SAPPHIRE
The vortexof the in-between fades, leaving me, Riven, and Circe standing in the clearing once more.
The weight of Matt’s revelations presses down on my chest, making it hard to breathe. Zoey’s in danger—real, immediate danger—and we’re still so far from reaching her.
And the Cosmic Tides… I can’t begin to imagine what to expect from them.
“Well,” Circe says, gesturing at the pig’s body lying in the center of the ritual circle. “At least Antonius finally proved useful. He was a sailor who displeased me long ago—it was far past his time. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled about contributing to such a noble cause.”
The words take a moment to register.
“What do you mean that your pig was asailor?”I ask.
Circe’s golden eyes dance with amusement. “Oh, did I forget to mention? The pigs on my island weren’t always pigs. They were men who landed here. Arrogant, entitled sailors who thought they could take whatever they wanted.” She waves her hand dismissively. “All I did was reveal their true forms.”
Water droplets rise from the ground as my magic responds to the growing horror in my chest. “You’re saying that pig was?—“
“A man I transformed.” She smirks.
I spin toward Riven, who’s been unnaturally quiet throughout this. No quick comebacks, no snide remarks… nothing.
“You knew what that pig really was,” I accuse him.
“Of course he knew.” Circe laughs. “Why do you think he ate the moly? It prevents me from being able to cast spells on him. Even though he’s not mortal, he’s smart enough to know that my power’s not to be trifled with.”
But I pay no attention to Circe. I don’t want to hear the truth from her. I want to hear it fromRiven.
“That’s why you didn’t let me perform the sacrifice,” I continue, my voice rising like the wind curling around us. “You wanted the human blood onyourhands—not on mine. You didn’t think I could handle doing what needed to be done.”
Frost plays along his fingertips, but his expression remains maddeningly indifferent.
“Would you have preferred to carry that weight yourself?” he asks me. “Would you have slept better knowing you’d taken an innocent human life?”
Circe’s musical laugh cuts through the air again, stopping me from replying.
“They were hardlyinnocent,”she says with another wave of her hand.
I don’t care. I don’t look at her. I only look athim.
“It wasn’t your choice to make,” I say, the wind gaining strength as my anger builds. “You don’t get to decide what I can and can’t handle. You don’t get to protect me from the truth just because you think I’m too weak to face it.”
“I never said you were weak.” His voice stays infuriatingly calm.
“Then what do you call what you just did?”
“A tactical decision.” The words leave his lips so smoothly, soemptily, that my magic surges in response, rattling through the air like a coming storm.
“Tactical,” I repeat, as emptily as he did. “No. You made a choice for me. Just like you always do. You manipulate, you control, and you decide what’s best for me without giving me a say. It’s?—”
The words knot in my throat.
Humiliating? Violating? Infuriating?
All of them fit. None of them are enough.
Riven watches me, his eyes colder than the frost playing on his fingertips.
“The pig needed to die quickly,” he says, holding his sharp gaze with mine. “You would have wavered once you realized he used to be human, and that hesitation could have compromised the ritual.”
