Page 9

SAPPHIRE

Every time I try to push back to my body, the Tides drag me deeper, tearing my projection apart piece by piece.

And then—something changes.

A warmth touches my consciousness, so familiar it shatters my soul.

Blood.

And not just any blood. It’s Riven’s blood. I’d recognize its scent anywhere—crisp snow and fresh pine.

I love you so much, I think, and then I’m hurtling back into my body, and the world explodes into ice, sharp and electric, racing through my veins and setting every cell on fire.

Riven’s blood isn’t just blood. It’s winter storms and moonlight on frost, a collision of pain and ecstasy that feels like coming home and being shattered apart at once.

It’s intoxicating. Overwhelming. It’s everything.

But then—there’s his voice.

If love is destruction, then let it destroy me. At least this way, I’ll be part of you forever.

As I drink—as it gets harder and harder to pull more blood from his wrist—what he’s saying threads together.

I’m destroying him. He’ll always be part of me, but he won’t be here beside me. Which means…

Reality slams into me, and I ground myself, forcing myself away from him, terrified of what I’m about to find.

His arm falls. Like he wasn’t even trying to hold it up.

And when I open my eyes…

The world stops.

His head is slumped against my shoulder, heavy, lifeless, and unresponsive, even as I try to make him look at me. His eyes are closed, his face pale, and delicate patterns of ice crawl across his skin, spreading over his chest like frost on glass.

But he’s still breathing. He’s still here.

“Riven?” My voice sounds foreign to my ears, small and desperate.

His eyes remain closed, his face eerily peaceful.

I’ve never seen him this still. Even in sleep, Riven maintains a coiled tension, ready to spring into action at the slightest threat.

But now? Nothing.

“I won’t let you do this,” I tell him, my voice cracking on every word. “You don’t get to leave me now. You promised?—”

The memory hits me—Riven’s voice in my ear when he was telling me that he loved me, when he thought it was all going to be over soon.

If you think I’m going to keep existing in an empty, meaningless version of reality that doesn’t have you in it, then you don’t know a damn thing about me.

“You can’t give up now,” I say, shaking, needing him to open his eyes and make one of those insufferable comments about how I’m overreacting and messing up every thought-out plan of his. “You promised me forever.”

I grasp his frozen hands, squeezing as if I can transfer my warmth—my life—back into him.

But they remain cold and unyielding, like marble beneath my touch.

His pulse is weak. Fading. Barely there.

And then?

It’s gone.

Just... gone.

Like it was never there at all.

“No—” The word wrenches from me in a ragged sob, and I press my fingers harder against his throat, his wrist, and his chest, desperate to force life back into him.

“You don’t get to decide that you love me more than your own life,” I choke out, barely able to breathe. “You’re supposed to be here. You’re supposed to catch me when I fall. How are you supposed to do that if you’re gone?”

The Tides are silent.

But I won’t accept this. I won’t let him go. I won’t let this be our end.

And then, Riven’s final words cut through my mind.

If love is destruction, then let it destroy me. At least this way, I’ll be part of you forever.

His blood is inside me. His life. The essence of everything he is.

I just have to give it back.

My hands tremble as I clutch his shirt, my nails digging into the ice-laced fabric. His lips—the ones that should be smirking, teasing, or kissing me with that irresistible arrogance of his—are parted just slightly, like he was whispering my name with his last breath.

“I love you,” I whisper, my tears falling onto his cheeks and mingling with the blood staining his skin. “I can’t lose you. Not when I just got you back.”

My hands move to his face, my magic crackling at my fingertips.

“You told me you’ll be part of me forever,” I say, and since he always enjoys a good challenge, I add, “So if you love me as much as you claim, prove it. Come back to me. Don’t give up on us when we were only just getting started.”

With that, I call on every last ounce of magic inside me. More, and more, and more, until it bursts from my skin like liquid starlight.

The world trembles, my power raging, searing with determination.

And then—I kiss him.

Hard. Desperate. Bruising.

I pour everything into it. My love, my rage, and my refusal to accept his sacrifice. I kiss him like I can force life back into him through sheer willpower. Like I can bind his soul to mine so tightly that the universe won’t be able to tear us apart.

And then, I reach for that place between worlds where my consciousness can separate from my body.

But this time, I don’t project outward.

I project into him.

Not just my consciousness. Not just my thoughts. I send my soul into his body, shoving it inside him with every ounce of resolve I have left.

It’s agony and ecstasy. A supernova collapsing inward, tearing me apart and weaving me back together inside him. Power burns through my veins, threads of golden light weaving through his heart, his lungs, and his magic.

The Tides shriek in protest.

They want to take him back. They want to take me back.

But I won’t let them. Because his blood is in me. And now, I’m dissolving into him, seeping into his heart like water in cracked ice. I’m filling every hollow space and every frozen void, until all that remains is us.

Live, I think, kissing him harder, sending spirals of magic through his soul as if I can bind every broken, shattered piece of it together.

Then, the universe snaps.

It’s like a lock is clicking into place. Like the cosmos have rewritten their laws to make room for us.

And finally, miraculously…

His heart beats.