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Instead, I stare at Cetus, searching his body for the wound I inflicted upon myself.

There’s nothing. Not even a scratch.

It didn’t work.

The realization hits like a gut punch—a final, cruel twist of the weapon dangling by my side. Because if removing myself from this nightmare could have ended it, I would have driven the blade deeper in a heartbeat.

Instead, I stare at the wound in my arm, hating it. Because this was meant to be a sacrifice. A way to spare Sapphire from the impossible choice that’s slowly destroying her.

Cetus smiles slowly, his lips pulling back to reveal rows of sharp, glistening teeth.

So eager to die, Winter Prince,he taunts.But your pain is just that—pain. Meaningless, futile, and so beautifully tragic.

He strikes again, lightning-fast, his claws raking toward Sapphire.

“No!” I shout, throwing myself over her, ice erupting from my palms to form a shield that shatters instantly.

The force hurls me aside, slamming me into the sand and knocking the air from my lungs.

When I look up, horror freezes my veins. Because Cetus has Sapphire pinned beneath one massive claw, pressing down, crushing her.

I stagger to my feet, ice solidifying in my hand as I mold it into a deadly blade.

Strike me, Winter Prince,Cetus goads me, pressing down harder on Sapphire, forcing a strangled cry from her lips.Kill me and watch her die.

Rage and desperation rush like frost through my veins. I want to rip him apart and carve into him until there’s nothing left but stardust and blood. I want to tear him from reality, to end him so brutally that the universe will forget he ever existed.

But I can’t.

And that makes me hate him—and myself—even more.

Sapphire gasps beneath his crushing weight, her fingers clawing at the sand, fighting for air.

But it’s not enough. It will never be enough.

And if keeping her alive means inflicting pain upon her now—if it means hurting her to save her—then I’ll become that monster. Because I can’t lose her. Not like this. Notever.

I meet her eyes, my soul breaking apart.

“Forgive me,” I whisper, my voice fractured with anguish as I rush forward and drive my dagger into Cetus’s side.

Sapphire’s scream tears through me, shredding my heart to pieces.

Cetus recoils, roaring in pain, releasing her.

I hurry to Sapphire’s side and gather her broken body in my arms. She trembles against my chest, her breathing shallow, her life slipping through my fingers as I desperately try to hold onto her.

You will destroy each other,Cetus says, circling us hungrily, his blood spilling out of his wounds and staining his scales.It’s inevitable. Fate always wins in the end.

“No,” I growl, ice crackling around me, spreading outward as if it can drown this place in frost. “You’re wrong.”

Am I?Cetus tilts his head, watching me with ancient eyes.Look at her. See what you’ve done to her.

Everything left in me—which isn’t much—breaks when I do. Because Sapphire’s fading in my arms, her breathing shallow, her skin growing colder. Her blood stains my hands, her wounds a reflection of my failures, her life slipping away in rhythm with my shattered heart.

“You have to fight,” I whisper to her, trembling. “You have to kill him.”

She won’t,Cetus interrupts.And neither will you. The only question left is—will you end her pain, or shall I?