Gothikana

Corvina

“Eyes on me,” he commanded her and Corvina moaned, turning her head to catch his silver gaze as he pushed inside her from behind, his back pressed against her on the bed, rocking into her slowly early in the morning before he had to take Count, their two-year-old husky, out.

They were in their winter home in the snowy mountains, a large cottage-mansion on land that belonged to the Deverell family line, not too far away from the place they fell in love in, even though they had never gone there again.

It had been five years since that fateful night, five years since that Black Ball. It had been another Black Ball last week, and she got to know that for the first time in a century, nobody had disappeared. Maybe someone would they next time. Maybe not. She didn’t know.

Vad had taken her away from there and never looked back, never made her feel that he wasn’t missing a huge part of himself. That castle was his, that mountain was his, and though he was still active on the University Board and kept himself updated about what happened there, he never once broached the subject of returning to her. It was the most selfless thing anyone could have ever done for her, to sacrifice something so precious for so long.

Corvina looked down at her hand on the pillow, at the rings that now graced her finger, that beautiful amethyst he had given her years ago in the ruins sitting under a simple platinum band with ‘nevermore’ engraved on the inside.

“Happy anniversary, Mrs. Clemm-Deverell,” he murmured to her as she clenched around him, her body his instrument just as it had been all these years.

“I love it when you say that,” she smiled, feeling his lips on her shoulder.

“Yeah?”

She nodded.

“I have a gift for you,” he told her, thrusting into her slow and deep, their bodies languid and pace unhurried.

“If it’s the gift inside me, I’m very pleased,” she grinned cheekily, hearing his soft chuckle against her ear.

“It’s got to do with that,” he told her, turning her over on her back and coming down on top as she wrapped her limbs around him.

“I got the vasectomy reversed.”

Corvina felt her eyes widen as her body froze.

They had talked about kids someday, both of them fearful of what kind of genes they would pass on, if it would be worth it. It had taken a long, long time for them, and parenting Count, to realize they wanted a family, a big family, something they’d both never had.

Corvina tugged him closer, kissing him softly. “Thank you.”

Their fur baby barked from outside their door, begging for his dad to take him out.

Corvina laughed. “You better wrap this up quick or he’ll find your shoe like last time.”

That got him moving, her laughter dying as sensations took over, her husband of three years giving her pleasure just like he’d done on a rainy night on a dark mountain.

**

Count was napping, lazy dog that he was. Corvina had no idea when they’d adopted him that his favorite activity would be to find the nearest parent and fall asleep. As expected, when Corvina walked into his study later that afternoon, her heart warmed at seeing her man in glasses reading one of his student’s papers to grade and their dog lying on his stomach at Vad’s feet.

The life she was living was one she never would have thought possible for herself. It had been her dream – a man who loved her, a dog who adored her, a passion that occupied her time, and the possibility of children one day. She was living her dream and some days, much to Vad’s amusement, she cried to sleep because of how beautiful it was and how scared she got that they would lose it. He remained her mountain through those times.

After the tower incident, Corvina had decided to drop her degree and instead spend her time at the Institute recovering, reading, and studying what she liked without any academic curriculum. After moving out, she had opened a small business making candles, crafting unique jewelry, and doing online tarot readings. Vad had been extremely supportive of that, telling her to do what brought her peace and pleasure, as he’d joined as an associate professor at the local university, his passion always teaching.

Corvina had been happy with it all, never aspiring for more, until two years ago. They had been snowed in that winter and for the first time in a long time, she had opened the journals she’d written in Verenmore, and read them all, something like longing finding her heart.

She had found herself in bed while he slept, picking up her laptop and opening a blank document, pouring herself out on the pages, all her emotions and all the questions they never got any answers to coming out flying from her fingers. She never found out what had happened to Roy that night, never found out who the boy in the library had been, never found out what actually happened on the Black Ball, so many things unanswered.

She had poured it all out in a hundred-thousand-word book.

Corvina picked up the hardcover of the book from the desk in his office, one he always kept there because of how proud he was of her, and looked down at it.

Gothikana by C.V. Deverell

A fictional gothic romance story based on her time at the university between a charismatic professor and his haunted student, and a mystery that walked the castle it was set in.

“The guy from Tenebrae Times called me again today, asking for an interview with you,” Vad said wryly, giving her a look that got her all hot and bothered. He had only become more charismatic in the last five years, his hair littered with more premature grey, his forehead creased with two more lines, his energy vibrating with more gravitas that she found absolutely thrilling.

Corvina put the book down and went to him, falling sideways on his lap, scratching Count’s head as he raised it for some love.

“That’s why I give them all your contact,” she quipped, waving the envelope in her hand at him. “You have a way of saying no to people.”

He gave her a slight grin. “What’s that?” he nodded to the envelope.

“This, dear husband,” she dropped it on his palm, “is my gift for you.”

He took his glasses off, giving her those naked silver eyes that made everything in her body clench with just one look, and tore it open.

It took him a moment to see what it was. His jaw clenched.

“Explain,” he commanded and she took a deep breath, the excitement and nervousness making her squirm. He stilled her with a big palm.

“I spoke to Dr. Detta yesterday,” she told him as he took the papers out.

“Corvina,” he sighed, looking up at her, and she could see the want in his eyes even as he tried to resist.

“I love you, Mr. Deverell. And I love you for sacrificing what you did for me,” she whispered against his lips. “But it’s been too long. I’ve been good. You’ve been good. We’ve been good.”

“But-”

She pressed a finger to his lips. “That’s the legacy of the children we’ll have. I want to raise them there and show them the beauty of it.”

“There is also darkness, Corvina.”

“It’s time for us to go home, Vad,” she rubbed her thumb over his jaw. “Dark as it can be, it’s where we both found ourselves. We can make it better.”

He gave her a fierce look, his arm tightening around her, the tickets falling into her lap as he kissed her hard. Corvina smiled against his mouth.

The castle on the mountain awaited them.

Tomorrow, they would return to Verenmore once again.