All Chapters of Heart On Ice, Puck The Rules : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Nova's POVThe text came at 11:47 p.m.I was still sitting on the edge of my bed in the dark, phone face-down on the mattress like it might bite me. I had already read Harper’s earlier message a dozen times. The photo. The caption. The quiet promise that she could end everything whenever she felt like it.This one was shorter.Break up with him by tomorrow or the whole school sees it. Your choice.I stared at the screen until the words stopped looking like language.Break up with Ryker.The boy who had carried me to his bed when I fell asleep mid-quiz. The one who held me while I begged a dead girl’s nightmare not to let me fall. The one whose memories with Lily still lived in my chest like a second heartbeat.Harper wanted me to end it. Clean. Public. On her timeline.I set the phone down and looked at the open wardrobe across the room.Rows of carefully chosen pieces stared back at me. Silk blouses. Tailored trousers. Jackets that still smelled faintly of the boutique’s steamer. Ever

Nova's POV We found an empty corner of the library stacks after the final bell, far enough from the main tables that no one would overhear us. Priya dropped her bag on the floor, sat cross-legged on the carpet, and looked at me like she had been waiting for this conversation since the moment she realized the glasses and the old sweater belonged to the same girl who used to wear rented Celine. “Talk,” she said. “All of it. Starting from the beginning.” I told her. The transplant. The memories that started as fragments and turned into a balcony and a falling sensation that still woke me up gasping. Lily Chen’s name on a donor file. The research that led me to Crestwood and to Harper. The rented clothes, the double shifts, the plan that had started with Chase and twisted itself around Ryker before I could stop it. I told her about the coat-check photo and the threat that came with it. I told her I had walked into school that morning without the costume because there was nothing left

Nova's POV The house sat at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, pale blue siding and a porch that sagged a little on the left side. A single plastic chair sat near the door. The grass needed cutting. It looked like the kind of place that had stopped trying to impress anyone a long time ago. Priya checked the address on her phone one more time, then nodded. “This is it.” I knocked. Footsteps moved inside. The door opened a few inches, held by a chain. A woman in her forties looked out at us—tired eyes, hair pulled back, the kind of face that had learned not to expect good news from strangers. “Yes?” “Mrs. Tran?” I kept my voice steady. “My name is Nova. This is Priya. We went to Crestwood. We were hoping to speak with Lydia.” Her expression closed immediately. “No.” “Please. We only need a few minutes.” “My daughter doesn’t speak to people from that school.” Her hand tightened on the door. “The fire left her… different. She hasn’t said a word since the day it happened. I

Nova's POV We had been living in the library’s back corner for days. Ryker sat across from me with two textbooks open, a stack of practice quizzes, and the kind of focus he usually reserved for the ice. The next week’s game was the biggest of the season. One failed quiz in either of the classes he was barely scraping through and he would be benched. His grandfather would use it as fresh ammunition. The scouts would notice. Everything would get harder. So we worked. I drilled him on the material until the words started coming out of his mouth without that lost look in his eyes. He complained the entire time—under his breath, through gritted teeth, once throwing his pencil down and declaring the entire subject a personal attack—but he kept going. When he got something right, he looked at me like I’d handed him a win on the scoreboard. On the third night he lasted longer than usual. We were deep into practice questions when his answers started coming slower. His handwriting got

Ryker's POV I caught her before she hit the concrete. One second she was smiling up at me, still flushed from the win and the hug. The next her eyes went distant, her weight dropped, and she started to fold. I got an arm around her back and another under her knees just in time. Her head lolled against my shoulder. “Nova.” I gave her a light shake. Nothing. “Nova, hey. Look at me.” No response. Her face had gone pale under the arena lights. Around us people were still cheering, still celebrating the win, completely unaware that something had just gone very wrong. I didn’t wait for security or a medic to wander over. I carried her straight through the tunnel and out toward the first-aid room they kept near the locker area. A staff member saw us and radioed for the team doctor. By the time I laid her on the narrow cot her breathing was shallow but steady. I stayed right there, one hand on her shoulder, the other checking her pulse like I knew what the hell I was doing. The doctor