Page 70 of Midnight Star

“Don’t.” I jerk away, wrapping my arms around myself.

“I know you’re angry,” he says, the pain in his voice making my chest ache. “You have every right to be. But I promised I’ll fall in love with you again, and I meant it. Now, I’m promising you something more—I’ll win your heart back, too.”

A bitter laugh escapes me.

“You won’t care about winning my heart back in a few minutes,” I remind him. “You won’t remember what it feels like to love me at all.”

“You’re wrong.” He moves closer, the electricity buzzing between us making it impossible to breathe. “I might forget how I feel, but I’ll remember every moment we’ve shared. And when we make new moments—when I see you fight for what you believe in, or when I catch you smiling at something as simple as the way the starlight hits the water—I’ll feel it again.”

I look away, because if I hold his gaze for any longer, I might break completely.

This isn’t anger anymore. Because when he used my gratitude against me, it became something deeper. Something fractured.

But he forces me to look at him again, and the agony twisting in his eyes is so intense that I want to kiss him and make this entire nightmare magically disappear.

“You were dying,” he says, softer now. “Your heart was about to freeze.”

Those final words are all I need to put it together.

Your heart was about to freeze.

That’s what happened to his mother.

She died from a frozen heart.

He couldn’t stop the ice from killing her. But he could stop it from killing me.

It doesn’t make his decision to control me any better, but his reaction makes more sense now. And if these are the last minutes we’re going to spend together while he still loves me, I don’t want to spend them fighting.

“I understand,” I finally say, and just like that, the tension between us vanishes. “But I’m never going to say those words to you ever again.”

“Which words?” he asks, his half smile showing that while he’s trying to tease me—to bring back our typical banter—his heart isn’t in it.

“Well, obviously I’m going to keep telling you that I love you,” I say. “As for those other two? Consider me officially educated.”

His half-smile falters, and he reaches for me again, slower this time.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he says, and jagged shards of ice erupt from the ground around us, as if his magic is demonstrating the depth of his intent. “I swear it.”

“I know.” I force a smile, even though everything inside me is unraveling. “And I hope you’re prepared. Because I’m not going to make it easy for you to forget why you love me.”

His eyes darken, as if my challenge is both dangerous and irresistible. “You never make anything easy,” he murmurs.

I arch a brow. “You wouldn’t want me to.”

“No. Because I expect you to make itimpossiblefor me to forget why I love you,” he says, and I memorize those words, ready to cling to them like a lifeline.

“This is all very touching,” Chryserra interrupts,pushing away from her tree. “But I’m tired of waiting. We’ve all agreed that you’ll give me the love you feel for the star touched in exchange for the sap in my tree, and that we’ll seal the deal with a kiss. Now, let’s proceed.”

Sapphire

Riven’s gazedoesn’t move from mine.

“I love you,” he says, and while those words should make me feel whole, my heart feels like it’s being ripped from my chest from knowing he might be saying it for the last time.

Then, he straightens, his expression hardening as he turns to Chryserra.

“Let’s finish this,” he says, and when he steps over the ice shards surrounding us and walks to her, I can already feel the knife twisting deeper into my chest—an echo of the pain I’m going to experience soon.

---