyes closing as she took in a deep breath of honey and rose. 

Two pauses. Three. Four. 

Taehyung kissed her jaw sweetly, right below her ear. Pausing, feeling her skin before pulling away to speak. 

"Oh? Anything horrible?"

She heard his nervousness. Felt him shift under her. He was worried, worried that she had seen what he had seen. Horrified, if she would be traumatized like him. Her relief was not a lie, "Nothing like that."

"And? Did she reveal anything about the curse? Anything important."

"Kind of, about the curse. But it is extremely pertinent." 

The prince grew serious, knowing it was her hesitance that made him solemn, "Alright. Tell me."

"Well now that I'm finally saying it, I'm a little nervous. I didn't know what to do while you were away. I couldn't talk to anyone about this. No one. There was no one who I could trust with this information, and I felt as if I would burst. And now, I feel too frightened to even get the words out." Leila laughed out shakily, her hand cold on his arm. 

Her nausea returned, though she knew she was giving him good news. 

The prince's grip on her tightened, as if to keep her grounded, protected. Safe. "Don't be, whatever you tell me. Whether it's horrible. We can get through it together."

Together. 

A word she never thought possible for her. 

She felt herself shudder with an almost cry, knowing she was about to tell him something that would change his life. She owed it to him. He had been the one to break the mirage, to show her that her life before had been a delusion. 

She needed to do the same for him. And how relieved he might be, to know that all he knew from his past was a simple deception. 

One more shaky breath, and she was pouring out the truth. Watching the vision in her mind's eye, so she could relay exactly what happened back to Taehyung, "Right. I'll just start from the beginning. This dream was different from the rest. It was like she was more present. Like I was truly inside her head rather than watching. It was a time after the last dream, after the ball, her and the king got closer. Much closer. To the point where she didn't hate him anymore."

Taehyung turned her in his lap, so that both her legs rested over one thigh. His eyes were unreadable, a line appeared between them. He nodded for her to continue. 

Leila's voice came out stronger, empowered by his irises, "He started training with her to help her develop her powers. He went secretly to visit and talk with her every night. And it turned physical. He explained that he kept away from her because of his duties, his role as king and husband. He knew his attention caused her more pain. The Queen and your father were as you said. She had feelings for him, and he had none for her. And it tore at her heart to see Sorina gain the affections she should've had. But her cruelty swallowed every ounce of pity Sorina could muster. The beatings too brutal. Only to be salvaged by the king's visits."

The prince cringed, his teeth showing through his lips. That was a blow to him, and she knew it. Leila lifted her hand, placing her palm on his chin. He seemed to sink into her touch, his face losing some of the tension. 

"That makes sense, that their relationship had been good before it turned sour. My father was handsome, and could be charming when he wanted to. It was possible that he did all of that to manipulate her to do his bidding at first."

"That is what I thought, since the first vision. Since the first time I felt the confusion, the conflicting emotions when she saw your father. I thought wrong Taehyung, just listen. That? That could just have been what they were like before you were born. I swear to you I thought it was just a strange, strange beginning before their feud. Before the curse encouraged bitterness between them. That is what I assumed."

Taehyung pursed his lips, affliction present on his face, "Leila." 

He's pulling away. He doesn't know the truth yet. 

She shook her head, a small smile blooming on her face. She let her palm rest on the other side of his cheek, both hands urging him to look at her. When her dark eyes met her own she continued, continued because he needed to know everything, "Until he took her from her prison. And he showed her the wondrous garden he had created for her, as a way to remind her of her home. A garden he had painstakingly recreated, a replica from the memories she had told him. Of a large sprawling land, a crystalline fountain, stepping stones that led to flowers of endless colors. The whole garden that still remains here on these grounds. The garden you know and love and find peace in. Until he told her that he wanted her to escape, but could not be the one to let her go. Or he'd die. Taehyung-"

"Leila-" This time, his voice was edged like a sword. His hands pleading with the skin of her waist for her not to speak more. His body was tensed underneath her, ready to snap. 

Leila knew it was going to take time for him to believe it. Just as she, when she learned of her family's betrayal. The truth often seems more like a lie than true deceit. 

He doesn't understand. 

Leila needed him to, because Sorina wanted him to know. Wanted everyone that mattered to know. 

She shook her head, even as he looked at her with eyes of smoke. Leaning in closer, and willing him to hear her, "Taehyung. It is not as you thought, as you were told, as what you witnessed. Your father and Sorina were in love. The entire time. They loved each other more than anyone could. They loved each other without bounds, or limits. Your father loved, agonized, protected, and cherished her. Sorina, the same for the King."

Taehyung hardened his gaze, "No-"

"Yes. They fell in love before, and they fell harder that night. They made a pact Taehyung, a pact. Because their love was too evident, and they could keep apart no longer. So they agreed to be sworn enemies, for him to mistreat her in front of prying devious eyes. To abuse the limitations and known pull of the curse, so they could be together. Right under the nose of the Queen and the court."

"Leila, no-"

The words fell out of her rapidly, hectically because she could feel his resistance like it was her own, "Everything you thought, everything we thought was wrong. Your father wasn't the terrible, horrible tyrant you thought him to be. You don't have to live with the weight on your chest and carry the burden of Sorina's mistreatment. It was all planned. Planned because of love. Because of love."

The silence was deafening. Wreaking havoc on a story that had yet to unfold. And she knew, she knew in those brief moments of his paralysis that her fears may have been right.

His face shuttered, a flicker of shock and deep bewilderment and fractured clarity. He still held her close, though his touch felt more like he was holding himself above water. Leila couldn't bare the torture in his eyes, that wall that was being formed before she could break through it, "This can't be true. This isn't true, Leila. Your dreams are a lie. These visions, they could be from anyone. Someone trying to warp your memory."

Hands were around her throat, gripping tighter. But her conviction still barreled through because she would not let him retreat so easily in his comfortability. Finding consolation in pain and suffering because that was all he knew. A monster he had frequently fought.

He had not been ready for this battle. 

"Taehyung, I am telling you-"

The chord holding the scarred prince pulled taut. 

Just to snap like a string of thread. 

"I know what I saw! I know what I saw." He expelled loudly, pulling his hands from her as he grabbed the sides of his head. His arms were shaky. Off-kilter. Pressing into his skin, heaving. Breath extracted from his lungs just to be sucked down in a fury. His dark eyes were absent of the ember she'd become accustomed to.

He stared past her, not at her. As if he was relaying every memory, looking for a sign this was all some elaborate lie. 

Leila settled her chest, despite feeling like he cleaved through it. Watching his strife, it hurt. Her voice trembled with him, "I know a way to prove it to you."

They quickly dried off and threw on clothes. Leila, too worried that one more word would splinter him. Taehyung, his bronze skin now casted a ghostly gray as he revisited his past.

The journey to the dungeons was just as silent. Filled with unknowns. Leila wondered with each step if she made a grave mistake in telling him so soon. Every time she had looked back to make sure he was still following, his expression seemed a bit more hollow. 

When they finally made it to the correct prison, Leila's hand trembled as she cut her palm. Letting the blood seep in and unlock the magicked door. Taehyung looked from her to the cage, his hands shoved within his pockets. 

Leila waved her hand, "Go into Sorina's cell. There should be an opening within the stone, near the center of the back wall. More towards the left."

The prince eyed her warily. Pausing for a moment, maybe hoping she'd tell him to come back out and they could forget all of this. When she stayed motionless, he walked into the cell. She could see the goosebumps arise on his skin. The reluctance in which he stepped into the place that had kept Sorina a prisoner for so long. 

But she needed him to see beyond the prison. Beyond the cutting gem bars, the lack of proper living space. What was real under layers of secrecy. Of lies. 

She needed him to see a truth he couldn't deny. 

The prince turned back to her, his expression blank. Tone bone dry, "Enthralling, a hole. And?"

Leila held her tongue from calling him an ass, and adding more insult by rolling her eyes. Reminding herself that he was suffering in his own way at the moment. And Leila had said worse in fits of anger and confusion, and he had taken every unkind thing she said to him with grace. 

She answered back patiently instead, "Get closer to it, inspect it. Tell me what you see."

The prince took one more long look at her. His eyes almost glassy as he memorized the subtle tilt of her eyes, the silver of them ringing true to some part of him he wasn't sure existed. Leila raised her brows, questioning his hesitation. He didn't tell her, not as he marked every contour, every line. Even the way she hid her frustration at him.

He gave her a small smile, one that didn't reach his eyes.

And then he turned. Leaned towards the wall, and peered through the looking glass. 

"It leads to my father's study. Where he stayed majority of his nights. I remember, sometimes if I had a nightmare when I was young, I would go to my parents room. Too scared to fall asleep by myself. He-He was never there." Taehyung's voice trailed off slowly, in heartbreaking realization. His right hand splayed against the dark stone, placed their to hold himself upright. 

Leila fractured again, her voice filled with emotion. A melancholy, a joy that she had felt with every vision, "Because he had stayed there most nights. He was gone. So he could provide Sorina warmth. That was my first dream, the one I couldn't understand. Where I was so cold, but Sorina was waiting for something. And then I felt it, that burst of golden warmth blessed from the sun. It was your father, keeping her alive every night with his magic. Comforted. Protected. She had been trying to show me since the beginning, that your father was her light in the dark. That their relationship was not what it was thought to be."

His hand turned to a fist, as he pounded it against the wall. Until gold ran in streaks down the obsidian wall. The prince's voice was fractured porcelain, "Fucking hell. This can't be real. This has to be some sort of mistake. Some dream that I'll wake up from."

Leila grabbed at her chest, begging, begging for her words to come out right, "What is wrong? I-I thought you would be eased by this revelation Taehyung."

But he was right, she was a sinking ship. Usually, it was he who kept her afloat. She wasn't sure how to save him, as he sunk below the waves with her. 

The man whirled around, his eyes rimmed with red. An anguish so furious, so agonizing his chest began to glow with a gold that was darker, brassy. He kept shaking his head, hoping to forget it all. Hoping it could still turn out to be wrong. But denial was not winning within him. His sharp mind knew too much now. His chest moved up and down rapidly and Leila rushed towards the bars, afraid he would faint. He held out a hand before she could make her way to him fully. 

The prince's voice cracked as he apologized with his eyes, halting her, "If this is true it means I didn't even know my father. And at least before, when I hated him, I knew him. Now I know nothing at all. And my mother, my mother who I thought to be kind was the one I should've despised. And instead the hand that whipped Sorina near death was the one that lulled me to sleep. I feel guilt that I spent most of my life hating one parent in exchange for the other and I was wrong. Blinded. And Sorina-- Leila I would have never brought you here if I had known any of this."

He looked at his hands, at the golden blood that covered them. She wondered if he saw silver instead. 

Leila pleaded, "There is good in this Taehyung, I know it is hard to find but-"

He let out a jagged laugh, one without any humor. He began to pace in the cell, his breath more rapid than before, "What good does any of this do?"

Leila held up her hands, stepping just at the edge of the prison. Taehyung looked at her if a chasm separated them and she wanted to scream. No, no, no. Not again. It looked as if he might fall to the ground and cry, cry until the valleys and mountains raged with pithe. His eyes shined with glimmers of gold, showing that indeed he was marred inside. 

No. 

No. 

"It means we have a chance. There is hope for us. Not just tragedy."

The prince sucked in another harsh breath, willing on the mask she hadn't seen in a while. Though this one was forged with steel, and embattled with grievance. The chasm lengthened, warped. As treacherous as the ones that plunged into abyss surrounding his castle. His heart. He willed his sadness away as he stared upon her again.

Like she was nothing. 

Like they were nothing. 

No. A knife ran through her chest, this time of his doing. Is this what it felt like to die? She wondered, if the curse would finally count then. If the sun would begin to seep through the walls and burn them alive. When she asked him if he would kill for her, she hadn't meant this. 

"Don't you see? We fell onto the exact same path. We thought we were being careful enough, that we could avoid the past. Manipulate the present. Evade the future. And still, everyone ended up dead. Including them. Whether it's true or not, they did not rise above the curse. They did everything that we are doing, and they ended up dead. Their lives were a fucking tragedy and a fucking waste to be lost. All this tells me is that the gods and the curse will win, every fucking time. Whether we try fate or not."

Taehyung's voice was carefully trained to indifference. Indifference felt like hate. And hate felt like betrayal. And betrayal was him leaving her now, now when only seconds ago he promised that they could get through anything together. 

No. 

No. 

He was already mourning them. She heard it in every brittle word he uttered. 

He was going to push her away.

He was going to act as they were before.

He was going to throw everything they had away, just to protect her.

Don't listen to him. Ignore every hurtful thing he says, or does.

Because its all a lie. All a lie because he is scared that the King and Sorina had been a mirror to their own schemes. And they had fallen. But it was not the curse that killed them. How could he not see past that? His own stubborn volition. 

Her heart pounded so loudly, she couldn't even hear the malice in her voice, "So that's it then? You're giving up. When we know more now than we did before. All because you're afraid that we will fail as well." 

Taehyung stalked forward, his ember eyes bits of coal as he stared down at her, "Or maybe." Leila felt her chest tighten, as he leaned down to her height. She swore she could hear him inhale, take her in her scent for one aching moment, before his lips brushed her ear with the swiftness of an executioner, "I do not find you worth it enough to find out." 

All her previous understandings fell apart at his words. Leila felt herself shake, first at her knees, and then the rest of her body. She hated, hated that at the one moment she needed to stay numb, to be strong, she fell apart like parchment in water. She crumbled and turned to pulp as his tears blurred her. 

She couldn't even see well enough to know if she imagined the look of utter horror in his eyes at her sadness, her misery and anger. 

Leila knew he was lying, and still his act twisted the blade. Puncturing. Butchering. Cleaving every part of her that was held together. That told her to be calm, and to face his attempts of 'saving' her with open arms. 

"You're a coward! You're a fucking coward Taehyung. We have time, now matter how little or how much we have. And you're wasting it. You're afraid that love isn't enough to save me." Leila screamed till her throat bled raw. 

She screamed at Elder Fareena. At her mother, her father. At Azita, and at Setareh. At every person who had been too afraid too love her out of fear one day that she would die. Her voice echoed a thousand woes, and still it was not enough to relief the pain. At the rival prince who vowed to never be like any of them. 

Her enemy hurt her the most. 

Because somehow, out of everyone, she never expected it him to break his promises to her.

Taehyung regarded her with cold eyes, his chin lifting. Not giving any indication he cared about her outburst. Instead, he delivered the killing blow with the humanity of a god, "How can you speak of it at all when you've never been loved?"

Leila straightened her shoulders, her sobs halting. Something darker than rage gathered within her, growing claws and teeth. She fixed him with a glare, not carved with numb. But with the wrath of thousands of emotions, some deplorable, some unforgiveable. 

What a fucking fool I have been. 

The daughter of the moon stepped into the cell. Until she was so close to the prince, she could be his shadow. He returned her glare with a blank gaze that saw too much of her. And still, she did not let him back away. When he attempted a step back from her, she used her magic to hold him right in place. 

His black eyes flared, as she swore him an oath of blight, "When you come back to me, when you feel regret, when you finally realize what a mistake you've made in pushing me away, I will not be sitting around and waiting for you. Not any longer. Not for a man who is not willing to fight with or for me."

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Taehyung and Leila...steamy 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ am I right or am I right that they just keep cranking up every time? The more emotion that's added between them, the more their scenes are just wowwww!!! Like I've actually never had this easy of a time writing chemistry between characters but they just go together 🫣

also honorable mention this is why I write in third person! I was able to show both Taehyung's and Leila's pov at certain points throughout because technically its a narration. So sometimes we were in T's head, sometimes Leila's and sometimes watching them both together from the outside. Hope that wasn't confusing while reading. I did it a lot during Silk Sheets.

But also this story could be described as "when too emotionally avoidant attachment people try not to kill each other or make out every five seconds" sorryyyy guyssss don't hate me 😭☠️🫶🏻

But Taehyung's character has always been righteous in ways that are his downfall. He (like Leila) just got told what he thought his entire life is not true. He based his entire life off of NOT being his father...and now this? He pretty much lost his mother, his father, and Sorina (as he knew them) all at once and is extremely confused. His feelings will be explained more but I LOVE his character because he represents wanting to break the cycle of family trauma, and how much you want to hate/love your family. How to reconcile with the bad things they've done with the good. My man is struggggglinnggg and he wants better for Leila, because she hadn't been able to live her life outside of the curse.

His character is so complex and I hope ppl don't see him as whiny/coward because he's so much more than that. His character is about to become...unhinged. AHHHHHHHHH. I mean seriously unhinged. And you guys are going to love it.

I promise you're going to love love love love it all even if you're frustrated. Just, trust me.