Page 19

Sapphire

I slash at the monster’s face with my dagger, and it arches back, screeching so loudly that my ears almost bleed.

Then, suddenly, Riven’s here.

His body’s pressing against mine, solid and unavoidable, the cold weight of him sinking into me like ice through flesh. And before I can pull away, he drives his frost-covered blade deep into the monster’s throat, the impact vibrating through my bones.

Agony rushes through me as his sword breaks the monster’s skin.

But the pain isn’t from the fight. It’s from the way Riven’s body curves perfectly along mine, a cruel reminder of everything I had and lost.

Suddenly, he’s bracing himself above me, pinning me in place beneath him as he creates a barrier of ice between us and the monster.

I stare up into his eyes, the air between us crackling with energy, his frosty barrier holding steady overhead. And projecting clearly isn’t an option, since it would leave me vulnerable and potentially crushed.

“Interesting time for a reunion,” he murmurs, his voice smooth, his breath cool against my skin. “Although I must say, I prefer the circumstances of our previous horizontal encounters far better than this one.”

I glare at him as the monster’s claws rake the ice overhead.

And behind the ice… there’s something pulsing beneath the monster’s skin. Right in the center of its chest. A heart, maybe? Or whatever passes for one in a creature like this. It’s almost like the ice is magnifying it, allowing us to see it now that we’re so close.

“Look,” I say, and it takes everything in me to sound normal—to act like my world isn’t collapsing around me as Riven remains pressed on top of me.

He twists his neck slightly to see. “I’ll melt a hole in the ice,” he says, his mind moving quickly. “You take the shot.”

I grip my dagger tighter, water and air swirling around the blade. The magic burns through my veins like lightning, demanding release as the monster thrashes against Riven’s ice.

“You might want to move,” I tell him, steadier than I feel.

He flashes me that infuriating smirk. “I trust you.”

The words hit harder than they should. Because he can’t mean them. Not anymore.

But then he’s creating an opening, and my magic surges through me, consuming every cell in my body until all I am is water and air.

I scream and plunge my dagger forward, straight toward the monster’s glowing heart.

A shriek rips through the air, so loud that my bones feel like they might shatter from the force of it. The pier trembles beneath us, and for a brief, horrible second, I think it might break apart entirely.

Then the creature collapses onto Riven’s ice, its form dissolving into a sickening mixture of algae and blood.

For a moment, there’s only silence, minus the waves crashing beneath us.

Then, Riven pushes the ice away, melting it until all that remains is a dark stain on the pier’s wood, the lingering echo of those otherworldly shrieks through the freezing air, and the cold fire where his skin is touching mine.

Slowly, he props himself up on one elbow, looking me over like he actually cares.

“Get off me.” I shove his arm away, and my magic flares, water swirling around my fingers.

His eyes darken, switching between worry and something colder.

Silence weighs heavy between us.

“You have some monster ash on your face,” he finally says, standing and wiping the creature’s innards from his blade.

The temperature around us drops several degrees, frost spreading beneath his feet.

I reach for my face to rub off said ash and scramble to my feet, shaking from the searing memory of Riven on top of me.

“We need to keep moving,” he says, adjusting his pack and scanning the area.

Desperate for something to focus on other than him, I study the ghost ship out in the distance, its sails rippling in the non-existent wind.

“Doesn’t look too welcoming, does it?” he murmurs, suddenly by my side again.

“Yeah, well, neither are you.” I stare at the ghost ship, refusing to meet his eyes. “And yet here I am, stuck with both.”

He lifts a shoulder in a careless shrug, frost creeping at his fingertips. “You do remember we’re on the same side, right?” he says, but I’m already striding toward the pier’s edge, staring into the black depth of the ocean below.

My stomach twists in dread.

Not because I’m afraid of swimming. Water is my element, after all. But the idea of being submerged with Riven… I can’t put my finger on it, but my entire body is tingling, warning me that something’s going to happen.

“You’re looking at the water as if you expect Charybdis to open up and swallow us whole.” Riven’s voice cuts through my hesitation.

“I’m thinking,” I snap, but my hands are shaking as I move closer to the edge, the dark waves whispering secrets I can’t quite grasp, like memories hovering just out of reach.

Riven steps beside me, close enough that I can feel the chill radiating from his skin.

“Whatever happened in that water before,” he says, and my heart stutters at the confirmation that something did happen, “it can’t hurt us now.”

“Bold words from someone who traded away his ability to feel anything at all,” I say, but the bitterness in my voice doesn’t steady the tremor beneath it.

His jaw tightens, and for a moment, I think I see something crack in his princely composure.

But then he exhales, shrugging it off in that infuriatingly casual way of his.

“Let’s get this over with,” he says, stepping off the pier and dropping into the dark water below.

The splash echoes across the beach, and my heart lurches.

What if there are more monsters down there? What if that thing we killed had friends? Family? An entire colony of whatever-it-was waiting in the depths?

And Riven just jumped straight in.

Sure, he traded away his love for me. Sure, he’s infuriating, arrogant, and impossible. But I can’t just stand here while he faces whatever’s down there alone.

So, without a second thought, I launch myself off the pier and dive in after him.