Maybe I’m the idiot for thinking the one he’d been giving me all these weeks wasn’t fake, too.
The only person at this party who appears to be more miserable than me is Damocles. So, Dayton got his way. His big brother and my mother won’t have the satisfaction of running yet another aspect of our lives.
We made this decision together, didn’t we?
So why do I feel so out of control?
My hands tremble, and my breathing becomes so rapid that I struggle to catch my breath. How am I to return home like this, in this state of misery? Never knowing which part of Dayton was the truth: the one that stares at me with stars in his eyes when we’re alone, or the one who treats me like a plague boil in front of our families.
Maybe all the days we spent together meant nothing to him, but they meant a lot to me. Daytondidsomething to me. Stoked the embers within my heart until they were desperate for kindling. And if I don’t figure out what I mean to Dayton, those embers are going to burn me from the inside out.
Hands clenched into fists, I search the ballroom until I see the second-born Prince of Summer, Decimus. He’s at the buffet table, filling a plate with olives and figs. I speed walk out onto the dance floor, narrowly avoiding being swept into a twirl by one of the guests.
“Decimus,” I say as I approach, voice surprisingly steady.
“Farron!” Decimus holds out his plate. “Fig?”
“No, thank you. Can you give your brother a message from me?”
Decimus lowers his plate to the table and turns to face me head-on. He’s taller than me, heavily muscled from years inthe arena. A rippled scar runs across his collarbone. Kindness flashes in his dark brown eyes. “Dayton?”
I don’t know how he knows I meant Dayton and not Damocles, but I nod. I need to get the words out now before I lose my nerve. “Tell Dayton…I’m ready to jump, and I’m not afraid of the water. The treasure awaits, and he gave me the push I needed.”
Decimus raises a brow. “What?”
“Tell him exactly that! Either he’ll understand or he won’t.” I turn away from him and walk as fast as I can to the door. My heart beats in a terrified rhythm, but I need to do this.
By the end of the night, either I’ll understand…or I won’t.
9
Dayton
Breath comes ragged from my throat as I sprint through the bush, bare feet flying over rocks and twigs.
What in the fucking stars is he thinking?
He couldn’t. He wouldn’t…
But that’s just it. I don’tknowFarron. We’ve spent every day together for the last month, but I still don’t know him. Because every time he got a little too close, I pushed him away. With averted gazes, snide comments, or a new person on my arm, I pushed him.
Pushed him straight over the edge.
For what? I can’t remember a single conversation I had with anyone tonight, but I can remember every word he’s ever said.
My hair flies in a tangled halo as I break out of the jungle and onto the cliff. The wind whips at my bare chest, at the thin piece of purple fabric I wear around my hips. My legs burn hot, my lungs hotter. I don’t think I’ve run so fast in my life.
How long ago had Farron left the party? When Decimus strutted up to me and passed on his message, I’d asked when Farron had departed. Decimus had shrugged, saying he couldn’trecall. He’d gotten caught up in a jig with Paddy before he remembered to tell me.
I stagger in a circle, searching the cliff, only the light of the full moon to guide me. What had he meant,I’m ready to jump? Surely, he could only be talking about Captain Katharine’s Isle.
He can’t be serious about jumping. I’ll find him standing on the cliff, the whole thing a cruel joke. Then I’m going to punch him so damn hard for making me run all the way here. Only Justus can get me to push myself like this.
Just as I’ve convinced myself there’s no actual way Farron intends to jump into the cursed waters, I catch sight of a silhouette on the edge of the cliff.
Tall, lean body, shirtless, wearing only a pair of breeches. A wild thatch of hair blows in the wind.
“Farron,” I breathe. Iknewhe wouldn’t actually?—
