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RIVEN

I don’t answer Sapphire’s question right away.

Because she’s right. Here, in the endless depths of the Cosmic Tides, the poison Eros’s arrow planted in Sapphire’s heart has retreated. And the ice I’ve forced around my heart, the carefully constructed walls?—

They’re gone.

And I don’t know how to exist without them.

I feel everything.

It’s too much. It’s drowning me, crushing me, and breaking me apart at the seams. As it does, every lesson my father hammered into me since I was a child screams at me to shove it down. That way, when Sapphire and I emerge from these cosmic waters and her hatred returns, I’ll survive it. I’ll be ready for her to tear me apart all over again.

Although according to those visions, I won’t survive it. Because I was dead, or gone, in all three of them.

None of those futures are worth living for. Especially not after I traded my love for Sapphire away to that dryad, leaving a hollow space in my soul that I’ll never be able to fill.

I’ve hated myself for it since the deal was sealed.

Now, as the ice forming at my fingertips dissolves into the cosmic currents, I pull away from Sapphire enough to gaze into those brilliant blue eyes that have ruined me, haunted me, destroyed me, and saved me all at once.

Her breathing shallows, her grip tightening around mine like she’s afraid I’ll slip away.

Maybe I should.

Maybe it would be easier.

But I can’t.

Because for all the pain—for all the ways she’s shattered me beyond repair—I want to hold on. I need to stay tethered to something real, even if it’s the very thing that will destroy me.

“What I feel doesn’t matter,” I finally say, my voice rough and breaking in a way that feels both wrong and right. “Because the moment we surface, you’ll hate me again. Eros’s arrow will make sure of it.”

She exhales sharply, like my words physically wounded her.

Ice crackles along my fingertips again as I brace myself for her to hit me back. To tear into me. To hurt me the way I need her to.

But… she doesn’t.

Instead, she squeezes my hands, refusing to let me retreat into the icy shell I’ve buried myself in for decades.

“And you’ll be the cold, calculating prince who doesn’t care,” she says. “But I’m not asking about when we surface. I’m asking about now. Here. You and me, in this moment. Together.”

The starlight reflects in her eyes, swirling like the universe itself is trying to pull the truth out of me.

And suddenly, I want to let it. Because I can’t keep cutting Sapphire apart just to stop myself from bleeding. It’s not right, nor is it fair.

Not to her, not to me, and certainly not to us.

“I’ve always cared,” I say, the truth slipping out easily in these cosmic waters. “Even after the dryad took my love for you, I cared.”

She inhales sharply, and her magic flares, the droplets of water around us transforming into brilliant constellations.

“But I hated you,” she says, her voice cracking. “I was cruel to you. If you never stopped caring… then how do you bear it?”

“I don’t.” The admission tears something inside me apart—something that was barely held together, anyway. “When you look at me like I’m worthless, insufferable, and heartless… it kills me, Sapphire. Every single time.”

Her face crumples, and the whirlpool around us intensifies, pulling us closer together.

“—” she starts, but I shake my head.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep once we’re out of here,” I tell her, unsure if I’ll be able to bear it if she does.

Don’t save me now only to let me drown again, I think, although I keep that one to myself. I’ve already been vulnerable enough for the day. There’s no need to throw anything more on her—to make her feel guiltier than she already does.

“I’m not promising anything,” she says, pulling herself flush against me. “I’m telling you that right now, I choose us. I choose you. I will always choose you.”

Then, she kisses me.

And I break.

This isn’t like the last time. No—this time, it’s a defiance of fate. A rebellion against the gods who want to tear us apart. It’s ice and water swirling violently before melting into each other, pulling us into something inescapable.

But maybe I don’t want to escape.

So, I grip her waist, pressing her against me as if I can hold onto this moment long enough to make her stay.

She’s so warm. So real. Especially when her magic surges, wrapping around me like a current, dragging me deeper into something that will destroy me when it ends.

Because when we surface, her hatred will snap back into place. She’ll look at me the way she did after Eros’s arrow struck—like I’m the worst thing that ever happened to her. Like she wants to tear me apart with her bare hands.

And I’ll have to let the ice creep back in. I’ll have to be cold again, even though this moment is the only thing that’s made me feel alive in days.

But I don’t stop.

I can’t.

All I can do is hold her closer, tangle my fingers through her hair, and breathe her in, as if her light can fill the empty space in my soul. Because in this place where fate has already decided we’re doomed—where my feelings for her can’t be used against me, where her eyes don’t burn with pain when she touches me—she’s mine again.

And, gods help me, I’ll take it.

Even though it’s going to ruin me.

But just as I’m losing myself in her completely, the ship lurches, ripping down in a freefall that sends us crashing onto the deck.

I grab her on instinct, my arms wrapping around her waist as the world tilts.

“Hold on!” I shout, reaching for the nearest rope, gripping it with everything left in me as the ship’s bow dips dangerously downward.

If we fall, we’re dead. We’ll crash to the bottom of this endless void—if there even is a bottom—and I won’t let go of her. Not now. Not ever.

Because if we go down, we’ll go down together. Just like in that final vision.

So, I close my eyes, bracing for the impact.

And then, with a final, bone-jarring jolt, we stop.

The ship creaks, settling into soft sand, and silence echoes around us.

When I open my eyes, the first thing I see is her.

Sapphire is tangled against me, her breathing uneven, her fingers curled into the fabric of my shirt. A few strands of her white-blonde hair have come loose, fanning across my chest, the blue highlights on its ends glowing with the celestial shimmer of the Tides.

She’s alive. Thank the gods, she’s alive.

For a brief, reckless second, I almost pull her back in and kiss her again.

But my training shoves the thought out of my head.

Assess. Locate. Secure. Survive.

We crashed. We need to find out where the hell we are. We need to locate the Star Disc. We need to get out of here before fate finishes what it started.

With a slow breath, I shift and untangle myself from her, as if one wrong move might break her.

“Are you hurt?” I ask, and she blinks, like she’s remembering how to breathe.

“No. I just…” Her gaze darts around, taking in our surroundings. “Where are we?”

I chuckle, because she asks as though I have some secret map hidden away.

“I like to think I’m decently well-traveled, but if I had a bucket list, the Cosmic Tides wouldn’t have even made the footnotes,” I say as I push to my feet, scanning the landscape around us.

The sand is like nothing I’ve ever seen, black and shimmering with stardust. Galaxies swirl overhead, spinning into infinity.

Despite how beautiful it is, something about the silence is wrong.

We shouldn’t be here.

But we are. So, I extend a hand to Sapphire, pulling her to her feet as she steadies herself, relieved when she doesn’t yank her hand away as if my skin is burning her flesh.

And with her standing so close, the weight of what just happened—of what we were before the crash—lingers between us.

But I don’t acknowledge it. I can’t. Because every decision I make in this place could determine if she stays alive or not, and I refuse to lose her. I won’t survive it if I do.

“We need to find the Star Disc and get out of here,” I say, breaking my gaze from hers to scan the horizon again. “Now.”

She nods, shaking off whatever thoughts are running through her mind. “Agreed.”

With the decision made, we move.

“Stay close.” I draw my sword, watching with quiet pride as she does the same with her dagger, alert and ready.

I trained her well.

The sand shifts under our boots as we walk away from the spectral ship, leaving it abandoned behind us. Each breath feels heavier, charged with an ancient power that clings to my skin.

Then—

The sand shudders, rising and swirling into waves that crash against an invisible shore.

I pull Sapphire behind me, ice forming at my fingertips as the cosmic floor erupts like a geyser, stardust raining down as something massive emerges from its depths.

First, a head. Serpentine, with eyes that burn like dying stars.

Then comes a body, impossibly long, covered in scales that reflect entire galaxies. Fins like the tattered edges of nebulae unfurl from its sides.

Finally, its eyes open, two fiery orbs locked onto us with unmistakable intent.

Kill.

An inexperienced soldier would run.

We, on the other hand, stay where we are. No sudden movements. Nothing that will risk provoking it further.

“What is it?” Sapphire whispers, her magic pulsing against mine.

“Cetus,” I say, recognizing the creature from ancient texts in the Winter Court’s library. “The sea monster of the stars.”