Grounded By Love (The Giant Wars #2)(12)

She wasn’t surprised the town mayor was leading the group. He’d be the first one chopping at the bit to get her burned at the stake. They stopped a few feet away from her.

He dismounted, took off his hat, and addressed her. “Hand over the rock giant, Claira, and nothing will happen to you.” He talked to her like he would a disobedient child, and it made her bristle.

She gave him her most clueless smile. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She folded her arms in front of her. She was going to delay them for as long as possible. That meant not letting them into the cottage to find the rock giant missing.

“There are no rock giants here.” She tried to smile sweetly, but she hated this man. He’d tried to get rid of her once, proclaiming her a witch, but thankfully the villagers had been too uncertain about a decision, since she’d been new to the area.

Robert came to stand beside the mayor. “Claira, they know you have him in the cottage.”

She cast a glare in Robert’s direction. How had she ever thought of him as a possible friend? If he were a friend, he would’ve helped to hide her secret, not expose it.

“Don't make me pull you aside.” The mayor warned her. “We want to work with you.” He was only pretending to be on her side for the villagers’ benefit. He didn’t want to come off as the bad guy. The mayor had an image to maintain, after all.

Now she glared at him. “There is nothing inside my cottage of any interest to you. I don't know what Robert has said to you, but there is no one inside my cottage.”

“I'll be the judge of that.” The mayor flicked his hand in her direction.

Two men from the village stepped forward. Each man took one of her arms and held her back, as she squirmed in their grasps. The mayor stepped forward with a couple other men and entered her cottage.

She waited, still glaring in the direction of Robert. She suspected he hadn’t just let the information slip on accident. She knew he had some pent up frustration about her rejecting him. He’d found a way to take a stab at her, and he’d taken it.

How could he say he loved her when he couldn't even keep a secret for her? He wasn’t a man she could trust.

Her heart pounded in her chest, as she heard them tearing through her things. Glass shattered and she struggled against the men holding her. They were going to wreck her cottage!

“Let me go!” She tried her best to yank her arms away, but she had no hope.

“I found something!” One of the men yelled from within her cottage.

Her heart stopped. Had there been some sort of evidence she had forgotten to hide or get rid of? She thought she’d sent the rock giant off with all of his supplies.

The mayor strode out of the cottage holding a dagger. He smiled at her and waved it in front of her nose. “Do you recognize this?” He asked her.

Yes, she did recognize it. It was a dagger that belonged to the rock giant. “It's mine.” Claira blurted.

The mayor gave a short laugh and held the dagger up to point out the writing. “I highly doubt you have a dagger with the giant language written on the hilt. Where is the rock giant, Claira?”

“I won’t tell you anything.” Claira spit. He had made them into enemies. They could’ve been friends. All he had to do was accept her, when she’d come to the village, but he refused.

He nodded to the man on her right, and the man started to twist her arm.

Letting out a pained gasp she screamed at him. “I sent him away!”

The pressure let up on her arm, and she sucked in a couple of pained breaths. Claira looked up to glare at the mayor. She hadn’t expected him to use force on her. She knew there had been the possibility, but now she knew for certain her life was in true danger.

It took him a while to catch on. “Check her stable and be quick about it!”

“No horse in here!” The men called back in unison.

“Where did you send him?” The mayor yelled in her face, spittle spraying out from between his lips.

Claira shrugged. “I have no idea where he’s headed. I gave him my horse, and he rode off. It wasn’t like I decided to strike up a conversation with him.”

Chest puffed out the mayor yelled at the men. “Go out and check the surrounding woods! We need to find the rock giant!”

Robert decided to chime in on the conversation. “He was wounded badly. He shouldn't be hard to take captive.” He almost seemed excited about the impending manhunt. Jumping up on his horse Robert headed out with some of the men.

The mayor and one of the men holding her arms stayed with her.

They spent half the day at her cottage, as the men went looking for the rock giant. The mayor took advantage of that time to interrogate her for any information she might have.

She thought him deranged. Claira wouldn’t hand over any information to him. Not that she knew much. She’d given the giant her horse, which was all she knew. She had no idea where he was headed. All she could assume was that he was headed back to his people.

She’d never enjoyed the mayor’s presence. He always used his sly wit to keep himself in power, and he would take down any man who tried to defy him. Whether or not that man had a family.

He’d been the one who poisoned the villagers against her, when she’d first come to this village looking for a fresh start. He’d seen her healing skills as a threat to his power in the village.