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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 thickeningdangerously 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 theirdifferences 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. Ispin 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.
