27. Sapphire

Sapphire

We sit around the fire for about an hour to warm up.

The knights stand in a circle around us, ensuring we don’t make a run for it. Riven doesn’t say another word to me.

Zoey doesn’t talk, either. I think she’s in shock after everything we’ve been through. Especially after thinking I drowned in a lake and left her alone in this crazy realm where she’s weak and vulnerable simply for being human.

“Let’s go,” Riven eventually commands his knights. “The ravine awaits.”

They lead us through the forest, the air thick with the chill of ice magic, and the trees around us shimmering with frost. The path twists and turns, leading us deeper into the woods, until we reach a cliff that drops into a deep, jagged ravine .

A long wooden bridge, slick with an icy layer of snow, stretches what must be at least one hundred feet across to the other side.

Riven, who now has the key, uses it to open the bridge’s gate.

“You three,” Riven commands, looking to three of his knights. “Go. We’ll stay here to make sure they don’t run back.”

The knights stride onto the bridge, their boots gliding over the surface with practiced ease. The one ordered to stay behind is the one Riven was telling the story about his mother to back at the lake.

Riven remains by the gate. He’s leaning against the post, with Ghost beside him, his silver eyes locked on mine as if daring me to show fear.

I don’t give him the satisfaction.

The three knights easily reach the other side, and Riven gestures for Zoey and me to follow.

“Your turn,” he says, cold and mocking, stepping to the side to allow us space to begin. “Try not to fall. It’d be a shame to end this so soon—when we still have the hunt ahead of us.”

I grit my teeth, a breeze blowing through my hair.

I won’t die here.

Neither will Zoey.

“It’s icy,” she says, already examining the start of the bridge. “Really icy. We’re not going to be able to walk across it without slipping.”

“Yes—that’s what it seems like,” I agree, my heart rising into my throat as I gaze across the rickety bridge to the other side of the ravine.

“I’ve walked across ice before,” she says, talking quickly as she gathers her thoughts. “I was skiing with my family, and one of the days was so icy, it was impossible to walk through town without slipping everywhere. We had to attach external cleat things to our boots. They gave us extra grip on the ice.”

“And how’s that supposed to help us now?” I ask. “We weren’t exactly given survival bags with cleat attachments in them as a parting gift.”

“Which is why we need to improvise,” she says. “I can carve notches into the bottom of our boots, like treads. Then you can use your magic to freeze water into those grooves—something that’s not smooth, but sharp. Like icicles.”

“Except I’m not a winter fae,” I remind her. “I’m a summer fae. My control is over liquid water—not ice.”

“But you were able to warm up the ice to melt it,” she says. “Maybe you can shape the water into icicles, then make it colder, so it turns to ice.”

“I don’t know if it’ll work the other way around,” I tell her, since I have no idea how the technicalities behind my magic work. “But I can try. ”

So, we sit down, and Zoey carves deep grooves into the soles of our boots with her dagger, cutting in precise, crisscross patterns.

I glance at Riven as she does, to try seeing what he thinks about our makeshift plan.

His expression, unsurprisingly, reveals nothing. I don’t know why I bothered in the first place.

“Okay,” Zoey says when she’s done, sitting in a way that allows me to access one of her boots. “Your turn. Pick up some of the snow and… do your thing.”

Staring at the soles, I call on my magic to melt the snow, shaping droplets between my hands. Then, focusing as hard as I can, I send the droplets into the grooves she carved, trying to make the ends as pointy as possible.

Miraculously, they bend to my will and take on the correct shapes.

From there, I will them to freeze.

Nothing happens. They just sit there, rippling slightly as I try and fail to push the magic through them.

“It’s not working,” I tell her, letting the droplets fall back onto the snow in a huff.

“Try again,” she pushes. “Try to freeze the air around them. It’ll be like how you heated it up to melt the ice covering the lake—just opposite.”

“Easy for you to say,” I snap. “You’re not the one trying to do fancy things with magic you just got a week ago.”

She flinches, darkness crossing over her eyes, then gets ahold of herself.

“You just turned yourself into a mermaid to swim to the bottom of a lake,” she says steadily. “That had to have been harder than creating a few icicles.”

I’m not too sure about that. Especially given how tired I feel after that stunt I pulled with breathing in the water.

But it’s either try harder to do this right, or give up and likely fall into the ravine.

“Fine.” I re-center myself, focusing on the magic I still have in me instead of on the magic I’ve already expended. “I’ll try again.”

“Good,” she says. “Because I’m not dying at the bottom of that ravine simply because you gave up after one try.”

“I’ll do my best,” I tell her, since it’s the most I can promise without lying. “Now, be quiet and let me work.”

Like before, I shape the water like liquid icicles sticking out of the boots.

So far, so good.

Next step—turn them into actual ice.

Per Zoey’s advice, I focus on making the air around them colder—not warmer .

The droplets tremble, resisting, and frustration rushes through me. But I don’t give up.

As I continue to push, the air around the water feels different. Colder. As if something in the atmosphere is changing in response to my magic.

The droplets harden, becoming tiny icicles sticking out of the notches Zoey carved into the soles, like little spikes ready to grip into the slippery snow.

“Yes!” Zoey grins, brightening in that contagious way of hers. “You did it! Go, Sapphire! Now—do it three more times.”

“You’re not going to let me relish in my victory for a few seconds?” I tease.

“You can relish at the other side of the bridge,” she says. “Or, better yet, when we’re home.”

“Fair,” I say, and I continue working my magic, until all four boots are transformed into cleats.

The temperature outside is so cold that the little ice spikes stay frozen.

At least the winter weather is good for something other than trying to give us hypothermia.

Now armed with our makeshift trekking boots, Zoey and I head to the start of the bridge, staring down the slick, snowy path ahead. It’s not wide enough for us to cross side by side, so one of us will have to go behind the other. And its handrails look far from reliable.

I glance over my shoulder to look at Riven .

His eyes are narrowed with something unreadable. Maybe curiosity, maybe impatience, or maybe even boredom.

I hate how impossible he is to read. I like to think I’m decent at reading most people—it comes with the territory of working at a bar—but Riven’s a constant mystery.

The blond knight next to him stares straight ahead, refusing to look at me or Zoey.

The only other one around here who seems slightly interested in our survival is Ghost.

Zoey nudges my arm, snapping me back to the treacherous path ahead. “You ready?” she asks.

No.

“Let’s see what these boots can do,” I say instead, not wanting Riven and the guards to think I’m weak.

She nods—she totally knows I phrased it that way because I didn’t want to lie and say I was ready—then studies the bridge again.

“Want me to go first?” she asks.

Do I?

The person who goes first will be responsible for testing each plank to make sure it’ll hold. It’ll require bravery—a quality Zoey’s always had.

The person who goes second will be watching out for the one ahead. Making sure they don’t fall.

If I’m in front of Zoey, I’ll spend more time focusing on looking back to make sure she’s okay than on staying aware of what’s happening ahead. And I need to be ready to use my magic at a moment’s notice—to protect both of us.

It’ll be harder to protect her if I can’t see her.

“That seems like the smartest move,” I decide.

“Just keep close,” she says. “If anything feels off, tell me. Okay?”

“Will do.” I nod, trying to match her courage, even though my stomach is twisting in knots.

She steps onto the bridge, and I hold my breath, spotting her, ready to pull her back onto solid land if she starts to slip.

The bridge creaks under her weight.

She doesn’t slip.

Instead, I hear a crunch as the ice spikes on her boots dig into the packed snow.

“See?” She manages a small smile back at me, then takes another step.

Again, the spikes grip the snow.

“It’s working,” I say softly, as if speaking too loudly will somehow make the magic disappear.

“Told you so.” She takes a cautious step, then another, keeping a solid grip on the frozen rope handrails.

I hurry behind her, since there’s no way I’m letting her get too far .

But I move too fast, not giving the spikes on my boot enough time to dig into the snow.

My boot skids sideways, and I curse, somehow managing to grab the rope quickly enough to regain my balance.

“You okay?” Zoey asks, not moving.

“All good. Just… testing the sturdiness.”

“Well, test slower,” she says. “Because there’s no way I can make it across this thing without you.”

“I’m not too sure about that,” I say, although from the sad look in her eyes, I can tell she is sure about it.

Still, she presses forward, her steps slow and deliberate.

I follow right behind, making sure the spikes dig firmly into the snow.

At our pace, the bridge feels like it goes on for miles. My fingers are so frozen that I’m surprised they’re still able to grip the ropes.

“Halfway there,” Zoey says after what must be an hour. “We’ve got this.”

“Slow and steady,” I repeat what we’ve been saying this entire time.

Then, out of nowhere, the wind picks up, making the entire bridge swing like a pendulum. It tears at my clothes, cutting through my skin like knives as I try desperately with everything I have to keep my grip firm and my feet steady .

“Zoey!” I shout, but the wind swallows my voice.

Another gust of wind slams into us.

The bridge jerks violently to the side, and Zoey loses her footing, her eyes wide in panic and her arms flailing around as she searches desperately for something to hold onto.