Page 8

Sapphire

I glance at Riven again, and for once, our emotions seem aligned.

I don’t want to do this. He doesn’t want to do this.

And yet, the water awaits.

“Let’s get this over with,” he finally says, short and clipped.

I inhale, sharp and pained. Because after everything I just vowed to him—after every hateful word I slung—that’s all he has to say? He doesn’t want to shoot anything back at me? He just wants to jump into the water, partake in what will be the most resented kiss ever, and call it a night?

Lysandra, who’s clearly still enjoying this, claps her hands like a child. “Into the water with you both,” she says, sounding disturbingly pleased with herself.

Riven moves first. But not to step into the water.

First, he reaches for the hem of his shirt, dragging it up and over his head in one smooth motion.

My breath catches. My body betrays me.

Because despite everything, he’s still the most painfully beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, his sharp lines and defined muscle sculpted like a winter god. He’s a masterpiece of power, honed to perfection, and he knows it.

And he’s using it against me.

“Like what you see?” he asks, the seriousness in his voice when he made his vows replaced with the taunting tone he uses to get a rise out of me.

I force my eyes to his face, refusing to let them wander lower. “You wish.”

He doesn’t smirk. Doesn’t laugh.

Instead, he unties his pants and kicks off his boots. The quiet sound of fabric sliding over skin follows as he sheds the rest, leaving him in nothing but his black underclothes.

I swallow hard.

I’m not thinking about how unfair it is that he looks like this. How effortlessly he draws attention. How cruel it is that even now, after everything, my body still reacts to him before my mind can stop it.

Nope. Definitely not thinking it.

“That dress, despite how exquisite it is, will weigh you down,” he says when he’s done, his voice deceptively casual, although his silver eyes gleam with something darker. Something hungrier.

It’s the same way he looked at me when he tempted me with his blood.

It’s a challenge. A test. A reminder that no matter how much I hate him, he knows exactly how to get under my skin.

“It would be wise to remove it,” he finishes.

“Water is my element,” I snap at him. “Nothing will weigh me down. Not even this forced marriage to you.”

“Always so fiery,” he murmurs, and he makes his way to the water, his movements slow and deliberate, meant to tempt and manipulate.

It’s working.

And I hate him for it.

The moment he enters the pool, the water reacts to him, rippling as it welcomes him into its depths. Slowly, he moves toward the center, where it laps across his chest, and then he stops.

Waiting.

Watching.

“Well?” He lifts a brow. “Aren’t you going to join me, Princess?”

“I would rather throw myself into the abyss,” I say sweetly, moving across the stone floor and testing the water with my toes.

It’s warm. Welcoming. Tempting.

And so, needing to get this over with, I lower myself in.

The deeper I go, the heavier the air feels. Like the magic in this place knows what’s about to happen and is waiting to carve it into the fabric of existence.

By the time I reach Riven, the water is lapping at my shoulders. He’s barely an arm’s length away, and while his silver eyes are unreadable, his breaths are coming faster.

Mine are, too.

Lysandra’s voice carries over the water, amusement dripping from every word. “Now, fully submerge yourselves and kiss,” she says. “Only then will the bond be complete.”

Riven’s eyes remain locked on mine, and my stomach clenches.

I lift my chin, willing my voice not to shake. “I hope you drown,” I say, clenching my fists, digging my fingernails into my palms to release the pain.

“If I do, you’re coming with me.” His voice drops lower, barely a whisper above the lapping water. “Together? On three?”

“Whatever gets this over with fastest,” I say, keeping my hands to myself, not wanting to touch him unless the very last second.

“One...” He starts to count, the number falling between us like a stone in a pond.

I take a deep breath, steadying myself.

“Two...”

For a fraction of a second, I see something flicker in his gaze—uncertainty, maybe. Or fear.

“Three.”

We submerge.

The water embraces me like a living force, wrapping around my skin, filling my lungs with cool, crisp magic that allows me to breathe beneath the surface.

And then, the world stops.

Reality shifts.

The anger, the betrayal, the endless storm of pain inside me—it’s gone. Dissolved like frost in sunlight.

In its place floods something else. Something pure. Something real.

Love.

And then, when Riven’s eyes lock onto mine, the ice melts, leaving only truth behind.

There’s no cold detachment. No calculation. No cruel amusement. There’s just the man who traced constellations on my back as I explained how the stars sang to me, who held me close when we slept in each other’s arms, and who kissed me like I was something sacred. The man who promised he’d find his way back to me, no matter what. Who promised that I wasn’t just in his heart, but that I was embedded into the depths of his soul.

The last of my defenses crumble.

And then, we crash.

I don’t know who moves first. I don’t know if it’s me or him or the water itself dragging us into each other’s orbit. But suddenly, his arms are around my waist, and my fingers are tangling in his hair as he kisses me like his life depends on it.

It’s like he’s starving, drowning, and I’m the only thing that can keep him alive. It’s the kind of kiss that tears down kingdoms, unravels fate, and makes and unmakes the universe in a single breath.

I’m sorry, the kiss says. I love you. I never stopped loving you.

I pour everything I am into it, and the world above melts away until there’s nothing left but a love so intense it threatens to shatter us both. And as he pushes himself against me, I wrap my legs around his waist, needing to feel his heart beating against mine so I can know to my soul that this is real.

That he’s real.

Because this isn’t just a kiss. It’s an apology. A promise. It’s every unspoken word, every regret, every broken piece of us being stitched back together in the space between our lips.

I want to crawl into his body—into his soul—and live in it forever.

From the way he’s kissing me, his fingers threaded through my hair, he wants the same.

But eventually, he pulls back to look into my eyes. As if he wants to make sure that I feel it, too.

I wish I could speak to him. To tell him that I love him as much as I know he loves me. To apologize for my hateful vows.

But here, surrounded by our element—this is real. This is everything we lost, and everything we found.

I can tell he understands from the way his hand cups my face, his thumb brushing my cheek with a tenderness that makes tears spring to my eyes.

Riven and I love each other. And nothing—not a dryad’s bargain, not Eros’s lead arrow, not even our own broken hearts—can change that fundamental truth.

But all of that’s in the past. Because somehow, this sacred, ancient pool cut through every spell, every barrier, and every lie we’ve told ourselves.

Our love will strengthen and endure—now more than ever—no matter what.

Riven is mine, and I’m his. Always.

And so, with one final encouraging, relieved, heartfelt look, we pull each other to the surface, breaking through at the same time.

My head emerges, and everything shatters.

The warmth, the clarity, the truth… it’s gone. Ripped away in a heartbeat, leaving only red-hot pain in its wake.

And as Riven looks at me with those cold, soulless eyes of his, I swear to every god in the Universe that I’ll never let him get that close to me ever again.