He was usually such a determined, controlled, collected character. You got the impression when you were around him that you only saw as much as he wanted you to see. But now? Now Max’s raw emotion crumpled his brow, slackened his cheeks, and made his gaze at once as fiery as the sun and yet as dead as a corpse.
Silence spread between us once more. This time, it was the edgiest silence I had ever experienced. If silence could somehow be ropes, it would be wrapping around my entire body, pinning me to the bed.
Finally, Max made a move. He straightened up, took a heavy breath, and pushed back. “Fagan said that?” he questioned, voice low and controlled. It was so controlled that I wasn’t entirely sure what he was thinking. Did Max think I was lying?
Before I could react to that thought, I simply pressed my lips together and nodded grimly. “That’s what he said.”
Maybe there was something about the way I couldn’t look at Max, about the way my cheeks were still as pale as snow – but he didn’t push the point. Nor did he turn on me and snap that I was lying.
Instead? He turned sharply, walked towards the window, pressed two rigid hands against the windowsill, and stared outside.
I watched him as the seconds ticked by. My gaze drifted over his stiff shoulders, down his equally stiff back, and locked on the side of his face. His brow was pressed in consternation, a dangerous look in his eyes.
The silence drew on and on until it became too much for me. “Max?” I said in a quiet, careful voice. “What happens now? Would you really…” I trailed off as I realized I couldn’t possibly ask the question that had been forming in my mind.
He turned sharply. He looked at me. And just as moments before I had used all my attention to pick up his every micro-expression, now he appeared to be doing the same for me.
I took heavy breaths, letting them lodge in my chest.
“Do you trust me, Chi?” he suddenly asked. His tone was neutral. Okay, it wasn’t neutral – there was clearly a hell of a lot of emotion behind it, but he was doing a good job of masking exactly what that emotion meant.
My whole body became tense as tight, nervous tingles powered up and down my back.
Did I trust Max?
It was a question I’d been grappling with ever since I’d met him. Heck, in every quiet moment I turned my mind to that question once more. Because it seemed so very important – and, mind the pun, the difference between life and death.
Now, as I faced him, I realized I had to come to a decision.
Though my mind told me not to do it, begged me to think this through, my heart took control. I found myself nodding before I could stop myself. “Yes, I trust you,” I said in a quiet tone that was nonetheless full of emotion. “Don’t ask me why – you don’t always give me reasons to trust you. It would have been kind of nice if you’d trusted me today. It would have been kind of nice if you’d let me know where we were going and who we were going to see. Regardless,” I dropped my gaze for half a second before ticking it up with a determined move, “I trust you, Max. Now what do we do? It looks like it’s late morning out there – so I have less than eight hours, don’t I?” I started off strong, but my voice began to shake.
Max held my gaze, and it was goddamn clear that he was trying to ascertain whether I’d meant what I’d said. Whether I’d used my renowned abilities to lie, or whether I’d spoken from the heart – literally.
Hey, I had spoken from the heart. And if he’d pressed forward and locked an ear against my chest, he would have heard that.
He stared at me for one more single second, his brows knotted together. Then he shrugged. “We stop Dimitri, we stop Fagan, and we keep you safe,” he said, reeling off the list with the kind of forceful determination that told the world he would not accept failure.
The memory of being killed and having my chest sliced in two was still raw and visceral, but his words – his determination – gave me hope. I pressed my lips together and swallowed. “How?” I asked that all-important question.
Briefly, he dwindled back into silence. He even brought his hands up and looked at them. Then he faced me once more. “You leave Dimitri up to me. As for Fagan – it’s time to go to the police with everything we have. If we can get him on the run, at least we can buy some time.”
My brow crumpled. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he has been murdering at the same time every day. He’s either fulfilling some contract, or accessing some propitious magical hour. I would say if we can keep you safe until at least 7:08 tonight, then we’ll have another 24 hours to track him down.”
I had absolutely zero idea if what Max was saying could be true. I nodded nonetheless. His sheer determination was pulling me on, finally kindling hope in my heart. And that hope? Moment by moment, second by second, it was pushing back that awful memory of being sliced in half.
“I have some contacts who will be able to help us with Fagan, even if the police can’t find him in time.”
“Who?”
Max looked directly at me. “The witches. And they’ll want to help you, too – considering you saved Bridgette.”
Well,
