Blood of Half Gods (16 page)

“You’re getting awfully personal.”  I know he’s just trying to upset Kallen.  “But, to answer your question, we haven’t because I’m too young.”

“Yes, I believe the Daityas to be guilty of treason.  Their Chieftain should have taken it upon himself to enforce the Charter.  Too young by your standards or your father’s?”

I sigh.  “Both.  Who’s their Chieftain?”

“His name is Ellu.  He has always been a lunatic, now he is an erratic lunatic.  Have you explored other options for marriage?”

“I don’t need to.  Have you tried to talk to Ellu?”

“He refuses to see me, which is another violation of the charter.  Either Chieftain may call a meeting to discuss any issue that is creating discord amongst the tribes.  How will you know he is the person for you, if you do give yourself the chance to explore your options?”

“Explore her options with whom?”  Kallen’s green eyes are slitted and I feel him pulling an awful lot of magic.

I have completely lost control of the situation and it’s only been five minutes.  I knew I wasn’t meant for this.  “What’s your point besides making my boyfriend mad?”

Quinn smiles and there’s something sinister in it.  “I believe a hand-fasting between a Chieftain and the King’s daughter would go a long way to convince the Giants that he considers us equals.  Which, as you pointed out earlier, is how an ideal realm should consider all the races living amongst it.”

“You want to marry
me
?”  How did I go from never having a boyfriend to two marriage proposals in only a few months?  And I thought things were out of control a second ago.  “What about your blood lines?  You said that the Devas don’t like to taint their blood.”  Okay, that may have sounded like me backpedaling on the whole superior/inferior line of thinking, but the man wants me to marry him for god’s sake!

“We do not taint our blood with Cowan blood.  You are not Cowan.”

“No, but I was raised with them.  Doesn’t that count?”

He chuckles.  “No.”

In a flash, my magic creates a wall between Kallen and Quinn.  Why?  Because Kallen just hurled the equivalent of five lightning bolts at him.  I’m pretty sure it would have killed him.  If not, it would have seriously maimed him.  I’m so in shock that my calm, cool and collected boyfriend just lost all control, that it takes me a moment to realize Quinn has shouted something and the room is filling with very tall people.  Great.

Quinn points a finger at Kallen as he snarls, “You dare to attack me in my own home, Fairy?  You are not the King and you do not have amnesty from the laws.  Under Giant law, I can kill you for this.”

I sigh and shake my head to clear it.  “But you won’t, because I won’t let you,” I say and even I can hear the steel in my voice.  Wow, go me.

“You will not dictate to me what I can and cannot do in my own house.”

“Gee, you’re being so charming right now.  I can’t believe I’m not falling all over you and accepting your crazy marriage proposal.”  As I’m talking, I realize that the other Giants in the room now have crossbows pointed at me and Kallen.  Well, that’s just beyond rude.  “This is a private conversation,” I say to them.  I expand the wall around me and Kallen to slowly move towards the door, bringing the troupe of Giants laden with pointy objects with it.

When they’re all out of the room except Quinn, who now looks even angrier, which I never would have thought possible, I say to him, “I am not marrying you.  That’s not even an option.  And no, you can’t make Dagda make me do it.  We don’t have that kind of relationship.  Hell, he’s probably furious that I’m here talking to you at all.  I decide who I’m going to be with, and politics is not a criterion for consideration.  Now, if you want to keep talking about what to do about the Daityas, I’m all ears.  If not, then we’re leaving.”

This is one of the moments where I am so glad I have magic.  I’m certain I wouldn’t have gotten away with what I just said without great bodily harm, otherwise.  I don’t think Quinn is used to being talked to like this.  Well, too bad for him.  I cross my arms over my chest and glower at him.  Kallen is, too.

I’m really glad Quinn’s not saying anything, yet.  I definitely do not want to hear what he’s thinking.  After what seems like ages, he finally says, “You find Giant blood so disgusting, you will not even consider the possibility of a union.  That does not bode well for further discussions.”

“Oh please, did you ask Dagda to marry you and then refuse to talk to him when he said no?”  Good to see Giants can be just as embarrassed as me when caught in an obvious breech of logic.  “You asked for me to be here and I’m here.  Nothing you said last night implied that there was a condition of marriage attached.”

To my surprise, Quinn slaps the table hard with his palm and starts laughing.  Giants have really odd mood swings.  I grab Kallen’s hand because the slap to the table made the floor shake and I’m afraid I’m going to fall off the chair.  “You are the damnedest female I have ever met.  Courage, beauty, logic.  Giants twice my size fear me in battle, let alone face to face in my own home.  Yet, here you are, tinier than most Fairies, and you stand up to me as if I am a dog misbehaving under your feet.  I believe your fearlessness makes you even more beautiful.  Come, let us be friends again.  Enough of these talks this morning.  We are getting nowhere.  You shall return for an early dinner and we will finish our discussions then.”

Wow, I wonder if he’s going through menopause or something, because his hormones are way out of whack.  “Seriously?  Just like that, our argument is over?” 

He grins, and I hate to admit it, but he’s absolutely gorgeous when he does that.  What am I thinking?  I shake my head a bit to get that thought out.  “Yes, just like that.  I will have Orwick escort you out of the village.”

“We do not need an escort,” Kallen grinds out.

“It is not your safety I am concerned about.  I fear for the Giants on the street who dare cross Xandra’s path.”  He looks like he’s kidding, but I’m not sure.

I shrug.  “Fine.”

“I will expect you back for dinner.  Until then…”  He picks up my hand in his, which makes it look like the size of a walnut, and brings it to his lips.  He has to bend down pretty far so he doesn’t dislocate my shoulder.  Looking into his eyes, I have to admit they’re a little mesmerizing.  Especially when he’s laying on the charm like he is right now. 

He holds my hand for a tad too long, so I have to pull it back.  “Okay.”  He lets go and I resist the urge to wipe my hand on my skirt.  He’s creeping me out at the moment.  And there’s a bit too much saliva on my hand where he kissed it.  Eew.  I’ll chalk Giant slobber up as another reason not to marry Quinn.  Like I needed more reasons.  I already have: I’m in love with Kallen, Quinn may not look it, but I think he’s at least a decade and a half older than me, and he’s almost twice my size.  I remember seeing a picture of a basketball player who was almost eight feet tall with a girlfriend a little smaller than me.  It was kind of disturbing.  And I don’t want to think of the technical difficulties of intimacy.  Oh man, now I have a visual in my mind that I really, really didn’t need.  Eew times two hundred.

I can feel my face flush in embarrassment for the picture that just popped in my mind.  For some reason, that makes Quinn smile.  Oh god, I hope he can’t read minds.  I think Kallen would have told me if he could.  I’ll kill him if he didn’t.

Turning towards Kallen, I grab his hand and start pulling him towards the door.  He doesn’t resist.  When we reach the hallway, I can hear Quinn’s rumbling laughter trying to follow us to the door.  I’m really starting to hate that guy.

Chapter 13

Kallen drops my hand when we leave Quinn’s house and start to follow the resigned Orwick back to the main road.  I give him a quizzical look, but his face is completely blank.  I try to take his hand again.  He lets me, but he doesn’t really hold onto mine.  Now, I scowl up at him.  What’s his problem?  I take my hand back and concentrate on not losing Orwick as we enter the busy street from earlier, which is twice as crowded as it was when we first arrived.  Wow, Giants really are early birds.

Orwick only walks us to the edge of town.  That’s okay, we didn’t really need him.  Quinn was right; the Giants did give me a fairly wide berth.  Good to know I’m so terrifying even Giants are afraid of me.  For some reason, that doesn’t make me feel as good as I thought it would. I don’t really want to be scary.  I just want to be me.  Being scary is pretty useful, though. 

Kallen and I don’t speak as we keep walking towards Dagda’s house.  If he wasn’t being such a jerk, I’d just teleport us there.  I’m so caught up in trying to figure out what he’s thinking, I run into him as he stops suddenly in front of me.  “Hey,” I say, scowling at him again.

He stares off into the distance as he says, “You should have the opportunity to date other people.  Otherwise, you will never be certain I am the one for you.”

Insecurity?  Now?  What’s bringing this on, I wonder.  “Are you trying to tell me you want out of the left hand-fasting?”  Great, now I’m insecure, too. 

His eyes widen slightly and he finally looks at me.  “No, of course not.  I would marry you today if you would let me.”

Yeah, that’s not going to happen no matter how insecure either of us is.  “Kallen, just tell me what’s going through your head.  You obviously have a point in all this.”

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair.  I start to get impatient as our heartbeats keep pumping on without him saying anything.  Finally, looking at the enormous red rock behind us, he says, “I saw how you flushed when Quinn touched you.  It reminded me that I am the only person you have been with.”

Boy, did he get the wrong idea from that moment.  I bite my lip to keep from laughing.  “You forgot about me kissing Kegan.  Doesn’t that count as me being with someone else?”

He’s gone from insecure to ticked off in the blink of an eye.  An amused eye on my part.  “No,” he grinds out.  “That does not count.  You were not yourself.”

I shrug.  “Oh, I thought it did.  Well, I guess I’m stuck with loving you then.”

He crosses his arms over his chest.  Quinn’s muscles may be big, but his body isn’t nearly as attractive as Kallen’s sleek, muscular frame.  Where Quinn is a bear, Kallen is a sleek panther.  “Thank you for bestowing the gift of your love so generously.”

He’s getting angrier by the minute, but I can’t help but laugh.  “Kallen, lighten up.  You were way off base about my reaction to Quinn.”

He doesn’t look convinced.  Or less angry.  “He touched you, kissed your hand, and you flushed like you do when I touch you.”

Oh.  “I flush when you touch me?  I didn’t know that.”  I shrug.  “Still, you got it all wrong.”

I think he meant to sigh in frustration, but it came out as a pretty scary growl.  Yeah, panther was an apt description.  I should probably clear things up before this gets too out of hand.  Putting my hands on his arms, I tug until he drops them to his side; then I snuggle into him, wrapping my arms around his waist.  “I didn’t flush because I was excited by his touch like I am with you.  I was standing there thinking about the reasons he couldn’t even be a consideration.  He has some serious mood swings and anger issues, and he’s at least twice my age.  But, I flushed because I got a really bad mental image of what he and I together would be like.  It was a horrifying thought, and I was embarrassed it even popped in my head.  Repulsion is a better description of what I was feeling at the time, not attraction.”

Slowly, his arms come up around my waist.  He cocks his head to the side.  “Really.  I am supposed to believe that you looked at a handsome, muscular man and you were repulsed?”

“You think he’s strong and handsome?  Maybe you should marry him.  You’re part of the royal family, so it would probably still serve his purpose for asking me.”

He growls and pulls me closer.  “I am not blind.  And neither are you.  You cannot deny that he is a handsome man.”

I scrunch up my forward.  He needs to let this go.  “Hey, I didn’t freak out on you when Radella was hanging out in our bedroom in a teddy.  And I’m sure you would have been annoyed if I did.  Why are you freaking out on me because
you
think some guy is hot?”

His brow lines as he ponders that.  “First of all, I did not say he was hot.  I am not even sure what you mean by that.  And, do you really feel that is a fair comparison?  You were in bed next to me at the time wearing something awfully skimpy, so it was impossible to notice anything else in the room.”

I snort.  “Right.  You’re just trying to get out of being a hypocrite.”

He chuckles.  “Perhaps I am.  I guess I will have to grow accustomed to you having a bevy of admirers wherever we go.”

“A bevy?  What’s a bevy?  And how old do you have to be to use a word like that.”

“Old enough to know the best way to get you to be quiet is to put my lips on yours.”

Mm, good plan.  He lowers his head to mine and kisses me for several long, sensual minutes.  Now, if only I could get Mom’s voice out of my head.  Wait a minute.  I pull back from Kallen at the same time he figures out something is wrong.

“Xandra, you have to come inside now.  It’s dangerous to be off running around on your own.”