Heart hammering, I stare at Zoey, my mind struggling to process what’s happening. Because Zoey’s many things, but she’s not a liar. Especially not about something as huge as this.
And standing next to her, Aerix is watching her with a look so full of fierce devotion and obsessive protectiveness that it makes my heart hurt. Because Zoey isn’t just connected to Aerix—she’s tied to him in the most irreversible way imaginable. He sired her—hemadeher. Part of him is growing inside her.
A sickening sense of loss floods through me as the truth I’ve refused to see since entering the tower’s doors hits me with brutal clarity. Zoey—my best friend, my sister in all but blood—is choosing this. Choosinghim.
She never wanted to be saved. And she’s never coming back.
My throat constricts, tears burning at the corners of my eyes. “Zoey,” I whisper, barely loud enough for anyone else to hear, my voice breaking under the weight of my shattered heart.
Her gaze stays locked on mine as she crosses the roof toward me, each step deliberate and steady. The wind tugs at her hair, sending dark strands dancing around her face, but she doesn’t seem to notice. There’s a new grace to her movements—vampire grace—that makes her familiar and foreign all at once.
I release Riven’s hand and move to meet her halfway, droplets of water swirling anxiously around my fingertips. It’s taking everything in me not to grab her, to force her to come with us, to make her see reason.
When we’re just a foot apart, she stops. Her hazel eyes search mine, and for a heartbeat, I see a flicker of the girl I knew. The one who made terrible nachos, dragged me to parties, fought bullies for me, and followed me into a magical realm that nearly killed us both. And there must be something about the sunlight—maybe it’s weakening her defenses—that suddenly seems to make her remember our shared past, too. That makes her see me not as her enemy who tried to hold her down with magicalrestraints while she tried to help the man she loved while he went head-to-head against the brother who never knew he existed, but as her best friend.
“I remember the first time he saw you.” She gestures to Riven without looking at him. “At the Maple Pig on New Year’s Eve.”
The tears in my eyes threaten to spill over. “Zoey?—”
“No, listen,” she insists. “I saw the way he looked at you that night. It was love at first sight. That’s why I told you to talk to him.” A small, sad smile touches her lips. “And I see it now, too. He looks at you like you’re his entire world.”
I swallow hard, unable to find words as she continues.
“Aerix loves me just as fiercely.” Her voice strengthens, conviction making her stand taller. “You saw it just now. You know what we have is real.”
And I did. I saw it in the way he cradled her face, the way his voice broke when he begged her to wake up. It wasn’t manipulation. It wasn’t a lie. It was different than the love I share with Riven, but at the same time, it was just as intense and consuming.
“I know,” I say, the admission tearing something open inside me.
Zoey reaches out, hesitantly touching my arm. Her skin is cooler now, like Riven’s. “I’m not the same person anymore, Sapphire. But I’m not a victim, either. I chose this. I love him. And I’m staying with him until the end.”
Water rises around us, mirroring the storm of emotions I can’t contain. I want to argue, to fight, to scream that she’s wrong—but I can’t. Because standing here, looking into her eyes, the truth is undeniable.
Just like how I’ll always choose Riven, Zoey will always choose Aerix.
“No matter what happens,” I tell her, my voice breaking. “You’ll always be my sister.”
She wraps her arms around me in a hug that reminds me of a hundred sleepovers, a thousand shared secrets, and every moment that made us who we were together.
“You’ll always be mine, too,” she says, but then she pulls back, resolution hardening her features. “But the universe gave you Riven… and when it did, it also gave me Aerix. I love him. And I’m not leaving him, just like how you’d never leave Riven.”
Without another word, she returns to Aerix’s side, wind swirling around them as their magic mingles.
He slips his arm around her waist, pulling her close and scanning the battlefield below. Then his gaze drifts to the edge of the tower, where the drop would surely kill even a supernatural if they fell. Not to mention that the Winter Court army is surrounding the palace, their armor glinting in the midday light, ordered to kill any night fae who refuse to be detained.
When he returns his focus to Zoey, there’s a quiet stillness in his gaze—a depth of devotion so intense it almost hurts to witness.
“I love you,” he tells her, soft and fierce, as if each time he utters the words, they carve themselves into his soul. “And if we fall, we’ll fall together.”
RIVEN
Aerixstands at the edge of the rooftop with Zoey sheltered beneath his wings, and when his eyes meet mine, their silver flecks catch the sunlight.
“If you want to kill me, Brother,” he says, his voice steady despite my army surrounding the palace below, “this is your perfect chance.”
When he says that word again—brother—grief rips through me like a winter storm. Because I had a brother. For one hour. Sapphire may have pulled me back from unraveling, but I’m still me, and the questions that roared through my mind earlier remain.
My sword trembles in my grip as I raise it. If this was anyone else standing before me, my blade would already be wet with his blood, the battle done, my enemy fallen at my feet.
