Page 13

Three more guards approach from different angles. One is wielding daggers, another has a bow, and a third is… attacking the archer?

Is he on our side?

As I’m trying to figure it out, Lira strikes again. Her blade slices across my arm, burning cold, cutting so deeply that I cry out from the pain.

“Sapphire!” Riven appears between me and Lira in a blink, taking another blow that was meant for me.

Her dagger sinks into his shoulder instead of my heart. But watching it—seeing his bright-red blood, feeling its warm splash on my skin, and smelling itssweet, familiar scent—might as well hurt me worse than her blade hurt him. Because our hearts beat as one. Our souls breathe as one. Ever since I brought him back to life, it’s sometimes impossible to tell where Riven stops and I begin.

White-hot anger rushes through my veins at the sight of someone hurting the man I love. I’m ready todestroyher… but his sword answers before I can, slicing her throat in one savage arc.

She drops without a sound, eyes wide, as if shocked the blade came from him. As she does, Riven’s gaze locks with mine. They’re wild, unhinged, and burning with a fear I’ve only seen once before: when I was dying in the Cosmic Tides.

Before I can reach for him, another guard charges. Kyler, who joked around with us during breakfast this morning, who started the toast to our marriage at the campfire.

As I’m preparing to throw the Star Disc, the guard who was helping me earlier raises his sword next to Kyler.

Is he helping me again? Do I trust him? Is he on my side? Or do I fight him? Will he turn on me like Lira did?

“Move!” Riven shouts as another blade flashes toward me.

His ice magic erupts in a devastating wave, impaling another guard through the chest.

And then, the world stops.

The sounds of battle cut off mid-yell. A guard lunging for me is frozen mid-air, his expression a twisted mask of hatred. Calder stands a few feet away, his blade raised, hatred etched across his features. Even the campfire’s flames are motionless as they lick against the now-charred meat.

Nebula and Ghost are the only other ones still moving, padding silently to our sides.

Riven stands at the center of it all, clutching the Stillpoint Compass. The dial is glowing faintly, its ticking soft and rhythmic—the only sound in this frozen world.

“We don’t have much time,” he says, his voice unnaturally loud in the eerie silence. “We have to take care of this. Now.”

Now that I have a moment to look at him, the guilt I find in his eyes is unbearable. It’s the weight of betrayal, of lost faith, and of a kingdom fracturing in his hands.

“This wasn’t your fault,” I tell him, even though I know it won’t be enough.

His gaze cuts to mine, his jaw tightening as he tries to hide the storm raging within him. “Itwasmy fault,” he says. “Calder was my mentor. I trusted him. I trusted all of them. And look where it got us.”

He sweeps a hand around the frozen clearing, where guards stand locked in mid-attack, eyes wild with rage, determination, or fear.

“You had no way to know.” I step closer, reaching for him, feeling his pain through the bond. “They chose this. They chose betrayal. That’s on them—not you.”

He flinches as my fingers brush his arm, and my heart tightens as he steps away, turning his back to shield his expression.

“If we don’t finish this before the compass’s magic breaks, they’ll kill us,” he says, as if he didn’t even hear me. “We have to eliminate them all.”

“But not all of them attacked,” I remind him. “Some of them fought to protect us.”

“Maybe. But maybe they were just biding their time, waiting for an opening. Look at Kyler—he laughed with us this morning. Shared breakfast. And now?” He gestures at Kyler, frozen mid-lunge, his blade raised to strike me down. “Every guard in this caravan was hand-picked by Calder. The only way we survive now is by ensuring none of them live.”

Dread pools deep in my stomach as I look around at the frozen guards. “If we do that, it won’t just be us defending ourselves,” I say slowly. “It will be an execution.”

Riven inhales sharply, as if the word is a dagger to his heart.

“Don’t think for a second that this is easy for me,” he says, his voice tight. “This betrayal rips apart everything I believed about who I could trust, and my ability tojudge who stands with me. But right now, the only thing that matters more than my pride, more than my judgment, and more than the guilt I’ll carry after tonight, is you. And if protecting you means doing this awful, unforgivable thing, then I’ll bear that burden every day for the rest of my life. Because I will always keep you safe.Always.No matter what it costs.”

I still, my heart fluttering at his words. But then my gaze shifts to Kyler, his face locked in furious determination as the guard who seems to have been defending me is raising his sword against him.