Page 52 of Golden Star

I narrow my eyes, fighting the heat rushing through my body at his words. “I’m not letting thisstimulatingmoment distract me now, am I?” I challenge.

“You absolutely are.” He takes another step forward, closing the distance between us with a predator’s grace. “You’re trying so hard to resist, but we both know you can’t deny what’s simmering beneath the surface. Neither of us can.”

Rage burns inside me so much that I swear the ice wall around us is starting to melt.

His arrogance isunbearable.

“What’s fun is watching you think you’ve got me all figured out,” I tell him, trying to ignore the way my heart flutters at his implication that he can’t deny the insane pull between us, either. “But you don’t. And that’s going to cost you later. I swear it.”

I’m barely finished speaking when his hand snakes around my waist, pulling me flush against him. “One kiss,” he murmurs, as if he didn’t even hear my threat. “To remind me why I’m working so hard to keep you alive.”

His scent—winter and something darker, more intoxicating—clouds my senses. Temptation crashes over me, overwhelming me with the need to lean in and let thepull between us ignite into flames so hot that they’ll melt down the entire tent.

But I spent the last few years of my life being controlled by Matt. And I’m sure as hell not going to let this seductive winter prince control me now.

“No,” I say, and I shove against his chest with more force than I thought possible, making him stumble back.

The surprise in his eyes is quickly replaced by that smoldering arrogance I’ve come to hate, but there’s something else there now. Something darker. Sharper. More threatening.

“You play a dangerous game,” he warns.

“I’m not playing at anything.” My pulse hammers in my throat, but I stand firm, my feet planted, my gaze hard. “You want me alive because I’m useful. Fine. But Iwon’tlet you control me in the interim.”

Before he can blink, I snatch the bracelet from his hand and clench my fist around it, holding onto the last piece of who I was before the start of the new year, as if it has the power to keep me alive.

The approval in his eyes makes my anger flare even more.

“This isn’t about control. It’s about survival,” he says. “And like it or not, I’m the only one who can ensure yours. So, it might benefit you to show some gratitude.”

“I’m not giving you the sort ofgratitudeyou’ve madeit clear you want. And I’m definitely not thanking you,” I tell him.

That would imply that I owe him a favor.Anyfavor, of his choosing.

And that’ssonot going to happen.

“Smart girl.” His smirk returns, this time softer, almost amused. “But you’re forgetting that you’re one of us, Summer Fae. If you plan to survive around here, you need to stop resisting the game. And if you want to win it, then you have to wrap that fascinating mind of yours around who’s on your side and who’s not.”

Does everything he says have to be laced with so muchseduction?As if every single word out of his mouth is crafted to make me his?

As if he’s casting some sort of spell over my heart?

“We both know it’s not my mind you’re fascinated with.” I straighten my shoulders, refusing to let him see how much he’s affecting me.

“Yes—we do both know that,” he says, his eyes traveling up and down my body in a way that makes my head spin. “But your mind is what will keep you alive. Your magic is what will keep me on your side. The rest… that’s just an enjoyable distraction.”

I glare up at him, the wind rushing across the outside of the tent so strongly that I can hear it whistling through its icy interior barrier.

“It’s a distraction you’ll only enjoy in your fantasies,”I tell him. “Because you apparently need me for far more than you’re telling me. Like you said—you’d have let your father kill me back there if you didn’t. Which means you’re not the one in control here.Iam. And I owe you nothing.”

He watches me for a beat. Then with a sharp flick of his hand, the ice around us melts into nothing.

“You have no idea what it takes to survive here,” he says. “But remember—the only reason you and your human companion are still breathing right now is because I allowed it. Convince yourself otherwise, and itwillget you killed.”

He hesitates for a moment, as if he wants to say more.

But he doesn’t.

Instead, he steps out into the night, letting the tent’s flap fall shut behind him and leaving me alone with the measly plate of food that’s going to do absolutely nothing to give me the energy I’ll need to survive the trials tomorrow.

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