Page 116 of Elven Lies

Without thinking, Rebecca lowered herself to the edge of the bed to sit beside him, just to be closer, unaware that her body moved on its own without permission from her mind. The flaring energy between them constantly tugging and prompting and luring.

“Glad to know your memory’s still intact too,” she said, drowning in his gaze. She couldn’t have pulled away from now to save her life. “To be clear, though, I know sometimes people saythings in a moment that might not seem like such a great idea later on. Even if they meant it at the time.”

Frowning, Maxwell tilted his head and readjusted himself against the pillows propped up behind him.

She thought he’d moved just a little closer to her, but it could have been wishful thinking. That had become the norm with her Head of Security in a variety of ways, though not always.

His frown softened, and it looked like he was on the verge of laughing when he raised an eyebrow. “What are you trying to say?”

She pressed her lips together before realizing she was staring at his.

“I just wanna make it clear,” she said, surprised by how breathless she sounded but unable to change it, “I didn’t do it because I wanted something from you. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t owe me a thing.”

“Rebecca…”

Once again, her name on his lips sent a shudder of pleasure rippling down her spine. Only when it faded did she realize he’d taken her hand in both of his, where the electrifying rush between them surged like an electrical storm.

“I don’t make promises I do not intend to keep,” he said. “Nor do I make them lightly. I should have died at that warehouse. You brought me back. My life is yours. Forever.”

By the Blood, she’d never imagined five simple words could make her feel anything like this, let alone so powerfully.

He’d doubled down on his promisewithoutthe added pressure of being on death’s door.

A certain magic existed in Maxwell’s vow—a kind of magic Rebecca hadn’t felt in a lifetime and had come to believe no longer existed.

The last time someone else had sworn his life to her, it had come from her best friend as a comfort and a declaration ofsupport and solidarity. From Rowan, it had come partially as a joke, despite how much she knew he’d meant it then.

But from Maxwell, it was entirely different. It was more all-encompassing, a vow he took willingly to bind their fates indelibly until one of them met their end.

He’d given himself to her in a way no one else ever could.

A thrill of realization—equal parts terrifying and exhilarating—rushed through her when she realized she would accept this promise from him in a way she’d never accepted anything from anyone. Because now she finally could.

Because now she wanted to.

34

As she sat on the side of his bed—jolts of electric familiarity and need and belonging flaring up through her fingers intertwined with his, blazing up through every part of her, inside and out, known and unknown—Rebecca let herself fall into him.

Into thisthingbetween them.

The mystery of it and the rightness she could explain no more than she could explain how she’d been the one Bloodshadow Elf in countless generations to manifest the prophesied power for which her people had watched and waited over thousands of years.

It justwas.

She felt it everywhere, lost in it, propelled by it, no longer separate from it.

“Iam yours.” Maxwell’s voice carried toward her as if from within a dream. As if entire worlds spanned the space between them, when in reality,thisworld between them, just the two of them, was all that existed.

She felt herself moving but knew neither when she’d decided to nor when she’d lost control over any of it.

Maxwell’s hand burned around hers. The scent of moonlight, dewy grass, earth, and steady strength and nothing else this time surrounded her.

Rebecca submitted to all of it, not by choice but because there was no other option. Not for her.

Because she wanted to.

Then Maxwell’s lips were on hers, opening to her, inviting her in, setting her lips and tongue and breath ablaze as if she’d swallowed fire.

---