Page 111 of Elven Lies

She thought that was it until she and the team could get him set up in recovery under Zida’s care. But when she tried to release his hand, Maxwell’s grasp on her fingers tightened. He tugged her closer with surprising strength for his current state.

“From this moment,” he whispered, as if talking in his sleep, “I am yours. Forever.”

By the Blood… She could never have predicted how those words from him would make her feel. She could never havepredicted the words themselves, but he’d given them. She couldn’t deny that much.

A swell of joy and rightness and an unfamiliar need she didn’t understand flared through her. It only lasted for half a second before all the other implications rushed through her mind.

Maxwell barely clung to consciousness. She’d just saved his life. They weren’t even off the battlefield yet, and there was still so much left ahead of them.

There was a very high chance this was Maxwell Hannigan’s duty talking and nothing else. He likely wouldn’t remember a second of it when he recovered.

Even with that knowledge, though, she didn’t enjoy hearing it any less.

“Let’s table that for when you know what you’re saying, okay?” she said gently. “Right now, you need to rest. We’ll get you back home in no time and get you patched up the rest of the way. I promise, you’ll be fine.”

His hand slackened in hers as he finally submitted beneath his remaining injuries, though she’d healed the worst of it, and the unavoidable exhaustion.

Then two of her operatives appeared, working diligently together to get their unconscious Head of Security off the ground and into one of Shade’s waiting vehicles that hadn’t been destroyed by Rowan’s antics.

While they loaded Maxwell into the back of one vehicle, Rebecca was hardly aware of anything but the certainty racing over and over through her thoughts like a prayer. Hoping he was fine. Hoping she’d done what needed to be done to save him. Hoping everything would finally work out after this.

And she believed it, with every cell of her being, despite the plea repeating on an endless loop the rest of the night.

She stayed by Maxwell’s side through all of it, refusing to leave him or the rear of the vehicle as the rest of her teams cleanedup Harkennr’s warehouse and salvaged anything and everything they could.

When they finally left the facility with as many newly freed civilians as they could transport, Rebecca refused to ride anywhere else but the back of the vehicle with Maxwell. Along the way, someone else tried to explain to her what was happening everywhere else, but the words passed over her like a dream.

The only part of this that felt real was staying with Maxwell through all of it until they got him into the infirmary and Zida could take over.

Despite having seen his obvious improvements already, Rebecca still wasn’t used to not immediately healing someone with her Bloodshadow magic. Especially when she’d increased its power with Rowan’s to pull the shifter back from death.

It was odd to see him still unconscious, still injured, still needing time to recover, though she didn’t doubt he would.

That didn’t stop her from taking extreme caution with everything until then.

On top of that, she’d never used her healing on a shifter, which probably accounted for the fact that he hadn’t healed completely as soon as she’d finished. The more she contemplated this, the more likely it seemed that Maxwell Hannigan—her Head of Security and now something far more, whatever they were to each other—might actually be the single loophole to her abilities.

Was he only one whodidn’trespond immediately to her Bloodshadow magic the way she expected? Was it because he was a shifter, or was it due to the unexplained connection they’d formed that still made no sense and continued to reveal surprise after new surprise?

Most concerning of all was the question of whether her connection with Maxwell was as much of an advantage for bothof them as she’d recently begun to believe—or if it was the one thing strong enough to lead them astray and ruin them both.

If it was the latter and Rebecca somehow wasn’t able to save him after all…

She didn’t know what she would do. But right now—as the Shade teams raced through the night toward Headquarters and Rebecca sat in the back of the vehicle with him, holding Maxwell’s hand—the thought of losing him terrified her more than anything she’d faced in a long time.

Now, Rebecca could no longer keep the inevitable truth at bay. She could no longer ignore it just because it suited her.

She genuinely felt something more for Maxwell. Something deeper than she’d previously let herself admit, though she still couldn’t decide if that was a strength or one of the most dangerous threats she had yet to face.

What would happen if she gave in to it and chose Maxwell? If she fully let herself submit to what she felt for him and all the possible futures to which it might lead?

Letting herself get close to Maxwell felt infinitely more attractive, moreright, than doing anything her family or the Bloodshadow Court or even Rowan wanted of her. More than what the damned prophecy she didn’t believe in would require of her.

She’d been promised so long ago to the elven clans of Agn’a Tha’ros and their people, to the Bloodshadow Court, and, in very specific terms, to Rowan. Everyone believed she and Rowan were fated for this precise and exact future together in a single purpose. That she and Rowan were meant to bond with each other as the prophecy allegedly foretold, all to save their people.

But the prophecy never said shit about someone else coming into the picture, did it?

Someone like Maxwell Hannigan.

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