Chapter 79

HE HADN'T thought he'd sleep, almost thinks he didn't, but there's the river, and there's Wil standing over it, staring down into its rushing depths. Dallin wonders what he sees down there, wonders if Wil can hear the reflections of the stars as well as the stars themselves, and wonders if their songs are any different.

He remembers thinking Wil beautiful once as he'd stared, shock-still, into Wil's eyes for the first time. Dallin allows himself to think it again now as he watches the breeze lift dark silk from a clear brow, watches peace spread over the face that had looked at him before with misery and asking. Wil should always wear that smile. Dallin wishes he could give it to him, wrap it up in a bow, offer it in the palm of his hand like a promise.

"You can't give smiles," someone had told Dallin once. He thinks it was Corliss. "You can only give reasons for them."