The Map of Chaos (Trilogía Victoriana #3)(188)

She opened her eyes. Her reflection was still shimmering on the water, but behind her, a few feet away . . . His suit was torn in several places and had bloodstains on the shoulder, as though after dying in the accident his first thought had been to come and find her, without stopping to change. She didn’t turn round. She doubted he was real, convinced that she had finally lost her mind. Until he spoke.

“Hello, Miss Mournful. I told you I’d be back.”

Emma gritted her teeth and felt her heart leap.

“And I’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Impossible,” she replied.

Then she wheeled round, and their eyes locked.

“You’re late,” she reproached him.

He raised his eyebrows.

“Er, forgive me, but . . . ,” he stammered in apology. “I was helping to save the world.”

She smiled and stepped forward, lips parted, those lips that believed they would never kiss anyone again. And the whole world was reduced to the precise length of each moment that separated them.