“I suppose,” I mumble. Mostly because I don’t know what else to say when his lips are a breath away from mine.
“Perfect.” He rolls, collapsing beside me. “So, I have a list of things to show you. Did you bring steel-lined shoes? Spring steel would be best, because this pond youhaveto see is beautiful, but the piranhas aren’t so friendly?—”
“You still want to hang out with me?”
Now, he’s giving me a look likeI’mcrazy. “I climbed your whole balcony, didn’t I?” He holds up his trembling hand. “Damn, I’ve never done that before. I could have died!”
“But what about your brother? I thought you didn’t wish to give him the satisfaction of being right about, you know.” My final word is an awkward mumble. “Us.”
Dayton rolls onto his side. In a surprisingly delicate move, he strokes the edge of my face, pushing wayward strands of hair behind my ear. “You remember the saying, ‘What they don’t know, can’t hurt them’?”
“Yes?”
Dayton grins. “Well, what Damocles doesn’t know can’thelphim.”
“So, we’ll be, like, a secret?” I ask.
“Exactly.”
Silence stretches before us until Dayton cups the back of my head and pulls me in. Our lips meet, his mouth commanding and gentle all at once.Now I’m tide-kissed, too.
Kissing Dayton back, all thoughts fade from my mind. All except one.
What I know can hurt me.
7
Dayton
Using a bush knife I “borrowed” from Justus’s cottage, I hack through the thick vegetation. Judging by the light streaming through the thinning canopy, we’ve made it out of the deepest trenches of the jungle and are almost back to the coast.
Sweat drips down my spine. It’s always warm in Summer, but the muggy heat within the forest is too much for even me to bear. Plus, I should have worn a shirt. I forgot how bad the mosquitos get in the bush.
But none of it bothers me. Not even a little bit. Not when Farron’s walking beside me, grinning from ear to ear with pride from all the samples he collected.
It’s been a couple weeks since his family arrived in Hadria, and we’ve spent every single day together. Soon enough, he’ll return to the orchards and libraries of the Autumn Realm. Until then, I long to show him everything wonderful about Summer. Who knows? Maybe then he’ll want to come back.
So far, I’ve taken him out on my skiff to sail the crystal-clear waters of the lagoon on the western coast. The local dolphins,pink as pigs and with permanent grins on their faces, love to chase the boats and will even swim beside you if you get into the water. Of course, I wasn’t surprised to see they took an immediate liking to Farron, twirling around him as soon as he jumped in. By the end of our afternoon, the creatures were taking turns whipping him around the ocean as he held onto their dorsal fins.
The next day, I’d shown him the peach orchards outside Hadria. There’s a spring said to be blessed by our long-lost queen, and the water filters into the soil, causing the fruit to grow as large as a person’s head. The creatures grow larger too, and dragonflies sail by, big as horses. But Farron, with his knowing eyes and quiet feet, crept up to them when they landed beside the trees and perfectly sketched one’s eye, down to every facet. Of course, when I’d tried to approach, I’d sent the whole swarm erupting into the air. The good news was their wings tumbled a bunch of peaches down, and we practically waddled back to Hadria, full and sticky.
We’ve explored the markets and museums, beachcombed, and picnicked. We danced late into the night after stumbling upon a bonfire held by a nomadic band that sails the waterways on a skinny boat, making their living with song. We’ve laughed and talked and teased and kissed—kisseda lot.
And the best part is, Damocles hasno idea. It hasn’t even been hard. No one expects me to hang around the keep anyway, and I got my friend Claudius from the docks to pretend to be a professor from the university in need of an assistant with an out-of-realm perspective, which was an all too believable alibi for Farron.
My smile threatens to outmatch Farron’s as I think of just how clever I am. If Damocles knew Farron and I were spending all this time together, that I was doingexactlywhat he and High Princess Niamh were scheming about for months, he would beinsufferable. Damocles already feels like his every decision is blessed with wisdom from the Queen. And the worst part is, he’s always right. Not most of the time. Not regularly.Every singledecision Damocles has ever made has worked out for him and for Hadria. No wonder Mom made him High Prince. He’s the perfect son of Summer, after all.
But I won’t give him the satisfaction of knowing I don’t think Farron is a boring, snobby crybaby. To Dammy, it’d be another example of my poor judgment.
I’d much rather keep the Autumn Prince my little secret instead.
Farron bobs beside me, his auburn hair curling with the humidity, additional ribbons of freckles across his face which weren’t there when he arrived in Summer. He’s stripped off his fine tunic, so he’s wearing a white undershirt that clings to his lean frame. Freckles even cover his shoulders and arms.Summer looks good on you, I think.
“I can’t believe I found this.” Farron reaches into his bag, pulling out a cranberry-red feather. “Nori’s going to love it. But not as much as the snakeskin. To her, the creepier, the better.”
Warmth tingles through my chest as I listen to the adoration in Farron’s voice as he speaks of his family. “I wish I had a sister.”
“It’d be nice for Nori, too. No other children in the royal families. It’d be great for her to have a friend to grow up with.”
