“Yeah?”
“Always knew we were mates.”
I laugh, because even at this moment, he can make me smile. “You do realize that this means we could have broken our curses a long time ago?”
Dayton throws his head back, another laugh echoing in his chest. “We still beat Kel. That’s all that matters.”
“Heh,” Ezryn laughs. “Even Cas unlocked his mate bond before Kel. Wasn’t hard.”
Keldarion lets out a light chuckle, and the three other princes gather around us, bending down.
“You’ll look after them,” Dayton says weakly.
It’s Keldarion who nods and places a hand on Dayton’s shoulder. “With every beat of my heart. Thank you for all you’ve done, High Prince of Summer.”
Tears run down Cas’s cheek as he crouches beside Keldarion. “Guess I’m going to win our bet, Sunshine.”
“Shame.” Dayton still manages to smirk back.
Ezryn removes his helm and bends his brow to Dayton. “I will let Delphia know of the glorious hero her brother proved to be. I will guide and teach her how to be a high princess. I promise you, brother, she will never be alone.”
A tear slides down Dayton’s cheek. He’s blinking more now, eyes growing glassy.
“No,” I choke out, clutching tighter to him. We can’t be doing this. “I don’t know how to say goodbye to you.”
“Then don’t, Fare,” Dayton says so faintly. Maybe I’m hearing it in my mind. “Just tell me you love me. And please, kiss me once as your mate.”
I look across at Rosalina, her face as broken as mine, holding him so carefully in her lap.I can’t do this.
What if this is our last kiss? I can’t kiss him, thinking it will be our last kiss. I can’t.
You can, she whispers in my mind.For Day.
I choke out a sob and lower myself to his lips, still tasting of summer and salt.Tide-kissed forever.He sighs against me, using one of his precious last breaths to love me.
“Through every season and every storm,” I murmur against his cheek.
Stars, I can barely hear his heartbeat now. Every one that echoes through me feels like a miracle.
Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, I cry out in my mind.
Rosalina bends over next to us, and I reach out and grasp her hand as if it’s a tether. She kisses Dayton’s cheek, whispering in his ear, “You’re the tide…and…” She chokes back a sob. “I love you.”
“You…” Dayton begins, but there’s no more breath in his lungs for words.You two are the greatest treasure I ever found. I love you.
So much light bursts around us it’s almost blinding, all our threads intertwining. “Goodbye, Day,” I gasp out. “We’ll be woven together forever.”
61
Rosalina
There’s one thing that’s keeping me from falling apartcompletely. His last moments need to be beautiful, held and protected and safe in the arms of the people he loves.
If only love was enough to keep him here.
So I hold my Summer Prince, basking in the glow of our bonds, a gift from my mother.
“Goodbye, Day,” Farron gasps out, and my heart breaks with those words. That he was able to say them. “We’ll be woven together forever.”
