Page 23 of Threadbound

Jamie found that fact both intriguing and frustrating. On the one hand, Jamie seemed to find everything about Bran intriguing—physically and intellectually. Bran was clever,thoughtful, and clearly knew a lot about traditional Scottish folk medicine and beliefs. Once they’d found that common ground, the conversation had flowed naturally, and Jamie had enjoyed every second of it.

And then they’d walked back, and Bran had said goodbye in front of the museums, thanking Jamie for the conversation and the company, and then he’d turned and headed toward the Royal Mile.

Leaving Jamie utterly confused.

He felt like there was a game, a clue or cue orsomethingthat he’d missed or messed up, because as fascinating as their conversation had been, Jamie also hadn’t been able to stop wondering what it would be like to feel Bran’s lips on his, those delicate fingers on his skin.

And he’d thought, orassumed, really, that Bran must have felt a similar pull, because he’d never felt anything like this before.

Yet Bran hadn’t so much as given him a goodnight kiss on the cheek.

Bran had headed backtoward the Kirkyard at Greyfriars, the sushi—which had been delicious—churning in his gut.

He hadn’t lied to Jamie when he’d said he wanted to understand him better. And he did understand him better—the problem now was that hestillwanted to understand Jamie better.

He wanted to understandmore. He wanted to understand where Jamie came from, how he had gotten from that hot and unpleasant playground where he’d played as a boy to Edinburgh, how he’d come to choose folklore and old medicine as a topic of study. He wanted to know what made Jamie smile, what madehim laugh, what brought that sparkle to those sapphire blue eyes.

What he thought about at night.

Bran shook his head, his footsteps scuffing the cobbles as he made his way through the darkening streets.

At the gate to Greyfriars, he stopped, blinking as he realized that he had been heading not to the tiny attic near Jamie’s apartment, but backhome. Through the Gate and to Carraig Cnoc on its other side, and from there a winding path into the forest and the Court of Shades.

The odd part was that he wasn’t surewhyhe’d had that impulse.

Going back to Elfhame served no purpose, not unless—or until—he decided to bring Jamie back to complete the threadbond. Going back without Jamie would only demonstrate his failure, and there wasn’t anything more he could do to stabilize his magic—he had read everything and asked everyone short of the King of the Sidhe—and without it, Bran would only be a liability.

If he were going to help his family, he would have to bring Jamie to Elfhame.

Unfortunately, now he was even more conflicted than before.

He hadn’t expected tolikeJamie Weaver.

Not only was Jamie not even remotely as stupid as Bran had—clearly foolishly—assumed, but he was keenly intelligent, kind, and gentle. He was someone that Bran was afraid he could easily like more… And that made things irritatingly more complicated.

Not because such relationships were forbidden—the fae were unbothered by dalliances with humans, whether long- or short-term. Bran wasn’t certain that’s what he wanted—he didn’t need things to get anymorecomplicated than they already were, and a sexual entanglement would definitely make things more complicated.

To say nothing of what might happen if a sexual entanglement turned into something evenmorecomplicated…

Bran shook his head, turning away from the Kirkyard Gate and back toward his attic lodgings.

The likelihood that his interest in the half-breed would pan out into attraction or affection was low, he knew that, and the chances of Jamie developing the same interest… Humans had strange hangups sometimes about relationships between two people of the same gender. Even if Jamie himself wasn’t so oddly biased, it was entirely possible that his friends or family might be, and Bran knew all too well that people often let their family members make bad choices for them, human and fae alike.

But even if that wasn’t an impediment, Jamie would have to be sexually or romantically interested in Bran for the very idea…

Bran shook his head again, trying to clear out his thoughts. Especially the ones that might lead to further contemplation of the possibility of a romantic relationship with Jamie Weaver. Because it wasn’t going to happen.

The real problem, of course, was that Bran still needed Jamie in order to complete the threadbond. He couldn’t just leave the half-breed alone.

Well, okay, hecould.

But leaving Jamie alone would mean a long, slow descent into madness. Possibly for both of them, although Bran had seen no indication that Jamie was at all affected by their connection. He was fairly certain that Jamie would be just fine, even if Bran himself was completely lost to psychic darkness.

Bran wasn’t terribly keen on losing his mind. But now that he actuallylikedJamie, he didn’t want to force the half-breed to do anything against his will, and he was also keenly aware that attempting to describe the truth of what was going on would make Jamie think he was already insane.

That didn’t leave him with many options.

Or any at all.

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