21. Sapphire

Sapphire

Riven’s eyes darken, the playful smirk fading into something far more serious.

“I need you alive because you’re useful to me,” he says simply.

“You mean my magic is useful to you,” I tell him. “Not me.”

“You and your magic are one and the same. I want your magic, so therefore, I want you.”

His eyes burn in a way that reminds me he wants far more from me than that, and my pulse quickens, betraying the anger I’m trying to hold onto.

“You’re blackmailing me,” I realize.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” He steps closer, his breath chilling the air between us. “There’s power in being useful, Sapphire. Power you’ve barely begun to understand. And I think you’re smart enough to know when survival means playing along.”

He dangles the bracelet between us, and it moves back and forth like a pendulum, as if he’s trying to hypnotize me with it to make me believe he’s on my side.

“How far along are you asking me to play?” I ask, memories of last night flashing through my mind. Of the way he kissed me and backed me up to the bed as he offered his help, and how much a part of me wanted to give in.

The same part of me that wants to give in right now.

“I suppose that depends on how far you’re willing to go.” His eyes flare with that dangerous heat, studying me as if he can read every wicked thought running through my mind.

Every nerve in my body is alive. The air in the tent buzzes with tension, the magnetic pull that’s existed between us since the moment we locked eyes at that bar as strong as ever.

I hate how my body responds to him. How his proximity sends fire racing through my veins.

Mostly, I hate that I want him, despite knowing I shouldn’t.

“You’re sick.” I take another step back, the cold wall of the tent pressing into me, trapping me.

“Maybe.” He plays with my bracelet, toying with it, just like he’s trying to toy with me. “But you enjoy it. You wouldn’t still be in here with me if you didn’t. You’d use your little teleporting trick and disappear, like you did in my quarters.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m still here because I’d never leave Zoey alone with you and your knights,” I say, leaving out the fact that if I projected myself outside this tent, my body would remain in here, helpless to whatever this cold, heartless prince wanted to do to it.

The thought makes me shudder all the way to my bones.

If he doesn’t know about that little vulnerability of mine, then I’m keeping it from him. At least for now, given that it’s not useful to me for him to know.

“I rather enjoy flattering myself,” he says proudly. “And I’d like to take this moment to remind you that your human friend is also still alive because of me.”

“Because you want to use her to blackmail me into doing what you want, too,” I say, having no doubt that it’s true.

“Now you’re getting the hang of how things work around here.” He smiles in satisfaction, and I clench my fists, wanting to claw his stupidly seductive silver eyes out. “Now—let’s move on to the important stuff. Because if you go into this thinking you’ll die, you won’t give yourself a fair shot at living. I’ve seen it too many times. It’s not your lack of training that will kill you—it’s your mind. And from what I’ve seen of your mind during our… stimulating moments together, it’s very, very easy to distract.”

I narrow my eyes, fighting the heat rushing through my body at his words. “I’m not letting this stimulating moment 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 is unbearable.

“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 the pull 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 I won’t let 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 of gratitude you’ve made it clear you want. And I’m definitely not thanking you,” I tell him.

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

And that’s so not 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 much seduction? 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. I am. 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 it will get 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.