Page 45 of Burning Star

Victoria’s smile is cold and knowing.

“We’ll see,” she says, and she turns to leave, pausing at the door to her bedroom. “Just remember that no matter how special you think you are—no matter what promises he made—you’re still human. And in this court, that’s all that ever matters.”

With those final words, she disappears into her room, the door closing firmly behind her.

Sophia lingers, her chin quivering.

“She’s just scared,” she says after a moment. “We all are.”

“I know,” I reply softly. “But she doesn’t have to be. Not of me.”

“It’s not you she’s afraid of,” Sophia says, although her eyes say otherwise. “It’s what your relationship with Aerix means for the rest of us. The uncertainty. The possibility that he’ll send us to the barns if he decides he never wants us again, because all he wants isyou.”

I nod, taking in her words, understanding where they’re coming from.

“I meant what I said,” I assure her. “And I’ll protect you both. I promise.”

After all, Aerix can’t feed only on me without eventually killing me, like the queen almost did to Matt. He needs Sophia and Victoria. And I don’t particularly want him taking other pets. Because at least with Sophia and Victoria, I know what I’m dealing with. I know how to keep them in line. I know how to keep themcontrolled.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she says sadly, and then she makes her way out of the suite, leaving me alone in the common area.

I sink onto the couch and run my fingers over the place on my dress where Aerix’s name is engraved underneath it, on my skin.

Victoria’s wrong.

Because I love Aerix. And he loves me.

The two of us belong to each other.

And nothing in this world will ever take me away from him.

SAPPHIRE

The spectral shipglides across the ocean, its sails blowing in the wind, not needing my and Riven’s magic to direct it. Because the ship knows. It senses our intertwined fates, as if it can feel the echo of every promise we’ve broken and remade.

It knows we’re looking for Ghost, and hopefully, it will bring us to him.

Riven’s been on edge for the entire trip, closed off to me again. He stands near the rail with his shoulders locked, his gaze fixed on the horizon, as if daring anything—man or monster—to stop us from finding Ghost.

But now, I’m not hurt by it. I don’t worry that he’s retreating inside himself because he doesn’t care about me, or because he was using me to escape the Tides. Because my soul beats in time with his. I canfeelthe love projecting from him, even though he’s lost in his worries about his snow leopard familiar.

So, I move to him, grab his hand, and squeeze it.

His skin is cold, but the frost melts slightly at my touch. And when his stormy eyes meet mine, some of the hardness melts away.

“He’s going to be okay,” I say softly.

He exhales, his thumb brushing my knuckles. “He has to be. Because Ghost isn’t just my familiar. He’s the part of me that knows how to survive, no matter how dark things get,” he says, and when the final word escapes his lips, the ship slows, coming to a stop.

There’s… nothing.

No land in sight. No cosmic whirlpool sucking us into the ocean’s depths. No full moon opening to let a waterfall rush out of the sky. There’s only dark ocean water, as far as the eye can see.

Then, the sea shudders and parts, a massive building rising from its depths.

Riven’s arm moves around my shoulders as we gaze out at spires of ice shimmering under the stars, sharp yet delicate, wrapped in emerald vines that glow in the moonlight. Waterfalls pour from terraces high above, freezing mid-fall into sculptures that defy nature—flowing and frozen, beautiful and dangerous.

It’s not cold or harsh like the Winter Court. It’s not wild and overgrown like the Summer Court. It’s a perfect balance of ice and bloom, frost and sun.

---