The Druid Series 9: Baird (A Druid Novel) by Marata Eros Read Free Book Online

never be the same after what happened,” she says.
    “ I would hope in time...”
    “ Yes.” Siana cups his face. “Time will make a difference. For now, I have only fresh memories of the horror of the undead.”
    Kael looks conflicted, and Siana frowns as she asks, “What say you?”
    His light eyes darken. “I do not know if this be the right time to tell you.”
    Siana sits up, the sheet falling to her waist. She does not cover herself again but narrows her eyes upon Kael.
    “What is it? Just speak plainly. I deserve that.”
    “ I know.”
    Siana almost shouts at him, but he says, “I asked you to open your womb, and you did not.”
    Siana's brows come together. “I appreciate... I—”
    Kael shakes his head. “It is not a poignant expression; it is a reality. When a Druid female is ripe for the seed of her male, the womb will open, so we may enter and more deeply impregnate her.”
    Siana nods. She's heard this bit of lore, though she thought it a fanciful turn of phrase. “I thought it an expression.”
    His eyes meet hers. “It is not.”
    “All right?” Siana asks, throwing out her hands.
    “ Your womb is closed, Siana.”
    “ I am not ripe?”
    Kael's eyes drop. “No, it is not that.”
    “Baird and I bred you on the sacred slab.”
    “ You were not breeding me, you were saving me,” Siana says, wishing he would get to the end of it.
    “ Your womb is closed because you are with child.”
    Siana's hand covers her mouth. “No.”
    “I am afraid it is true.”
    “ Baird,” Siana says in a word that sounds more like a sob.
    Kael nods. “It could be mine.”
    They look at each other.
    Siana tries for a smile. “Even if it were his, he would care not.”
    Kael stares solemnly back.
    “ He will know nothing.” Kael takes her into his arms.
    She hides her tears.

CHAPTER NINE
    Baird
     
    Baird's lungs beg for oxygen, more on fire than not, and yet he keeps running. Punishing himself.
    He cannot get the image of Kael and Siana's locked hands out of his mind.
    Though he has not seen them since then, he knows they will fuck.
    The knowledge makes his blood boil.
    And it serves him right. If Baird could not declare his true feelings for the Druid queen, he did not deserve to have her. If he is so unwilling to face his own truth, it is selfless for Baird to let another have her.
    Then why do I feel like I've swallowed glass?
    Baird makes a sharp left as he ascends the familiar hill.
    He is familiar with the location of the Druid priest's lair, as many of the Faction, rogue and his own kind—are also privy.
    The female Druids still need saving. If Siana chooses Kael, then let the entire rogue take care of her.
    His self-delusions sit ill within him.
    At least with fifteen warriors and no females, she should be safe.
    And well-fucked.
    He growls without realizing it, putting on a burst of speed as he jumps the moat to the priests’ temple.
    Baird needs neither key nor a strong leg to kick in the door.
    It hangs like a tooth by a thread in the jamb like a yawning mouth.
    He tips his face to the sky, flaring his nostrils and catches the one scent he hoped to never smell.
    Faction.
    Baird tenses.
    He runs in a blur of speed, descending the ten stories into the bowels of the temple.
    Cell doors stand open. Dead priests are missing their throats, and guts like glistening skinned worms litter the floor in squiggly ivory piles. Baird's gaze bounces around frantically.
    They are gone.
    All the Druid females.
    The Faction are proof against Druid magick. They are not enough Reaper to hold sway, but they are enough Druid for the mixed-blood of the criminal vampire element to want.
    Baird pivots, racing back the way he had come.
    He will return to the Reaper stronghold. Maghnus can bring a plan to fruition.
    The Reapers will infiltrate the Faction.
    They will regain the females and kill as many of the scourge as they can.
    He rushes through the door and catches sight of Kael and Siana at the other side.
    He