Page 27

Sapphire

Matt looks just as I remember him—tall, with the build of a football player, blond hair, and blue eyes.

But now, he’s pale. Translucent. And his eyes, which had grown tired and weary after not getting that football scholarship, are now full of the determination and confidence he had in high school.

My heart seizes in my chest.

“Matt?” My voice is barely more than a whisper.

He smiles, but it’s not the boyish, cocky smirk I remember. It’s softer. Sadder. As if he’s been through Hell and spit back out again.

“Hey, Saph,” he says. “Been a while.”

My body is frozen, my magic pressing against my skin, and I know it would be reacting if there was tangible air and water around here for it to hold on to.

“You’re—” I choke on the word.

I can’t bring myself to say it.

“Dead?” He laughs, a hollow sound that echoes through the ghostly space. “Yeah. You’re not the only one who’s had a rough go of it these past few weeks.”

There it is. The animosity in his voice.

Apparently, not even death can make him less bitter when it comes to comparing himself to me—and feeling like he comes up short.

I step back, reaching for my dagger, which thankfully made the journey with me to this spirit world. “This isn’t real,” I say through the horror brewing in my chest. “It’s a trick. You’re not here. You’re not…”

I still can’t say the word.

Circe cuts in before I can continue, sharper than my blade. “The dead have no reason to lie,” she repeats. “Neither does the Veil between worlds.”

Riven’s glaring at Matt like he wants to kill him, although I don’t think that would go well, considering he’s already dead.

Matt. Dead, I think, and while the two words make sense separately, they don’t make sense together.

“Prove it,” I tell the ghostly illusion of Matt in front of me, my voice wavering despite my best efforts to keep it steady. “Prove you’re really him.”

“You always do this,” he says, shaking his head in the slightly demeaning way he always did. “Denying the truth until you can’t anymore.”

My grip tightens around the dagger.

“Prove that it’s you,” I repeat, although thanks to his tone and off-hand insult, it’s getting more obvious by the second that it is.

“All right, Saph.” He rubs his hands together as he thinks. “Let’s talk about the morning of your high school graduation.”

A sharp pain travels through my chest.

Because I know exactly what he’s going to say.

“The sunrise walk,” he says, his voice lower now, more certain. “We snuck out before dawn, just the two of us. We walked around the lake, and I told you?—”

I suck in a sharp breath, my throat tightening.

“—that I was scared,” he continues. “That I was afraid I was never going to leave Presque Isle. That I was going to get stuck in that town forever, watching my dreams get smaller and smaller as I wore myself down fixing cars at the shop.”

My fingers curl into fists as the memories of that morning slam into me like a semi-truck. Because I never told anyone what he said to me at the lake. Not even Zoey. Because he was vulnerable with me that morning—something he rarely was—and I appreciated it. I didn’t want to betray his trust.

“You told me I’d find my way out,” he continues, and I swear there are actual tears in his eyes. “That I’d get my second chance.”

I exhale sharply, the weight of those words crushing me. Because I’d believed them. I’d wanted them to be true. I’d hoped that even if his future didn’t end up being with me—which by that point, I was already questioning if it would be—he’d still find happiness.

But now, standing here, staring at his ghost, I know that second chance will never come.

And then, suddenly, there’s a hand brushing mine.

Riven.

The rush of pain brings me back from the haze of grief setting over me at the fact that my ex-boyfriend is dead and I’m talking to his ghost.

Because it’s no longer Matt I’m thinking about.

It’s Riven.

“Get off me,” I snap at him, yanking my hand out of his as he’s a poisonous snake.

Darkness flashes over his eyes, but he just steps back, his hand returning to the hilt of his sheathed sword, and nods.

“Trouble in fae paradise?” Matt asks, glancing back and forth between me and Riven in amusement.

“It’s complicated.” I brush it off, needing to change the subject. “How did you die? And what does it have to do with Zoey?”

After all, it has to do with Zoey and the Night Court. They were what I originally asked about. Why would the Underworld have sent Matt if he can’t answer my question?

“That’s also complicated,” he says wryly. “Let’s start by saying that when your ex-girlfriend and her best friend disappear, the ex-boyfriend tends to be on the top of the suspect list.”

“No.” Horror rises in my chest. “Matt…”

“They tried to pin it on me, Saph,” he says. “I could feel it—how they were looking for anything that could make me the villain of your little vanishing act.”

I swallow hard, my mind racing. Of course people would have been looking for me and Zoey, but I never thought about what that would mean for Matt.

No matter how toxic our relationship had become at the end, he deserved better than this.

“I had to get out,” he continues, his voice tight. “So, I got in my car and drove north, as far as I could go. But the roads were icy, and I thought I saw something in the woods. A light. Or maybe I was just exhausted. I don’t know. But I lost control. The car went off the road, straight into a ravine.”

I suck in a sharp breath, and my stomach twists.

“Is that what killed you?” I ask, even though it wouldn’t explain what Zoey had to do with this.

“No. But it was bad.” He shakes his head, thinking back on whatever happened next. “And when I woke up, Ravenna was there. The queen of the Night Court. She brought me to the palace and gave me the potion that healed me. I thought I owed her everything.” His gaze flickers, the edges of his form shifting like smoke. “But whatever I thought she felt for me… it wasn’t real. It never was.”

“Of course it wasn’t,” I mutter. “Winter fae aren’t capable of love. I doubt night fae are, either, since they were winter fae before they were turned.”

Riven flinches, but he says nothing.

Matt simply nods. “She fed from me a few times a day,” he says, his eyes hollow as he thinks back on it. “I thought I loved her. But now, I can see clearly again. I was just another human plaything to her—another soul to feed her power. And right now, the same thing is happening to Zoey. She’s under the same spell.”

“The queen has Zoey, too?” I ask.

“Not the queen.” Matt steps closer, urgency tightening his features. “It’s Aerix. The Night Prince. He has her under his spell, just like Ravenna had me. She thinks she’s falling in love with him. She truly believes he cares about her.”

“No.” I take a sharp breath inward. “Zoey’s smarter than that.”

“Ouch.” Matt scrunches his face and flinches back.

“It’s different,” I say quickly, even though I know Matt and Zoey well enough to know that he’s the one who believes in love at first sight—not her.

“It’s not about strength,” Matt says quickly. “The blood creates a bond. The connection grows stronger every time he drinks from her. She thinks she’s choosing it, but really...” He pauses, pain crossing his features, and his voice drops lower. “Her whole demeanor has changed. She thinks she belongs to him, and that he understands her. And the longer she’s with him, the more his spell will sink in, until there’s nothing left of her anymore.”

I shake my head, refusing to believe it.

“Zoey would never think she belongs to anyone,” I insist. “She’s my best friend. I know her. And that’s not who she is.”

“She’s different now,” Matt says quietly, and after having dated him for so long, I can tell he’s telling the truth. “She’s colder. More calculating. Aerix keeps her close, and he lets her make small decisions to give her the illusion of control. But the biggest change is in her eyes. She looks at him like he’s everything. Like he’s the answer to questions she didn’t know she had. Like she’d kill for him if he asked her to.”

“Like she has undying love for him,” I say slowly, thinking back to what Eros said about the golden arrow.

He’ll be the sun in your sky, the stars in your night, and the air in your lungs. You won’t care if you live, if you die, or if you break, as long as it means you can be near him. You won’t love anyone other than him. You won’t even love yourself.

“Something like that.” Matt shrugs, and the final part of what he said echoes through my mind again.

It can’t be true.

But I have to know.

“You said she’d kill for him,” I say carefully, barely believing what I’m going to ask next. “Is she the one who did it? The one who killed you?”

“No,” he says, a shadow crossing his eyes. “I was killed two days ago by Thanatos—the king of the Night Court.”