Page 96 of Prince of the Sun

I smile back, even though tears have started to blur my vision. “Well, you don’t get to hog everything the way you hogged the blanket earlier.”

“Mmmm.” Daerios’s eyes flutter shut. He looks so fragile, like a soft breeze could scatter him into a million pieces. “From what I remember, we got equal enjoyment out of that blanket.”

I laugh, the sound sticking in my chest. “Maybe not equal. I think there was slightly more enjoyment on my end.”

Daerios shakes his head without opening his eyes. “There is nothing I enjoy more than making you happy, Quinn Kallister.”

The lump in my throat swells. “Then you better stay alive,” I say, my voice cracking. “Because you dying would do the opposite of make me happy.”

His eyes open at last. Bleary though they are, they search myface. “Would you mourn me, Quinn?”

The thought of a world without Daerios… “How can you even ask me that question?”

“Because I need to know.” His eyes start to drift away again, his grip loosening on my palm, but he keeps talking, voice low. “Would you miss me if I were gone?”

“Yes.” I choke on the word, its weight a stone in my throat. “Yes, God, of course I would miss you. Please don’t die, Daerios. Just hold on a little bit longer. They’re coming back with the skyberries.”

“Maybe.” A small smile wanders up his face. “Remember that night in Spot Pond?”

“Of course I do.”

“That night was, without question, the best in my hundred and sixty-three years of life.” Blinking, he turns to look at me again. “I would die a thousand times if it meant I got to spend just that one night with you.”

A sob rises in my throat. “Don’t say that, Daerios. You aren’t going to die. Not right now. Not like this.”

“It’s all right, baby.” His eyes flutter closed. “It’s all right. I’m going to… I’m…”

“No.” I let go of his hand and grab his shoulders. Their skin has turned a sallow, webbed black, like bat’s wings. I shake them violently, not caring that you probably shouldn’t shake a dying man. “No. Daerios.Wake up.You can’t die. I haven’t even told you. I-I—”

“Quinn!”

I whip around just in time to see Cara and Berendir burst out into the clearing.

Cara waves one hand over her head. “We found them! We found them!”

I almost collapse with relief. They found them. I look back down, still gripping Daerios’s shoulders, and say, “They’re back,Daer. They made it. Just hold on a moment longer, okay?”

Cara and Berendir slide in next to me. Berendir pries open the prince’s mouth while Cara stuffs a bundle of light blue berries inside. Berendir grabs his chin and moves it up and down, simulating the motion of chewing.

“Come on,” Berendir says. “Comeon.”

I lower my fingers to his throat and brush them lightly downward, the way my mother used to do to our cat when she wanted him to swallow his medication. “Please, Daerios,” I whisper. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I swear to every god on Elaërion, if you die right now, I’ll kill you a second time,” says Berendir. “Swallow, you royal pain in the ass!” He thumps Daerios on the chest. “Swallow.”

With a garbled gasp of air, Daerios’s eyes burst open.

“Ha,ha!” yells Berendir, raising both hands and pumping them victoriously. “He lives!”

“Where—” The Prince glances around, eyes wide with fear. Skyberry juice drizzles from the corner of his mouth. “What are—”

“Shhh.” I bend over, laying my cheek on his chest and wrapping one arm around his shoulders. “Shhh. It’s okay,” I whisper. “You’re okay.”

One of Daerios’s hands finds my back. He clings to me as if his life depends on it. As if I were the only buoy in miles of empty sea.

We walk until we come to a river. After helping Daerios up from the grass, I drape his arm over my shoulders and let him use me as a support. As soon as he swallowed the skyberry juice, the darkness started to recede, but his strength has yet to return in full.

He limps for the first mile or so. Gradually, his steps become more sure, his muscles more steady. By the time we reach the river, the only lingering sign of the venom in his system is a slight labored drag to his breathing.