“Can you… say that again?”
Malum let out a low chuckle. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” The words rang out loud and clear.
“So, it isn’t over?” she asked, her voice a mixture of hope and fear, as she lowered herself to the next step.
“No,” he said, his tone more serious now. “It’ll never be over, Melanie.”
He had to speak loudly for her to hear him over the din of the fire, meaning that every one of the gawkers standing around now could most likely hear him as well. But, well, Malum found that he didn’t really care about that. He didn’t care if every damned rake in London heard him. Hell, let them all know. Print it in all the papers. Let the whole bloodytonknow.
“Then, there is an… us?” she asked, hesitating, just over halfway to safety now.
“Always,” he said without a moment’s pause. “Even if you don’t want me, you have me.” She had his body, heart, and soul.
Her lips parted, and for a moment, she stopped climbing altogether. The acrid smoke curled around her, the flames casting a warm glow across her face, but her gaze never left his.
“Does that mean…” she began, her voice faltering.
“It means that I love you,” he said, and the words came so easily—words he’d never imagined saying to anyone. But to her…
“Dearly. Passionately. Desperately.” To her, he’d say them a hundred thousand times over, endlessly, happily—because he meant them, more than he’d ever meant anything before. “And I always will.”
The world seemed to hold its breath. His chest was a knot of tension, and he barely registered Beckworth muttering something under his breath about “taking their sweet time”. But Malum’s attention was entirely on her, on the raw emotion in her face that made his throat tighten.
“I love you too, Harry,” she said, her voice shaking but certain.
The admission hit him harder than he’d expected, and for a moment, his composure slipped. But there wasn’t time to process it—not with the trellis creaking threateningly and the flames creeping closer to where she clung.
“Then hurry up, sweetheart,” he said with a little more urgency, though a faint smile touched his lips. “And get down here before the bloody building collapses.”
Her lips curved, renewed determination flickering across her face. She shifted again, vines rustling as her skirts caught and pulled. “This is taking forever!” she called out, still with that hint of fear.
“You’re so close,” he said, pride swelling even in the midst of this chaos.
With a nod, she resumed her descent, her movements still careful but more confident the longer she went without any mishaps. Malum stayed rooted below, his arms outstretched, every muscle taut as he tracked her progress.
When a nearby window shattered, just to his right, the same place where she’d spent hours sitting, watching the world, he realized they were running out of time.
But she should be close enough now, only a foot or two above him. Widening his stance, Malum lifted his hands, bracing himself.
“You can let go now, Melanie,” he said, his voice low but commanding. “I’ve got you.”
She hesitated.
“Trust me.” His voice cut through the crackling flames and the rush of his own pounding pulse.
She released her hold and pushed off from the wall, falling for barely a split second before his arms came up to wrap around her, his grip secure. As soon as he knew he had her, Malum pulled Melanie even closer, wanting to reassure the both of them—that she was safe, that he was here, that they weretogether.
In that moment, the fire, the brigade, the shouting—it all faded into the background. All Malum could feel was her heartbeat against his chest, her breath warm against his neck.
“I told you,” he murmured, his voice rough with relief as he tightened his hold. “I’d never let you fall.”
She clung to him, her face pressing into his chest. “I know,” she whispered, her voice muffled but filled with a quiet certainty that undid him.
SAFE
Malum rushed Melanie away from the burning house with singular focus, cradling her against his chest. The fire brigade was hard at work now, shouts and the hiss of water against flames filling the air.
Melanie was clinging to him, her face pressed against his neck. “I’m safe,” he heard her whispering. “I’m safe. And… you love me.”
