Page 3 of Frozen Star
Sophia was there,I remember, but even though I know it distressed me to see her there, I can’tfeelthat distress anymore. Like all my memories from before, it’s hazy. As if it happened to someone else and not to me.
But not all my memories are hazy. Because the ones I shared with Aerix… they’re returning stronger than ever.
I remember standing defiant in that bunker, dagger in hand, determined to kill him for taking me from Sapphire and Riven. The way his eyes widened with surprise—not fear—when I pointed the tip of the blade at him and lunged at him. How easily he disarmed me. The first time he kissed me, and how I fought against the desire that consumed me. The fountain, where I drank his blood in front of the entire court. Him using the same dagger I tried to kill him with to carve his name into my hip, claiming me in the most intimate way possible.
I pull away from him slightly, just enough to let my hand drift to where his name is raised on my skin. Like he promised, it stayed through the transformation.
In a heartbeat, he’s leaning down, kissing the scar. And when he does… my entire body comes alive. The touch of his lips against my skin sends electricity racing through me, and the airaround us stirs in response, swirling in patterns that mirror the frost spiraling across his skin.
I gasp, tangling my fingers in his hair, needing him closer. The hunger is still there, scorching my throat, but for this brief, intoxicating moment, desire overtakes it, hot and all-consuming.
He doesn’t give in to me. Instead, he pulls away, his cool fingers gently untangling mine from his hair.
My frustration spikes, and I huff out a breath. “Why are you stopping?”
He chuckles, amused by my obvious impatience. “Because,” he says, those silver specks in his eyes sparkling as he traces a finger along my hip, sending another shockwave of pleasure through my veins, “I brought you something to help with the hunger.”
“What, a snack?” I try to joke, but the desperate edge in my voice betrays me.
“No.” He laughs softly. “I brought you something better. Something I created specifically for you, that you’ll cherish for all eternity.”
ZOEY
Before I can askany more questions, Aerix reaches for the nightstand and picks up something wrapped in black velvet. Slowly and deliberately, he opens it, revealing a delicate silver necklace inside. A small heart-shaped pendant hangs from the chain, catching the candlelight with a soft, mesmerizing gleam.
“Jewelry?” I arch a brow, forcing a teasing smile despite the persistent ache of hunger clawing at my throat. “It’s beautiful… but how does it help the fact that I’mstarving?”
He chuckles again, softer this time, the sound rippling down my spine as he leans in to clasp the chain around my neck. The pendant settles perfectly above my heart, warm against my skin, comforting in a way I can’t explain.
“It’s not just jewelry,” he murmurs, his breath cool and intoxicating across my ear. “My blood is inside it. With this, even when we’re apart, part of me will always remain close to you.”
“You put your blood in this?” Emotion thickens my voice as my fingertips brush the pendant, a subtle pulse echoing through it.
“Yes.” He cups my face, tipping my chin up to meet his gaze. “Because my heart is yours, Zoey. And I never want you to forget that.”
Exhaling shakily, I press the pendant against my chest. “I won’t,” I tell him, meaning it with every fiber of my being.
His thumb brushes across my lips, his eyes burning with a mixture of devotion and anguish. “I’ll return tomorrow night,” he says. “Until then, no jumping off any tower roofs, understood?”
“No promises,” I tease, smiling slightly. “Although, if you stayed here beside me, you’d have a foolproof guarantee that I wouldn’t leave this bed.”
His expression hardens, seriousness replacing the playfulness as he reaches out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Zoey,” he warns, sharper now, more urgent. “You know the rules. You’re safe here, and we’ll see each other once a day, when you feed. I know it’s not enough, and I don’t want to leave you here, but I have to. It’s how you’ll prove your strength and worthiness to the court so they’ll accept you. And theywillaccept you. We’ve worked too hard to get to this point to give them a reason to fight what we’ve become.”
His gaze pierces mine, tension etched into every line of his face. His breaths slow to careful, controlled measures, his wings flare slightly, and his body coils tighter, as though bracing for an impact he’s terrified is coming. He’s standing on the brink, waiting desperately, afraid I won’t say the words he needs to hear.
“I love you,” I tell him, leaning into his hand against my cheek. “I might have physically changed, but that never will. I willalwayslove you.”
His shoulders ease, the tight line of his jaw softens, and his lips find mine in a kiss that tastes more like salvation than desire.
“I love you, too. And if you’re not waiting for me here each day when I come for you…” His voice fractures, and his wings twitch, but still, he continues, “It will break me entirely.”
The weight of his words settles into my bones, sharp and aching, and I tighten my fingers around the pendant, feeling the steady pulse of his blood beneath my fingertips.
“I’ll pass their test,” I promise. “There’s only one way I’m leaving this tower, and that’s in one month, with you.”
He nods once, his eyes burning into mine for one last, intense moment before he rises from the bed. Each step he takes toward the door is painstakingly slow, every movement an obvious battle against his instinct to stay.
At the threshold, he pauses, touching the wall next to the door. His fingers trace the stone, leaving delicate frost patterns in their wake—not because he doubts me, I realize, but because walking away from me is harder than he expected.
