Page 82 of Midnight Star

Riven’s hand squeezes mine, and I look at him one more time, memorizing the planes of his face and the silver storm in his eyes. Because even though I’m about to risk everything, I want to know for certain that he’ll remain by my side, no matter what.

He gives me a small, encouraging nod.

Eros sighs impatiently. “I can always shoot him with the lead instead,” he says, glancing at Riven.

Riven’s focus, however, remains on me.

“Didn’t you take a hit for me once before?” he asks,looking so deeply into my eyes that it’s like he’s speaking to my soul. “Isn’t that how we escaped the shadows? Did you not bleed for me, from your shoulder to your heart, and say you’d do it a hundred times more? Because I might have bargained away my love for you, but I kept my memories. Which means I remember that night as well as you do. And despite everything, the words spoken then remain true. So, if you remember saying you’d take a hundred hits for me, I want you to prove it by taking this one arrow now. Make the right choice, and we’ll beat the odds and get through this—together.”

Each word falls into place as I string together each sentence, making sense of exactly what he’s asking of me.

Taking a hit.

Bleeding from the shoulder to the heart.

Swearing to do it a hundred times more.

And then, the challenge—the truth of what he’s asking. Of what he’s promising to do with me.

Prove that I remember saying all those things by taking the golden arrow now.

We’ll beat the odds and get through this together.

The smallest flicker of understanding passes between us, so subtle that if I wasn’t watching for it, I would have missed it. The barely-there shift in his expression, the way his fingers tighten ever so slightly around mine.

It lasts less than a heartbeat, but it’s enough.

“I understand,” I tell him. “And it’s what I want, too.”

Because right now, my love for Riven is strong, but it’s mine. It’sreal.If Eros shoots me with that arrow, it won’t be mine anymore. It will be a curse, consuming me from the inside out until there’s nothing left but ashes. And I don’t want to become a hollow shell of devotion, incapable of feeling anything other than my love for Riven. I don’t want to lose Zoey, my family, my mission, my sense of self—mypurpose.

I’m more than my love for Riven. I’m more than a choice between his hate and my ruin.

I’m star touched. Chosen by a goddess to help save the world.

And I’m not going to let this power-hungry god reduce me to nothing.

Sapphire

“Are you ready?”Riven asks me.

The wind around us stills and the water recedes into the stream as I draw on their strength for what’s going to happen next.

“I’m ready,” I tell him.

“Good. But I don’t want to be touching you when it happens,” he says, untangling his fingers from mine. “It would only make it harder for both of us.”

I give him the smallest nod—understanding why having our hands tied would be far from the most strategic move. Then, I turn back to face Eros, keeping my heartbeat steady even as adrenaline hums beneath my skin.

“Let’s get this over with,” I say, both to Eros and to Riven, bracing myself for what’s going to happen next.

“Finally,” Eros says, and he raises the bow, the bright magic flaring like sparklers from its end, and then…

He lets go.

The golden arrow slices through the air, a dazzling storm of undying love hurtling toward me.

I go from stillness to pure motion, my air magic propelling me forward, nearly flying me to the stream. The closer I can get to the water, the better.

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