“Good.” I brush a kiss over his stubbled cheek. “I’m not going to stop loving you either. You think we’ll make it this time?” I wince as I ask. At this point the question feelsrhetorical.
He gives a solemn nod. “We will. We have to. I can’t breathe without you. You’re the only means of survival for me.” He gives my hips a quick pinch. “Plus, we’ll have cutekids.”
“Kids?” I squeak with a laugh—this is so not like me. It’s almost alarming, but I’ve always appreciated the way Axel was able to pull me from my shell. “As in humanchildren?”
“Yes, I assure you they’re the very best kind, and I hear they’re fun tomake.”
“Making babies.” I shake my head in wonder at this beautiful man. “Well, Strudel is getting up there in age. I was thinking he should probably have abuddy.”
He grimaces, and even in that he looks stunningly handsome. Axel’s classically good looks never seem to fail him. “I might keep our newborn away from the dog for a bit. But yes, I very much think Strudel needs a brother or asister.”
My heart warms when he references Strudel as a member of the family. “You know the way to my heart, don’tyou?”
“I’d like to think so.” His Adam’s apple rises and falls as if the moment just grew serious. “You are my heart, Lex.” He leans in and brushes my lips with his before settling into something deeper, darker as we fall into one another, rewriting history at the Witch’s Cauldron, wiping away the grime from the past, making the present sparkle and shine with our newfound love for oneanother.
Axel eases off my skirt, my shirt. He strips down to his boxers, and we carefully dip down into the heated waters as the steam rises around us, secluding us from the rest of the world. Above us the evergreens arch into the night sky. A shooting star leaves a spray of magic in its wake, and we marvel at thesight.
“It’s pure magic. It’s a sign.” I float over his lap, with my wrists locked around hisneck.
“It’s Emilia.” His breath cools my neck. “She’s sending her love—her approval. When we broke up, she told me you were a shooting star, and I had gotten caught up in thestardust.”
My stomach bucks as I struggle to hold back tears. “And now you’re coming along for theride.”
“Just try to get rid of me. I’m in itforever.”
I thread my fingers through the thick ropes of his hair as we get lost in one another’s eyes. “Forever. Thank you forthat.”
We fall into a kiss that goes on exactly forever. Our hearts knit to one another under the stars, under Emilia’s supervision, under God’s. One thing is for certain—from here on out, neither of us would have to battle through this worldalone.
Axel and I found our way back, and that magic is worth a million shootingstars.
