Page 12 of Burning Star

Then, I hear it. A whisper that’s not a voice, but a feeling pressing against my mind.

This is your fate. You love him, yet every time you reach for him, you destroy him.

The Tides. They’re talking to us.

I flinch, but Riven’s grip on me tightens, holding me close as the Tides direct their next cruel statement to him.

You thought sacrificing yourself would save her, yet here she is—dying in your arms.

Riven lets out a ragged breath, and I feel his pain, his rage, and his hatred for the universe that keeps doing everything it can to destroy us.

You were never meant to be together,the Tides continue.Every lifetime, every future—you will always end like this.

What’s left of my magic flares in defiance, but the voices only grow stronger.

You’ve spent every moment breaking each other.

You’ll never stop.

And do you want to know the worst part?

“No,” I manage softly, because I don’t want to know the worst part. I really, really don’t.

Even knowing that you’ll destroy each other, you’ll always choose each other. Every single time.

The truth of it hits me harder than the wounds already inflicted on me. Because the Tides are right—Riven and I have been destroying each other. Every moment we’ve tried to save each other has driven us deeper into this spiral of pain and loss.

“They’re right,” I whisper, my fingers curling against his chest. “We keep hurting each other.”

And yet, looking at him now, I know I’d choose him again. In every timeline, in every iteration of fate, I would always find my way back to him.

Riven’s jaw clenches, ice crackling beneath us. “They’re wrong,” he growls. “We’re not destroying each other because we love each other. It’s happening because of the dryad, and Eros, and Cetus. They used our love as a weapon against us. But that doesn’t mean loving you is wrong. It means they’re afraid of what we could be together.”

Together.

The vision we saw earlier flashes in my mind—the two of us lying together, lifeless on the battlefield.

What if it wasn’t a prophecy? What if it was a warning?

A burning desire to try anything I might have left settles inside me.

“Riven,” I whisper, tilting my head to meet his gaze. “I know you’ll always catch me when I fall. So keep holding on, okay? I’ll be back soon.”

His brows furrow, his fingers gripping my waist. “What are you?—”

But before he can stop me, I let go.

SAPPHIRE

My consciousness tearsfree with a violent snap.

I glance down at myself cradled in Riven’s arms. My physical form looks so broken, so pale, and so close to death.

When I’m done, will I even have a body to return to?

I don’t know. But I still have to try.

Riven looks more wrecked than the day he gave up his love for me, more broken than when I told him I hated him, and more ruined than when we saw the vision of him alone on the icy throne.

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