Grounded By Love (The Giant Wars #2)(68)

"These two will be my other choices." Claira held up her finds for his inspection.

"Good. I’ll make sure to get those to the seamstress. I’m sure she will enjoy the challenge of trying to make a dress for a human. Humans seem to have a taste for more complicated clothing styles."

"I’m sure she will do a lovely job. I, myself, never understood the fashions for women, and I’m one of them." She gave a little chuckle, but it was completely true. Sometimes the clothing women were expected to wear was more than just a little on the ridiculous side. "Kaeldar?"

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You really don't need to make me more than one dress."

He waved his hand. "It’s of no matter, Claira. You deserve to have nice clothing, and I will make sure you have what you need."

"Thank you." She’d given him plenty of chances to back out, so now she was just going to accept his generous gift.

“What will we be doing?” She asked, after a brief pause.

"I could always take you around the castle. Then, if you are ever by yourself you can get around without getting lost.” Then he added, "Of course, only if you would like to see the castle. I would understand, if you would prefer to do something else."

"No, I would love to see more." Although she wouldn't admit it out loud, she was frightened of leaving the room and flaunting her presence around the castle. At the same time, she had an insatiable curiousity for the new world around her. "It would be nice to see some more of the castle and maybe to get some history of what is around me."

"Then it’s settled." Kaeldar slapped his hands against his thighs. "Once you’re ready, we will head out and go around the castle."




Claira had a lovely time going around the castle. They barely ran into any other rock giants, to her immense relief. She got a sneaking suspicion Kaeldar had somehow planned their path and made sure his people were kept out of their way.

Kaeldar told her so many intriguing stories about the castle. There were some thrilling old tales about lust and betrayal, but there were also some more sweet stories about mystical beings who helped build the castle centuries ago.

She found it all fascinating. Claira experienced a splendid amount of joy wandering around with Kaeldar. It’d been like a fairy tale. They’d been living in the moment and enjoying their time together.

Any problems had been forgotten, it had been like they were the only two people in the world.

Claira was now sitting in Kaeldar's room by herself in front of the raging fire. Unfortunately, Kaeldar had been called away for some business, but he’d left a guard outside the chamber door, a rock giant soldier he trusted to keep her safe.

When she expressed concern over some of the historical stories he’d told her, he’d sprinkled in some more romantic stories. The rock giants seemed so violent, when he had told her about some of their more ugly histories, but it was good to know they also were also able to love.

Sitting in the room without Kaeldar was still a bit on the unnerving side. For she worried that a rock giant might get past the giant who was currently guarding the door. Or that the rock giant guarding the door would decide to betray Kaeldar's trust. It could very well happen.

She understood Kaeldar wouldn't be able to stay with her all day every day, and that was yet another reason why she shouldn't want to stay here with Kaeldar. She would never be sure of her safety among these people.

There was nothing they wanted from her, other than her disappearance. She hadn't won their affection by doing some great deed. In fact, she was doing the opposite, she was stealing the affections of their prince and future king.

"But I do sorely wish to stay with him. I just don’t know if I can come to terms with his warrior ways." She whispered to the fire burning brightly in the hearth.

It seemed to cackle at her with every pop and sizzle it made, as if it knew her wish would never come true in this lifetime.

She hissed at it, folding her arms against her chest in frustration.




A few days later, while she and Kaeldar were at dinner, she was reminded of why she felt uncertain around the rock giants. His mother and father wouldn't stop casting her glares, but then at a certain point in the night it changed from glares to smirks of unnerving satisfaction.

She wondered what they might be up to. She hadn't been born yesterday, and she was used to people trying to get rid of her, which made her almost positive the king and queen were trying to purge her from their lives.

Kaeldar had finally sat her next to him at the head table, and it was causing quite the stir.

Kaeldar only gave her tense short answers, whenever she tried to engage him in conversation. Eventually, she gave up on trying to start up a conversation at all.

Throughout the dinner, she nibbled on her food, not having anything else to do. No one around them would talk to her, even Kaeldar was busy with other things, but that was fine. She was used to this kind of treatment from others, and it didn't bother her all that much.

Thankfully, the dinner ended fairly quickly, and she still had her head on her shoulders. She wouldn’t have been surprised if one of the rock giants leapt up from a table with a carving knife and came at her. Yet here she was unharmed.

Kaeldar stood without warning and offered his hand down to her. She stared at it stupidly, until he shook it at her. She slipped her hand into his, before he lead her away, he said something angrily to his parents.