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RIVEN

A force slams into me—a violent, desperate impact, like two stars crashing together at the end of the world. Threads of light wrap around my heart, warm magic braiding itself into my essence, interweaving with every single piece of me.

Sapphire.

She’s not just calling me back. She’s dragging me back.

And then, memories explode through me and into me, until I’m not just seeing them—I’m living in them.

* * *

She was always going to ruin me.

I knew it the moment I saw her at the Maple Pig, her white-blonde hair catching the bar’s dim lights, her brilliant blue eyes sharp with warmth and secrets.

“Do I seem like a man who orders pink drinks?” I raise an eyebrow, testing her reaction.

“You must not be from around here,” she counters, her eyes locked on mine, like she’s sizing me up.

“I’ll take it as a compliment that I don’t seem like I’m from a small town in Maine,” I say, allowing myself the ghost of a smile.

“People come here from all over. But I always remember a face. And yours...”

She smiled after that, having no idea she was about to change my life in the best way possible.

* * *

Soon, I’m in my quarters in the Winter Court.

Her projected form appears out of nowhere, and I react instinctively, my sword slicing through her ghostly figure. The blade passes through harmlessly, but something inside me fractures.

My sword clatters to the ground, my chest tight with panic.

Because even though I barely know her, the thought of harming her feels like plunging that blade straight into my own heart.

* * *

And then, the moment I realized how vulnerable she is while she projects…

“Were we going to discuss the pros and cons of my magic while the Stalo was punching its way through the tree?” she snaps, as irresistibly defiant as ever.

“Don’t try twisting this around,” I growl, stepping close, crowding her against the tree’s cold, rough wall.“You had plenty of chances to tell me. But instead, I had to figure it out by watching you collapse like you were ? —”

“Like I was dead,” she finishes. “That’s what this is really about, isn’t it? You thought I wasn’t coming back. You were scared.”

My breath catches, words lodged painfully in my throat. “I thought you were gone,” I admit. “And that there was nothing I could do to save you.”

I don’t tell her the rest—that when she fell, something shattered inside me. That despite all my father’s lessons about weakness and control, I’d tear apart the world to bring her back.

Because confessing that would mean accepting how hopelessly lost I already am.

* * *

Next, the cave.

The storm howls outside, but inside, there’s only Sapphire.

“If you want to stop, tell me now,” I manage to say, my voice rough with emotion I’ve spent decades suppressing. “If you don’t ? —“

“No,” she interrupts, her eyes clear and certain. “Don’t stop. I don’t want to stop.”

Just like that, I’m surrendering to the inevitable. To something bigger than fate, bigger than war, and bigger than either of us could possibly know.

* * *

Finally, the moment I’ve replayed obsessively since the dryad stole that piece of my soul. The one I’ve tried to dissect, to feel, to make sense of—and failed every time.

I lean forward, pressing my lips to hers, and when I pull away, I hesitate. Because once spoken, the words building in my throat can never be taken back. They’ll become real, dangerous, and destructive.

But I’ve lost too many things I care about. I won’t lose her, too. Not without her knowing exactly what she means to me.

“I love you, Sapphire Hayes,” I whisper, letting the words fall into the space between us. “I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you at that bar. You’re my summer fae. And I can’t lose you. Not like I lost my mother. Not like I might have lost Ghost.”

For a terrible moment, I think I’ve made a mistake. That I’ve revealed too much, or asked for more than she’s willing to give.

“I love you, too,” she finally says, and something inside me—something frozen, starved, and aching—starts to warm.

* * *

The next memory… it’s not a memory. At least, I don’t think it is. Although, it feels so real. Like a dream—one I’ve been trying to remember but that keeps slipping through my fingers.

We sink beneath the water’s surface, and the emptiness—that hollow ache where my love for Sapphire existed before the dryad stole it from me—flickers.

Because the hatred in her eyes is gone.

And suddenly, my hands are finding her in the water, one gripping her waist, the other threading through her hair as I tilt her face to mine.

When our lips meet, it’s like breathing for the first time in ages. I could stay like this forever—her and me, floating in the water, lost in our own perfect world.

And I need her to know exactly what I’m feeling. So, I take her left hand, turn her palm upward, and trace letters onto her skin.

I.

Precise and deliberate, my finger moves slowly as I create the first letter. Then I tap her palm, silently asking if she understands.

When she nods, I continue.

L.

Another pause, watching her face closely, drinking in her reaction.

O.

I glance up at her, my heart racing at the raw emotion in her eyes.

V.

Her breath hitches, her eyes wide, waiting.

E.

She inches closer, silently begging me to finish.

Y. O. U.

Eight simple letters that mean everything.

* * *

As the memory fades, the part of my soul that I gave to the dryad stays. Because when I relived those memories, I experienced everything all over again. I was there, falling in love with her, just like I did the first time around.

My left palm tingles with the phantom sensation of her fingertips tracing those eight letters in return while we were underwater.

I love you .

A promise. A tether. A bond.

This isn’t just love. It isn’t just magic.

We’re fused now.

Bound in a way that no force—not dryads, not gods, and not even death itself—can ever erase.