There were nights when silence could scream louder than thunder. When moonlight kissed her bare shoulders like an omen, and the air itself pulsed with warning.
Noor slipped from the bed, her legs weak, her thoughts weaker. The sheets still smelled of him — pine, sweat, smoke, obsession. Every step away from him felt like betrayal.
Her foot hit the floor.
And then—
A hand closed around her ankle like a chain.
"You're not running tonight."
His voice was molten and raw, cracking at the edges like he hadn't spoken in centuries—like the words had scorched his throat just to reach her.
She gasped, trying to twist away, but Sanlang yanked her back in one swift, brutal motion, dragging her beneath him like a beast reclaiming what was his.
"Sanlang…" she breathed, half warning, half plea.
"You think you can leave me like this?" His voice was shaking with need, with madness. "When I'm starving for you?"
He loomed above her, sweat trailing down the sharp lines of his chest, the dim light catching on the slick shimmer of his skin. His hair fell around his face like a halo of shadows—untamed, wild—but his eyes… his eyes were fire.
His hips pressed between her thighs—no apology, no hesitation. Unforgiving.
"You think I'm done? Little goddess, I haven't even begun."
Her body betrayed her. She shuddered, every inch of her alive and aching, her nerves singing with terror and something darker.
Sanlang's mouth dipped to her collarbone, his breath hot and trembling. His tongue traced her racing pulse, and then—he bit her sharply nearly spilling her blood.
She gasped, arched into him—
And he moaned.
Low. Guttural. Like he'd just tasted life itself and it wasn't enough.
"That sound—make it again."
His hand slid down her ribs, slow, torturous. Then lower.
"Sanlang—"
"Say my name like that again." His voice cracked, broken with want. His breath came ragged, a soft "uhhh—fuck" when her thighs instinctively closed around his hand.
He growled, prying them open. "Open for me."
She whimpered.
He kissed her—devouring, breathless, full of tongue and teeth and unholy promise. She tried to pull back for air, but he followed, chasing her lips like a man already drowning.
"You make me insane." "You make me weak, Noor." "And I want to break you for it."
He moved.
Slow at first—teasing. Tasting. Letting her feel every inch, every tremble, every breath he gave only to her.
Then harder. Rougher. Desperate.
Her cries bounced off the walls, tangled in the echo of his moans—raw and holy.
"I waited for you." "I bled for you." "And I'll burn you into me, again and again, until your soul forgets how to breathe without mine."
She was shaking now—torn between surrender and fury. Between the woman she was before him and the one who couldn't live without his ruin.
Tears trembled at the corners of her eyes. Her lips parted on a sob.
"Please—let me catch breath—"
"No."
His voice was a snarl. Broken glass and velvet.
"You begged me once. That was your chance."
"Sanlang…"
"You're mine."
His moan this time—ahhh—was almost tender. Almost. As if even in his madness, he worshipped her. As her nails raked down his back, he only pressed closer. Deeper. Insatiable.
She tried to pull away—gasping for breath—but he followed.Mouth on hers.Hips aligned.
"You ruin me," he whispered, ragged."You hollow me out, Noor."Then lower—throat trembling—"And I want to see what's left when you're gone."
He drove into her—one brutal, soul-breaking thrust.
Her cry split the room.
His moan was a growl—low, feral.
"Fuh—ahhh—Noor—"
He moved slow.
Each thrust a vow carved into her bones.
And then—
The shift.
And when she opened her eyes—
His eyes were black now—bottomless.But the irises—silver. Glowing like moons floating in tar.
He opened his mouth—Tried to say a name.
A name older than time.She pressed her palm over his lips.
"Don't," she breathed, voice dazed.
His moan broke against her skin.Another thrust—deeper.Slower.
"You remember…" he groaned."Oh My love—you remember—"
His voice trembled, layered, as if spoken through centuries of want.
"You said you'd burn with me. You said you'd bleed—"He moaned again, head tipping back, hips rolling harder."Ahh—fuck—Noor—no—not Noor—you were never just her—"
And she—She began to murmur.
Eyes hazy.Breath shallow.Voice distant, as though caught in a trance:
"I waited in the well of silence…I lit candles in the dark that had no flame…I wore your ruin like a crown…"
"Say it again," he demanded.
"I called you through the fire," she whispered."And you came."
A low, shaking breath left him.Then his thrusts turned punishing.
"Uhh—fuck—you're mine—you've always been—mine—"
He moaned her name—no, not her name—something older, darker, lost.
"Please—Kang—ahh—too much—"
His eyes bore into hers—moonlight in the void.A smile ghosted across his lips.
"You said it," he growled.
And then he snapped—Slamming into her, thrust after thrust.His hands everywhere—her hips, her throat, her jaw—like he couldn't touch her enough.
"You just say the word, my love—"His voice dropped to a whisper that cracked the air."—and we'll take this straight into the abyss."
He kissed her—open-mouthed, violent.A kiss meant to possess the parts of her even she forgot.
"I'll burn the world for you," he rasped, forehead pressed to hers, rhythm brutal."I already did once. I'll do it again."
She whispered, broken, lost."Take it all."
Her nails clawed at his back, drawing blood.She moaned his name like prayer.
His mouth found her neck. Her chest. Her breath."Mine," he chanted. "Mine. Mine—ahhh—fuck—Noor—no—don't vanish this time—"
Her voice drifted again, trance-like, between the rhythm of his body and the madness in her own:
"You are the death I begged for in every life."
And he—He shattered.
Inside her. Around her.
The room spun with shadows.
Their moans echoed like ghosts.
He slowed. Just enough to look at her.
And she said it.
Words not meant for now.
A language lost to every mouth but his.
"…Vey shara'thelin. Elar ku renai."
The moment froze.
His breath hitched.Eyes flaring—silver igniting in the black.
"No…" he whispered. "No, you couldn't have—"
The lights above them flickered.
A deep hum rolled through the walls like thunder underwater.Not from outside.
His thrusts halted, buried so deep inside her he could feel her heartbeat wrap around his own.
"Say it again," he begged.
But her lips were trembling now. Like the trance was cracking.
"No… no, I shouldn't have… that name—"
Her hands, still gripping his shoulders, trembled.
"I remember… a river of teeth," she whispered, eyes distant. "A sky that screamed my name backwards."
His heart thundered.
"And you," she whispered, voice fraying at the edges, "I remember you bleeding stars. I remember you begging me not to leave you behind."
And then—
The mirror across the room cracked.
All by itself.
Like it couldn't bear to reflect what was happening in that bed.
He grabbed her face, panting, forehead to hers.
"You belong to me," he growled. "Even when you forget. Even when you die. I'll find you."
He moaned again, deep—torn from the chest."Uhh—fuck—mine—ahhh—mine—"
And she—
She smiled.
The lights in the room flickered. The temperature plummeted. Every shadow around them stretched toward him like they were trying to drag him under.
"Noor…?" His voice cracked.
Her fingers brushed over his lips. A soft, silencing gesture. "Don't say it," she breathed, eyes full of tears and something darker. "Don't remember me like this."
He tried to move—but his strength failed.
His eyes—those swirling silver irises set in black—glowed once, violently. Betrayal bloomed in them like a wound.
"You—"
The word died in his throat.
He collapsed.
And Noor caught him before he hit the bed, cradling him against her chest. His head rested on her heart, still warm, still hers.