His lips find mine again, but this time, the kiss is different. Darker. The bond between us flares with an intensity that steals my breath away, pulsing through every part of me. It’s not warm and safe like it usually is. Now, it’s demanding. Almost hungry, like it’s feeding on our connection, drawing strength from the uncontrollable emotion flowing between us.
But I don’t pull away. How could I? This is Riven—my Riven. All I want ishim.
His hand moves from my waist to the back of my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair as he deepens the kiss, slow and confident, powerful yet controlled. He doesn’t rush. He doesn’t force. Instead, he takes his time, savoring me like he wants every moment with me imprinted into his memory. He kisses me like I’m something precious, something vital—like he needs this to remind himself who he is.
When he eventually pulls back, he looks down at me, a calm determination settling in his silver eyes.
“I’m yours,” he whispers, the words a confession and a plea. “There’s nothing left of me that isn’t you.”
“And I’m yours,” I tell him, my fingers tangling in his hair as I pull him closer. “I’m not going anywhere.”
When he finally guides me backward toward the bed, the air around us grows charged, magic pulsing with each racing heartbeat. Ice crystals form and melt against my skin whereverhe touches, leaving glittering trails that map his path across my body.
I feel him everywhere. Not just his body against mine, but his magic, his emotions, his very essence woven so completely with my own that I can’t tell where I end and he begins. His love is a living, breathing entity inside my veins, leaving no doubt that he’s surrendered every part of himself to me.
“I love you,” I tell him, the words carrying the weight of every sacrifice, every choice, and every moment that’s led us here. “All of you.”
His silver eyes lock with mine, burning with an intensity that would frighten me if I didn’t know him so well. “And I live for you,” he replies. “Without you, I’m nothing.”
He kisses me again, and our magic swirls around us in a dance of frost and water, ice and warmth, perfectly balanced and wildly untamed. The room fills with the evidence of our passion—delicate ice sculptures forming in the air, only to dissolve into droplets that sparkle like stars as they fall.
For this moment, nothing else exists. Not the Summer Court, not the impending war with the Night Court, not the threat of the Blood Coven, and not even the lingering questions about what our bond is becoming. There’s only us, wrapped in each other’s arms, souls intertwined as completely as our bodies.
And if the bond between us burns a little too bright and pulses a little too hungrily—well, that’s a problem for another day.
Because tonight belongs to us.
ZOEY
Twenty-four hoursalone in this tower have taught me exactly what Aerix meant by “trial.”
The hunger is a living thing inside me, clawing through my veins, scraping at my bones, and turning my insides into a furnace of need. I’ve paced the tower room a thousand times, the pendant clutched in my hand like a lifeline, but nothing helps.
When I try to drink water, my body rejects it. When I try to sleep, visions of blood haunt my dreams until I wake up gasping. And as my emotions spike, the wind listens. Small gusts at first, then stronger currents that knock over a vase of flowers, sending petals spiraling through the air.
This new power should fascinate me. But I’m too consumed by hunger to care.
Now, as midnight approaches, I’m curled in the corner of the room, as far from the door as possible. My body trembles with need, my throat so parched it feels like it’s splitting open from the inside.
What if I’m not strong enough to pass the trial? What if I die here? I knew it was a possibility when I let Aerix turn me,but until these past few hours, it felt like something that could happen to someone else—not to me.
Now, I’m not so sure.
When the lock finally turns, my head snaps up, every sense hyper-focused on the opening door.
Aerix enters first, his midnight eyes finding mine across the room.
“Zoey,” he says, the single word filled with pride and caution. “I’ve brought?—”
I don’t hear the rest of his sentence. Becauseshesteps into the room behind him. Laura—the human I chose at the barns. Her blonde hair gleams in the candlelight, and while something in my mind registers her resemblance to Sapphire, it’s a distant, unimportant observation.
All that matters is the sound of her heartbeat thundering in my ears and the scent of her blood rushing beneath her skin, calling to me like a siren song.
One moment I’m huddled in the corner of the tower, the next I’m flying across the room, a feral growl tearing from my throat. As I leap, wind blasts through the room like a shockwave, rattling the furniture, lifting the tapestries, and extinguishing half the candles.
Laura screams, but the sound is cut short as I collide with her, driving her back against the wall. My hands grip her shoulders, pinning her in place as my fangs extend, aching for release.
“Not the neck.” Aerix’s voice comes from behind me, his hands on my waist, pulling me back. “The wrist, Zoey. The chance of losing control is less if you drink from her wrist.”
