by Lily Thomas
“He came out of nowhere, Roxanne. What did you want me to do?”
“You could have given a command to the fire giant. He would have easily been able to disarm the man and then tie him up like the rest. There was no need to go chopping off his head.”
Maybe he could have done something, but that thought had never crossed his mind. He had only thought of keeping Roxanne safe and out of any danger.
“Perhaps he could have been saved.” He wondered if she was right. “Maybe I could have saved the man’s life, but it wasn’t like the human made it very easy. I had a split second to react, and it wasn’t enough time for me to make a decision.”
It was amazing how she affected him. She was making him question his actions because he… cared what she thought of him.
When did she get this much control over him?
He kept thinking back to when he walked into the village and saw the sword descending towards her head. His heart had stopped. Maybe she didn’t care about her life, but he sure did.
Distance was what they needed. Once he dropped her off at the castle, he could get back to the border and forget about her, but he wasn’t so sure that it would be that easy.
Roxanne was thrown entirely off by Daerrin’s admission that he might have been able to do something. He honestly sounded like he regretted not reacting, and she did have to admit he was right. The human soldier had indeed popped out of nowhere and surprised everybody.
She might be guilt-tripping him for no reason.
Roxanne coughed. “What we saw in the fire giant village, well, I just wanted to let you know that kind of information isn’t given to the general population. I never knew such horrible things were being done to the fire giants.”
“I don’t hold you responsible,” Daerrin said, surprising her a bit.
“I’m surprised you don’t blame all humans for what happened at the border.” The impression he gave off was one of no mercy and complete hatred of all things human. “I’m not saying I’m responsible. I just want to explain that my father couldn’t know what some of these troops are doing. He would put a stop to it the moment he knew.”
“Don’t try to convince me to release you so you can go tell your poor misguided father about his troops’ misdeeds.” Daerrin sounded bored with the discussion already.
Roxanne huffed. “I’m not trying to convince you to let me go. I just need you to understand that your revenge is misguided. I’ve known my father for years, while you have only known him on the battlefield.”
The bark of laughter that came from Daerrin had her jumping nearly sky high.
“I never thought I might say this, but I hope you end up being right, Roxanne. If you do discover the truth about your father and I’m right, I can only imagine how you might end up feeling.” Now he sounded sad.
“I don’t need your sympathy,” Roxanne growled at him. “What will you do with the captured humans then?”
“You know very well what will happen to them.”
“You think you’re better than my father?” Roxanne wanted to know what his answer would be.
“No. I’m just able to admit that war is horrible and that we all do everything we can to win this fight. The sooner it is over the more people we can save from its evil clutches of death.”
Roxanne’s mouth worked a bit before she snapped it shut. She didn’t know what to say to his answer since it had been unexpected. Here she’d thought he would declare he was better than her father.
He was so brutally honest, and she found it… refreshing. Her father had always treated her like some fragile flower that needed to be sheltered from the elements. Daerrin didn’t hide anything from her though.
But even as she enjoyed how open and honest he could be, she wished he would also hide the truth. It was so sickening to know how brutal war was. She’d seen more death than most others, and now she would have to live with those sights for the rest of her life.
When she got back to her father, because she would, she would show Daerrin he’d been wrong about her father. There was absolutely no way that he knew what his soldiers were doing out here.
Although, if she were honest, that would be strange for her father not to know. Her father should know precisely what his troops were doing and where they were going. But she didn’t want to think too hard about that because she trusted her father. She needed to get back not only to re-start her life but to question her father more deeply about the war.
“Prepare yourself,” Daerrin told her.
“For what?”
“For the sight, we’re about to see.” He said, as they broke free from the forest and the fire giant castle soared into view.
Her mouth dropped. Had she ever seen anything more beautiful and more terrifying at the same time in her life?
The castle was made from black stone, as were the surrounding buildings and fortified walls. It looked dark and ominous, but at the same time, the black rock looked beautiful with the contrasting greens and browns of the surrounding forests. The soaring mountaintops behind it added a dramatic effect to the castle towers.
There was no possible way she could have ever imagined such an impressive castle. Weren’t all of the giants supposed to be barbarians that lived in caves and dragged women by the hair to their beds? They were no different than humans. They had villages, well-constructed castles, the same armor, and weapons, and were a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
This castle was well built, and she may not know much about warfare, but she could tell this had been a well thought out structure. The walls not only surrounded the castle, but they surrounded the entire fire giant town in a protective grasp.
As they drew closer and the walls grew higher, her breath caught in her chest. Then her heart sank.
The moment she got behind those intimidating walls, she knew she would never see her people again. She would become lost to her world and be forced to live the remainder of her life with fire giants, assuming she would even have a remainder of her life.
Maybe Daerrin wouldn’t be able to keep her safe in such an immense place. There had to be several hundred, if not a few thousand, fire giants within the castle and town. It was so large!
Maybe Daerrin would get tired of her, and she would be passed around as an exciting bedmate. She would become an exotic whore.
The blood drained from her face. She wasn’t strong enough to face that kind of future. She would rather die than have to endure such a distasteful fate.
Yet there was still the possibility that Daerrin would stick by her side and protect her throughout the upcoming years of captivity. Years. That was a terrifying thought. He had yet to let her die. No matter what situation she threw herself into, he was always there for her.
And there was still the slight chance that she might be able to convince Daerrin to release her. Surely his revenge couldn’t go on for years? Time healed all wounds or something along those lines. At some point, the pain of losing his entire family should heal, and he should move on with his life.
For now, Roxanne tried to calm her rapidly beating heart and attempted to get excited about the idea of getting an inside view of the life of fire giants. She knew of no one who had such an opportunity. Maybe she could learn some information about their tactics or defenses that she could pass on to her father.
Then this would be a story that turned out with a happy ending because she would escape and rain holy terror down on Daerrin for his actions. She would.
“I think you will find this breathtaking as we go through town and make our way to the castle. I also believe you will find meeting the queen interesting.” Daerrin stated with a hint of excitement in his last words.
“The queen?” Roxanne had to wonder what it would be like to meet the queen of the fire giants. What would a fire giant queen look like?
“I know she will be excited to meet you.”
Because she would become the queen’s new pet? A bit of panic soared through her, as she
thought about becoming some attraction for others to view.
“Is there a king?”
“Of course. Our queen and king have been happily married for quite some time and have a son with another baby on the way.” Daerrin almost had a dreamy quality to the way he talked about the royal family.
Maybe her hardened fire giant warrior wanted a family of his own as well.
Roxanne had a hard time imagining a fire giant as a parent. They seemed so rough and tough, and it made it difficult to imagine them holding or taking care of such a tiny bundle.
Then again, fire giant babies might not be tiny at all.
“Will they want me killed?” It was an important question. The queen and king might not like having a human living among them and could take out some rage on her.
“I think you will find them quite surprising. They are open-minded and kind.”
“Are you sure they will be that way when a human is presented to them?” Roxanne had no idea what to expect. Were they friendly in a fire giant way or a cute and cuddly human way? All she could imagine was a queen and king decked out with weapons, ready to defend their position from any rivals.
Daerrin chuckled. “I think you will be shocked when you see them.”
She wondered what he meant by that, but he didn’t seem to want to give her a straight answer. “You seem very vague.”
“I’d hate to give too much away because our queen will surprise you.”
“Yeah, I got that.”
As they passed through the first set of walls, she found her eyes glued to every detail. The walls were thick, and she knew it would take an untold force to punch through.
The town came into view, and she found her breath caught in her throat once again. From a distance, the town hadn’t seemed impossibly large, but now that she saw it up close she knew there had to be thousands of inhabitants.
The first fire giant village she had seen had been more than half destroyed and hadn’t been a part of a fire giant castle. It’d just been a typical looking village, but this was something different.
Roxanne felt interest growing around their group, as the streets filled with onlookers. The fire giant warriors were going to be given a warm welcome. She could feel a few stares thrown her way, but none of them felt threatening. It was like they were more curious than anything else.
“Why is no one glaring at me?” She whispered over her shoulder to Daerrin. “Shouldn’t they be drooling for my immediate beheading?”
“They’ve learned to expect the unexpected around here.”
It wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but she would take it.
After passing through the village, they entered one more set of gates before breaking into a large courtyard full of fire giants waiting to greet the arriving warriors from the battlefield.
As Daerrin dismounted from behind her, her eyes scanned the waiting faces and landed on a fierce-looking fire giant. He had a gold band around his black head of hair, and she assumed he was the king.
Her breath stuck in her chest, as his blood red eyes collided with hers.
What was he going to think of her? A human female.
Quickly, she averted her gaze not wanting to attract too much attention to herself and accepted Daerrin’s offer of help off the massive war stallion.
“Is that the fire giant king?” Roxanne whispered up to him, as she pointed in the general direction of the fierce-looking fire giant.
Daerrin’s eyes searched the crowd, and then he nodded. “Yes. That’s the fire giant king, Stryme.”
“Here I thought you looked like a formidable and terrifying warrior, but you have nothing on the fire giant king.” Stryme towered over everyone and had the same intimidating build as every other fire giant warrior. She had never seen such an in-shape king before.
“I think you just dealt me an insult.”
“What?” Roxanne glanced over at Daerrin.
“You don’t think me formidable and terrifying.”
“Pfft. Don’t let it get to you. You’d still scare the pants off any human.”
“Good. I’d hate to look soft and cuddly.” He winked at her. She enjoyed this playful side of Daerrin.
“Like anyone would ever think that.” She waved a hand in the air.
“Stryme just makes all human kings look like a complete joke. My king is round in the stomach and doesn’t join the forces in battle.” Without even meeting the fire giant king, she knew he joined his forces in battle when he could. The body he had was a battle-honed one.
“Too bad.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“It would have been nice to kill your king easily. Without a head, the snake will die.”
“You don’t know humans then. We keep rising, no matter the odds.”
Roxanne’s eyes drifted to the woman standing by the fire giant king’s side. She was a lot smaller than Roxanne would have guessed. Was there such a marked difference between the men and women?
Looking around she was greeted by more sightings of fire giant women, who were much taller than the queen. Maybe the queen was just short.
A hand pressed to the small of her back had her leaving her thoughts and turning to stare up at Daerrin.
“Shall we?” He motioned her forward.
He was directing her towards the queen and king. Roxanne felt her heart stutter in her chest. Daerrin wouldn’t have brought her here if she would just be slaughtered because then his revenge would be over too quickly. Right?
Slowly she placed one foot in front of the other. As they neared, Daerrin bowed deeply, and Roxanne followed suit by curtsying with her head bowed, but her short fur dress didn’t allow for much of a curtsy.
As her head rose, her eyes found a very human woman standing in front of her. Roxanne froze. Her mind had a hard time processing what was in front of her.
Was the queen a human woman?
Roxanne couldn’t help herself as she let out a shocked gasp and gaped at the woman standing in front of her.
Daerrin’s laughter drew her gaze away from the now smiling human woman.
Daerrin and the fire giant king started to have a small conversation. She had no idea what they were talking about, but whatever it was appeared to amuse them.
Not wanting to do anything wrong, she waited for someone to include her.
“This is Stryme, the fire giant king and this is Elizabeth, the fire giant queen. She is also a human female.” Daerrin pointed out.
“I’m not blind.” Roxanne returned smartly. Pointing out the queen was a human. Like she didn’t have any eyes of her own.
Now she knew why Daerrin had thought she would find it interesting to meet the fire giant queen, and all the mentions he’d made of another human woman at the fire giant castle. “Does anyone in Arcaern or Sardarn know that the fire giant queen is a human woman?”
All three of them shrugged in front of her.
Roxanne would’ve thought it would be all over the court if anyone did know. Maybe this was another secret being kept from the people, or no one truly knew about it.
“I can tell you’re shocked, and I will be sure to answer your questions, but let us first go into the great hall to settle down. Your journey must have been a trying one.” Elizabeth said.
Roxanne caught the glare that Elizabeth threw in Daerrin’s direction. If Daerrin had seen it, then he ignored it, because he showed no reaction as he followed after Stryme and Elizabeth.
Once they entered the castle, Roxanne found too many similarities between them. If the walls weren’t made from black stone, she could be back in Arcaern walking through the king’s castle.
Servants were walking around serving men and women who were seated at the large tables throughout the great hall. It all seemed perfectly normal if one ignored the number of furs being worn instead of fabric clothing.
“Go with Elizabeth, while I speak with Stryme.” Daerrin pushed her towards a table as they walked into the great hall.
E
lizabeth reached out a hand, grabbed Roxanne’s, and led her to a nearby table.
“It has been forever since I’ve seen another human woman. Where do you come from?”
“Arcaern.”
Elizabeth’s smile was contagious, and Roxanne soon found herself smiling as well. “I’m also excited to see another human woman after such a trying journey. I haven’t seen a friendly face in at least a week.”
“Perhaps you will know my father then, the king of Arcaern.”
Roxanne’s smile faded from her face. “You’re Elizabeth, the missing princess of Arcaern?” Why hadn’t she connected the dots sooner?
“Yes.”
“No one knows what happened to you.” Roxanne was astonished by this discovery. “We all assumed you died on your journey to Sardarn.”
“I sent word to my father, but nothing ever came of it.” Elizabeth shrugged. “Perhaps he never received it, or couldn’t believe what I did. I had hoped to end the war between the fire giants and Arcaern when it started, but there is too much hatred to stop it, and the humans on our border are desperate to escape the rock giant threat.”
“Your father knows you’re alive? Why hasn’t he told the court?” Roxanne was floored.
Elizabeth shrugged. “He probably doesn’t want to have to admit his daughter decided to marry the king of the fire giants and is living a happy life with the enemy of the Arcaern kingdom.”
“I’m sure he thinks about you and misses you.” Roxanne didn’t know Elizabeth, but she didn’t want to say anything negative about her father.
“Oh, I’m sure he does, but I have come to terms that the human side of my life has ended. I now have the fire giants and the love of Stryme as my future. Maybe someday this war will be over, and I can see my family again, but for now, I’m here.”
Roxanne just stared at her. Could that become her and Daerrin?
Probably not. There was no way Daerrin would marry the daughter of his enemy. Yet her heart still thundered at the thought of walking down an aisle to see Daerrin standing there waiting for her.
