Darach (11 page)

"I don't know." Ceithin sounded just as bewildered, then he simply grinned as the water spouts collected around the men's legs. Ceithin stumbled closer as the water pushed them until they were hip-to-hip in the coolness of the pool.

Darach held himself still
. H
e wasn
'
t sure what was happening
,
but holy
Annwn
, the water was churning around him
. H
is Fire was climbing his spine, the euphoria in him was intense
,
and being this close to Ceithin was screwing with his head. His element was like this man, strong and insistent, play
ful
and teasing and pushing at him. The water was affecting his sex
.
Ceithin was irreverent, forceful, idiotic,
and
arrogant, so
it
couldn
'
t be
contact with
him
that
meant
Darach
'
s dick
had
go
ne
from vaguely interested to freaking full
-
on stiff as wood in seconds. Ceithin laughed, the huff of his breath warm on Darach
'
s face.
Annwn
, had
the Cariad
felt
how hard Darach was?

"You need to calm down, youngling."

"It's not me."

"
It
'
s you
.
I promise it
'
s you
. Y
ou connected. Just close your eyes and breathe deeply.
"
Darach started to argue
—
A
gain with the closing
-
his
-
eyes orders
—
but Ceithin wasn
'
t giving him the chance
. I
nstead, he placed his hands firm
ly
on
to
Darach
'
s shoulders
,
providing solid support.
"
Close your eyes
. B
reathe
.
"

He closed his eyes tightly, focusing on calming his breathing. Slowly and surely, his Fire curled back inside him, although he sensed its reluctance. He could see it as it left the water and insinuated itself, sulkily, reluctantly, slowly, until finally every single touch of blue was back inside him. The water stilled its frantic movements and its dance. He didn't have to open his eyes to see that. He could sense the utter calm about them.

The calm gave way to the heat of red as it filtered through his consciousness, and he realized Ceithin was helping him. Anger speared through him at what had just happened and the idiot who had just dumped him in the water. He opened his eyes and all hell broke loose. Fire snapped and fizzed around him as he pulled himself away from Ceithin and stalked out of the water and up onto the bank.

"You freaking idiot!" he shouted as he retreated. "You don't just drop people into water."

"It worked, didn't it?" Ceithin didn't sound too worried.

In fact, when Darach turned back, the other man was nonchalantly standing there, arms crossed, and he had that damned supercilious grin on his face. Temper simmered below the surface of Darach's skin then shot to his fingertips, and he aimed his Fire not at Ceithin but at the water surrounding him. What was the point of having some kind of weird connection of Fire to water if you couldn't use it to drown smug bastards like Ceithin?

Ceithin spluttered and cursed as he was engulfed with a spiral of water that drenched him, and only as the water receded did he go back to laughing. It was the last thing Darach could hear as he tracked his way back to the village, each step a wet slurp of feet in boots filled with water.

Cariad bastard.

* * * *

Brigid located him in the best hiding place he could find, behind the curtain of one of the largest of the waterfalls. He had spent an hour bending the water to him, causing the rainbows in the mist he could see to dispel with sparks of violet. Something was clearly wrong with his Fire. The blue had a distinct scarlet tinge. Ceithin's Fire had clearly polluted his.

"Darach?" Her voice was soft, and he snapped the control of the latest water spout suddenly; it dissipated in a flurry of droplets. She smiled at the action, watching fascinated as the liquid found the path of least resistance and joined the bulk of the fall's curtain.

"He sent a woman to apologize for him then." Darach didn't bother to hide his derision at Ceithin's cowardice. Score one for Darach.

"Who?" Brigid seemed genuinely confused, then her face cleared. "Oh, I see. You are wanting an apology from my brother? Was the falling out serious? Is that why you are hiding?"

"I'm not hiding. You should be pleased, because I'm practicing."

"I saw. How does it feel?"

"Practicing is boring." Darach wasn't ready to share the euphoria of this strange connection his Fire had to the element.

"Kian loved to learn, but we didn't have enough time."

Despair speared into Darach at the mention of his blood brother. Three weeks and he still wasn't any closer to rescuing Kian.

"His Fire was extraordinarily strong." She stooped to sit next to him and picked up a handful of earth, opening her hand flat. Darach couldn't not look at her hand. His eyes widened as the earth expanded slightly and a small, green shoot appeared. Tiny at first, it grew to a few inches in length and then stopped. Gently, Brigid placed the seedling and its earth into the moist area as close to the fall as she could. "His element was earth, and it fascinated him. He missed you."

The change in direction of her conversation threw Darach momentarily, and then as he registered what she said, he sighed. "I miss him."

"So you want to cross and find him? Ceithin told me."

"Yes, that's my plan."

"And Ceithin says he is to go with you?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Darach was quick to emphasis the point, temper snapping in his Fire.

"Did Ceithin ever tell you about our brother Trystyn?"

"Just that he is missing, and that was why Ceithin was in the City, following leads to find some trace of him."

"Trystyn was the youngest of the three of us, younger by a good few years than Ceithin. He was a beautiful child and an annoying brat of a little brother, spoiled by me and Ceithin. He was different from the day he was born. Already he had amber Fire, and it surrounded him, so beautiful."

"Like infant Fire?" Darach couldn't help himself from asking questions. Amber Fire was so rare, and it fascinated him.

"Oh no." She laughed, and he saw that same smile on her beautiful face Ceithin wore so well. "His Fire was fully mature from near day one. It made things interesting."

"How old was he when he went missing?"

"He was fourteen. He and Ceithin were swimming. Well, Ceithin was trying to teach a very reluctant Trystyn to swim. Trystyn hated the water," she paused a while and a faint smiled crossed her face as she was lost in memories. "What happened isn't clear, but Ceithin was rendered unconscious and Trystyn vanished. That was years ago now. We tried so hard to find him. We asked questions, cast magik, and heard rumors about the Council. There were other young men, new to their Fire, who had disappeared. Those with very strong Fire, more so than others. The name Sulien came up on more than one occasion, so much so it became a curse. Ceithin tried to follow every single trail, but Trystyn had just disappeared. Ceithin never gave up. I know none of us have really given up, but only Ceithin decided to follow any rumor he heard. Finally, it landed him as a prisoner."

"Did Ceithin think Trystyn might still be with the Council?"

"None of us knew for sure. I think my brother was desperate for anything really, and I nearly lost him too." She sighed and then shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. "Anyway, Darach, the reason I came to find you was that Ceithin had a strip torn off him by father, and my idiot brother was told to apologize to you when he sees you next."

Darach snorted at Brigid
'
s revelation.
"
I don
'
t need apologies
.
I just need to get away from here, on my own, with no Cariad
bastard
pulling me back.
"

Brigid winced at his tone, and instantly guilt knifed through him at his casual dismissal of what the Cariad had done willingly for him over the last few days. They had clothed him, fed him, found him a bed, been nothing but supportive and friendly, and he should be more grateful. He had manners, and he needed to use them.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"You did, but it doesn't matter. I know you are angry at everything, just… Can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

"Look past the Ceithin you see and make allowances for his dented pride. No Cariad has ever been held by the Council, apart from Ceithin and possibly Trystyn. Ceithin is a strong man, and the whole foundation of what he is, his strength, has been rocked."

"I don't know—"

"For me?" She blinked, her dark brown eyes filled with emotion, and part of the shield around Darach's heart simply cracked. He might want a man in his bed, but when a woman threw a melted-chocolate, dewy-eyed gaze at him, he was lost.

"I will."

* * * *

He was the one who found Ceithin in the end. He didn't have to look far. The older man was at the damned pool, naked from the waist up, dressed in little below the waist. His movements were smooth as he pulled and pushed at the water. Slicing his way through, he swam from one end of the splash pool to the other. Darach stood and watched for a while, then, with a mischievous grin, he created a whirling barrier Ceithin swam straight into, surfacing with spluttered curses.

Darach laughed. For the first time in months, he had actually laughed, and did it so hard he doubled over. His laughter echoed with the same sound he had shared with Kian and Eoin and it was a damned nice feeling. Ceithin clambered out of the water, and Darach tried not to stare even as the laughter died in his throat. He hadn't acted on his attraction to men, but were he to do that, and if Ceithin wasn't such a total bastard, then the man standing half naked in front of him would be Darach's idea of physical perfection.

He blamed his staring on the fascination he had for the water dripping down Ceithin's body. He certainly wasn't looking at the muscles defined by real exercise, or the slim waist or broad shoulders. It was just the water.

"
Cyngor cŵn bach
!
"
Ceithin swore
,
and Darach just snorted laughter again.

"
Council puppy? You can
'
t do any better than
that
,
Cariad
?
"

Ceithin ignored the comeback and stalked past him, scarlet sparks on his skin, and Darach swayed towards him as his blue answered the temper.

"Don't you have something you need to say to me?"

Ceithin stopped and turned on his heel, pushing his dripping hair away from his face and holding it back. "They said I should apologize."

"For what?" Oh gods, he was enjoying this one.

Ceithin's gaze slipped to one side briefly and then he looked directly at Darach. Deadly serious. Ceithin sighed dramatically. "I do apologize for dumping you in the pool. I don't apologize for getting you to feel your element." Then he shrugged, turned, and left.

Well, that just said it all.

Chapter 7

Regan couldn't sleep. He tried to get as much as he could but his hours were more about providing comfort to Kian, who was walking around in a complete daze, than wasting time sleeping. Even at four in the morning. At the moment, he was cradling his lover, murmuring nothings, a mix of Ancient and English he wanted to be soothing. Kian had woken with a shout, a clear distinct, "no!" then had quickly burrowed into Regan's embrace.

"More dreams?"

"Nightmares. I don't know. Flashes of things. Darach mostly, and he's drowning, struggling, and I try to reach him but I can't."

"Are you actually there? Is this some kind of connection you have?"

It
was a relevant question
.
Regan didn
'
t fully understand the link between Kian and his friend in the
Otherworld
. He knew Darach existed just a side step from this world, and Kian had
said
they were blood bonded, although what
that
meant he wasn
'
t entirely sure. In his job
,
he had always taken a lot of things on faith
;
not knowing where the Nameless, or
Eicio
as Kian called them, went was the big one. He imagined a big empty nothingness
which
existed between this world and the sidestepped
Otherworld
, and in
that
void was the Nameless space.

"Not a physical connection. Maybe some residual link after the blood bond."

Kian pushed himself up and away from Regan and started to pace. The motel room wasn't big enough to enable much in the way of pacing, but somehow Kian managed it, looking agitated and exhausted.