Page 60 of The Last Kelpie

It felt like I wasn't just believing in fairy tales anymore; I was living one.

Áedán led me down along the same path we had taken before. But this time, I saw so much more. Fish swam past us, as large as my forearms. The loch contained many species, including trout, salmon, and pike. I didn't know enough about fish to recognize which ones we saw, but they were lovely underwater, their scales shining silver.

And then we lost the sunlight. The darkness of the depths took us, but Áedán's light guided us down to the bottom, where the stones waited. Just as they had before, their carvings glowed, providing even more light. I shivered, knowing what we were there for, and my cock hardened.

We entered the center of the ring, and Áedán brought us to a stop. Hovering over the rocky bottom, we went vertical and stared at each other. The stones brightened as if they sensed us there and bathed us in magical light.

Áedán smiled as if to say we were being welcomed. Then he pulled me into his arms. Weightless but steadied by him, I lost myself in his kiss. With my eyes closed, it felt as if we hung suspended in space, and the ponderous currents sweeping along my skin magnified all the delicious sensations of Áedán's kiss. I groaned and tangled my tongue with his as our bodies wound together—legs curled around each other's and cocks grinding together.

There was no way to speak there, and that seemed to magnify the magic, making it feel like a ritual. Indeed, Áedán's magic swirled brighter beneath his skin, and a vibration fluttered through the water and against my body. I sensed that it came from the standing stones.

Áedán spun me around and then yanked me back to him, the motion setting us to spin slowly. I felt him pressing beneath my ass and angled myself to help him. Suddenly, I worried about lubrication. Water was awful for sex. But Áedán controlled the water, and when he slid into me, it created a thin layer in my channel that worked better than lube.

Shuddering, I reached behind him to grab his ass and pull myself further onto him. Áedán closed in around me, his legs curling around mine to spread them wide, his arms holding me at my hips and chest, and his head bent over my shoulder. His mouth latched onto my neck, teeth gripping a chunk of skin without breaking it and lips moving against me.

My body knew what he was doing even when my mind didn't. I went limp in submission. Áedán's growl vibrated against my skin as he pumped slowly in and out of me. I felt so exposed, rolling in the water, legs open as far as they could go, and channel full of my lover's cock. His magic and that of the stones continued to vibrate against me, layering more pleasure on my skin while he pushed it inside me. Then he released my neck, licked it, and pressed his cheek against mine.

We went on like that for what felt like forever—Áedán pumping slowly in and out of me as we tumbled slowly. Pleasure built and then held steady, throbbing through my cock as it bobbed before me. I bent an arm to hold the back of Áedán's head, the other rubbing down his thigh, and still, he pumped relentlessly into me.

Hours passed, days, maybe just minutes. My mind spun with us, locked in that petite death roll with Áedán, his cock churning inside me. Then, at last, Áedán pushed me forward and brought our tumble to a halt. Still bound to him by flesh, I bent forward, the water supporting me as Áedán grabbed my hips. He quickened his thrusts little by little as the water spun around us instead of spinning us.

Faster and faster, he fucked me, my mind lost to pleasure that was finally released from its suppression. Limbs akimbo, I shook into my release, anchored only by Áedán's hands and cock. Glancing behind me, I saw his eyes glowing through the light of the stones and his body, his hair undulating around him. And then, as if he'd been waiting for me to look at him, he locked up against me.

The movement of his back bowing lifted in the water, and I arched with him, cock spurting. Our climaxes merged, becoming one powerful release, and with it, the light from the stones became blinding. I opened my mouth to scream, but it was lost to the water. Áedán's ejaculation hit my hot flesh and cooled it, sending even more shivers of delight through me. The vibrations in the water increased, drawing another climax from me. It felt as if I'd come forever.

And then the pleasure washed away. I went limp, body bending forward as the vibrations settled and the light dimmed to what it was when we first arrived. I hung suspended in the water, basking in the receding pleasure as Áedán slipped free of me. Then he had me in his arms, and we were rising.

When we broke the surface, Áedán's magic left me. I coughed up water as he dragged me to the dock. Then the loch rose with us and deposited us onto the wooden boards. As the water left, it took the water in our hair and on our skin, leaving us dry. I swayed, but Áedán steadied me.

“Ethan, are you all right?” Áedán lifted my chin.

“That was the most amazing sex of my life.” I slurred the words like a drunk.

He picked up our clothes, piled them in my arms, and then picked me up and carried me to his cottage. I smiled dumbly up at him the entire way, clutching the bundle of clothes and shoes. Then we were in his cottage, and he sat me on the couch. My arms fell to my sides, the clothes and shoes tumbling around me. Áedán didn't seem to mind. He went to the fireplace and stoked a fire to life. Then he picked me up again, leaving the clothes behind, and carried me to bed.

Tucked under the covers and within his arms, I sighed. “It worked, didn't it?”

“Aye, it worked. The stones gave us their blessing and protection.”

“Good.” Would it be enough? At that moment, it felt like it would. But even if it was just a little, we needed all the help we could get.

Chapter Twenty

The next day, we headed to the priory, taking a boat to the island. It was a tourist attraction, but the public didn't know the island also housed an ancient library of books and scrolls collected by the monks and hidden underground. It was amazing, but it didn't yield any results.

The day after that, we visited a private estate near Drymen. It belonged to a man named Robert Tanner who knew Julian and sent us off with shortbread after we'd searched his collection and found no sign of the added sentence in anything earlier than 1987. Nor had any of the locations held copies of the Kilmartin Journal.

The drives between locations became their own kind of intimacy, with my hand on Áedán's thigh or my head on his shoulder. We sang the songs that came on the radio, and the amount of modern music Áedán knew surprised me. We ate out a lot, and over our meals, we talked about little things that somehow made me feel closer to him. Áedán helped more than I'd expected. It was becoming less of a job for me and more of a collaboration. We were more than a couple. We were partners.

On the drive to the Glasgow University Archives, I glanced over and found Áedán staring at the weathered headstones in an old cemetery. His face tightened as he looked away, then twitched until we passed the place.

“Áedán?” I asked.

Áedán glanced at me. “Sorry, I was lost in thought. Did you say something?”

“What were you thinking about? You looked upset.”

“Nothing important.”