Page 25

Farron

C arefully, I tuck the last of my books into my trunk before slamming the lid closed. Mother has Eleanor trapped in the chair before the wicker vanity and is fussing with her hair. Nori sighs and continues staring into the jar of fish bones she’s collected over our time here.

I look around the room. Despite the oppressive heat and always shaking salt or sand out of my trousers, this place has felt like home. Every memory is a treasure, from long dinners over rich wine, to exploring caverns filled with shining sea glass, to…to him.

It all comes back to him.

Even the more uncomfortable memories can’t dampen the experience.

Like the time Nori went up to Dayton’s mother, Princess Sabine, and placed her small hands upon the princess’s pregnant belly.

“This child will be a princess of blood and sand,” Nori had said confidently.

“She will raise armies and sink cities into the depths. She will be of air and water, and all will fear her.”

Well, that had sent Sabine into hysterics, and Mother had been mortified. Nori had been forced to sing an ancient Autumn hymn at dinner one night as penance, and we were all squirming in our seats with embarrassment.

But besides that, the long months in the Summer Realm have passed as a dream. And although I’m sad to go, something else flutters in my chest.

Excitement.

A new chapter begins. Now, I’ll get to show Dayton my home. And whatever this is between us—this magical, terrifying, beautiful thing —may flourish in the land where all things come to die.

I catch Mother staring at me, her eyes soft and smile sweet.

“What is it?” I ask.

“You seem different,” she says. “Lighter.” She walks over to me and places a hand on my shoulder. “It’s a good thing.”

I smile inwardly. Maybe she’s right. Something about Dayton has changed me, and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.

I grab my satchel and click open the latch?—

“Argh!” A giant green bullfrog leaps out, nearly landing on my face, and I hear a cackle of laughter from the doorway.

Anger rushes up my chest to the top of my ears. “Dom! Billy!”

I sprint after them, ignoring my mother’s calls.

They chuckle and dash ahead, but I’m quicker than them. They lead me through the corridors of the villa before they turn around a corner. I skid after them to see they’re huddled behind Decimus for protection. He laughs and ruffles their hair.

“I’ll be sorry to see you little Autumn leaves go,” he says. “We all will be.”

Another secret smile plays at my lips. Because it doesn’t feel like goodbye. It feels like the beginning of something wonderful.

My family gathers in the entrance hall of our villa. Outside, our carriage, carved with acorns and chestnuts, looks too dark for the bright sun and green foliage of the Summer Realm. Dayton’s three parents arrive to wish us well, as Damocles and Decimus quickly join their side.

Something flits in my stomach. Where’s Dayton?

The mothers are hugging, Decimus is squeezing both my brothers in a bear hug, my father is shaking hands with Ovidius, and Cenarius is being forced to look at Nori’s jar of bones.

I walk up to Damocles. “Where’s Dayton?”

A tic fires in his jaw. “You know Daytonales by now. He’s never where he’s supposed to be.”

That feeling in my stomach is moving up, clenching at my lungs, weaving around my heart. “But he’s supposed to come with us. He said he’d talk to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s going to come with us to the Autumn Realm,” I say in a breath. “He’s going to come with me.”

Pity flashes in the High Prince’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Farron. He never spoke to me about this.”

No…no. No. It can’t be like last year. Things are different . I’ve changed. Mother said so.

Hasn’t he changed too?

Damocles must see the pain in my eyes because he places a hand on my shoulder. “It’s clear you care for my brother. So, I’ll tell you the same thing I told Decimus last night. Dayton is a fool.”

A retort builds inside me, but I bite my tongue because who am I to defend someone who won’t even keep his word?

“Dayton is a fool,” Damocles says again. “But I know my brother. His spirit is wild and untamed, like the fiercest of Summer storms, yet there is a warmth and a light in him that can shine in any darkness. He may stumble, he may falter, but within him lies the potential to ignite a path of glory.”

So, his brother has seen in Dayton what I have then. “I fear Day doesn’t believe that about himself.”

“I thought for a long while it would be me to ignite that flame inside him, then perhaps a partner. Possibly someone we do not even expect. But as he is now, Daytonales is an unchecked fire, one whose path I would caution to stay far away from.”

Stay away from Dayton? The notion feels impossible.

I sprint out of the villa, hearing my family call after me. But I don’t stop. I have to find him. It’s not possible after all the days in the sun, the nights lying on the sand, skin to skin, heart to heart, that he would just…let me go.

I run under the peach trees, the once-bursting fruit now withered. Where is he?

Tinkling laughter fills my ears, and I spin, catching sight of the stables. Two fae women totter out, their bare bodies barely hidden by a horse blanket. They catch my attention and giggle. “He’s still too drunk to fuck. Pretty to look at, though.”

Now the feeling carves its way up my spine, filling my head with rushing blood. I careen forward and push open the door to the stable.

Lying in the straw, surrounded by empty wine bottles, and fully naked, is Dayton.

He looks a mess, golden hair tangled, dark circles under his eyes, a stinking pile of sick in the straw beside him.

He pulls himself up to a sitting position, and his eyes are cloudy as he registers me. “Fare?”

I stagger backward, catching myself on the wall. “Day…”

Then, Dayton does what Dayton does best. He laughs. “Looks like I had a bit too much fun last night.”

I can barely breathe, let alone speak. “We…we’re leaving today.”

“Oh?” Dayton rubs his hands over his eyes. “Right. That’s this morning.”

“I thought you were coming with me.”

Dayton’s whole body stills. His head pitches forward, face covered by golden hair.

“Of course I’m not fucking coming with you, Fare.

” He looks up at me, his mouth unfamiliar.

No smile. No cocky smirk. Instead, a harsh frown cuts across his face.

“We have fun, you and me. But this isn’t one of your silly books.

You’re a dreamer.” His eyes shimmer. “And you need to leave me out of it.”

“Dayton…”

“You don’t belong here, Farron,” he snarls. “And I sure as fuck don’t belong with you.”

All summer, I’d watched Dayton fight. Fight in the arena. Fight against Justus. Fight for me.

I’d said Dayton had changed me. I have to fight too. Fight for him, for us.

But Mother was wrong. I was wrong.

Because I’m not a different person. I’m still the coward I always was.

I turn and run.