Page 16 of Frozen Star (Star Touched: Fae Bound #7)

I can’t focus on what Aerix is saying. My eyes are too busy scanning the Winter Court’s seemingly endless army lines as more and more of them crest the hill, my stomach sinking further when I see who’s leading the charge.

Long, white-blonde hair, next to a dark-haired prince, with a snow leopard and cheetah flanking their sides.

Sapphire. Riven. Ghost. I don’t know the cheetah’s name, but judging by how close it stands to Sapphire, they’re clearly connected.

My breath freezes, my lungs tightening as I watch my best friend and the Winter Prince fighting side by side.

The Night Court guards charge at them, but Sapphire and Riven don’t hesitate. Their magic lashes out, water and ice merging in deadly harmony, cutting through their enemies like a scythe. They move so fast it’s nearly impossible to see them.

Aerix places his hands on my shoulders, also gazing out at Sapphire and Riven.

“They’re part of your past,” he says. “You’re not that human girl anymore.

You’re my consort. You’re carrying my child.

” His grip on me tightens. “They’re waging war on our court, Zoey.

Whatever friendship you had with her is over. ”

My chest aches as I look out at them. Sapphire—my best friend, the one who stood by me through everything.

I think back to the moment I encouraged her to approach Riven at the bar.

How excited I was for her, how I wanted her to find love and happiness with someone who wasn’t Matt.

I remember the Winter Court—sitting in that freezing cell, huddled together for warmth, certain we were going to die.

How Sapphire held my hand when I was terrified, how we whispered plans for escape and learned as much as we could about her projection magic.

The lake trial, watching her nearly drown in those black waters, my heart stopping when I thought she was gone forever.

And lastly, Sapphire screaming my name as Aerix carried me away, reaching for me with desperate hands, helpless to bring me back.

It feels distant. Hazy. Like memories from someone else’s life, filtered through years instead of months.

That girl from Presque Isle who worried about college applications and would have done anything for her best friend—she’s gone.

She died the night Aerix’s fangs pierced my neck and released his venom into my veins.

Now, Sapphire’s raising a glowing disc above her head. Riven’s sword gleams with deadly intent. They cut through the lines of Night Court guards without hesitation, without mercy, and with no attempt to spare anyone.

If Sapphire saw me standing here with Aerix, with his child growing inside me, she might not hesitate to kill me, either.

Aerix moves around to face me, his hands shaking as they reach for mine, that wild edge creeping back into his eyes.

“Say something,” he insists, more of a command than a plea.

Slowly, I lift my hand to touch his jaw, my fingertips brushing the sharp line of his cheekbone, and he leans into my touch.

“I love you, Aerix,” I tell him again—I’ll tell him a million times if that’s what it takes for him to believe me. “I choose you. Because you and this baby are the only things that matter to me anymore.”

He pulls me against him, his body trembling as he buries his face in my hair. His wings curl protectively around us, shadows blotting out the chaos unfolding below, as if he’s creating a cage that’s impossible to penetrate.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he promises. “It’s you and me until the end.”

My blood runs cold at how final his words sound. So, I pull back enough to see his face again, searching his eyes for a trace of hope that after seeing the size of their army, he still thinks they won’t be able to get to us here.

I find none.

“Can you fly us out of here?” My gaze darts to the edge of the tower’s roof and the sprawling battlefield below.

He closes his eyes, pain flickering across his face before he opens them again. “My wings can carry me short distances. Maybe a few miles, but not past the borders. Not far enough.”

Reality hits me like ice water in my veins.

There are too many of them. We’re trapped.

I look around the tower roof—at the view stretching out over what might be my grave.

This is the place where I learned to paint with vampire precision, where I discovered music flowed through my fingers like magic, where the wind started to obey my command, and where Aerix showered me with gifts and promises of forever.

It’s where I tasted human blood for the first time.

Where I was turned into a vampire and found out I was carrying Aerix’s child.

It might be the last place I ever see.

“We could die here,” I say, the words barely a whisper.

“Then we die together.” His hands frame my face, his thumbs tracing my cheekbones like I’m his salvation in a world set to destroy us. “If this is the end, I’ll have you with me until the final moment.”

My chest tightens as I stare at this beautiful, terrifying prince who remade me in his image, who promised me eternity and power and love beyond measure. He created me, but I never had the chance to exit this tower and be reborn.

What good is immortality if it ends before it truly begins?

“I’m scared,” I whisper, feeling more vulnerable than I have since coming to the Night Court.

“Don’t be.” He presses his forehead against mine, his wings blocking out the light of the rising sun. “Whatever comes next, you won’t face it alone. I’m here with you, always, until the very end.”

As he speaks, I see his fear reflected in those normally deadly midnight eyes.

Because for all his centuries, for all his power, my Night Prince is just as trapped as I am.

And somewhere below, my former best friend is cutting through his people like they’re nothing, alongside the Winter Prince who was in love with her from the moment he saw her.

She didn’t see it, but I did. The second he walked into that bar, I knew his heart would always belong to her.

Just like how mine will always belong to Aerix.

The wind picks up around us, carrying the smell of blood from the battlefield below. Aerix’s hands are trembling against my face, like he’s trying to memorize the shape of it, and there’s something in his expression that makes my stomach clench with dread.

“There’s something else,” he says, his voice so soft I almost don’t hear it over the chaos. “Something I never told you.”

I frown, searching his eyes, those silver flecks sparkling even more now that the sun is almost finished rising. “What do you mean?”

His wings shift restlessly behind him. “The truth,” he says, and there’s a weight to his words, like he’s been carrying this secret for too long and it’s finally breaking him open. “About why I really saved you.”

My heart stutters. “I know why you saved me. It was because I look like Kallista. Because I reminded you of her.”

“No.” The word comes out sharp and desperate. “That was never the reason, Zoey. It was never about her.”

The world seems to tilt beneath my feet. “Then why?—”

“It was because I saw him with Sapphire,” he says, his voice gaining urgency, like the words are pouring out of him against his will. “The two of you are sisters. And since the gods gave him Sapphire… it means they also gave me you.”