Page 64 of Prince of the Sun

CARA: OK. spoke to ber. he said u and daer are on a romantic excursion upstate. enjoyyyyy

Grinning, I set down my phone and twist around to watch Daerios over the back of the couch. He’s still at the island, uncorking a bottle of red wine.

“You like merlot?” he asks.

“I’m nineteen. What I drink usually comes from a plastic bag.”

He winces and pours two deep glasses. After carrying them over, he settles onto the couch a few feet away, placing his feet on the coffee table, ankles crossed.

I raise my glass. “To new experiences.”

“To new experiences. And to secrets shared between friends.”

As he clinks his glass against mine, my stomach dips.Secrets shared between friends.When I look around at this cabin, I see how much of himself Daerios has shared with me. About Elaërion, about his family, about his weaknesses and desires. And I have shared so little about myself.

Tactically, it’s a brilliant move by me. Morally?

My heart squeezes. I push the thought as far down as I can.There will be time for guilt later,I decide.For now—

For now, there’s a roaring fire and a bowl of mac and cheese and a glass of wine more delicious than alcohol has any business being. I pick up my dinner and, noting its weight, realize that Daerios switched our bowls so that I have the one with the larger portion. I look over at him, ready to demand he switch back, but his eyes are lost in the fire. Orange flames flicker in their mirror-like surface, and for a moment, I’m transfixed by the sight of him—the hard jaw, the sloped nose, the damp black hair. The shadows that seem to dance about him.

I giggle.

He turns to me and narrows his eyes. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just…” I purse my lips. “All of this—it’s sohuman.”

He shrugs, turning back to the fire. “When in Rome and all that.”

“No.” I adjust beneath my blanket, straightening and inching closer to him. “It’s more than that. Red wine, movies, mac and cheese—these things are quintessentially human. And you onlyindulge in them in private.” I tilt my head. “Youlikeit here. But you don’t want anyone knowing.”

Daerios smiles, a faraway sort of look lit up by the dancing flames. “You asked me back on the dock where I’m happiest.”

“In nature,” I say. “Near bodies of water.”

He nods. “As children, Ber and I spent entire days exploring the rivers and lagoons of Árrion. They ran throughout the valley, and no matter how much time we spent in them—swimming, wading, binding branches together into makeshift rafts—it seemed there was always more to explore. Streams that ran down into caves. Hidden reservoirs. It was…” He sucks in a breath, taking a sip from his glass. “When we came to Earth, Ber and I traveled quite a lot. Obviously, our trips to bars and nightclubs drew the most attention of the press.” He smiles tightly. “But we also visited every National Park we possibly could. Yosemite. Yellowstone. Glacier. Hot springs in Indonesia and waterfalls in Tibet.”

He pauses to take another sip of wine, then continues. “When my body is in water, I don’t know. I feel whole. Like someone has sewed together all the pieces of my soul.”

I set my spoon back in the bowl. “And, typically, you don’t feel that way?”

“No,” he says quietly. “Typically, I don’t feel that way.”

I lay my head on the back of the couch, eyes on Daerios. “Why don’t you let people see this side of you?” I ask.

“What side?”

“The kind one.”

He looks over at me, chin twitching with an emotion I cannot read. “Kindness makes you vulnerable.”

“And you don’t want to be vulnerable?”

His eyes flicker. “No.”

“Me, neither.”

We’re silent, after that. Sparks crackle from the log slowlycoming apart in the fireplace. Outside, the wind howls like an animal in pain.