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The stirring went on and the giant ignored her. Frustration rose, but she shut her mouth when she comprehended that she wasn’t getting anywhere with her peace talks. Emerald narrowed her eyes.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
At the continued silence, she let the magic out and slammed her palms on the bar. Then she bit back her alarm when nothing happened. The dread returned when more slams got her nowhere, switching her back to desperate as she knelt.
“I taste bitter. Toxic. The energy inside me is guaranteed to poison you at your first bite. It’s just not worth it.”
Was it her imagination or was that a smile on the giant’s rocky lips? She glowered.
“Ma’am, it’s very rude of you to ignore me like this when I’m sure you can understand what I’m saying.”
She wasn’t sure, not really, but the smile made her wonder. Tension coiled her muscles when the giant stopped stirring and approached her, reaching out. But the hand bypassed her cage, reaching for one with bones and shaking them loose toward the other large, open palm. Returning to the cauldron, the bones were tossed in and the humming sound restarted. She gulped when the giant took a sip from the spoon and made a delighted sound.
“Hmm.”
The giant wandered back and forth around the room, pausing repeatedly enough below her cage that she couldn’t help tensing each time. Frazzled beyond belief and biting back another bout of panic, Emerald stopped talking, watching instead as the giant took multiple sips and added spices here and there. Then the giant ambled out of the room, leaving her staring at the large, rough pieces of furniture before she eyed the cauldron.
“For someone who’s supposedly anchored on logic and common sense, you sure know how to make the most outrageous offers to mystical creatures.”
Rick’s voice was an outright jolt to the senses before his head peeked out from the cage’s edge. His body followed, climbing until he could secure his feet on the cage’s interior floor.
“You were here this whole time and you didn’t bother to free me?”
“I’m a skilled climber, not a skilled giant whisperer,” he protested. “Besides, it’s not a good idea to announce my presence to that large thing.”
“Living creature,” she corrected, even though he was right about the rest. She glanced at the door apprehensively, then held up a hand. “Don’t use magic.”
“I don’t have magic.” He tilted his head curiously. “But why not?”
“It’s a waste of your energy and we need your shield. And they have magic.”
“What’s their magic?”
“Their magic is that they’re resistant to my magic. Probably yours too.”
“Except my shield,” he finished brightly, then sobered. Magenta eyes searched hers. “I should have stayed with you.”
The hushed, sincere regret squeezed her chest, but she shook it off. “I’m not that incompetent. And neither of us expected the books to be real.”
“Books?”
“Giants resembling rocks and boulders.”
“Oh.” He paused. “To be fair, the first giant we followed didn’t look like a boulder. Stand back, Em.”
“What?”
“The lock’s off, but the door won’t budge. Let me kick it off…oh, and I need your outer clothes.”
She stood back, puzzlement turning to amazement when she spotted the hinges in his hands and realized he hadn’t just been talking to her. She scrambled out of her clothes and tossed them at him, then watched as he tied a rope at the top. Just as he swung, the giant marched back in, sniffing the air.
“Who comes into my abode without permission?”
The roar was rough and aggressive. Large black eyes locked in on them just as Rick crashed the cage door open and snatched Emerald out. They swung some more, crashing on the large table where his shield gleamed around them. He wrapped her in his arms and puffed out his chest.
“Me. But that’s only because you took what was mine—”
“I’m not yours—”
