15. Roan

Roan

He's going to be the death of me. This friendship is going to be the death of me. But I'm determined. The idea of keeping him close like this is the only thing that keeps that Theo-obsessed beast inside of me calm enough to not berserker rage out on everyone.

He's been working around the clock, and we've all seen the change in him. It's like he's come to life working at the tavern. From the stories Tor shared about him, and who he was before his kidnapping, I never would have imagined he would be the sassy, smart-mouth man he is today.

I feel a strange sort of pride at every hurdle he's overcome. It hasn't been easy for him here, learning to live an entirely new way of life, but he has taken on every single challenge with fierce grit and determination. Not once has he backed down.

Not even the other night when a minotaur had gotten in his face after Theo accidentally spilled a drink all over the beast's fur. Mauvy had to physically restrain me when I tried to rush over to intervene, reminding me that if he was going to work there, he needed to learn how to deal with the customers on his own.

It's a tavern after all, and sometimes they get drunk and belligerent.

Despite the fact that the minotaur stood three and a half feet taller than him and was using every inch of it to stand over Theo, huffing and snarling, Theo hadn't budged an inch. Sure, he apologised first, but the minotaur was determined to start something that night and decided Theo was it.

Theo stood there toe to toe, staring down the predator armed with nothing but a black plastic serving tray and all the attitude and audacity of the generations of his haughty, pretentious, elitist fae ancestors. Gods, he didn't even have his powers anymore.

After what felt like an hour but was realistically only probably two minutes, where the tavern was silent enough to hear a pin drop, the minotaur backed down, snorting once more before turning back to his friends.

Theo slid out the back for a moment to compose his shaking hands and then confidently returned to the floor, continuing to serve the group as if nothing had happened. They'd tipped him extra that night.

Mauvy clucked over him like a proud mother until that blush had crept back over his cheeks, and he'd begged her to stop.

We all knew he loved it, though.

But being so close to him and not being able to touch him? Torture. Absolute torture. More than once my hands had wandered, as if they had a mind of their own, reaching for him, straying just a moment too long when I finally got my hands on him, making every excuse to loiter in his presence like a sad little puppy. It's pathetic. I haven't been so pent up and horny since I was a teenager. All it takes is a stiff breeze, or a hint of a glance of Theo, and I am hard as a rock.

So, being the incredibly intelligent man that I am, I've decided to take him on a hike. On our own. In absolute solitude.

As surreptitiously as I can, I take the chance to look over my shoulder to take in his toned thighs, significantly more muscular since his arrival at the Black Stump, flexing in his miniscule shorts.

Honestly, where in the name of the Gods did he get those things?

Quickly, I return my eyes back to the path ahead of me before I trip or make a total fool of myself drooling over him. Not for the first time, I am aware I made an extreme tactical error, and I should have invited someone else along as a chaperone.

"Ugh, it's hotter than a dragon's asshole, Roan. Why in the Gods names did I let you drag me out here?" I roll my eyes and bite back a smile at his dramatics. With one hand, he wipes away the sweat at the back of his neck and then looks at it, offended. "Where are we going anyway?"

The path here is old and significantly overgrown. Apart from Mauvy, I'm pretty much the only one who knows about it nowadays, and it's rare that I get the opportunity to come out here. He's right though, it's not sunny here with the dense woods forming a thick canopy, but the trees are trapping the heat, making the air thick and humid.

Before I answer, I haul back a particularly large fern so Theo can pass—and I can appreciate the sight of his round ass in those tiny shorts—and then jog ahead to help him down a ridge just ahead in the path. It's only a couple of feet, but it's covered in loose pebbles, and I don't want him to slip and fall.

I jump down first and hold out my hand for him to grab to keep steady. He eyes it for a second before placing his hand in mine. My fingers burn at the contact, like a bolt of lust shooting straight through my body. I can feel my cock thickening dangerously in my shorts, my blood surging in all the wrong directions.

I pray to all the Gods, old and new, that he doesn't look down to see the extremely obvious bulge in my shorts. He doesn't look down, but he does keep his hand in mine. I don't let go either, and we walk along the narrow path side by side, his shoulder brushing my arm.

"We're heading to the Falls." I explain, and I feel a tug on my arm when he stumbles, pausing briefly to look at me.

"The Falls?"

A grin spreads over my face, and I re-adjust the straps on my backpack to make it a bit more comfortable. I have more water, some towels, and some snacks stowed away in there.

"Yup, the falls. Technically, they are known as Whisper Falls."

Theo snorts, "Of course they are."

I chuckle at his interruption. "Yeah, I know. But anyway, they used to be common knowledge. The stories are that there used to be a mage clan that lived here, before they died out centuries ago. Beings used to go there all the time when they visited the Black Stump. But decades ago, there was a big accident. A fight broke out between some warring orc clans who were visiting at the same time. It was busy that day, apparently, a lot of families were there. Unfortunately, a lot of bystanders got hurt. Some had decided to join in and pick sides. It was mayhem according to all the stories. But then a kid was hurt. A faun child, completely innocent. They got separated from their parents when they were attempting to flee."

"What happened to the child?" Theo whispers the question, already knowing the answer. I squeeze his hand twice, and he squeezes back, his fingers tight against mine.

"They drowned. It was awful, from what Inigo said. He was only a boy when it happened, but he said the cries of the mother haunted his nightmares for years. The clans settled their differences after that, and Inigo's parents limited access to the Falls for a while. Not that anyone wanted to go there anyway. But then time marched on, and everyone forgot about the Falls and Inigo decided to keep it that way. Too many visitors had eroded the area, and he said the Woods preferred the Falls kept quiet. The creatures that lived there were thriving."

"You say that a lot, about Inigo knowing what the Woods want. What does that mean?" Theo might've lost his gift, but he's still smarter than he gives himself credit for. No one else has ever picked up on the way I talk about Inigo. Even Mauvy is hazy on the situation, and she grew up here.

"Inigo had a very special relationship with the Woods." An immature snort and giggle bursts from Theo, and even though I roll my eyes, I snicker along too, "Grow up, brat. Anyway, he always had a special tie to the land. The land that the Black Stump sits on specifically. According to Mum, he'd always been that way since he was a child. He'd declare that the Woods were unhappy, and some major weather event would occur or the like. He treated the Woods like they were a sentient being.

"Mum is actually Inigo's niece. But she said that her grandmother would tell her stories about Inigo disappearing into the Woods for days, even as a child. He said that he could talk to the trees, and they talked back. As he got older, he didn't talk about it as much, but it was obviously his gift. He told me one night, after a few drinks, that he was the protector of these parts of the Woods. That it was his job to make sure that everything was in balance. He couldn't really explain how it worked, but then he was a few beers deep at the time. We never really brought it up again, it just was a thing that was, you know?"

I shrug my shoulders, and pull Theo to a hard stop. We have reached the end of the overgrown path where the dense undergrowth has completely overtaken the entry to the Falls. I spin to face him, looking at his beautiful face, reddened by the exertion of the walk and bordering on irritation.

I must be going insane because the grumpy look on his face fills me with a giddy, floaty sort of feeling, and my heart skips a beat. His glittering gold and brown eyes spark in a way that makes me want to lecture him about something so he can sass me back.

Despite all the warm and fuzzy feelings, anxiety floods my stomach. It feels imperative that he likes this place that's so special to me. I hesitate, chewing on my lip, his grumpy face only getting more intense.

"We're here." I wave vaguely behind me to the blocked path, and his eyebrows raise with impatience. "Just… I just hope you like it."

His face melts almost instantly, a sheepish smile creeping over his face, his already ruddy complexion turning pinker with his blush. I shuffle on my feet and then take a deep breath and shove my way through the lush overgrown ferns, dragging Theo close behind me.

***

Theo stumbles behind me as I pull him into the clearing beyond the fern blockade. The sun is brighter here, the air sultry but less oppressively humid. Over the thundering sound of the waterfall, I hear his sharp intake of breath and the crunch of his sneakers where the pebbly rocks blend in with the mossy dirt, the border of the Falls and the Woods blending into one.

As he moves to stand by my side, he drops my hand, and I miss it immediately. My fingers twitch to grab hold of him again, but I manage to catch myself just in time. I'm not quite ready to do something quite so desperate.

Yet.

Theo's face is awestruck, his perfect strawberry lips have fallen open into a little "o" shape. His arms come to wrap around himself, almost as if he needs to insulate himself against the beauty before him.

And I get it.

Whisper Falls is, in my opinion, the most magnificent creation in the land. The clearing is wide and open, filled with rocky dirt, greenery, and dotted with brightly coloured exotic flowers and small curling fern-like plants. Many of the plants and flowers in this clearing exist nowhere else in the world.

The clearing is not quite circle-shaped, joining to the high rocky cliff of the waterfall, forming a ring around the pool at the base of the falls. Large flat stones line the perimeter of the pool at varying heights, providing access to the water, almost as if they were arranged specifically for sunning yourself next to the water. In fact, my grandfather told me stories that giants - a long-extinct race of beings - had set them up exactly so. The rocks are covered with moss and vines, much like the cliff face not raging with water.

There was, long, long ago, a steep staircase carved into the cliff to allow beings to climb to the top and jump into the water below, but it has long since been reclaimed by the Woods.

A salamander scuttles across the ground in front of us, pausing only to meep indignantly at our intrusion. Next to me, Theo laughs softly, as if scared to break the serenity of the moment.

"Roan." He lays a delicate hand on my arm, and it's like an electric shock through my system. "It's beautiful ."

As if to accentuate his hushed reverence, there is a loud squawk accompanied by the flapping of wings. We turn as one to watch an eri—a large parrot-like bird with bright blue wings, red belly, and yellow face and back, with large venomous claws—fly down to perch low on one of the trees close to us. The bird watches us intently, its black beady eyes trained on us. Then it cocks its head to the side, squawks again with its ear-splitting call, and flies off again.

"Are we safe here?" Theo's hand is still on my arm, and I feel his hand flex slightly with nerves.

"Of course. There is a nest of nabras living in the trees we just passed. If they, or the Woods, didn't want us here, we certainly wouldn't have made it this far."

I look down to Theo's now horrified face as he turns over his shoulder to stare wide eyed at the trees we had just passed through. I clap him on the shoulder and tug him under my arm because I'm a weak man, and I only have so much willpower in a day.

"Come on, let's go swimming." Theo stumbles again, either because I'm dragging him towards the rocks or because of my suggestion. Either way, he's tight enough against me that he just falls into me. I use it as an excuse to squeeze him even tighter.

"I didn't bring anything to swim in. You didn't tell me we were going swimming." He sounds nervous, and I hesitate.

"You can swim right?" I feel the intensity of his eye roll and smile to myself at his attitude.

"Of course I can swim, old man. We had three pools and two large water features on my parents' property. Not to mention our summer home and the lake house."

"Why would anyone need three pools? That's just stupidity. And that doesn't mean you can swim. It just means your parents know how to waste money."

Theo's laugh echoes through the clearing, and I have to let go to haul myself up onto one of the stone slabs. It is not nearly as mossy as the others, perfect for sun baking.

"You kind of answered your own question there. But when you have that much money, it all becomes a bit superfluous. Why not have three swimming pools? And yes, I can swim. I'm quite good at it, too."

He accepts my offered hand to pull him up, and he stands next to me on the rock, surveying the turquoise water of the pool. I drop the backpack and roll my shoulders, having a stretch.

"But I expect it is rather different to swimming here. How deep is it? Where does the water go? Where does it come from?" I guess those old curious habits die hard. He blushes and waves me off. "Never mind."

"You're right, swimming here is much different to swimming in a pool. General rule of thumb is it's shallow towards the edge, deeper towards the Falls. We can stick to where you can reach the bottom. As for the water, I don't have a clue, but I expect the water comes from all around the Woods and feeds the hot springs over past Caelan's. As for what we are swimming in," I circle back to one of his earlier questions, "we can swim in our underwear. What do you think?" Theo's lips draw into a pout, and he looks up at me, all wide-eyed, faux innocence.

"I think I probably should have worn underwear." His voice is breathy and flirty, but dramatically so, and I gulp. Hard. Every single drop of blood flooding to my cock so quickly my head spins a little.

Completely of their own accord, my eyes drop to the crotch of his indecently short shorts, where the fabric is tight against his dick. Is he really…? Unable to contain himself a moment longer, a burst of laughter explodes from Theo, and he punches my arm. I narrow my eyes at him, folding my arms across my chest, drawing myself up to my full height.

"Gotcha," he continues to laugh, and I enjoy seeing him so happy I don't even care about the tease. Or the fact that my cock is painfully hard, the sight of his head thrown back in laughter sending a dangerous pulse of lust through my cock.

I still feel the need to get my own back for his teasing, and so, without a word, I reach back and pull off my tee shirt and toe off my shoes and socks. I quickly undo my shorts, dropping them to the rocks.

Now it's Theo's turn to watch. When I invited him out today, I never intended for us to end up here. Well, I wanted to show him the Falls and get him out of the tavern. To spend time together. Now I see the faults in my plan and there is a warning bell somewhere in the back of my head reminding me that we haven't discussed what happened between us. And that we certainly shouldn't be flirting and swimming in our underwear. And he certainly shouldn't be eyeing my cock like he is a starving man where it is tenting in my black boxer briefs in protest to its restriction.

But we are. And he is.

His tongue darts out to lick his parted lips and a shudder rocks through me. His eyes finally drag their way up my body and lock onto mine, glimmering with heat and lust. His nostrils flare slightly, and I hold his eye contact as I step backwards until I finally have to turn to lower myself into the cool water. His eyes burn my skin, and I swear, even over the sound of the Falls, I can hear his whimper.