A Lock Of Death by Beena Khan

Epilogue

A few months later

ONCE UPON A TIME…

I was locked in a tower, safe and protected.

A man came for me.

I had mistaken him for my prince charming.

A storybook prince that never existed.

I tasted true freedom for the first time when I left the skyscraper.

My desires were too big to be confined in a small place.

I wanted to be free in this, chaotic and wild world just like my mind and soul. No one knew the dark side of me. It was a private secret and it unveiled when I met him.

Dimitri Nikolaev.

He was the respected brother.

A creature far more dangerous than most humans could imagine. He was more of a myth than man.

To quench my thirst, I became the shadow to death himself.

He was the angel of death himself.

I was obsessed with the very essence of what Dimitri—my Dimitri.

I needed him like I needed the air to breathe, to stay alive.

He carved me and I called it love.

He carved himself into my skin and declared me as his.

I had met my favorite sinner.

I glanced over at Dimitri as we walked side by side.

I could never come out during the day.

So, I came out to play in the darkness.

My Blue was with me every step of the way.

The nights belonged to us.

When the world went to bed, we awakened and came to life.

Peaceful. Quiet. Haunting.

Only he and I existed in the world when we were together, strolling the streets of New York.

I’d never laughed so much in my life until I was with him.

His smiles were improving, although, he remained Mr. Brooding. I embraced his dark fractured beauty.

It wasn’t about looking for lightness in the darkness.

He could never change, even if he wanted to, he couldn’t change, so I accepted him.

I found solace in the shadows of him.

Just like he stuck around with my shadows.

My kryptonite.

The unapologetically menacing, admittedly emotionless, and a man who loved dealing with death. I didn’t want him to soften just to please me. I wanted him to stay the way he was.

He never gave a damn about anything, but for me, he did.

Something was addicting about lurking in the rawness of him. I was all that mattered to him.

He embraced his immorality, and I embraced all of him.

He walked the fine line between what made us human and what made us deranged. A quiet lethal enigma who viewed torture and murder as daily activities.

He had crossed that line a long time ago, and when my time came, I leaped over my walls and jumped, joining forces with him, entwining the sun and moon until it became one.

Together, we were an eclipse.

He’d mentioned Alexander had stopped the flesh trade. No more mules either. Ghislaine ruled with Pakhan in the underworld. It made me smile. I guess, the brothers were more similar than what most people thought.

Shaking off my thoughts, I stared at Dimitri.

Now, his deep eyes met mine as we walked in the middle of the night, under the stars.

He reached out and his hand pressed against my bulging belly, against the baby boy we had created.

“Moya,” Dimitri promised darkly. “Ilya Nikolaev.”

I cheekily smiled and he reached up and tweaked my nose.

I could never get enough of him.

My villain.

My knight.

My protector.

My lover.

My soulmate.

He still left me breathless till this day.

This city was ours.

The stars shone for us.

I wasn’t alone anymore.

He was with me.

Not everything was black and white.

And I found beauty in the gray.

I found him.

He locked me permanently to him.

I was locked to Death himself.