Page 13 of Burning Star

So, I kneel beside him until my lips brush his ear. “I’m still here,” I whisper, brushing a stray strand of dark, blood-soaked hair from his forehead. “I need you to trust me. Don’t leave me. Hold on a little longer.”

“I will,” he says, and he grips my body tighter, his breathing uneven, as if each inhale is costing him something precious.

“I love you,” I whisper again, because if I don’t make it back, I need those to be the last words I say to him.

“I love you, too,” he replies, his eyes fluttering closed, looking more at peace than he has in days. “Always.”

My heart breaks as I look down at him. But time is of the essence, so I push myself up and turn to Cetus.

The monster lies broken on the sand, his body torn apart, blood dripping onto the cosmic ocean floor. But even with his own end written into the stars, his glowing eyes burn into mine as I move toward him.

Every step feels like walking through a backward current. It’s like the Cosmic Tides are dragging at me, pulling me deeper, trying to keep me here. But I force myself forward, because if I stop now—if I let go—Riven and I will die. Just like the vision said we would.

When I reach Cetus, I unsheathe my dagger—a perfect astral replica of the one strapped to my physical body.

But I can’t strike him yet. First, I need to verify that my theory is correct.

You cannot escape fate,he hisses, but my only response is to drag the blade across one of his cheeks, deep enough to draw blood.

No matching wound appears on Riven.

“It worked,” I breathe, relief flooding through me.

Because Cetus connected ourphysicalbodies.Which means when my projection attacks Cetus, the damage doesn’t transfer to Riven.

Cetus’s first attack happened too quickly for me to think through it, and now that I’m next to him in my astral form, I curse myself for not seeing it sooner.

But all I can do is move forward.

So, I raise my dagger for the final blow.

You think killing me will change your fate?The words materialize inside my head.It won’t. You’ll still destroy him. If not today, then in the future.

My breath shakes. My projection wavers. The memories of every wound Riven and I have inflicted on each other—every scar, every betrayal, and every moment of love turned to ruin—flash through my mind.

You will always destroy each other,Cetus continues, his voice a dark, seductive whisper.Even the stars can’t escape their own collapse.

“Go to hell,” I snarl, raising my dagger and plunging it into his heart.

Light erupts from the wound, blinding and brilliant, spreading through him in fractured lines until his entire body glows from within.

Then, he shatters. Not into pieces, but into stardust that rains into a pile of sparkling light on the ocean floor.

In the silence that follows, I turn to where Riven and I are lying together on the sand.

Color is returning to his face, his wounds knitting together as his supernatural healing returns.

It worked.

So, I go to snap back into my body, reaching for the pull that guides me home.

But something’s wrong. The connection is stretched thin, distorted by the unnatural physics of the Tides.

Stay with us.

The whisper isn’t from Cetus. It’s the Tides again, their collective consciousness reaching for me with hungry tendrils.

You belong here, Star Touched. Stay.

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