I pushed to my feet. Max immediately snapped up, his hand hovering over my shoulder in case I face planted the broken concrete.
I let out a deep, belly-shaking sigh and shot the time gate one last look. It certainly did look like it was discharging. Crackling lines of magic were sparking out of the ring, sinking into the ground. And its illumination was dimming by the second. Still, it was best to check. This magical world was pretty screwed, after all. “Max, are you sure there’s nothing we have to do to shut that gate down?”
Max nodded. “You stopped the Lonely King from taking your heart, and in doing so, you’ve starved the spell. It can’t access the energy it requires to open, so the magic will discharge back to the environment. There’s nothing we have to do.”
I nodded. “So… it’s time to get out of here, ha?”
He nodded, and excuse me if my heart didn’t sing at the way he looked at me.
I turned and walked towards the door.
I watched Max beside me. Heck, I could have walked into lightning, and I wouldn’t have turned.
And, hey, I almost did.
I reached the door and walked forward, vaguely aware that the compound outside of the factory was flooded.
Just before I could take a step into the water, hardly bothered that I’d get wet considering I was an ocean already, Max jerked forward. He plucked me up with no warning.
I spluttered. “Max, I can stand. It’s a flesh wound—”
“And those over there are live wires.” He shrugged over his shoulder, indicating a broken electrical substation. Long, exposed wires had spilled out of it, and they were sparking right into the flooded compound. “And I’m pretty sure you can’t stand in those.”
“Oh,” I answered.
Max smiled. Hey, technically only the water was electrified, but it felt like a jolt of anticipation just as powerful shot through me. All because of his smile.
He took a step forward, and thankfully wasn’t fried to a crisp. Apparently, fairies were pretty well insulated.
He walked me through the compound until he found a raised lip of concrete that was well out of the touch of the water. He placed me down on it and helped me stand.
I faced him.
The rain drove down around us. Max stood there, his whole body outlined by the flickering lights to our side.
I stood on the island of cracked concrete as the electrified puddles lapped at Max’s camel-colored leather boots. He tilted his head up, water gushing over his forehead, over his dark eyebrows, down his strong jaw and along the hard line of his throat.
He stared at me.
I smiled back. “Thank you,” I mouthed. There was no point in pushing to be heard over the violent cacophony of the storm.
The substation behind us continued to crackle, sending sparks arcing out and spewing into the water below.
Though Max still stood in the puddle, it was clear it couldn’t affect him. He didn’t even have to call on his power. He was immune. Well, to everything but me.
Max reached forward and rested a hand on my cheek. At first, I stiffened, fearing he’d conduct electricity into me and fry me to a crisp. He didn’t. Well, not real electricity. Passion, yes. Desire, absolutely. As Max rested his fingers along my jaw, I saw and felt what he wanted. With every soft movement of his lips as he let out a light laugh, with every tender press of his fingers as he kept them rested against my jaw.
There were so many reasons not to kiss Max. He was a scrap of a sorcerer king’s soul, for one. But then again, there were too many reasons not to.
I wasn’t usually hesitant when it came to kissing guys. If I liked someone and they liked me, why hesitate?
Now I felt frozen as the rain drove down and plastered my clothes and hair to my body.
Maybe Max was frozen too, because he simply stood there and stared at me, his only movement the gentle circular press of his thumb against my cheek.
I let myself be lulled by that movement, let it drive away the last shadow of adrenaline and fear from the fight with the Lonely King. I let it remind me what I’d just achieved, not with my magic, but without it.
I’d made my choices, followed through, and I’d defeated a sorcerer king.
So, yeah, I could kiss a fairy.
No more hesitation. I pressed forward and locked my lips against Max’s. At first, it was awkward, at first all I could feel was his wet, cold, rain-soaked skin, the rough, scratchy touch of his stubble, the hard line of his cheek and jaw.
The rain drove down into the back of my neck like thousands of frozen needles chilling me through.
I shivered.
Nothing. Max didn’t kiss me back. So I pulled away.
And that’s when he leaned into me. He looped an arm up and around my back, his warm skin instantly cutting out the driving chill of the rain.
I felt his chest, his breath, his arm, his heart. All at once – a rush of sensation, a rush of peace. A rush of belonging.
When Max the fairy had shown up on my doorstep, my heart had told me he was my destiny. Now, I finally believed it.
We kissed, his warm, tingling skin pressed up against mine, his warmer lips hot against my cheeks and mouth. A rush of excitement and pure pleasure spun through my mind, eliminating all the pain, all the confusion, all the fear until it was just Max and me and the driving rain.
Time slipped away from me. It no longer curled around my body like
