Page 58 of Prince of the Sun

Darling, you’re lying to everyone—and to yourself worst of all.

Spot Pond arrives not a moment too soon. When Daerios draws Vorrok to a halt at the end of Middlesex Fells Reservation, I practically vault off the creature’s back. Only my legs get tangled up in his, and I end up falling sideways into the dirt.

“Very graceful,” says Daerios.

“Eat shit,” I reply.

“You do have such lovely manners.” He swings his leg over Vorrok’s back and slides flawlessly to the ground. He offers out a smooth-palmed hand. I ignore it, instead pressing my fingers to the crunching leaves and wobbling to my feet. I’m covered in dirt, but I made it. I’m alive.

I turn in a slow circle, finally taking in the warm colors shaking in the trees above us. Sunlight filters in through the leaves, shining down on a dirt path leading down through the forest. At the end of the path, I spy a glimpse of water.

Daerios steps up beside me, brushing my arm with his. “Welcome to Spot Pond.”

Spot Pond is breathtaking. Sitting on 2,500 acres of land, it’s a Massachusetts paradise. Sailboats drift along the shoreline. A small island sits at the center, peppered with autumn trees of every color. The water is glass, so still it reflects the sky. A path winds its circumference, ducking beneath trees burning with red, yellow, and orange. It does not feel as if we traveled an hour away from Harvard Square; it feels as if we traveled into a different universe.

Daerios leads me down a set of stairs and onto the path. He turns to the left and starts circling the water. I fall into step beside him.

“That island at the center,” Daerios says, pointing out over the water, “is called Great Island. In the nineteenth century, they used to hold wrestling and prizefighting matches out there.”

“Seriously?” I bunch my eyebrows together. “Why would they go all the way out to a remote island just to fight?”

Daerios shrugs. “Human men are a mystery to me.”

“You and me both, pal.” I sigh. “Is the island deserted now?”

“It is, though it’s free for anyone to explore. I’ve been outthere myself a few times. There’s a plaque at the center with an engraving that says ‘WHERE SHUTE FELL.’”

“Where Shute fell?” I wrinkle my nose. “Who’s Shute?”

“No one knows. Maybe one of the fighters.”

“I read a linguistics paper recently by an academic whose last name was Shute,” I say. “She had an interesting theory, actually. She proposed that ear vibrations are—”

“Kallister.” Daerios looks at me, and my stomach squeezes at the nickname. “We just traveled an hour on horseback to getawayfrom Harvard. Let’s leave the books behind. Let’s pretend, at least for a few hours, that you actually like to have fun.”

“I like fun,” I say defensively.

Daerios laughs. “That’s exactly what an uptight bore would say.”

I try to shove him off the path and into the lake, which only makes him laugh harder.

“I’m sorry.” He schools his features into wide-eyed innocence. “I didn’t mean it. I don’t think you’re a bore.”

“Right.” I cross my arms, looking out at the lake.

“I’m serious.” When I look back at Daerios, his eyes have softened, sweet butter left to melt in the sun. “You are many things, Quinn Kallister. You are brilliant, and frustrating, and mysterious, and, more often than not, a general pain in my ass.” His eyes flash. “But you are certainly not boring.”

I inhale. Sunlight flickers on right at the center of my body, swelling outward, warming every limb. His words—I cannot believe how thoroughly they affect me.Brilliant and frustrating and mysterious. Exactly how I would describe him. I shiver, attempting to smother the growing warmth, to dim the light flooding my body. To throw a blanket over the sun.

I fail.

Daerios extends a hand. Smooth and moon-white. Tentatively, I reach out and take it. Then I let him pull meforward, and we resume our circle of the sky.

We walk for hours. We cover every subject imaginable, from movies to politics to where to get the best ice cream in Harvard Square.

“I thought elves didn’t eat human desserts,” I say.

“Are you crazy?” Daerios eyes me. “Have youtastedJ.P. Licks’s cake batter Oreo?”