Page 23 of Broken Star

He shrugs, unaffected, as if I didn’t just threaten his life. “You could. But you won’t. You need me too much,” he says. “Because star touched or not, the Night Court is too powerful to face alone. And you’re going to have to face it if you want to help Zoey.”

My fingers curl into fists.

I hate that he still has power over me. Even worse, I hate that he knows it, and that he’s continuing to use it against me.

But I take a deep breath, somehow managing to swallow down the lump in my throat and blink back the tears.

Because there’s something else I want.

Revengeagainst every heartless thing he’s done to me, the careless ways he’s treated me, and the pain he’s caused me.

“I suppose you have a point,” I finally say with an overly dramatic sigh, as if it can release the fire coursing through my veins. “After all, you’re my biggest asset right now.”

“Don’t you forget it,” he says, and just when I think he’s done, he steps closer, so there’s only a foot between us. “Especially since if I’m your biggest asset, I expect you to make full use of me tonight.”

The words knock the breath from my lungs as a brutal, crushing flood of memories slam into me, so overwhelming that a few flowers blow off the table and fall to the floor.

His hand wrapped around mine as we built the igloo, teaching me how to mold ice into something that would keep us safe for the night. His rare, half-hidden smiles—the ones he only let slip when he thought I wasn’t looking. The way he used to pull me close when he thought I was asleep, his breath cool against my neck, his hold strong and protective. The vulnerability in his silver eyes when he let the ice around his heart melt and promised he’d find his way back to me, no matter what.

And then?—

The empty way he looked at me after bargaining away his love.

The way he let me shatter.

“Speaking of assets,” Lysandra cuts in before I can tell Riven that there’s nothing of his I’ll beusingtonight, “I believe it’s time I told you the truth about something you’ve been wearing since childhood.” She gestures at the sapphire bracelet circling my wrist—the one I’ve worn for as long as I can remember. “That bracelet wasn’t from the woman who handed you over to your aunt. It was from me.”

I stand there, frozen, her words barely making sense.

Because for my entire life, I believed one thing: the woman who abandoned me with my aunt—the one who up until today, I believed was my mother—had left me this bracelet.

Now Lysandra is telling me that was a lie, too?

The air in the chamber shifts again, sending a few shards of crystal rolling off the table. Vials rattle, and the water in the fountain behind us sprays outward, as if my magic can release all the things my heart can’t.

“Control yourself,” Riven murmurs as he pockets the vial of potion to keep it safe from my anger.

I silence him with a glare.

“Speaking of your air magic,” Lysandra says, shushing us both. “The bracelet was gifted to me by your father during one of his visits to court. Which means it’s not just from me—it’s frombothof us.”

I stare down at the bracelet glinting on my wrist, and for the first time, I hate the thing that I’ve always viewed as my most precious possession. The only connection I thought I had to my past.

Now, it’s a reminder of manipulation. Of lies. Of choices made for me before I could even walk.

However, as I study it, Riven’s words from our time at the first igloo together echo in my mind.

Your past doesn’t define you. Only your choices moving forward matter.

As much as I’d never admit it to him now, he was right.

The potion is complete. I don’t need the bracelet to store the brewing instructions. Now, it’s just a trinket.

A trinket I don’t want.

So, without a word, I walk to the edge of the pool, kneel down, and work at the clasp of the piece of jewelry that’s been part of me for so long.

Riven follows me, reaching out to help me—or to stop me.

---