Page 20

Sapphire

The second I hit the water, the crushing pain that’s been suffocating me since Eros’s arrow pierced my heart—the resentment, the betrayal, and the need for Riven to understand just how deeply he hurt me—melts away. Like frost in sunlight, and shadows at dawn.

In its place, something purer rushes in. Something devastating in its clarity.

Love.

And with it, the memory of the kiss Riven and I shared in the chamber’s pool after speaking our vows. The way he held me and looked at me with eyes full of promise that we’d fall in love with each other again, no matter what.

Now, he’s only a few feet ahead, his midnight hair shifting like ink in the dark waters.

Our gazes lock.

It’s like being struck by lightning. A violent, electric surge that shatters the walls between us, begging me to close the distance.

Then, we’re moving—swimming toward each other with a single-minded desperation, an instinct older than magic itself. And for a moment, we just stare at each other. Really see each other for the first time since that cursed kiss with the dryad, since Eros’s lead arrow, and since everything between us shattered into pieces.

The water wraps around us like an embrace, beating in sync with our hearts as Riven pulls me to him and rests his forehead against mine.

Then, his hands are on me. One gripping my waist, the other threading through my hair, tilting my face up as he crashes his lips to mine.

The kiss is searing. Wild, desperate, and raw as I arch into him, needing to be closer. Always closer.

Each brush of his fingers leaves trails of frost on my skin, and the longer we hold onto each other, wrapped in this perfect moment, the harder it becomes to imagine ever letting go.

Don’t forget this. Don’t forget him, I think as I kiss him with even more passion, as if doing so will sear this memory into my mind so fiercely that when I surface, I won’t lose it like last time.

I don’t know how long we stay like this, wrapped up in each other in the illusion that everything is okay. That it’s always been okay. That we aren’t broken beyond repair.

But eventually, he slows, takes my left hand, and turns my palm upward. His eyes are locked on mine, and my heart races as I remember all the times in the past when he’s looked at me like this. Open, honest, and real.

Then, he brushes his finger along the glowing band around my ring finger and begins to trace letters onto my palm.

I.

The first stroke sends a jolt through my veins, so careful and precise that I swear I could break from it.

He taps on my palm. A silent question.

Do you understand?

I nod, and he continues.

L.

Pause.

O.

Another pause.

V.

A glance at me, as my heart’s in the process of melting.

E.

He’s so focused, as though every sweep of his fingertip is an oath, and I swear I’m falling more in love with him by the second.

Another tap on my palm.

Another nod.

I press closer, my free hand sliding over the ridges of his shoulder, tracing the lines of his muscle as I urge him to continue.

Y.

O.

U.

The final letter shatters something inside me. Because this is my Riven—the one who spoke to me through the whisper stone, who taught me to breathe underwater when I thought I’d drown. The one who poured his soul out to me in the cave, who taught me how to use my magic with more patience than I deserved. The one who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself, who told me I could project across the universe and made me brave enough to try.

The one who looked at me like I was his entire world.

The one I lost when he finalized the deal with the dryad, and when Eros’s lead arrow pierced my heart.

The one I’m likely going to lose again when we surface.

But I can’t think about that. Not yet.

Because right now, this moment—this short, impossible bubble of clarity under the water—is the only truth that matters.

I take his hand next.

Carefully, I trace the letters onto his palm with trembling fingers. Slow, deliberate, and desperate. Like if I press hard enough, I can carve my love into him, burying it into his bones so deeply that not even a fae deal or a god’s arrow can erase it.

I.

His eyes close at the first letter, like he’s burning the sensation into his memory.

When they open again, they’re filled with so much love that it physically hurts to look at him. Because in minutes, those same silver eyes will be cold and empty, viewing me as nothing more than a means to an end.

But right now, we’re together. We remember. So I continue, and with every letter, the love between us grows stronger, sharper, carving itself deeper into my bones until I think I might break from it.

U, I finish tracing, the letter slashing through my heart, leaving it open for him to see.

When I’m done, he presses his forehead to mine again, and I clutch him desperately, trying to freeze time. To live in this perfect moment where the love between us is stronger than any bargain or arrow.

His hands frame my face, and I can feel him shaking. Actually shaking as he holds me, like he’s fighting the inevitability of what’s to come, too.

I want to scream. To rage against the unfairness of it all. To beg the universe to let us keep this one thing—this love that burns brighter than any star.

As if reading my thoughts, Riven’s lips find mine again.

This kiss is different. It’s softer, sweeter, and filled with promise.

We’ll find our way back to each other, it seems to say. No matter what it takes.

When we break apart and his eyes lock with mine, I see everything. The love, the fear, and the heartbreaking knowledge that we’re about to lose each other all over again.

His fingers tighten on my waist, and it’s like he’s trying to anchor this moment. To hold onto it for just a few more seconds.

But no matter how much I wish otherwise, we can’t stay here forever.

He gives me a small nod.

It’s time.

Reality crushes down on me.

I want to scream. To fight against this. To keep him here, where he still loves me.

But I can’t. The spectral ship is waiting. Zoey’s waiting. The Winter Court, Celeste, and everyone else who’s counting on us… we can’t stay here and forget about them, no matter how tempting it might be.

And so, with our fingers intertwined, we kiss one more time—this one full of heartbreaking goodbye and another plea to remember—swim upward, and break the surface together.