Page 16

SAPPHIRE

Riven takes my marked hand and presses his palm to mine. The sensation is electric, magic crackling between us as our stardust infused blood seals the wounds together.

And then, he begins.

“I, Riven Draevor,” he says, his voice rough with emotion, like it’s coming straight from his soul. “Take you, Hayes, as mine. Not because fate decreed it. Not because politics demanded it.”

His grip on my hand tightens.

“But because I choose you.”

The words slice through me, clean and deep, like the Star Disc itself.

“In a universe that has tried to tear us apart at every turn,” he continues, his voice stronger now, more certain, “I will always choose you.”

Frost forms around our joined hands like a crystalline embrace.

“I vow to stand with you against whatever comes,” he says, his silver eyes locked on mine. “To fight beside you, and to be your equal in all things. To remember this moment and every moment we’ve shared, even if the universe tries to steal them from us.”

His magic spirals up our arms in delicate, intentional patterns, like promises carved into eternity.

“I vow to love you with every broken, frozen piece of me,” he continues, “for as long as I exist in this realm or any other.”

Like a dam breaking, tears well and spill out of my eyes. Dozens of water droplets rise from the deck, until they’re suspended midair, like a constellation of heartache and hope.

Riven exhales, steady but waiting, and gives me a single nod.

My turn.

“I, Hayes,” I begin, and somehow, my voice doesn’t shake. “Take you, Riven Draevor, as mine. Not because I had to, and not because I was bound to you, but because I want to.”

His breath catches.

“Because every time I’ve had a choice, I’ve chosen you,” I say. “Even when I shouldn’t have. Even when it hurt. Even when it nearly destroyed me. And I’ll bring you back from death itself, again and again, because I won’t ever let you leave me.”

My water magic dances between us, swirling alongside his frost in perfect harmony.

“I vow to be your strength when you falter, and your light when darkness closes in. To call you out when you’re being an arrogant ass—“ I’m stopped when Riven laughs, a genuine sound that makes my heart swell, “—and to stand with you, even if the world turns against us and the universe feels like it’s falling apart.”

The glow from our joined palms intensifies, veins of light racing up our arms in a cosmic promise.

“I vow to love you with every star touched fiber of my being,” I finish, “until the end of time.”

The light from our palms spreads, enveloping us in a cocoon of magic so intense it’s almost blinding. I feel everything—not just my emotions, but his, too. The fear he never voices, the ache he hides behind cold logic, and the ice that clings to his heart like a curse he thinks he deserves.

And beneath it all, something devastating and pure.

Love. So much love it almost knocks me down.

The Tides surge and swirl in bursts of pink, purple, and green, and the stardust infused blood between our palms sinks into our skin, sealing into our flesh with a pulse that matches our heartbeats.

When we separate our hands, the wounds have closed, leaving behind identical scars—vows written in pain and sealed by love.

“It worked,” I breathe, staring at the mark in my palm in wonder.

“Did you doubt it would?” Riven asks, examining his own mark. The same symbol glows there, burned into him like I’ve been burned into his soul.

“I’ve learned to doubt everything,” I reply, lifting my gaze to meet his, “except for you.”

He pulls me against him, like he needs to feel my heartbeat against his to believe it’s real.

“Then trust this,” he says. “Nothing—not gods, not magic, and not even fate—will separate us again.”

“I trust you more than I trust the stars,” I tell him, and the ship soars upward as our combined power pushes the vessel through the Tides.

But then, the wind shifts. Not the soft breeze of natural currents, but a sudden, raw force of magic. A storm awakened. The Cosmic Tides, alive and angry.

I stagger slightly, and a familiar whisper slithers into my mind.

You will return to us.

I tighten my grip on Riven’s hand. “Do you hear that?” I ask, searching his face.

His jaw clenches, his eyes narrowing as he scans the churning Tides. “Yes.”

The ship shudders, and our three pig companions squeal in alarm, huddling together near the center of the deck.

You will come back when the stars command it, the voices insist, growing louder, more insistent.

Frost erupts around Riven’s feet, spreading across the deck in jagged patterns. “We’re not listening to cosmic bedtime stories anymore,” he snaps, his ice sharpening into giant spears.

His rage burns through our connection, but beneath it lies something deeper—fear. Not for himself, but for me. For us. For everything we’ve fought so hard to build.

The Tides surge higher, starry tendrils reaching for the ship, trying to ensnare us.

“They’re not going to let us go easily,” I say, summoning my water magic to counter their pull.

“Then we fight harder,” Riven replies, his voice like steel. “Remember what we just promised each other?”

“We’ll stand together, even when the world turns against us and the universe feels like it’s falling apart,” I reply, stronger now, steadier.

“Let’s show them that we keep our promises,” he says, and we turn to face the encroaching Tides, our magic forming a protective barrier around the ship.

The Star Disc pulses at my hip, resonating with our determination.

Return, the voices of the Tides plead, softer now, almost kind. We can give you peace. A life with no pain.

“Peace without pain isn’t peace,” I say to them. “It’s emptiness.”

Riven’s lips curl into that dangerous smile I love so incredibly much. “And we’ve had enough emptiness to last several lifetimes.”

“We choose the pain,” I continue, my fingers tightening around his. “We choose the struggle.”

“We choose each other,” Riven adds, “with all the blood, chaos, and ruin that comes with it.”

The voices shift, hardening.

This love is doomed, they continue. You’ve seen the futures.

“We’ve seen possibilities,” I correct them. “Not certainties.”

“And we’re writing our own ending,” Riven declares, his frost magic spiraling outward to meet my water in a dazzling display of power.

The ship accelerates upward, driven not only by our magic, but by something deeper—raw power, bright and dangerous.

You cannot escape fate, the voices hiss, their whispers turning to screams as we near the boundary between worlds.

Riven’s laughter is sharp, cold, and beautifully defiant. “Watch us.”

His challenge hangs in the air, sparking across my skin like electricity, igniting a storm deep inside my veins. Our magic surges in response—not just water and ice, but air and starlight weaving together, entwining, caressing, and growing brighter with every heartbeat.

“We’ve already defied gods,” I say as the ship ascends, thunder booming around us, echoing the rush of adrenaline under my skin. “We’ve already broken curses. And we’ve already survived death.”

“And we’re only just getting started,” Riven adds, his grin feral, his eyes burning into mine with promises far darker, sweeter, and more dangerous than survival.

My pulse races as cosmic currents wrap around the ship, possessive in their hunger.

The deck tilts. The sails groan.

It’s too much.

The Tides are too strong.

But then my eyes lock on Riven’s, and every doubt burns away beneath the intensity of his gaze. His marked palm finds mine, fingers interlacing and gripping tightly, igniting a firestorm between us. Our souls merge as our magic does—every hidden craving, every denied need, and every unspoken longing poured into this shared surge of power, until it’s impossible to tell where mine ends and his begins.

When we’ve gathered all we can without breaking, Riven lifts his arm, his muscles rippling beneath sweat-slicked skin. He releases a beam of light from his palm, and a raw, primal sound rises from his throat as he pushes his power out into the abyss, a challenge aimed at fate itself.

“Go to hell,” he screams into the cosmos, his magic pouring from him unrestrained.

“Or whatever dark void you came from,” I say, breathless, extending my own hand as our light burns hotter than ever, swelling to something neither of us can control. “You don’t get to keep us. Not this time.”

Our power grows and gathers at the ship’s base, pushing it upward, as if fueled by everything we are to each other and everything we’ll be. The spectral wood creaks and shudders, as if it might break.

But we keep going. We pour everything we have into our connection, magic blazing through our veins as we drive the ship higher, our bodies trembling as we surrender to it completely.

The Tides grip tighter, pulling at us, desperate to drag us down and erase us from existence.

“Dig deeper,” Riven growls, his voice strained, his breaths coming faster as he forces everything he can into our entwined magic.

I instinctively do the same, and just as we’re on the edge of something impossible to control, our light erupts, a shock wave pulsing outward from our joined hands, slamming up into the boundary between worlds with a force that leaves me gasping.

The barrier resists, stretching thin from our combined power, and then?—

Cracks.

The Tides scream their defeat as the wall between realms shatters into glittering fragments that burn around us like stars, leaving us breathless and victorious, standing together at the edge of infinity.

But we can’t bask in it. Because we’re not finished yet.

“Now!” Riven shouts, and we throw our air magic at the spectral sails, releasing a final burst of it to push the ship through the opening we’ve created.

We break through the barrier with so much force that I’m nearly thrown off my feet. But Riven’s arm wraps around my waist, anchoring me to him as the ship surges forward into air. Real air. Not the heavy, timeless atmosphere of the Tides, but crisp, clean air.

Behind us, the barrier collapses, a blinding supernova of cosmic energy that bathes the ship in celestial light as the Tides shatter into stardust.

Riven and I stand there for a long moment, holding hands, trembling with exhaustion and adrenaline. His breathing is ragged, matching mine, and when our eyes meet, I see everything I’m feeling reflected in his gaze.

“We did it,” he finally says, his voice rough with emotion. “We broke through.”

“We told the cosmos to go to hell,” I reply, which earns me a breathless laugh.

“That, too.” His thumb traces the new scar burned into my palm. “Are you okay?”

I take stock of myself—my body humming with star power, my magic stronger than ever, and my soul linked to his.

“I’m more than okay,” I tell him. “I’m alive. Really, truly alive.”

“We both are.” His smile is soft at the edges, vulnerable in a way only I get to see.

I step closer, pressing my free hand against his chest, feeling his heart beating strong and steady beneath my fingers.

“We’ve already died for each other,” I say, my voice fierce and trembling with everything I can’t put into words.

“And now, we live,” he finishes, sealing the promise with a kiss that tastes of starlight, frost, pine, and a love capable of breaking the cosmos.