Page 51 of Golden Star

“I might not know much about this magical, wintry world of yours,” I tell him, holding his gaze, unwilling to back down. “But I work at a bar. People act like bartenders are invisible—like we’re part of the furniture. They say things they think we won’t catch, and they do things when they assume no one’s watching. But I see everything, Riven. I hear every word, notice every glance. I know more about the way people move through the world than they’d ever know or guess.”

“You think listening to drunkards confess their sins at a bar makes you some kind of expert on the fae?” He smirks, apparently unmoved by my little speech.

“I think I deserve more credit than you think.”

“And I think that if I was heartless, I would have let my father kill you on the spot,” he says. “I wouldn’t have fetched your treasured little bracelet for you. And I certainly wouldn’t have kept your secret about that trick you pulled to break into my quarters.”

“What are you trying to say?” I ask, on guard for any word trickery he might be trying to use on me. “That you created these twisted trials to keep me alive?”

“Yes.” He nods, as if I’m finally getting somewhere. “I created these trials to keep you alive.”

“Oh,” I say, since given that he can’t lie, he’s telling the truth. Which means it’s time to switch gears. “So, tell me, Winter Prince. Whyareyou trying to keep me alive?”

Sapphire

Riven’s eyes darken,the playful smirk fading into something far more serious.

“I need you alive because you’re useful to me,” he says simply.

“You mean mymagicis useful to you,” I tell him. “Not me.”

“You and your magic are one and the same. I want your magic, so therefore, I want you.”

His eyes burn in a way that reminds me he wants far more from me than that, and my pulse quickens, betraying the anger I’m trying to hold onto.

“You’re blackmailing me,” I realize.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” He steps closer, his breath chilling the air between us. “There’s power in being useful, Sapphire. Power you’ve barely begun tounderstand. And I think you’re smart enough to know when survival means playing along.”

He dangles the bracelet between us, and it moves back and forth like a pendulum, as if he’s trying to hypnotize me with it to make me believe he’s on my side.

“How far along are you asking me to play?” I ask, memories of last night flashing through my mind. Of the way he kissed me and backed me up to the bed as he offered his help, and how much a part of me wanted to give in.

The same part of me that wants to give in right now.

“I suppose that depends on how far you’re willing to go.” His eyes flare with that dangerous heat, studying me as if he can read every wicked thought running through my mind.

Every nerve in my body is alive. The air in the tent buzzes with tension, the magnetic pull that’s existed between us since the moment we locked eyes at that bar as strong as ever.

I hate how my body responds to him. How his proximity sends fire racing through my veins.

Mostly, I hate that I want him, despite knowing I shouldn’t.

“You’re sick.” I take another step back, the cold wall of the tent pressing into me, trapping me.

“Maybe.” He plays with my bracelet, toying with it,just like he’s trying to toy with me. “But you enjoy it. You wouldn’t still be in here with me if you didn’t. You’d use your little teleporting trick and disappear, like you did in my quarters.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m still here because I’d never leave Zoey alone with you and your knights,” I say, leaving out the fact that if I projected myself outside this tent, my body would remain in here, helpless to whatever this cold, heartless prince wanted to do to it.

The thought makes me shudder all the way to my bones.

If he doesn’t know about that little vulnerability of mine, then I’m keeping it from him. At least for now, given that it’s notusefulto me for him to know.

“I rather enjoy flattering myself,” he says proudly. “And I’d like to take this moment to remind you that your human friend is also still alive because of me.”

“Because you want to use her to blackmail me into doing what you want, too,” I say, having no doubt that it’s true.

“Now you’re getting the hang of how things work around here.” He smiles in satisfaction, and I clench my fists, wanting to claw his stupidly seductive silver eyes out. “Now—let’s move on to the important stuff. Because if you go into this thinking you’ll die, you won’t give yourself a fair shot at living. I’ve seen it too many times. It’s not your lack of training that will kill you—it’s yourmind. And from what I’ve seen of your mind during our… stimulating moments together, it’s very, very easy to distract.”

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