“Yes,” Riven says without hesitation, and my heart skips at how quickly and firmly he answers.
“And you, Star Touched?” Her gaze shifts to me. “Do you love him in return?”
“With all my heart,” I say softly.
“Fascinating.” She moves closer to Riven, studying him like he’s some rare specimen. “Your kind are carved from ice, your hearts as frozen as your magic. And yet, you love a summer fae.”
“You know nothing about my heart,” Riven says, and there’s an edge to his voice that makes my breath catch.
“Then enlighten me,” she challenges. “Tell me what she means to you. Prove that what you feel for her is real.”
I expect Riven to bristle at the command—to respond with his usual icy control.
Instead, his voice fills with a passion that takes my breath away.
“She’s everything,” he says. “From the moment she fell into my realm, she’s challenged everything I thought I knew about myself, and about what I’m capable of feeling.” His gaze finds mine, burning with fiery emotion. “She makes me want to be better, to be worthy of her trust and her love. She’s the warmth in my eternal winter, the light in my darkness. Every wall I built,every piece of ice I wrapped around my heart to keep the world out—she shattered it all.”
I stare at him, stunned. I knew he loved me, but this...
“And if I told you that obtaining my sap would cost her life?” the dryad asks.
“I would watch my entire court crumble before I’d let any harm come to her,” he says without pause.
“You don’t mean that,” I say, unable to fully process the weight of his words.
“I assure you that I do.” He focuses on me so intensely that the rest of the world falls away. “You’re touched by a goddess, Sapphire. But you’re more than that. You’re the only person who’s ever seen me—not the prince, not the ice-wielding fae—just me. And you didn’t run. You stayed. Even when I tried to push you away, you stayed. I didn’t think I was capable of love until you proved me wrong.”
My heart pounds, his words wrapping around me like a storm I can’t escape—one that I don’twantto escape. All I can do is feel the raw, concentrated truth of his love pouring over me like a wave.
“Riven,” I say, wanting to show him my heart as much as he’s showing me his. “I came back to this realm because if I never saw you again, I’d regret it for the rest of my life. And then, in that cave, I saw you. Not the prince, not the warrior, and not the heir to a frozen kingdom. I saw therealyou. Now, you’re the only person who’s ever made me feel like I belong. With you, I don’t have to question whether I’m enough. You’ve taught me that I’m more than what fate carved me into. And I couldn’t walk away, even if I tried.”
“Promise me you’ll never try,” he says, his voice so full of emotion that it leaves me breathless.
“I promise,” I say, desperate to break out of this rooted cage and reach out to him. To hold him. To anchor myself in the storm of everything we’ve just laid bare.
But before I can try, Chryserra’s voice cuts through the air like a knife.
“How sweet,” she says, and the roots around Riven and me shift again, tightening just enough to remind us of her control. “Such pure, powerful love. A love so strong it defies the nature of a winter fae.” She reaches out as if to touch Riven’s face, but stops just short. “I want to feel it.”
My stomach drops. “What do you mean?”
“A trade,” she says, smiling at me in a way that makes dread curl through my body. “I’ll give you the sap you need, in exchange for the love he feels for you.”
