Chapter Twenty-Three
CASCO AND DARIC
Casco ate and drank with his friends, but inside him, everything had changed. It had happened with Daric’s kiss. He felt as if his life had been hurtling toward this point for years, yet he’d only just realized.
Their s****l encounter had been drug-induced – but in reality, the effect of the fruit had released a part of him long suppressed. Occasional loves had colored his life, but there had been nothing lasting – how could there be when he had so little to offer? He’d always felt a deep fondness for Sari … and memories of Saphela of Hermes’ smile still held a pang of loss; but Daric was welded to his heart with an intensity he would not have thought possible. Was this what it was like for Huldar and Andel? No wonder he’d felt excluded at the time –
