"You are the sun on me
I am the moon in you
When you shine on me
That's when I show you my hues
When we're aligned
That's when I am brand new"

Lifts - Lia Marie Johnson

This is the song that inspired Solace! Here is the new concept trailer for those who haven't seen it. I am in LOVE!!! I was listening to this song while writing Red Rubies and it gave me the idea of Solace, of Leila and the moon and the sun with Tae. It's the official theme song of the book, so please <3 listen

https://youtu.be/PnLydPKvi2s

Spice-O-meter: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

(FINALLY, it could be more but I think you'll see why I did less)

☀️🌙

The endless night stretched between them.

Leila took in every inch of the stricken look on his sculpted face. The fear, the resolution. Yet he did not confirm or deny her words. He blinked several times, his body shuttered close to the wall behind him. Keeping his hands beside him, his words under lock and key.

His lack of response was everything. The prince had always rejected her words when they came too close to the truth. He only stayed silent when he did not trust his ability to lie.

The princess strode across the sky, grabbing at infinite stars. Now she was convinced that the prince did feel as she suspected. It felt like a thousand shards of glass, that it might not change a thing between them.

Leila pleaded, "You love me Taehyung. No matter how many ways you attempt to deny it. You have loved me for a while. That is why I can speak about love. The reason I know what it feels like at all. Because of you. You taught me what love is, when I have been born to never know it. The irony of it all, to have abstained from emotion just to fall headfirst into the reason for my upbringing. A cruel, beautiful coincidence that has to mean something. So if you don't have the courage to lose me, hold onto me and I'll promise to never let go." The princess took a shaky breath, squeezing his cold hands. The prince just gaped, his brows furrowing. She shook her head, speaking earnestly in an oath, "I won't leave you. I promise that I will fight against fate if it means leaving your side. I refuse to let it win."

Silence, blanketed in Winter.

Leila waited, prayed, for the first time in her life to the deities.

The prince continued to look down at her, his head moving slowly back and forth in disbelief. In resignation? She did not know. Seconds stretched on. Minutes. Or has it been days? With each passing moments, her heart frayed like the leaves off a branch in autumn.

Where was the spring that had been promised? A chance to begin again. A chance of rebirth, to finally make changes? Leila could not find it, could not feel the warmth in the onyx wall of his lines eyes.

Nothing. Not a movement. Not a twitch. Not a tear.

She turned, a shade of hope to despair. Dropping his hands, she took a step back from the man who she had declared herself so openly for. Just to receive his silence. His denial of them.

Leila trembled, attempting to hold herself together. Even as he moved to look down at the space she once occupied. Splayed his hands to peer at the palms that were now empty.

He wouldn't even lift his head to see her retreat.

After everything, this is how he would let her go?

Her heart could not take it. It trembled with its surrender, and she ripped at the edges of her strength. Reaching for anger, reaching for anything that made her feel less pitiful. Less fragile.

"If I walk away now, I'm never coming back to you." Leila spoke aloud, her voice a biting wind. Scratching and clawing its way to the prince.

He did not look up. He didn't flinch.

Leila's intake of breath was sharp, painful. She turned quickly, opening the door to her chambers. I cannot be near him. I cannot look at him any longer.

She comforted herself as she looked into her chamber of lavender and silver, hazy with unshed tears. I will run away. I will flee the castle and make him suffer. I will make him regret never speaking the words to me. I will do just as he asks, and let it ruin us both. He will never see my face again, never feel my lips on his.

The princess turned with a painful huff, not looking up to see the prince before attempting to slam the door.

A bronze hand stopped her, pushing her back slightly as he kept the door from closing on him.

Leila looked up, startled to see the Prince staring back at her, eyes filled with a wild energy. Pain dripped from every movement, every glittering gild that covered his shadowy frame. But he was also molten, alive. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Don't, Leila." Taehyung uttered breathlessly, bowing over her. He beseeched her, his eyes pleading to let him be heard just once more. It hurt him just to ask, after saying even more cruel things to her.

Leila lifted a brow, wiping at her eyes. She nodded slowly, without any expression of acceptance. Gesturing for them both to step into her room.

It always overwhelmed her, how his presence seemed to consume the entire space. So intimidating, and yet so in harmony with the white and arched marble that upheld the tower. The sun, finding its place among the crescent moons and flickering star mosaics. A flash of black and gold across silver and violets. There was always a place for him, though he took up the entirety of the sky, swallowing her in his light. The moon shone from her large window, painting them in a iridescent, lilac light. It cut him into statuesque planes, his chest bronzed and toned in the light. His muscles flexing as he stressed his jaw, his forearms. The ocean swayed loudly from below them, spraying against rocks and filling the air between them with a slightly warmed sweetness. She felt small, a dandelion next to an oak as he pushed himself intensely into the room. She stood near the fire place, arms crossed. He paced before her, his hands weaving through his raven hair and pulling. It was evident, he was coming undone.

As was she.

Yet, she held onto her thread. Burnt the frayed edge. Pressing crescents into her arms as she waited for him to reveal himself to her. Stopped herself from instigating, and patiently waited for the prince to speak.

Finally he stopped before her, bathed in moonlight, his head cocked to the side. His profile half in shadow, half in moon. Stuck in the past and trying to pull himself towards the present. Leila swore from the curve of his shoulder bones, wings would sprout and somehow carry him far away.

But instead, the prince sighed. A sad, wise sound of a man that was older than twenty and two. A man who had seen far too much, and kept it to himself for far too long. He lifted his head, his glistening eyes making contact with hers and pulling the breath from her lungs.

He looked devastated. It clung to his high cheeks, his downturned lips. Leila wanted to run to him, even now. But she saw his hesitance. He needed to let it out, and he needed her to just listen.

The prince spoke softly, a lift to his brow as he addressed Leila. His arms held to his side, his palms open and facing her.

"I need to tell you about that night."

Leila held her breath, only slightly disappointed he mentioned nothing of his feelings. But she realized, with every his very unease and somewhat frenzied energy, this was a show of his feelings. He tilted his head further, taking a step further in the path of the moon. Closer to truth, closer to her. Inquiring if she was ready to know it all. To know him.

"Tell me." She offered without insistence. Just clung to herself, and hoping the world did not fall from her feet after his story.

The prince took his time, making sure she was entirely resilient. Before giving her a piece of himself he would never be able to take back. He squeezed his eyes closed tightly, once, before turning to her fully. Somewhere between unwilling and deeply assuaged.

"It was the day of the Summer Solstice. I could hardly remember a time when the castle was so warm, alive. There was to be a celebratory fete that night, one that would mark the beginning of a new dynasty. Or at least, that is what my father had been rambling about it for a while. He had been strange, the entire month before. Our lessons becoming longer, despite my obvious resistance. Telling me I had to be strong, that I could not fold under the weight of my own power. That weakness would kill me. It made me frightful of what was to come at the solstice. And every time I left his study, every time I learned more of what it was to be King, it felt like I knew nothing at all. My father had become scatterbrained, smiling at strange moments, even as he spoke of my taking his throne. Something was off. When I would get ready to leave him, he would grab my arm. I hated every moment of it. But he would just stare, as if taking in my face. 'Everything will change' is what he would say. Then he would let me go, because he knew how much I despised him. Yet, even as he grew in severity, in paranoia, the world around him sighed. Even the night seemed brighter. The animals louder. Like, like there was a chance for healing." Taehyung laughed without amusement, the cold edge snipping at her with long lost regret. When he looked up, his face was contorted, "How stupid I had been."

Leila shook her head, but he continued, "Even in the same month before, every time I would visit Sorina, there was this far away look in her eyes. Like she was already gone. I was worried for her, of course. And every time I tried to prod out an answer, she would give the same. That she would one day go home. I had no idea what to do, or what to say. That surely meant she planned on running away, right? So I offered my assistance. She told me that it wouldn't be necessary. Then, she would go back to whatever she scribbling onto scattered papers around her cell. For hours, I would sit and watch as she wrote. Rewrote. Ripped papers in half. Pulled at the edges of her hair. Restless, erratic, and desperate, are ways I could have described her behavior. And I did nothing, because that is what she asked of me."

Taehyung let out a sigh of distress, as if he were reliving it. As if he could reach back into the past, and undo his mistakes. Maybe that is why he was so careful with Leila now, because it was his only chance to make things right. He closed his right fist tightly, his jaw clenched tightly as he stared at Leila with an abyss of self hatred, of guilt, "I thought nothing of it. On that day, I went about my duties as usual. Even with the strangeness enveloping me from all around. The nobles and I were sent on an errand in a neighboring village before the fete. We practically were told to bring the entire court, so we did. There were servants, soldiers, and my friends. Others that were the children of high ranking court officials, who were still too young to take part. And still, I thought nothing of it." It was his greatest shame, that much was clear. He could barely look Leila in the eye, "When we returned, our mood was in celebration. Even Aera seemed happy, for once. The spirit was high, even as we entered the castle. The entirety of the youth of the court, trailing behind me. Following their prince. I was planning to greet the King and Queen, to tell them of our successful visit." Taehyung paused, tragedy in his eyes, "The screams started when we made it to the throne room."

Leila's blood turned cold, the fireplace behind her providing her no warmth. The room deafened, grieving with its prince. And all she wanted to do was run to him, to scare away the phantom surrounding him. She was sick, sick to her stomach as she could feel his pain coil from him, latching onto her.

"My apologies, this part is the most...difficult." Taehyung tried to placate her, but it turned to a grimace. She wanted to hit him for even daring to say sorry.

"There is nothing to be sorry about, you don't have to tell me anything more." Leila said, stepping towards him. It was over. She had heard enough, and wanted nothing more for him to forget it.

But the prince held out a hand, stopping her. Fatigued, from running away from his sorrow. He needed to talk to someone, he needed to tell her. His face was open with acceptance, with closure even as he began to silent tears fell down his face, "There was so much blood that it seeped from under the doors. You have to imagine just how horrid it was, to make a crowd of young adult Immortui to burst into cries of horror. I'll never forget the sound. I just stood there, frozen. It wasn't even me, their prince, who was strong enough to go see what happened first. I forgot all of my training then, just as weak as my father warned me against. It was Jimin, Lily, Jeongguk, who pushed against the iron door, against the wall of bodies that lay blocking them. Revealing, Ignis, what I could only describe as carnage."

He spoke her nickname as a way to soothe her. Even as he spoke of these horrors. But Leila felt her own grief slice across her throat. She had not known these people as Taehyung did, but she had met them in her dreams. Their deaths felt as real to her as this moment. She grabbed at her throat, trying to silence the sobs she knew could spill out any moment. She gestured for the man to tell her the rest.

Taehyung furrowed his brows in another apology, his voice cracking, "There were bodies strewn everywhere. On the throne itself, near the door, near any of the exits. Laying across the shining, black marble floors like lilies on a lake. Council members, court members, the guards that had stayed behind at the castle. You could not step forward without hitting another sliced or dismembered body, of someone we all had known. You could not step forward without slipping, strew further into the river of blood that had collected. Immortal beings reigned down as if from the heavens. Legs, heads, insides, separated from their bodies. Faces stuck contorted in horror as their eyes slowly turned a milky white. Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, of the brigade behind me ran past me to their dead relatives. Jimin was silent, for the first time in his life. It was the only time I have ever seen my best friend cry. Lily went around, trying to resuscitate bodies that hadn't taken a breath in hours. She refused to believe they were dead. I will never forget Jeongguk's face, as he saw mother Bianca, strung like an ornament from one of the chandeliers. He could not even reach her body. I will always hear 'mother', 'sister', 'grandfather', 'brother' from my court, my nobles in the throes of my worst nightmares. That's why in a court of nearly immortal beings, there is no one above the age of 50 left. They are all gone. My court thought they had hundreds of years with their families, their loved ones. They were taken out in one night, by a single being. By a person they believed to have never used their powers in the hundred years they had been kept at the castle. Only a threat to them if the King killed her."

Leila held her breath, as she shook her head. She had heard the ending of this tale. Had known the perpetrator. But she could not fathom it, not when her dreams and reality did not align.

Taehyung's breath hitched, "Sorina was the only one left alive. Dying, but alive. She was near the bodies of my father, my mother. She had a knife stuck in her chest. I went to my father first, he had been dead the longest it seemed, a large stab wound to his heart. I could barely look at him, he seemed so peaceful, his face kinder to me than it ever had been in life. No worries of a King to ruin it, as he his blood pooled with gold, a strange black leaking into it. My mother's neck had been sliced, her wound cauterized, meaning that Sorina had used her powers of light to do it. My father and I aren't killed easily, due to our specific Immortui and Dimidium mixture. You have stabbed me in the chest, and I did not die. The dagger had been forged with blood magic of an ancient sort, one that has been lost to time. When I went to Sorina she was holding the same dagger in her own chest. Killing herself, after murdering the entirety of the court."

No. It wasn't right. "There has to be-"

Taehyung lifted his hands in surrender, his voice soothing in it's resolution, "I know. For years, I did not know how to feel. Because how could I hate her? She had been mistreated, abused, violated by the hands of these people. Who wouldn't break? She, she just wanted to go home. The massacre made sense to me, no matter how it made me feel." The man dropped his hands to his sides, and with it his fortress, "But when you told me that it had all been a lie? That my father and her had a secret relationship, that they were only lying to her court? I went insane. Because how? How could she have killed the man she loved? How had they went from attempting to live with the curse, to an entire generation of people dead by her hand? This, Ignis, is not a lie. I know this memory is my own, because there was no one left alive to manipulate it. All my nobles, all of my court, saw what I saw that day. She killed my father, the man she was in love with. Can you understand me now? I cannot reconcile with it."

Leila felt the blow desperation in his voice as he willed for her to accept his reluctance. In the two years since the massacre, he had learned to live with what happened. Her memories from Sorina unrooted all the seeds he had planted in his mourning. And Leila, was distraught beyond reason.

She expected for there to be a reason. A memory that surfaced in Taehyung, that may have wiped Sorina's hands clean of at least the King's death. Maybe something the prince remembered falsely, due to how they portrayed their relationship to the court. But this?

Had the second daughter of the moon gone mad from the curse? Was it their denial of following it's bidding that made the god's angry? Would Leila? Was there truly no hope for them?

The princess's back hit the stone of the fireplace behind her, and Taehyung stared at her in commiseration. He did not regret telling her, he regretted ever causing her further pain. And she could tell, from the way he was fighting himself to stay put. To let her process it by herself first.

Leila spoke her thoughts aloud, a desolate denial, "That can't be possible. I've been inside her head practically. She was mentally stable, intelligent. Caring, Even after everything they had been through. She would have never hurt him. There must be an explanation."

She couldn't have. Leila had seen every moment between them. The garden, their first kiss. Maybe their last. No. Sorina felt about the King the way Leila did about the prince. That same spark of life in their chest. That same feeling of destitution at the thought of never seeing them again. And though she may want to strangle the prince sometimes, she would never be able to truly take his life.

Not even if the gods bid it.

Taehyung sighed again, his eyes glassy and throat bled dry from the words, "I don't have one. Other than the curse had to have driven her mad. Do you know what her last words were to me? 'Forever isn't long enough'. That is all she divulged before her death. If it wasn't madness, was it the love that drove her to massacre? Was it the years she was forced to hide her feelings, forced to watch the Queen by my father's side instead of her? Did the curse manipulate her love? I became so lost in that moment that you spoke the truth. I truly believed that being able to save your life was just another delusion I conjured. A hopeless task with an inevitable end. That maybe if my father would've sent Sorina away, that she and him both would still be alive. We would be starving, but alive. That maybe I could change fate if you decided to leave me yourself." He trailed off at the end, looking pale once again. At even the thought of her truly leaving.

Leila realized he was more foolish than she originally thought. She would've threatened to leave him as much as she wanted. But she would've never truly let him go. His plan was idiotic at best. If he wanted to get rid of her and send her off far away, he would've had to drug her. Then tie her hands. Then make sure her knife was unsheathed from her thigh. Oh, and make sure the carriage he shipped her off in had locks impervious to magic or hair pins.

Leila never gave up so easily. Even if she had given up on him, she would've stayed just to keep him in a constant state of torment.

She was sure her thoughts were clear on her scrunched expression, even through the tears she had shed. Because Taehyung let out a laugh, this time it's warmth filled the space instead of it's coldness. A little less fractured than before.

The prince took her in through the moonlight, from his place in the center of her chambers. A long, serious look she couldn't interpret. Then, he began to walk slowly towards her. She held her breath as he went from night, to moonlight, and back to night. Walking until the glow of the fire began to illuminate his contours from behind her body.

Became a piece of marble as he placed himself closely to her. His jaw sharp, as he situated his hands beside her head on the white, stone mantle. His body was warm around her, his scent flooding her senses. Leila looked up slowly, taking her time from the center of his open vest to his chin. To his soft lips.

To his onyx irises flecked with gold veins, which peered down at her through sooty lashes. The look he was giving her now, full of hope, and longing, and remorse, and desire ran it's hands over her body. Caressed her without moving at all.

Taehyung's voice was deep, resonate as he kept her snared with his eyes, "So yes, I panicked upon hearing that my father loved Sorina and still couldn't save her. I called you Ignis a little after you arrived, because of how full of light and rage and ardor you were despite being raised to feel nothing. Then, it became a way to hide what I could not when saying your name. I should have known the name was buried in my mind, waiting to find its home once again. Another lie, another truth. Did I hope my feigned indifference to you would make you run away far from me, far from all of this? Even if you took my heart with you? Yes. Yes, I still believe even if we attempt to undo the curse, the deities or hell knows what else will attempt to take you from me. Take us both. And yes, I am frightened for every moment that is to come if I were to open myself fully to you." Another pause, as he took in her face. Leila was not sure what he saw, but his expression grew softer, his lips lifting in a forlorn smile, "I've been afraid this entire time that I've kept you here, a captive to my selfish desires. But it is I who is bound by my wrists and unto you. You've captured my soul once again and there is nothing left to deny."

Leila could not stop her tears that fell next. They did not stop, not even as Taehyung dropped his hands to her face to cradle her. To brush them away with his thumbs, consoled her.

She placed her hands on top of his, running over slightly scarred knuckles, her emotions quick and contradictory. She was overwhelmed, elated, and disappointed in herself. Instead of being there for him, she had let him push her away out of anger. She had seen through his lies, but she had not gone venturing for his pain. Though she wished he had been kinder, she knew she would've done the same if it were to save him.

She struggled to speak through her cries, "I-I'm sorry. I am so sorry that in my anger, I neglected to be there for you. You were hurting too."

More than I could ever imagine.

Taehyung just shushed her, leaning closer and brushing his thumbs under her eyes, back over her cheek, "I wouldn't have let you, Ignis."

The name blazed through her, making her heart sprint. Branding upon her skin, her lips. She needed to know this was not another temporary agreement. That he would not run from her after this. That they were intertwined before fate.

"Will you let me now?" The question hung in the air, and she couldn't look away from him. No matter how afraid she was that it would all disappear. That his face would drop into that mask she hated, and he would be lost to her forever.

Instead, he cupped her face firmly, leaning down. Leila closed her eyes as he placed a kiss to the left side of her mouth, right where he had kissed her on their wedding night. When he pulled back, he was adamant.

"I cannot go on like this any longer. I tried, I've truly tried. But I cannot live without you by my side. I lied. Many times. Every lie burned and branded my throat with its untruth. I won't promise to never lie again, if it will keep you safe. But every lie has and will always be for you." He paused, taken aback as he laughed warmly once again, incredulous, "And I've always thought my lies were too ridiculous for you to even believe. Not loved by anyone? Ludicrous. But I did not lie when I said you were not worth it."

Leila attempted to pull away from him but he held fast, lifting her head just enough to kiss the other side of her mouth.

He sobered his amused expression, his voice ardent, "Because you are not worth losing. That will always be true. And I think we both know that even if we denounce fate, we cannot sever the tie between us. You are right in saying that it is not the curse, it's never been the curse. It's never been our powers, or our shared destiny. That will never be enough to reason for what I feel for you."

Is it even possible to be this happy?

Leila wasn't sure if she needed to read more books. If she needed to ask him for herself, what emotion this was. Because all she felt was pure exhalation, she was a moon beam. A single twinkling star. The flowers after the first rain of spring. Like all the emptiness she had known in her life was to prepare for the fullness of this moment.

Her mouth parted, her tears of joy making him a blurry masterpiece, "I know you love me, but somehow I can hardly believe it."

The prince shook his head in disbelief, his thumb moving to trace her bottom lip. After all this this time, still in awe of her, "My Ignis Lunae, how could I not? You're the easiest person in this dark world to love. And I don't mean easy, because no other woman has held a dagger to my male parts. I mean it was inevitable. Because of who you are." His eyes lowered to her lips, just to settle back on her eyes, "I have been yours since I swore a vow to you. And I have been blind and insipid to deny it."

It was too good to be true.

Was she dreaming again?

Leila gripped to his hands tighter, feeling for his flesh, his bones. As if any moment she would be ripped from him. Like she would wake up, and her prince that has become what love is to her, would be gone. That the one who could not fathom looking at her, the one who would spew any falsity to send her away, was one hardship below the surface. It seemed unlikely, the one that was not afraid to touch her, the one who would be willing to fall to damnation with her, would stay. She needed his vow to her to be set in stone. Leila wouldn't be able to take it, if she ever saw his indifference towards her again.

She didn't care how she sounded as she pleaded for reassurance, his eyes widening as she clawed at his hands, "Please, please tell me this isn't another lie. Promise me, promise. Prove to me that you will not leave me again, that you will not give up on us."

Taehyung let go of her face, and she stumbled after his touch. Had she asked for too much? But she stopped, giving him space as he kept his back turned to her. She watched the muscles in his back go taut as he shifted. Leila tilted her head when she saw the glint of metal against the light.

Before she could ask if what he was doing and if he planned on avoiding her request, but he did not give her the chance. He turned suddenly, holding the dagger out before him, "I will swear on my life to you."

Leila was shocked, unable to speak as the prince Taehyung pulled away from her and held out his palm to the moon. He looked at the ceiling, closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them, searching for Leila as he muttered an incantation under his breath. Glancing up after.

"I always belonged to you. Even if I would've stayed away, even if you would've hated me. I would've been yours."

Then, he skillfully sliced the blade across the unmarked skin.

He barely flinched at the cut, staring Leila directly in the eyes as he squeezed his hand into a fist, turning his wound towards the ground. The golden ichor now dripped onto the stone floor between them.

The princess placed her hand onto her chest, over her heart to make sure she was still alive. The stare he gave her so impassioned, she felt it reverberate through her. Settling in their finality, as he swore himself to her without resistance.

"Where the night meets the shore, and the sea meets the sun, I will follow you there. From now, until the end. If oblivion is our future, then I will gladly perish in it with you."

Leila wasn't sure who moved first, but they ended up intertwined. Bloody mess and all.

The princess could've sworn it was herself, who barged into him and pulled him by his collar and down onto her mouth. To which he happily obliged, touching her desperately along her back with both his wounded and his good hand. Their mouths met in a form that was cataclysmic, gnawing, and aching all at once. A kiss that rivaled and won against their first. Now it was filled with the passion of knowing, of every emotion that had previously been restrained even in their weakest moments. It was a sewing of thread, mending broken parts and ripped flesh from spoken wounds.

She threw her entire being into him, and he accepted her with an open embrace. Losing all sense of time and space as she molded her lips hungrily to his, feeling him and tasting his honesty. His devotion was sweet, crisp and dark like his pine scent. Everlasting. As pointed and protective as the mountains that cradled them. The prince met her just as fiercely, thrusting one hand in her hair to angle her mouth directly under his own. Just where he needed her. He moved his mouth graciously over hers, a torrent of emotion as he clasped around her own, feeling her lips caress around his was his sanctity. She fell into him further, holding herself up with the edges of his vest. Leila used his pleased groan to press her lips harder onto him, wrapping her leg over his hip. 

Taehyung let out a breathless laugh, and she took the opportunity to bite at his lower lip and pull. The man followed with her movement, his eyes going black as he caught her mouth like a man possessed. He wrapped his hand around her thigh, holding her open and up against him. Hitched around his bone and flat around his rib cage. She clawed over him, arching, only the sound of their panting breaths filling the night air. Leila did not care that she couldn't breathe. All she needed was him. Just him, just this. 

It wasn't enough. She needed him, in her throat, in her lungs. Injected into her veins like a tonic.

Leila pulled back as Taehyung heaved, questioning with his heavy eyes why she moved away. She did not answer. Only grabbing at the top of his vest, and ripping apart the clasps that held it together. She practically mewled when the fabric parted, revealing his smooth and taut chest which glowed like a lake under the silver of the moon.

How did we last so long?  

The man made no move to stop her. 

I should have just ended our misery myself. 

Leila did not know how they survived such torture, as she bent herself forward. Kissing and licking along his flesh as he jolted under her. Dragging her bottom lip across his chest to his collar bone, which she nipped with her teeth. He tasted sweet like the night, sweet like the wine he had drank earlier. She lifted her eyes to his, watching him crumble as she slowly traced her tongue in a circle over heated flesh. 

Taehyung winced, her name coming out as a plea, "Ignis."

I love you.

She heard it clearly now, in every syllable. How has she missed it before? 

Leila went back to grazing her teeth along his collar bone, but he pulled her back. She was dazed, disoriented when he settled his face before hers. Cheeks flush, eyes severe. Chest moving relentlessly up and down, quicker than she had ever seen an Immortui breathe. 

Panic seized her. Is this when it would end? Is this when he realized he could not overcome his fears? She attempted to lower her eyes, cheeks heating with shame once again. But he lifted her chin with his curved pointer finger, keeping her level with him.

"I saw him kiss you Leila. I saw that you did not pull away. I shouldn't be questioning you at all, because I felt your indifference." The man paused, shaking his head. Face swimming with so many questions, more insecure than she had ever seen him. It made her ache with remorse, because he was not angry. Envious no longer. With his broken smile he offered, he was distraught with the thought she may feel for another. The prince winced, stuttering painfully, "I-is there a chance? Is there a chance that you love him?"

Leila felt the shame of her actions crash down.

 Though his wounds had stabbed her, her actions had flayed him. And though she had warned him of what her resolve looked like, she had made a mockery of their marriage publicly. Even him touching another woman's elbow had sent her into a spiral. To have seen him kiss anyone? Her stomach rolled, bile rising in her throat. It was clear, from even his face now as he asked her, that what he had seen earlier ruined him in some ways. Because even as she declared herself to him, he did not entirely believe it either. 

Taehyung had little time to stop her before she molded the moonlight past his head. Held out her palm, and made the same crescent slice that matched along his palm. She held his shocked gaze steady, as she curled her fist and let the blood drop beside them, "Where the night meets the shore, and the sea meets the sun, I will follow you there. From now, until the end. If oblivion is our future, then I will gladly perish in it with you." Leila lifted her uninjured hand, gracing along his hurt expression. The hollows of his eyes, the line of his nose to his lips. He smiled under her touch, eyes thawing slowly, "Only you." 

The prince let out all the air in his lungs, looking up to the sky in thanks to a prayer answered. When their irises connected he wrapped his hands under her jaw, and pressed their lips together in another excruciating kiss. One that took their souls and weaved them through the loom of their shared fate. He traced his tongue along her mouth, stroking and writing words that he could not contain. She opened under him, their shared embrace combusting into flames. She tilted her head further to bring him deeper, to take delight in his entire being. A promise. Each embrace was a new promise. 

"I need you Taehyung. Entirely." The words ripped out beneath swollen lips, even as the prince continued to mold her lips with his own. Taking the time to pull back and stare at her with reverence, before diving back in. 

Taehyung pulled back, eyes hazy and unfocused. He almost leaned down to slot his mouth across hers again before she placed a hand to his chest. After a moment, he finally digested her words, his jaw going slack. Leila couldn't help but laugh at this prince of 'vampires' who showed little reaction to violence or betrayal but could not hold back his heed at her wants.

Leila bit her lip, running her hand down his chest to the middle of his abdomen. Euphoric as the muscles rolled under her fingers, his eyes begging her for dear life. She drawled out her raspy voice, "I want you to show me how much you love me. I want it written on me. Placed into me. I want your scent on me so that everyone knows I am yours from here until the next Kingdom. I want to feel you in ways that I haven't, and experience all that it means to be human with you. I need you to claim me as yours, wholly and uncontested." Taehyung's mouth fell open further, his irises flickering from her mouth to her own silver depths. She looked up through her lashes, running her nails over the same expanse of skin she just trailed over, "So be a man, prince, and make me yours."

(A/n: LEILA!!!???!? mother is so crazy sometimes honestly she makes him look normal lol. Again uh we are gonna forget I'm a feminist in this book cuz it just sounds hot SORRYYYY!)

Taehyung tilted his head, his irises of ember flecks completely gone. Swallowed by dark, and all Leila could see was her own reflection in them. 

His voice was deep, velvet as he narrowed his eyes, "Once we do this, there is no chance I am letting you go."

Leila snarked back, pulling herself out of his arms, "Getting cold feet now after the blood oath? What, now you want me to reconsider?"

The prince's answering smile glimmered against the moonlight, his eyes veiled wilderness as he pulled her back into his chest. Her eyes only widening more as he picked her up without warning, his arms placed under her knees and the base of her neck. Leila screeched, wrapping her arms around his neck. 

"Absolutely not. I know that you're mine," The man retorted, the lines of his cheeks only deepening as he dipped to speak into her ear, "It was just a warning that you will be truly bound with me forever. And I will have to claim you thoroughly, painstakingly, attentively, relentlessly, over, and over, and over again." Leila's breath quickened as his voice grew gravelly, "Until you never forget that I am yours."

She felt her body go limp as he carried them over to the bed. And despite his promise of claiming, the prince lay her down carefully, like setting a petal onto a placid lake. He smoothed out the hair that spread behind her, twirling his fingers along the waves. Tracing down from her forehead to her chin as she stared up at him. He could not pull his eyes away, not even as he settled himself over her. His elbows cradled on either side, the length of his lithe body pressed into her in delicious ways. Leila couldn't understand the overwhelming feelings that coursed through her, lightening storm as they veined and crashed through her. 

"Heavenly." He said softly, as he tenderly traced over her cheekbone once more. 

Leila felt emotion rise in her throat, and for some reason she wanted to cry. He was so careful not to crush her with his weight. So careful not to take without giving. He looked at her like she was the sky, the moon itself. She had seen these eyes before, from another time. Out in the garden, under the light, with a man who had loved a woman the world bid him not. 

She grabbed his hand, feeling the coldness of his silver rings. Feeling him tremble as she brought his cut palm over her heart. The man swallowed, his eyes looking between the rapid beating under it, to her face. 

"Every beat is due to you. I am not sure I could call myself human before, with the ounce of coal that sat in my chest. I knew little of what is was to feel." Leila maneuvered herself onto her elbows, bringing their faces closer, "And I know now what it is to be alive. To feel joy, sadness, and comradery. Love, was strange to feel at first. Different from that of a sibling, or that of a friend. It is like dying and being reborn at every single moment. It is wanting to rip it out of your chest to give it to someone else fully. It is waking up in the morning to see the mist, the ocean, all things natural and wonder how an empty place beside yourself could feel so wrong. I still know very little, I still have much to learn of what it means to be human. But if I know anything at all, it is that I love you. And I will continue to do so for the rest of my days."

Taehyung succumbed to every word, his expression colored with amplified yearning as his brows furrowed, his mouth parted. The man could wait no longer as he left his worldly body, his eyes igniting with the gold of the sun. Leila was taken back onto the softness of the bed, as he kissed her with abandon. Fractious as he claimed her with his mouth first, desperately moving against and with her. Leila moaned into his mouth, as he rolled over her, moving aside her thighs to press closer to her body. The calculated, detail oriented prince lost sight of skill, of expertise. His body and mind moving to the beat of Leila's heart and only that. He only felt her skin, he only heard her exhales of pleasure, he only saw her face, he only knew her love. All else that made sense of the world was quieted, drowned by her. 

Leila cupped his jaw with her hand, holding him close and threading the other in his silky hair. He helped her slip off his vest, shaking it off of his hot upper half. Unclasped the collar around his neck, pulling of the sleeves and leaving his entire upper body bare. Taehyung nipped at her lips with his teeth, soothing the bite as he carefully lifted her. Leila was in the skies, as he trailed to the top of her back. Undoing the weighted dress, and slowly running it down the arch of her back. She shivered as his fingers trailed along the skin, open now to the night air. He pressed his hand flat against it, feeling her as she molded herself to him. He let her fall back, just enough so that the dress pooled in the front. He so carefully situated himself, pulling the delicate dress off of her body, his fingers gliding along every surface of skin. She lifted her hips, and with that he took off the fabric covering the rest of her body, even as he kissed along her jaw. 

Taehyung pulled back with a pained sound, his breath labored as his eyes took in every detail of her uncovered body from only the light of the moon, "I need to see every part of you Leila."

The prince thrust out his hand, swiping it over the room. Without taking his eyes off her, the room erupted with a golden light. Hundreds of candles lit of the space, turning them liquid and warm. Instead of the harshness, he was soft. His golden skin bronzed. His dark eyes now flooded with the rays of the sun, now that she had something to compare it to.

On his face was a look of awe as he hovered over her. Like he was seeing her for the first time, but knew her more deeply than she would ever know herself.

Leila did not know, how he could look at her with such wonder. When he was all she could see, even from the moment she had met him. Even when he was right in front of her, he had never left her mind. His raven dark hair, slightly waved as it fell over his kohl lined eyes, his crown discarded. Made a deeper charcoal from the warmth of the room. His eyes, his eyes. Somehow so caring and dominating in their war of light and dark, that Leila sometimes couldn't breathe when he stared at her. The fire lit along the high, wider points of his cheeks. Melted down his straight defined nose, to the cupid's bow of his curved lips. That spoke poetry across her skin. That tilted just enough to show his white, sometimes sharp, teeth. They were red, mixed with wine and fire. The same fire that showed in his eyes, down the the lines of his bones, his shoulders that carried both the dark and light of shadows in their breadth. His arms did not strain, only toiled as they continued to hold himself up over her, every vein and muscle carved to perfection under the light. She wanted to move further down so she could start to uncover his bottom half, but he had her pinned with the intensity of his stare. Leila could barely restrain her hips as she looked to the side of her, seeing the way he fisted the sheets with his ringed hands. 

Holding himself back. 

He began to trace every part of her visage, with the touch of a moth's wing. So soft, so gentle for a prince who was not meant to be...

But he would, for her.

The prince rested his forehead onto her own, and her heart shattered and repaired itself once more. 

"Leila, my night. I cannot live without you." Taehyung spoke onto her lips, voice fractured. He lifted his hand and placed it under her ear, wrapping his fingers into the base of her hair. He leaned back just enough to see her eyes as he whispered, "To zendegi ye maeni, eshgham," the prince leaned forward kissing the tear that fell without permission at his gentleness, "Nafasam, yeki yedoneh."

If she hadn't already fallen for him, that would have done it. Now she sunk below the waves too far to ever seen the light of night again. Perched above her, choosing to say he loved her the first time in word with her own language, it was all too much for her to handle. Too much, too much as she pulled him into a soul-locking kiss once more. Too much as she felt love like a snake, slither up and out from her chest, biting and binding. She could not find the words to express what she felt for him, the words to show her utter adoration of him. That in his self-assessments he often thought of himself as an antagonist vying towards an unreachable goal of goodness. In a world where morals aren't measured, in a throne where his values were not what he could choose, it was a hapless pursuit. 

But he was thoughtful, more than anyone she had ever met. Every detail not going unnoticed, if it were a piece of her to behold. When he felt, he felt with his entire being, so much that he often had to hide himself away. The prince had somehow managed to fill her lacking twenty-two years with a garden of new memories to wash away the old. 

The prince proved it so, as he began to kiss down her neck in the way that she liked. His broad hand pressing over her chest, grazing over her goosebumps until he made it to the center of her thighs. Leila tried to sit up, moving haphazardly so she could undo his pants. She needed to feel him too. 

But he grabbed her wrist holding it to the side of her head with his own. His eyes smiled, though his mouth remained pliant, "Let me take care of you." She began to protest, but his mouth moved to her breast, his tongue moving sensually around the apex. She lost all thoughts then, just nodding and falling into his gentle hands. 

"I will take care of you, in all the ways you need." Taehyung said again, looking up through his darkly line eyes. He hovered over her once again, trusting her enough to let go of her wrists.

Her stared down at her body, turned into dawn from the light. He moved from the top of her shoulders, tracing her arms to the top of her chest. Not a single part of her felt scrutinized, only appreciated under his watchful stare. She tried, and failed, to catch her breath as he kneeled above her, toned stomach in shadow and gold as he moved his fingers softly down the sides of her body. Feeling every curve, running slowly over the valleys of her waist, and then down to her hipbones. He bit his lip, watching his path as he did so. Settling his hands on each sides of her hips, his thumbs at home on the widest part of her bone. 

The prince's intake of breath stuttered as he looked up at her, "I will never be able to comprehend how beautiful you are. Or how favored I am by the gods to have known you." He then bent his head down, pressing a delicate kiss to her navel. Which turned passionate, as he saw her curve under him. He held onto her hips, sucking on her skin and letting the tan blossom with shades of her favorite color. Tasting at the cinnamon of her skin, the amber she liked to bath herself with. It was making him insane, so he pulled back, using her hips to hold himself back once more. 

Leila angled herself closer to him, barely coherent at this point. Her hair wild and fanned out like seaweed along the beach under her. She somehow still attracted all the silver in the room onto her body, forming around her like a pearlescent halo. He continued to kiss her along her stomach, pulling from her sounds of need as he placed his hand over where she needed him most. Her hips threatened to lift, as he held them fast. "Taehyung, I-" love you, I need you. He knew, as he trailed his fingers over her. Cocking his head to watch her and make sure every moment made her feel what she deserved. Losing all hope of control when she cried out his names several more times, begging for his touch. 

He moved over her most sensitive part at the top, the area prepped enough for his fingers to glide gently over her. He set a slow, aching place that set every nerve in her body on edge. She felt the touch in her chest, her lips, her thighs, her hands. His mouth and tongue did not stop, as they swirled patterns onto her skin. Tasting her. All while his fingers worked against her, only making blood pulse and her muscles tense until it felt like she would break in half. She did break, as he stopped his movements, just to set his fingers to her entrance. He looked up, waiting for her to nod but she reached down and moved his hand into her for him. The prince's gaze grew dark as she held onto him, coaxing him as he slid his fingers in and out from her. His movements becoming slower as he attempted to reach her deeper, his thumb traces circles on her externally. Reaching a place that every time he curled his fingers against it, she arched and cried out involuntarily. Taehyung looked at her face with feral concentration, needing to see her every reaction to his touch. 

"Say my name." The princess gasped out, her nails almost breaking the skin of his ever moving wrist. Relentless, that is what he promised. He delivered, as he twisted himself and curled towards her front walls. Her vision went hazy, her grasp somehow tightening. 

I am going to break.

I am breaking.

I am breaking.

Taehyung bit his lip, feigning confusion, "Ignis?"

I need to hear it. 

"No." She whined out, though it was through gritted teeth. Lifting higher, and higher. Her heart swelling as she looked down at her prince, who never felt below her even when he bowed. 

His smile turned darkly angelic, "Leila."

The woman moaned louder, her body going taut as he practically held her with his free hand. The prince leaned over her, fisting her hair gently as he craned down to her ear, even as he worked into her. His breath was just another body wrenching sensation as he spoke sinfully into her ear, "I love watching you fall apart, it's the most riveting thing in the world. Like waves crashing against the shore. That slight hitch in your breath, how your voice gets all soft, and your eyes flutter? It's a song to me, that I keep playing in my head over and over."

The melody only met it's crescendo. His voice the lilt of a cello, melting notes and patterns to play across her skin. One more time, and she would be done. Just the way his lips would mold over the syllables of her name were a sonnet only he could read to her. A name he had been so careful not to say too often, in fear it would reveal too much to her. To the court. To himself. 

I am breaking. 

I am done for. 

He is all I know. 

I am nothing but sand, ready to be stolen back to the waves. 

"Just like your name." He grazed her ear his his nose, his breath hitching, "Leila, Leila, Leila."

Leila fractured, her body lifting and pressing flush against his. He soothed her, his voice like the sparkling crash of waves as she writhed underneath him. 

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

She had only realized that she was saying the words out loud like a mantra when she came to. Her eyes opened slowly, revealing the prince who held a secret smile. 

"You love me." Is all he said, despite her earlier confessions. 

Leila still felt embarrassment, as she attempted to look away from his midnight irises. But he turned her face back to his own, uncompromising. 

"This-," The man looked between them, at their mostly naked bodies. At her returning to peace after only moments before, "Means something to me. I need to know if you're truly ready, because I mean it when I say this is the point of no return, Ignis." He took in Leila's concerned pout and decided to explain more, "This is new to both of us. This is your first time ever, and-" The prince let out a nervous, shaky breath, "And this is my first time with someone I have loved. I want this moment to be special and perfect, and exactly what someone of your importance in my life is worthy of. Am I enough?" 

Is he enough? 

Leila frowned even more, her head clearing from the hurricane of desire and love, "You are the greatest, most magnificent fool in the world prince." 

Taehyung's frown mirrored hers, but she did not pay attention. Instead she used this distraction to lay the prince down on the bed. He had little time to think, before she was straddling him. 

"To think that you would not consider yourself enough," Leila spoke angrily, pulling at the buttons of his trousers, "is mystifying. If it were my choice," Her voice grew louder as the prince lay wide eyed underneath her, "You would have taken me already. In a carriage. On the carriage floor," Why won't this button come undone, "In the baths, in the ocean, in the sands for gods sake! In front of the court, on this bed, in yours, on the snow lying next to one of your bled out deer..." Leila's hands were shaking too much to undo his pants. 

Taehyung sat himself up off the bed, and grabbed her shaking hands. Leila eyed him warily as her brought the digits up to his lips, and kissed them individually. Leila took the time to breathe, though his sentiments made her heart squeeze once again. 

"You have already exceeded my expectations, I just want to meet yours. You deserve the caring and romance that you've read in those books. It is your first time, and it might hurt you. You desire me, and trust me I crave you, but our deepest wants can cloud our reality sometimes. I never want to hurt you again. You have to promise that you will stop me if you feel the slightest bit of pain. If I am not making you feel cherished at any moment, or if something just doesn't feel right." The prince moved a lock of stray hair behind her ear, tucking it. Leila felt herself flush from her lack of experience, despite his grace for it, "Promise me."  

The princess felt her nerves settle. She was protected by him, always. Even against his own wants and desires, which were very clear from what she felt under the pants she could not open.

"I promise." A pause ensued as he raised a brow a her, knowing she was almost as stubborn as him, "Truly. I will tell you if I need you to stop."

To the prince, she would always come first. And it burnished a new confidence and desire in the frantic anxiety she had previously shown. Worrying about frivolous things like boring him, or not being skilled enough. Of being in too much pain. He would always be there. 

Taehyung's shoulders dropped, letting go of only some of his worries. He held onto her waist, gently shifting them so that she was beneath him again. She felt his heart race along with her, joined in it's frenzied run. Leila outpaced him when he began to unbutton his pants, not teasing her at how easily he undid them. He did not tease her, as she lay frozen beneath him, just staring at his magnificence through the candlelight. Did not berate her that she had went back on the promise of never asking to kiss him, let alone bed him, on their un-consummated wedding night. 

Leila lifted her hand as he settled between her thighs again, this time just as vulnerable as her. She touched his cheek, touched the eyes that had always been kind even when she didn't notice. Most of his snide remarks and quips hadn't been in avoidance of her. But out of respect, out of understanding that she needed time to know what she wanted.  

She brushed her thumb against his elegant cheek bone, and he sighed into the touch. His elbows placed on either side of her once again, he leaned into the feeling of her hand. Unrushed, despite the hardness that lay pressed between them. 

"I would be okay if you wished to just caress my face all night." The prince said from above her, his soft voice melding him further to her skin. He was trembling from his restraint, from his desire to only worship her. She felt every breath, every pulse of blood, each inch of his flesh pressed upon her own. And still, it was not close enough. 

Leila looked up at him, a smile forming so beautiful it twisted a knife into his chest once again, "Taehyung." She lifted her leg, trailing it along the backside of his, "I need you now." 

The prince groaned, and the fortress finally fell. He sat back taking the leg she brushed up against him and started kissing it. From her ankle, to her knee, his lips trailing all the way to her inner thighs. Kisses like rose petals flitted across her skin, and she felt like night air brush along her cheeks. What the prince didn't quite understand, was that he made her feel normal. With him, she was not the witch or the demon-bred child with metal eyes and caged heart. She was the girl who liked sitting on her stoop and watch the throng of bonfires and fell the first crisp scent of snow. She felt like a woman with him, a woman who lived not at the hands of old words and deities. Jasmine and pine and Winter and Spring and all that was good in this world encompassed with his careful touches. His hands gripped at her thighs, feeling along the smooth skin. Settling kisses across her stomach, her breasts, and up until her neck. Then to her jaw, pressing and soothing with a languid brush of his tongue. The heat became sweltering with his every touch, as if she were a statue that had not set in it's molding. And yet with such a fervency that she never had felt more wanted. She grasped onto his broad shoulders, moved gently to grip his hair, the nape of his neck.

The prince paused for a moment, looking at the amethyst crescent she wore around her neck. His finger tracing along the crystal, as he placed another heated kiss onto her lips. 

"Was it Sorina's?"

Taehyung smiled, pecking her again as he traced along her collar bones, "No, it has been in my family for much longer." His breath was labored as he looked through hooded lashes, "It's charmed to keep your loved ones safe. Those that are meant to be family one day. My father gave it to Sorina. I should have known."

"But you gave this to me before our wedding night."

The prince paused along her skin, settling on the rounded part of her shoulder. His eyes did not lift to meet her own. 

Oh. 

The silence answered her questions. 

Leila used both of her hands to lift his head, meeting the darkness of his eyes. The same look he had given her when he had pulled the piece of glass from her hands, away from her chest. The same look with which he admitted his feelings. It was always there, sequestered behind a stony face and thorned words. 

She kissed him furiously, pouring in every ounce of unuttered emotion onto his lips. He moved with her, moaning his deliverance with her earnest covet. 

I want to breathe you.

She ran her around around his broad shoulders, scratching the skin until his mouth opened above her. Until sweat began to bead around the black of his hairline.

I want to be so close, there is no you and I, just us. 

Leila twined her leg over his hip, hooking her arm around his neck. Lifting her body so that every movement would grate against his length, so that he could feel all the pleasure she felt and more. That first wave of pleasure wracked through her as she felt the velvet of his skin move along her entire center. Soft and hard and burning and she was going to-

"Ignis," Taehyung practically cried out, placing his hands on her hips and setting them down on the bed. His eyes were closed harshly, "Slowly. Slowly, or I won't last. This is your first time, and I need to show you what you mean to me." He opened his eyes, pressing a honeyed kiss to her lips, "I want to savor you, splendor you. Unravel you. Make sure you reach the heavens and come back. You deserve to be worshipped like the goddess you are."

I don't want him to last.

I want him to feel me. Be with me. To become one with me. 

But the loving look in his eye calmed her, made her rest among the stars instead of shoot past them. She could tell it was difficult, from the afflicted countenance he held. But the man lushly ran his warm, elegant fingers from her elbows, to her wrists. He pressed one hand to her heart, and pursed his lips in question. Leila nodded. 

Much like their dance from earlier, he took such care in every movement. In leading her without making her feel like she already knew the steps. 

'I will hold your hand with more passion than a man will take in kissing you'

The prince didn't break contact, did not stop kissing her cheeks, even when he held himself in position. She felt her body paralyze, but the prince embraced away the tension that seized her. He let himself lay across her, waiting to see how she felt. And with each desire filled moment that he waited, she felt herself fall further. 

"Jāné del-am, please. I need you, I need you." Leila whispered into his neck, before laying down fully. 

The man met her eyes once more, eyes of onyx and ember, and spoke the same words aloud. Words he had said already, when she had not been listening. I love you. Ignis. Jāné del-am. 

The prince kissed her, to distract her. To let her know this was more than lust could ever amount to. Leila braced herself as he entered her, the fullness new and electrifying. Taehyung winced against her lips, cursing as he pressed forward excruciatingly slow. It felt tight. Not uncomfortable. Leila lifted her lips, trying to speed along the process when she felt a slight tang of pain. When Leila seethed, Taehyung tried to pull back completely.

Leila wrapped her legs around his hips, his back. Grabbed his chin and already found his dark eyes filled with panic. "I am fine. It was my fault. You can move now, do not leave me. I am Leila, I am not just the daughter of the moon. Please don't treat me like I am breakable."

The prince softened then, his body relaxing. And now that he was fully seated in her, unmoving, Leila began to relax. It felt like the world around her was finally at piece, now that they had connected. Her thoughts were silent, just the vision of his face and the feeling of his skin keeping her afloat. He was frozen, too scared to move.

So Leila lifted her hips again, slowly. She wrapped her arms around his neck, using the leverage to do so. 

The prince's mouth parted as she rolled against him, an unforgiving wind as her silver eyes beckoned him with cavernous want. He cursed again, his sculpted arm moving to wrap around her waist. Leila felt him deep within her, even as he stilled, her own undulations sending shivers down her spine as his eyes trailed from her mouth to the space where they connected. 

Leila gasped when the prince pressed her down into the bed, changing the angle. His eyes were dark, flecked with gold as the candle light shone onto his face, "I'm going to take my time with you. You deserve to feel. You deserve it more than anyone I have ever known."

She felt the promise inside her, as he captured her lips in his own. Moving fervently with her as his fingers thread into her own, grasping on tightly. Pressing their embraced fingers into the sheets as he lifted his torso, and undulated against her in a rolling motion. 

Leila cried out, feeling his navel rub against her front. His lips moved from her own, to her cheek, to the curve of her neck as he sucked on the skin. Moving his hips all the way back to wave into her again. Leila felt the movement in every nerve of her body, in every vein of her heart. She whimpered as he continued to move in and out of her, making sure to tilt his hips slowly every time. Leila looked down, saw the way he arched into her. How he took his time, with his strenuous and amorous pace. His face was contorted with desire, desire for her and to fulfill her. To tie them in all ways possible in this life, so that their souls would meet in the next. 

The man rested his forehead onto hers, now only using one hand to hold her left hand on the bed. She grasped at his neck, his jaw. Whispering I love you's in any language she knew against his swollen lips. His eyes brightened as he looked between their bodies, at her beautiful face that was flushed and open. 

He placed his knee closer to her hip, using his other hand to lift her by her neck to his mouth. Leila pressed her chest into him, their hearts meeting as he pushed himself into her. Slower, yet harder. As if he could replace all the time that they had missed together with every meeting. The man gasped onto her mouth, biting at her bottom lip and taking it into his mouth. Time left their bodies, as their hidden desires transcended. 

All I know is him. 

"Leila, Ignis." He whispered languidly, thrusting assiduously against her. Grazing her sensitive navel and making her jolt and cry from under him. Just two souls. She took all of him, in gasps in what felt like sobs. Just two souls. Without names. Without threats, or qualms. He was more human than he had ever been given the chance.  Taehyung rolled into her again, making a wave of sensation crash through her body. His whispered nothings pressing tattoos onto skin. Their eyes met with urgency, as Taehyung's hold above her began to fall. Leila's clasp around his neck threatened to slip, but she refused to let go. She promised to never let go. 

"Fuck Leila," The prince seethed, his hips grinding onto her as she grabbed onto him harshly, a bow on the precipice of snapping, "I love you. I love you so much sometimes I worry it is not the curse that will kill us." His brows furrowed in pain, in pleasure, in enchantment, "Let go, Ignis. Let go, and I will catch you." His voice rasped into her ears, begging for her release. Needing it more than he needed his own. 

Leila splintered, shards of herself embedded in him. The prince followed after, feeling her pulse around him and grab onto him like he was the only thing holding her to reality. Taehyung fell onto her, careful not to hurt her with his weight. 

The princess just clung around his side, feeling the slowly loosening muscles. Feeling him arch with every labored breath. The man didn't even have enough energy to pull a blanket over them. He just pulled her in closer, using his power to keep any particle of chill from touching her skin. The prince lifted her chin, even though she had been resting against his hard chest. Finding herself slowly coming back to earth, and somehow feeling more fortunate that he was just beside her. 

"Did I hurt you? I cannot live with myself if I keep hurting you." His dark eyes held that deep worry, even as he cradled her well worn body to his chest. 

Leila smiled. Him treating her like she wasn't breakable lasted only as long as she expected. But she knew he would try. She ran her fingers up and down his arm, watching as the hairs stood. The man shivered as he swallowed, opening his eyes to find them just as charged before. He ignored those urges, touching along her jaw. Inconspicuously checking for bruises or any sign of blood. She shook her head, "I'm fine, please. Please. Jāné del-am." 

It was freeing, to say it out loud. To see him only breach closer, instead of run. To see his expression warm and mollify, instead of forging into his unforgiving mask. 

Leila continued, swearing fealty to what they shared, "I love you even if it is not in my destiny to do so. I will fight for you." She brushed across his brow, let her finger trail to the freckle at the end of his nose. Wondered what signs of life would appear on his face as they grew together. 

He did not isolate himself. He did not flee. He did not harden to stone. 

No, the prince of the eclipse smiled. His teeth white against bronzed skin, as he traced patterns and more words of devout proclamation onto her bare back. Leila was sinuous, as he traced his thumb over her bottom lip. Amazed by her resilience, her silver eyes that always made him petrified with their wisdom, their beauty. They were soft as Juniper leaves as they graced upon him. They believed in him. They believed in them. 

Taehyung no longer regretted any of his choices in life.

They all lead to her. 

"You're the moon in me. I am the sun in you. We were always meant to be."

🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓

Tonight is the last time I will feel the cold of chains around my wrists.

The spring solstice. The ball. Everything is planned.

The King is going to announce me as his courtier. The court will deal with it. The Queen would unable to denounce me of the title, if the rest of the nobles followed suit. 

And we could love each other. Openly, without reproach. We cared not of the curse. We wanted to live out their lives, and ensure that the prince would be prepared for what he would have do.

I placed the poem in the opening to Jae's private rooms. A paper charmed with blood magic, my memories. Some of his father's that he gave willingly. Knowing he would never need to warm me again from the small hole to freedom. 

I took time regarding my cell, my home that I had lived in for 100 years. It didn't feel to be leaving. And strangely enough, as I touched the cold of the stone walls, I felt as if I would miss it. Not because it was pleasant, no, it was torture to be so far from life and below the earth. It is because these cells purged me of my naivety. They built me into a woman that knew her power, and was not afraid of it. 

They hoarded all of my memories. Even memories I could not contend with. My eyes flicker to the poem, hidden in these walls. Blood charmed to open to those cursed. Difficult to read for anyone who did not know myself. It held everything, it held the world in it's white pulp. Anything Taehyung needed to know if his father nor I had the chance to tell him.

In case anything went awry.

There was hope found in Taehyung. The boy who had grown into a resilient man. No matter how much he resented his father, and doted on me.

Jae had been searching for years for a peaceful answer to the curse of the Vipera, and his origin. A peaceful way to relieve the curse from our aching shoulders. 

Still, after one hundred years, we do not know enough. We were no closer to an answer than Jae had known from the moment their kind was created. 

But there is hope. 

Taehyung is smarter than I. Than even Jae. He will figure it out even if we only have scraps to give him.

It hurt, to think of the prince. To think of the King's painful attempts to keep a relationship with him. Even if it meant being cold, even if it meant playing the part of the cruel ruler his son thought him to be. He watched in pain, as our closeness blossomed still. I learned all that he could not, prided in what the king could only from afar. When I tried to speak of the king to the prince, his face would go cold. An unreadable mask. Because he did not know they were so similar, and that his strange kindness in a world without any came from Jae, and Jae alone. 

The king hated that the Queen had more than likely warped his son's memories. Molded them to her bidding. But he could do nothing to undo it, the magic that caused it. Even if he told the truth, the Queen could just wipe it from his head again. At least, not while that woman was alive. 

My fists tightened, my power useless and murky below the rocks. I opened my palms with long debated forgiveness. I had let go of my hatred years ago. 

That was not the purpose of today. To purge and maim. I was not in need of vengeance, when our life had been hard enough. Even when Jae offered, I denied him. 

So that Taehyung would understand. So that he would not grow up angry, and a tyrant beyond repair. No, this world needed more kindness. 

The King and I would search for it, in far off places. Away from here. 

His father and I would tell him everything, everything we could before we left to a neighboring stronghold in the South. To enjoy the sea, a softer and warmer ocean. Away from this darkness. And the prince would decide what would happen next, when they decided to be rid of immortality.

He would understand, one day.

Maybe not today. 

Maybe not at all.

But it was a chance we had to take. 

I smiled, looking once more at the poem. Down at my dress, which was tailored for that of a queen. Brilliant and the color of moonlight itself. I grabbed at the amethyst crescent above my heart, and waited. Waited for my love, so that we could finally be free. 

***

He did not come. Jae did not come.

Something is terribly wrong.

The cell was unlocked, like it had been all day. Bianca, my servant, had kept it so that I could leave the cell when the King arrived. 

He was not here. He did not come.

Something is wrong.

Something is wrong.

I clutched at my chest, standing in my cell. It felt like someone stole all the oxygen in the dungeon, had filled the air with smoke. 

"Sorina." Said a familiar, feminine voice. 

When I turned, I knew that nothing in the world would ever be right again. 

***

"Let go of her! It is me that you want to punish. Leave her alone, or I will send this entire court to flames."

I lifted my heavy head from the marble floor of the throne room. Jae. I heard his voice first. It is what roused me from the dead of sleep. 

"Jae!" I yelled out, for the first time in front of a crowd. I did not care. I could breathe again now that I saw he was alive.

My love turned to me, his hands bound. He looked infuriated as he took in my body. I tried to lift myself, but my head pounded. I went to feel it, the warmth on my forehead, but my hands were tied behind my back the same as him. 

Oh gods. 

Oh gods, oh gods.

Jae took in my fear, the panic that was painted clearly across my face. And the King did something I have only ever seen him do three times in one hundred years.

He began to cry.

"Jae? What is happening." I screeched out to him. I tried to move closer, but I couldn't. I realized my hands were not bound, but chained to the floor. 

So were his.

I looked at his dark eyes once more. At the fear that reflected my own.

We were sold out.

I was hyperventilating as I tried to look around the room. My head wound caused blood to run into one eye, but I saw the entirety of the elder court surrounding us. 

The nobles. The guards. Lords and ladies from close towns. I let out a sigh of relief as I realized there were no children. The prince, nor anyone else his age littered around the hall of predatory eyes. I ignored the spit that hit the ground in my direction. I barely took in the symbols that were carved into wood, into necklaces and held out to ward against me. 

I turned, hitting someone's leg. I looked up to see blonde hair, much younger blue eyes of another woman. Who looked nothing of my kind friend of before. No, her eyes were that of a Winter storm. Completely void of recognition, of friendship. 

Bianca. My servant. My friend.

"It was you!" I screamed out, shaking against the chains that held me.

The woman who I thought I knew gave me a blank stare. Turned away, as if I were dirt beneath her shoe. Jae pulled against his restraints, trying to get to me. From what I could see, there were lines of green in his skin. Some kind of poison had been used against him. 

"Niece, bring him before his bitch." Sounded a voice from behind them.

The Queen. My blood turned to fire. 

The truth didn't settle in, until the Queen stepped to the top of the dias. Her white dress the color of bone and ancient death. Dry and scraping at the floor as she floated like a ghost amongst the mob-like court. And sat herself onto the throne, grasping onto the arms as if she owned it. And maybe she did, since no protests sounded from the hundreds of royals that gathered around them. Who instead, jeered and clapped at her arrival.

Bianca stepped forward, grabbing the back of the King's neck. And dragged him to the center of the throne room, right before me. He cried in pain as she pressed into the poison by his wounds, his fangs elongating. 

I felt my chest cave.  

Clarisse's daughter, my servant for a decade now. My friend. A relative of the Queen, and had hidden her heritage wisely. Clarisse had to have been the Queen's sister. Is that why?

Is that why she chose to betray me? To betray us? 

Jae spat blood onto the ground, and that is finally when she let him go. I strained against my chains, doing my best to breaks my thumbs to release myself. They were too tight. 

I will save you. 

"Bianca." I called out, trying to reach the girl I once knew. 

The blonde only tilted her head, her blue eyes staring through me, "Silence witch."

No, no. No. 

The Queen sighed, acting bored as she looked down from her pedestal at us, "Kill him." 

"Bianca, no!" I screamed. I screamed and I scream until my throat went bloody. 

Jae shook his head, trying to get me to calm down. He told me everything would be alright. Because they couldn't kill him, I would know. I tried, before we fell in love. Most poisons don't affect him. And stabbing won't hurt him at all. 

But when Bianca pulled an onyx dagger from a hidden sheath, I knew something was wrong.

Jae paled, his eyes following the weapon like it was his last breath.

No.

I will save you. 

I will save you.

She had to be brainwashed, compelled, cursed. Something.

"Do something! Help him for deities sake! One of you fucking help him! Please, please don't do this. Please, kill me please." I yelled out, begging. My tears choked me as Bianca neared the King, smirking.

Laughter. Beyond the cries there was laughter. Laughter from people who had watched me get 'tortured' by their king and did nothing. And though it was false, I should have known they would cower now. Even as their beloved King was to be murdered before their eyes.

"Sorina, listen to me."

No. No.

If I look at him, this is real.

If I look at him, it means that I cannot do anything to save him.

If I look at him, then fate is set into stone.

"Lunae, please."

I let out a heaving sob that silenced the room. It came from years of being caged. From the torment of living a lie. Not when we finally had a chance. Not when we were to finally be free. I cannot do this without him, I cannot. I cannot. 

I look up at him, and I see home. I see the kindest dark eyes that remind me of the turn of Winter. I see a golden light in the darkest of days. I see lips that both set me aflame, and made me want to hit him from all of his jests. All the moments between eyes swam in his eyes, like they were set in their finality.

"I have always loved you. I should've never hidden it away. Because loving you was the one good thing I have done in this world." 

No. 

"Jae, I love you. You cannot leave me." 

"I will never leave you. Even in death. But listen, listen to me now. The curse. The first part of the curse. Remember. There are four corners. There is night and day. There is dawn and dusk."

The metal of the dagger gleamed, burning my eyes. 

There wasn't enough time. 

"No!"

There was a deep panic in Jae's eyes, but also a calmness as he smiled with his everlasting arrogance, "I love you more than this whole damned court could ever know." His eyes flashed as Bianca closed in on him, "Don't let her kill you."

Don't let her kill you. 

"No!" I choked on my torture, I felt it as if it breezed through my own rib cage. I screamed when the dark, black blade pierced through his heart. Jae's mouth parted, a torrent of golden blood pouring out of him. His eyes, as he took me in through his final moments. 

I froze, staring back into Jae's dying eyes. As he spoke to her with them, urging her to understand. He is beautiful even now. Remembering the story of how their kind came to be.

Remembering the first part of the curse, that had indicated other players to the curse. A curse, that needed balance in order to be natural. Four corners. Two and two to keep the dark and light at odds, at peace. 

I took in the pride from Jae's eyes as he noticed my realization. And like that, he relaxed into his pain. The Queen would not kill me. I would not allow it. It was his last request of me.

I could not even touch him, could not hold him as he bled out before me.

And I could not save him.

I cried. I cried and I cried because as long as I had lived, it was not enough time to love my king. I already missed him, though he was not yet gone.

I love you-

I will meet you in the next life.

The Queen stepped forward, finding it within herself to push Bianca to the side. To smile as she looked down at the King, who refused to tear his eyes away from me. From the one he loved. 

I snarled when she ripped the dagger from his chest. We both knew what was going to happen next, when Jae paled further. More golden blood seeping from his cracked rib cage. 

He kept our connection, Lunae passing through gold stained lips only once more. The Queen roared, ripping out the dagger and stabbing him again.

I pulled at the chains so hard bone cracked. Bone cracked. 

But Jae, his eyes no longer held their light. He was already gone. 

My love. Gone.

"It's your turn, Lunae." The Queen said mockingly, her laugh cold as it whipped through the room. 

And I was no longer human. She had finally severed the chord that kept my sanity. That kept me grounded. That kept me from becoming the witch they had prayed nightly against from rising. 

I wanted to cut out her tongue so she could never soil my Jae's name for me again. I wanted to wipe the walls with their blood.

They all watched. They all watched and did nothing.

Bianca made the mistake, of not hesitating for a second. If only it had happened earlier, than I could've saved him. More tears of hot fire burned down my cold, dead cheeks.

I took that rage, and held it close.

Only a little while longer.

"You will not have the pleasure."

And I exploded.

The first burst of power knocked every single person to the ground. The Queen the farthest, who hit her head on the wall. The dagger still in Jae's body. 

I stood from my chains, and looked upon my love. I held out my hand. My thumbs were broken, the skin of my wrists scraped off. My fingers were bent in odd directions. And I would not stop.

I felt no pain.

I was no longer Sorina. 

Bianca was first.

I threw out my hand, bending moonlight into a crystallized case. I lifted the woman, whose eyes were no longer blank into the sky. I heard screeches of fear as she was lifted, higher and higher. Tears pooled from her eyes as she tried to reason with me. Did I not plead to her? Did she not ignore my pain? 

"Please no, please I have a child. Jeongguk, he's only seventeen please-" She yelled from the rafters. Her feet dangled near the chandelier as I turned her so that her head faced the floor. 

"A pity he will lose his mother so soon."

I snapped her spine, her whole body going pale as I warped moonlight to do it. Watched her body paralyze before her dark eyes were begging for forgiveness.

They had been forgiven. If only they knew how quietly into the night I would've went. 

"Please." She tried once more, the voice of a friend I once knew.

The voice of the woman who killed the King. 

I raised my brows, barely feeling any loss of power as I squeezed my fist, "Don't waste your last moments begging me. Pray for forgiveness to the gods so you don't burn in hell."

And then I let her drop from the ceiling.

I did not hear the snap.

No, I was sending out beams of light. Light that I had learned to warp during my sessions with Jae in the garden. Who taught me how to use my powers, even when I thought it to be useless. It was not useless now, as I wrenched the life from every bystander. Of every being who refused to help me once in my life. 

Immortui crawled onto beams. Attempted to jump out of windows. Were biting themselves in hopes I would bleed out before I got to them.

I did not let them take the easy way.

I cut and sliced my way through flesh, through necks with laughed and threw insults. Mouths that swore to a Queen with no soul. Discarded their King with little thought or foresight.

And I laughed with them now, as blood sprayed across my face.

Oh, how their fear only forged what I was to become. 

I knew that when their were no more screams left, that my time was not yet done. With each life I took, I knew I was closer and closer to my end. 

I turned, bathed in blood when I saw the Queen lift herself from the floor. Black, of the deepest depths trickled down from her wounds. 

My throat seized.

Jae had been right.

Though I was not scared, as she bared her fangs at me. As she crawled forward like a demon from hell. She had little to lose.

But I had nothing left. 

I made it to Jae's body first, even as she screeched. Cursing and throwing out her powers without aim. Taking out chunks of wall and missing my head. Her arm was bent backwards from my initial push, her legs twisted. 

I looked her in the eyes as I placed myself onto Jae. I kissed him on his forehead, before pulling the dark onyx dagger from his chest. 

"Look whose crawling and bloodied on the floor. Look and see who won now, bitch." I said cackling like the witch she wished me to be. I saw her eyes widen in fury, her hand lifting to stop me before I ruined all her years of careful planning. 

I stuck the blood-cursed knife through my chest. The pain felt like salvation, for I know I would see Jae soon. I smiled at the demon. Even as I began to cough up blood, heaving.

"No! You wretched whore, you dastardly beast. You've ruined it all!" She screamed, sliding harder across the floor. 

"You lost. He loved me, and you lost."

And I with one last burst of power, I cut the Queen down. I didn't care enough to make her death painful. It didn't matter.

I turned to Jae. His body still warm, but turning cold. His shadowed body a lake in golden blood, and I wrapped myself around him.

"I am sorry. I love you and I am sorry. I miss you already. You are the sun. I always needed you."

But he did not respond. His face did not break into a smirk, he did not laugh and brush her hair away from her face. I grabbed onto his stiffening hand, imagined it squeezing back.

Imagined they were in the garden. Their garden. Young and naive and staring up at the stars once again. My body shook with my grief, with my mourning and I wanted him to do was tell me everything would be okay.

To call me Lunae, one more time.

"My Jae, my-"

The doors opened. I could not move my head much, as I bled out.

My vision was failing me. I curled into his side, even as his arm remained still. Even when he would've so quickly pulled me into his side. I rested my head on his broad chest for the last time, inhaling his scent that used to comfort me.

As Taehyung, as the rest of the younger royals burst into the room. To see the slaughter.

He stepped closer. And I could see it, every bit of horror written on his face. The realization that he would indeed be a king, and not a prince. He blinked once, twice, as he looked at the dead body of the King.

The mangled body of the Queen.

He let out a deep scream, one that twisted my heart and bled out the rest of the ichor inside of me.

Then he rushed to me. He asked me in a voice that felt so far away, like he was in the gardens. I would never see the gardens again. I will never ever lay with you under the stars again Jae.

"Sora, what did you do? What-"

I couldn't explain, no my voice had left me. My lungs laboring. My last reserve of power, I urged my memories to the dungeon. To that piece of yellowed paper that held my life, my hopes, my love. I could not feel the prince's hands as he clung to me. I can't feel anything.

"Forever wasn't long enough." I manage to rasp out, trying to look into Taehyung's dark eyes one more time.

Just so I could see your eyes one more time. He always had your eyes.

Taehyung pushed away from me, face contorting with confusion. With disgust, with terror. I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry we failed you. All of us. I no longer knew. He must not understand what I meant. That forever was not long enough to be with you. There wasn't even enough time to explain the curse. To explain everything.

Would it be selfish, to ask Ignis to hold my hand as I leave? It did not matter. My voice no longer worked to ask. Blood pooled in my lungs, my heart.

Taehyung let out another cry. Don't cry. His hands were covered with black, gold, and silver. He just stared at them.

I took one look at your body before I close my eyes. I know they will not open again. I am glad, the last thing I saw is your face, and not that of the prince's pain.

Will he hate me Jae? Will he hate us?

He will understand. He will understand.

I thought of him, the king as peace came to find me.

My love. Ignis.

Come find me.

<><><><><><><><>
(A/N: Okay I don't cry but I did writing this chapter? I literally was bawllinggg. This is what that one announcement was talking about. IDK something about Sorina and Jae's story just really gets the emotions going. The fuckkk anyways we are all going to ignore that.

This might be the longest uh chapter uhhhhh ever LMFAO 

FROM SPICE TO SADNESS. I should coin that 🙄

But are we though? Yes to talk about the smut because FINALLY THEY DID WHAT THEY NEEDED TO DO!!!! I hope it met everyone's expectations for a first time. I wanted it to be beautiful, golden, passionate and more like love filled than lust filled. But also hot :/

HOPE ALL THE WAITING WAS WORTH IT HAHAHAH!

Remember I said they should just fuck in like the 10th chapter? I made you all wait till the 36th hahahahahah I am evil. But again the build up makes it sooooo much better! You know I won't let shit get boring !!!

Now...

THE END? Sorina was hiding all that tea! Do you guys get what all of that meant? I would like to see your thoughts and theories here cuz there was ALOT of new information🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

So what happened is HOW it happened, but Taehyung and the other nobles only saw the aftermath and not what occurred before. Also because they never knew the king and Sorina were a thing, it made everything else all point to Sorina just murdering everyone cuz she was tired of being locked up.

But damn they never got to be outwardly happy. Sorina and the King loved each other so much, and they loved Tae too.
:((( like that's just so sad to me. I hate it. (You wrote it dumbass)

Here is the trailer again in case you wanted to wait until the end of the chapter to watch!