Page 137 of Blood that Burns

He inhales deeply and lets it out. When his eyes open, they connect with mine.

My heart skips a beat, and my breath hitches.

“Maggie, I need you to know that I’ve always cared about you. Maybe not in the way I do now, but you were always something more. Even when I insisted otherwise.”

I smile up at him. His features are so boyish and insecure in this moment. So incredibly un-Law-like. “I know. You’ve been my protector and my friend for so long, and I’d be a liar if I said I haven’t wished upon every star that you would be mine.”

I pull the emerald from my pocket and fist it in my palm. It warms in my grasp, but for the first time, it radiates the same green glow coming from the force field. The boulder opens to reveal a vortex of energy pulling me toward it.

“I don’t want to do life without you, Law.”

I’m not sure what compels me to admit that, but something inside of me is compelling me to bare my soul to him.

He takes a step toward me, pulling me in to his chest, lowering his lips to my forehead.

“From this point on, it’s you and me, sunshine. Always.”

I pull back, looking up into his face. “My affection for you runs so deep. I don’t know how it won’t break me open,” I admit.

“I love you.”

We both say the words in unison.

My eyes close, savoring the feel of Law’s declaration.

I have waited for so long.

“I love you,” he says again, crashing his lips to mine.

I’m not sure if it’s the energy from the portal or the deliriousness caused by Law’s truth that has my world spinning, but I’m being drawn up into a cyclone, my feet leaving the ground. His lips against mine are all that matters.

We’re pushed apart by Veda, swooping in and hurling Law several feet away.

Except she’s no longer a black crow. Standing just outside the portal is a woman so like the creature from the book I’d read on the Fae back at Bellamy Manor.

I gasp. “You’re... you’re Fae.”

Her eyes roll. “Took you long enough.” She moves forward quicker than lightning, snatching my arm in her grasp. “We’ve got somewhere to be.”

“Law,” I cry out, searching for him.

He’s lying motionless where Veda threw him.

“He’s fine. He’ll wake soon.”

“Law,” I scream, as I’m dragged forward.

Law stirs, shaking off whatever fog he’s currently under from that toss, and when his eyes meet mine, they widen. He tries to stand, but his legs are wobbly underneath him.

I kick the back of Veda’s leg, catching her off guard, just enough that her hold on me loosens and I’m able to tear out of her grasp. I make it a few feet, falling to my knees, before I’m hauled back up by a growling Fae warrior.

“Don’t piss me off, Magdalena.”

Before I have time to register what’s happening, Veda grabs hold of my shoulders and drags me through the portal.

“Maggie,” Law shouts, pounding the boulder.

His face is twisted in fear, and I want so badly to break through and get back to him. Veda drops my arm and I rush forward, but the screen fades, and in its place is a solid grey boulder. The force field is gone and I can no longer see Law.

Veda tricked me.

Law’s blocked out, and I’m in the Fae kingdom. Alone.