SAPPHIRE
After our closecall with the shadow people, Riven, Ghost, and I continue following the stars until the sun begins to rise and forces us to stop.
We build another igloo, our magic working in harmony. The synch between us feels deeper than before—maybe because I’m not keeping a giant secret from him anymore, or because we’ve moved past his anger about my vampire side, or even because fighting a common enemy has a way of bringing people closer together.
Either way, when we settle into the igloo and he pulls me into his arms, there’s no hesitation. No walls between us. Just the kind of raw connection that makes me focus on the present moment and forget everything else.
But as I’ve been learning since falling into this realm, peace never lasts.
Not even in my dreams.
I wake before sunset with a gasp, my heart pounding, my body tense.
It takes me a moment to remember where I am—curled against Riven, his arm draped protectively over me, his breathing steady.
His eyes snap open the moment I move. “What’s wrong?” he asks, immediately alert.
“I saw her again,” I tell him. “The woman from the forest. She was in my dream.”
“What did she say?”
Like the last time, the words remain clear in my mind, even as the rest of the dream fades.
“To claim the wisdom shining far, you must journey to the Midnight Star,” I repeat, watching him closely, hoping it’ll make more sense to him than it does to me.
Instead, his brows draw together, making him look as confused as I feel.
“First, she told you that your soul must rise to claim your sight. And now this, about journeying to the Midnight Star.” His fingers absently trace patterns of frost on the ground between us, as if magic might hold the answers. “There has to be a connection.”
I nod, wrapping my arms around myself. “It feels like she’s trying to guide me—or warn me.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” He snaps back to it, looking as determined as ever. “Let’s pack up and keep moving.”
We journey through the darkening forest, following the stars’ increasingly urgent song. My connection to them is stronger with each passing hour, as if we’re getting closer to something important. Something ancient.
Ghost’s pace quickens, as if he senses it, too.
“You’re quiet,” Riven eventually says over his shoulder.
“I’m thinking,” I reply. “About her. About what this all means.”
His posture stiffens slightly—a tell I’ve come to recognize. He’s thinking, too. Likely weighing every angle and every possible trap this riddle might spring.
Then, when the stars are singing so loudly that I’m almost drowning in the intensity of it all, the forest thins out.
“There,” I say, pointing to the clearing ahead.
Riven coaxes Ghost to a stop, and we slide off his back together. The moment my feet touch the ground, I feel it—a thrumming of magic that makes my skin tingle.
“Do you feel that?” I ask Riven.
“It’s magic,” he says what I already knew, scanning the area. “Powerful magic. Stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.”
“It’s her. The ancient woman,” I say without a doubt. “We made it.”
He takes my hand in his, and his touch is a promise—one that settles the storm brewing in my chest.
There are no words to express the way I’m feeling for him in this moment. So, I rise onto my toes and press my lips to his in a soft, unhurried kiss that carries the weight of everything unsaid.
