Page 23 of Burning Star

We’re fused now.

Bound in a way that no force—not dryads, not gods, and not even death itself—can ever erase.

SAPPHIRE

My left palm tingles.

And then, Riven gasps—a sudden, desperate inhalation that makes his body arch before he collapses back onto the cosmic sand.

His eyes flutter open, unfocused and dazed. His chest rises and falls with renewed life, and the frost that was claiming his body flows back into his fingertips, as if it belongs to him again instead of him belonging toit.

Relief crashes through me, followed by something hot, furious, and unstoppable.

“You reckless, self-sacrificingidiot!”I punch his chest, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make him feel the sting of my anger. “How could you do that? You just laid there anddiedon me?! You let me…”

I can’t say the words. It’s too much. Too painful.

Riven blinks up at me, too weak to respond, although his lips twitch slightly.

“You’re crying,” he finally manages. “Over me.”

My hands shake as I grab his shirt, pulling him closer. “How dare you?” I continue, still trying to wrap my mind around what just happened. “You can’t just—you don’t get to just?—”

My voice cracks, and water magic explodes around us, droplets hovering in the air like tiny stars.

Riven’s just staring at me, his silver eyes wide with wonder. There’s something different about them now—a depth that wasn’t there before. It’s like he’s seeing me—allof me—for the first time.

And then, impossibly, he smirks.

“This is what you signed up for when you married me,” he says, tracing a finger along my tear-soaked cheek. “And you’re incredibly beautiful when you’re crying over me after magically tackling your soul into my body.”

I sit up quickly, startled and flustered, torn between wanting to slap him and kiss him senseless. “That’s not funny,” I snap, voice shaking. “You were dead, Riven. Your heart stopped. If I hadn’t?—”

I can’t finish the sentence. Because what did I do, exactly?

His smirk dissolves into quiet sincerity as he pushes himself upright.

“I felt you,” he says softly, his eyes holding mine. “All of you. Every memory. Every moment. You brought them back.”

My breath catches, and then his hand is finding my left one, turning my palm upward and tracing familiar letters across my skin.

I.

He pauses, his eyes locked on mine, making sure I’m paying attention.

When I don’t pull away, he continues.

L. O. V. E.

My heart stutters, my magic swirling inside me, entwined with something that feels like Riven’s heartbeat.

Y. O. U.

The final letter undoes me completely, and then I’m taking his left hand, turning it over, and tracing those eight letters in return.

As I finish, memories stolen by curses and heartbreak rush back in a flood, returned in vibrant clarity.

The ocean holding us, Riven’s forehead pressed against mine, his fingertip spelling out our truths beneath the waves. The devastating ache knowing we’d forget all of it when we surfaced.

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