Grounded By Love (The Giant Wars #2)(82)

She would have no choice, but to go to the town and make some sort of life. She just had to keep a low profile and not act like a loner. Part of her last problem had been the fact she had lived far from the town and none of the villagers were allowed the chance to see who she was.

A human. Just like them.

Turning away from the sun she looked over at the town, as the first few rays gently glided up the sides of the village buildings.

With her head held high, Claira headed towards them. She was determined to make sure her experience here was different.

She had proclaimed her love and Kaeldar had turned his back to her. She would manage on her own. Claira wasn’t going to be the woman who broke down and made nothing of her life.




A few weeks passed, since he had seen Claira, and he wanted to check up on her, but couldn’t get a chance. He wasn’t even sure he could find the human village again.

Kaeldar was keeping his plan a secret from his parents, since he wanted it to be a surprise, when he challenged his father. Kaeldar knew there were many people who were tired of his father's iron rule and his sometimes cruel treatment of them. They wanted a more lenient king, and a king who knew how to lead a more successful battle against the humans.

Kaeldar was the man for the job. He had an open heart and kept his word when he made a promise. Already there was a slight improvement among the ranks he had taken command of.

Soon his father would see what was happening, but by then it would be too late. Not that seeing it any sooner would save his father. Kaeldar knew his father wasn't going to change the ways he did things, and Kaeldar was making sure others understood that.

Kaeldar looked out over his army from a hill. The meadow seemed peaceful, but just a few minutes away lay another army, and both were ready for war. Both knew of each other's presence, but Kaeldar wanted a moment of peace before chaos and death ensued.

Every time they invaded a human village, Kaeldar would scout ahead.

He told his men he didn't want any surprises, yet he really was scouting ahead to make sure a certain human with straw hair and sea green eyes wasn't about to be in the way of a bloody fight. He couldn't remember which village he had dropped her off at, and he wished he had taken better notice of where it was located.

Thankfully, he hadn't seen her, but that didn't mean she wasn't somewhere inside a building healing some poor soul.

With a sigh, he kicked his horse into a trot and made his way down the hill. It was time to make war, yet again, with the human soldiers. They would surround the humans and rain down a blanket of arrows. Then they would swarm the encampment the human army had set up in their village.

The men were ready, ready to fight and die, at his command, but he was hoping they would come out of this the victor. Hopefully, there would be minimal casualties.




Everything had gone fine during the battle against the humans, that is until Kaeldar had seen long flowing blonde hair.

It was a misstep, a painful misstep.

He was in a fight against a human opponent, when he had caught sight of the flowing hair. It distracted him, until he realized it was a human male, and not his Claira. It was just a human male with long blonde hair.

But it was all the distraction the human in front of him needed, with a leap a dagger was plunged deep into his leg.

His horse reared, kicking out it's front legs at the human, as it heard the rage and pain in Kaeldar's growl. One of the heavy hooves landed squarely across the humans head, cracking it, and the man crumpled to the ground.

His hand came down to grip his leg, as he gazed down at the offending dagger sticking up out of his thigh.

Pulling back on the reins he exited the fight. He would do his men no good, if he let himself bleed to death. It would be helpful, if he had his human healer by his side, but that was only wishful thinking.

Kaeldar would have to settle for the healer they had back at camp. After signaling to another commander in the fight, he left the battle and made his way back to the giant encampment.




Claira rested her head on a hand, as she watched the heaving breathing of a woman in bed.

Months had passed since Kaeldar had dropped her off at the village. Weirdly enough, things had gone better than any other human village. These people had been in need of a healer and gladly accepted her with open arms.

She lived within the village in her own cottage, and it was satisfying. Everything was working out for her.

Usually she was kept busy, like right now. She didn’t have enough time to think about him with the mysterious illness that was running rampant through the area.

Thankfully, the illness hadn't killed anyone. Instead, it just put whole households out of work for a good week, so Claira was helping them all on her own dime. She hoped every good deed would help her solidify her position among them.

So far, it worked in her favor.

Claira even had a suitor, Christopher. Though thankfully he was different than Robert, yet she still found something lacking about him.

Maybe because when she envisioned her future, it had included Kaeldar, not some human man from a village where she was actually being accepted.

Ever since Christopher proposed to her she’d been unable to stop thinking about Kaeldar. It had been months since she’d seen him, but she kept hoping he might someday come back for her.

Was it too much to hope? She didn’t know if she should give up and move on.