With an easy yank, Dayton breaks the rusty lock. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
Our fingers brush as we both grasp the lid. It creaks in protest, revealing…
“Sand,” Dayton whispers. “Captain Katharine’s treasure issand?”
Inside, there’s a mound of red dust. I reach within, sifting the grains through my fingers. They’re fine and velvety. Perhaps once, they were something more, the ashes of a forgotten world. But now, they’re nothing but dirt in a rotting box.
Disappointment is clear in Dayton’s expression. “All these years, I pictured what it could be. Jewels and gems, mythicalweapons, or maps to hidden cities. I guess none of the stories were real. It’s just sand.”
“Maybe not,” I say. “Let me try something.”
I pick up a large handful, holding it tight between my palms. Warmth radiates from my chest down into my fingertips. I prefer written spells to help channel my magic, but burning…burning I know how to do.
Especially around Dayton.
The red sand begins to coalesce, grains fusing together with the heat.
“Quickly,” I whisper. “We need to cool it.”
Dayton raises a brow, then covers my hands with his. A stream of cold water pours from his palms. Steam rises from our clasped grip, a symphony of fire and water. Our power seems to meet where our skin touches. I think of the legends in Autumn, of magic weaving together. It feels like that now, our individual powers braiding into something more.
The steam ebbs out, and Dayton pulls away from me. I open my palms, revealing a piece of red sea glass, smooth and luminous.
A smile tugs at the edge of Dayton’s lip as he takes the sea glass and holds it up to the moonlight. “We made this together,” he whispers.
“Something to remember me by, when I go back to Autumn.”
Dayton clasps the sea glass tight in his palm, then tucks it into a fold of the purple wrap around his waist. “I’ll never be able to forget you, Fare. Trust me.”
My throat tightens. I don’t want to become a memory to Dayton. To be nothing but fading conversations, a face once clear that becomes foggy over time. Doesn’t he understand this is so much more than political alliance or family scheming? Whatever this is between us is so real, I feel like I could touch it. Ineedto touch it.
I trail a hand across Dayton’s sandy cheek before clasping his neck. “I barely remember who I was when I first came here. You’ve changed me, Day. I can’t go back to who I was before you.”
“Fare—”
I can’t let him speak. Because he’ll tell me to stop being ridiculous. That I’ve fallen too hard, too fast for him. Instead, I pull his lips to mine. So what if this is what Summer’s made me? Ridiculous. Down in the muck of this thing…whatever it is. Need. Obsession.
Love.
Dayton kisses me back. Hard. His hands wrap around my body, fingers so rough, I imagine bruises forming on my skin. His handprints, marring me. I wish they were brands, claiming me as his forever. Our kiss grows more frantic, my fingers gripping his hair. It feels like we’re fighting with our lips, a battle we’re both too afraid to wage with words.
“Fuck, Farron,” Dayton growls against my mouth. He grabs my ass and thrusts his pelvis against me. His iron-stiff arousal sends my pulse skittering. I can’t stop moving; I have to keep kissing him, have to keep roaming my hands across his skin. If any of this stops, he might suggest going back to the keep. The keep with all those judging eyes that force us apart. Then, tomorrow, I’ll be gone.
A fading memory.
I push firmly on Dayton’s chest, guiding him down to the sand. He tugs me with him, and I land on top of his solid body, never tearing my mouth from his lips. His cock feels hard as steel, pressing against my abdomen. My own presses painfully against my breeches. Shifting positions, I jut forward so he can feel my arousal against his. He pulls away from my kiss to groan, the sound part curse, part my name, and part unintelligible blather.
Pride swells in my chest. He isn’t so infallible after all.
I go to capture Dayton’s mouth again, but he grabs the side of my head and holds me at a distance. His gaze is so intense.
“Farron,” he says lowly, “I want to do right by you. You know that, don’t you?”
“Of course,” I say. He doesn’t know that he could ask me to crawl behind him and I would consider it a privilege.
Dayton pushes the hair back from my eyes. “I will never ask you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”
