Caledonia Fae 05 - Elder Druid by India Drummond Read Free Book Online Page B

palace at the Gap of Bria means nothing to me.”
    He touched Douglas’ face. They’d never lain together alone or when sober, only enjoyed sex in groups and only under the influence of smoke or, in the faeries’ case, wine. But Tràth’s feelings for Douglas went beyond the drunken, lust-fuelled parties. The bond drew them together, but over time, they had grown to love each other. The passion stirred in Douglas as well, and Tràth knew the sentiment was mutual. Leaning across, he kissed Douglas, softly at first, but their ardour grew. Douglas placed a hand on Tràth’s chest, and the druid’s fingers snaked up to the back of his neck and into his hair.
    “Oh!” A voice came from the other side of the room. Douglas pushed Tràth away and stood. Aaron was backing toward the entry arch. “Sorry,” the other druid said. “I saw the girl leave, and I thought you were alone.”
    Douglas bellowed with fury and shouted at his friend, “Get the fuck out of here!”
    “Sorry,” Aaron repeated and spun around, beating a hasty retreat.
    Tràth stood, confused by the sudden anger burning through Douglas. Sure, they’d been drunk or high when they’d kissed before, but wasn’t this better? To express themselves without hiding behind intoxicants? Wasn’t this what Douglas had wanted, rather than their previous frivolous existence? “What’s wrong?” he asked Douglas and reached for his arm.
    Douglas jerked away. He threw off his robe and began to dress, putting on his usual kidskin clothing.
    “Douglas?” Tràth recoiled from the harsh emotions pumping through their bond. “Why are you ashamed of me? What have I done to make you feel this way?”
    Douglas sat on the far side of the room and shoved his feet into his boots. “I need to feed the Stone,” he said.
    Confusion and anger swept over Tràth. He knew Douglas cared for him. Before they’d been interrupted, he’d sensed not only the desire, but the love in their bond. Now, that love had dissolved into a crashing storm of shame and hatred. Bracing himself against the sudden swirling of his own out-of-control magic, he spoke between gritted teeth. “What is wrong with you?”
    “Nothing is wrong with me,” Douglas said. “For one, I’m not a goddamned queer. The fucking bond is doing this to me. I only bonded with you because they thought you were going to die. They told me the bond would bring you back.”
    Tràth stood motionless, unable to think, and barely capable of breathing. With a shaken whisper, he stopped time. As immobilised as Douglas, he replayed every shared moment for the past two years, every conversation with or about Douglas. He paced back and forth through the galaxy of time as only a temporal fae could. He ignored the slowing of his heartbeat and the pain of extending his reach too long. Nothing he saw or heard in his near-perfect memory contradicted what Douglas had told him.
    They both had accepted that the bond had the ability to influence emotions and induce attraction. They’d been warned about the dangers early on. At the time, they had laughed it off. Tràth had been with many male and female faeries in his life. The caution hadn’t troubled him, as it had been given to warn him of the perils of becoming attracted to a human. Unlike most fae, he hadn’t thought twice about the conventions of the day, which told them humans were barely intelligent creatures, hardly capable of higher reasoning. He’d spent enough time in the human realm when he’d run away from his insane mother to understand the untruth behind the prejudice.
    Tràth had never considered for an instant the bond would be painful to Douglas, never once realised his druid hadn’t wanted to share the intimacies they had. Had the drugs merely been his way of coping with the unwelcome intrusion of the bond? He’d always seemed willing, often eager. He’d appeared to welcome the parties and revel in his newly unbounded sexuality.
    But the desire had been a lie,