Chapter Nine #2
He received a call and grinned. “Hello, Achilles.”
“Yorwell, I have just heard you are in town.”
“I am, cousin.”
“Would you be interested in having dinner tonight?”
“Not tonight. My bride needs a celebration dinner to celebrate survival. I am good any other day of the week.”
“Bride? You finally found a bride?”
“You are hurting my ego. Yes. She and I knew each other the moment we met. She is in therapy and coming back to herself. I am looking forward to seeing her healed and standing tall. Well, taller.”
Achilles chuckled.
“Thank you for making her the body, by the way. She’s doing very well in it.”
“Lucia? Well, that would make sense.”
He looked over and checked with a small spell. She was asleep. It was light sleep but still sleep.
“Yes. She makes sense for me with every facet of possible relationship goals. She’s a mage, she’s beautiful, she’s creative, and she has picked up nine minor magics without noticing it.
Oh, she’s also listening in the phone. Her mind is linked to cell signals.
She’s asleep, but her mind is seeking the comfort of the signals that kept her alive. ”
“Shit.”
“Indeed. Anyway, I have to make arrangements for dinner.”
Achilles chuckled. “Is she hooked on coffee?”
“No. Tea seems to be her thing. If she switches to coffee later, I will be ready.”
Achilles said, “Why haven’t you been out as yourself? I have tons of your work at my home.”
“Because I didn’t want to go buddy-buddy with you or ignore my new mate. She comes first and requires my attention. I offer it freely, and now that I know her needs, I can be there for her as we begin to move in local society. Learning together.”
Achilles chuckled. “You are smarter than I am. I was pursuing my mate relentlessly until our third told me just to cool it and wait. When she was ready, she came to us, and now we are expecting our first.”
“I believe you had more grace than that, Achilles.”
Achilles smiled. “Perhaps. You will have to ask Keres when you meet her.”
“That will be interesting. How will you explain me?”
“My cousin who was still a teen when I left? Tall, hot, rarely wears a shirt?”
He chuckled. “Succinct.”
“Indeed. She will be excited when I tell her there is another sculptor in the city. She will want to race us for charity.”
Yorwell chuckled. “She knows you are part giant?”
“She may have suspected.” Achilles’ tone was wry.
Yorwell laughed softly. “Are there any other straight lineage giants here?”
“No, you are it.”
“Ah, well, I am sure that Lucia will get used to standing out in the crowd at my side. I am fairly sure she does not quite appreciate my height.”
“How tall are you?”
“Seven two calm and seven eight agitated. That is as small as I get.”
“And if you relax?”
“Seventeen feet.”
Achilles chuckled. “Remain confined. I don’t think my ceilings can take it.”
“Story of my life.”
“So, dinner tomorrow?”
“I will ask Lucia. If she’s up for the visit, we will be there.”
“Understandable. Wonderful talking to you. If you happen to have any bluestone samples or goldstone or basalt...”
He grinned. “I will bring some, and we can discuss options.”
They chatted for a few more minutes, and when they ended the call, Yorwell was still grinning. The reason was the text that he got. Achilles is your cousin?
He simply looked at her and spoke. “He is my cousin’s son. Two generations of elf mixing with the giant genes.”
You sound tight.
“I looked up to him when he went on this mission. I never imagined following in his footsteps centuries later.”
His mate is a light elf. Like Regis. I am... not an elf.
“You are not an elf. You are a beta and a mage and an amazing woman who survived shadow mages with no training. You have no idea how impressive that is.” He chuckled. “I am also not an elf. I don’t want an elf or a djinn in my bed. I want you, and I am glad you are there right now. Comfortable?”
Surprisingly, yes. You being nearby has helped considerably. I am not going to repeat that while I am awake.
He chuckled. “I am going to do some work then. Oh, I gave Pandora your diamonds to incorporate into your clothing and suggested some comfortable clothing for you. Pandora has mentioned a few events that are on my social calendar, and I would love to have you at my side at them.”
She’s making fancy dresses?
“Four of them. Dark tones.”
Sounds nice. I have been to some fancy-dress stuff in the past.
“Just think of it as a costume party.”
Unicorn onesie it is!
He chuckled. “I set up your studio, and all your toiletries are in place. I didn’t know what order you wanted the polishes, so I just went according to the rainbow.”
I am gonna jump up and hug you.
Her body snorted and rolled over on the bed. Yorwell grinned. “Maybe you need some more rest.”
Shut up.
He chuckled and talked to himself as he went through the emails about quarry statuses, large veins being discovered, and exceptional samples, and then he projected them into the room with him to examine the details.
She chatted with him and admired some of the samples.
He noted her favourites with pen and paper.
He wanted to make her a giant traditional wedding set.
If she thought she was heavy now, she was going to be slowed down in the extreme.
He was going to have to find the designs that would suit her journey and his.
Carving cameos was going to be rough. He wouldn’t be able to touch her with his nails jagged.
It had to be done by a loved one, so there was no one he could get to help.
Lucia was worth the time and the effort.
He started to design the cabochons and the parts of her life that they would depict.
Her family, the dumplings, the university, the thick band marking the curse.
He paused. He didn’t know what had happened between the application of the curse and her losing her body.
He tensed as he realized that she hadn’t mentioned it once.
That period of her existence had been brushed over.
He pondered how to bring it up when he designed the image of three hands touching the thick band and the statue that housed her.
He designed a teacup for her meeting with her family and their first meeting. That would be a large cabochon.
He continued scribbling and flipped through the pages to make sure that the story was continuous.
Chains. The missing years were in chains. I escaped and ended up in hospital after crawling through every alley in town. I fell into a coma, and that is where my body began to come apart. One day the bed was simply empty.
He nodded. “How are you watching me?”
Um, I can read thoughts as well as cellphones. Yours were pretty loud.
“I see. That is fairly advanced.”
One of the nine distinct magics? Maybe number ten?
“You are made of endless surprises and slightly terrifying, but I am here for it.” He found himself grinning again.
She stretched and slowly sat up. “Um, morning?”
“Evening, but dinner is on the way. It will be odd but interesting.”
Lucia smiled. “Good. I like interesting. So what are you working on? All I got was little diagrams and tiny portraits.”
He sighed. “It was supposed to be a surprise for when you are feeling up to a fancy day.”
“Wedding. You were thinking wedding.”
He shrugged. “Yes. That is what my people do. One mate to carry us through our lives, and one mate to find in the afterlife.”
“So a long-term relationship.”
“Very.” He smiled. “Do you need a hand?”
“No. I am going to take a shower. Is that okay?”
“Absolutely. I just want you to sleep in my bed because I am greedy and lazy. None of the guestrooms are set up. Giants are solitary by nature. Well, sort of. We live in family groups and socialize in neutral settings.”
She got out of bed and grabbed her clothing before heading to the bathroom. He grinned and finished the food order. The hot food would arrive first, right after her shower. All the fun food would arrive twenty minutes after they started.
Yorwell closed his sketchbook and used some mage fire to clean graphite off his hands. He stretched and got to his feet, checking his phone to see when items would be arriving. Putting a shield around it to keep her out had happened mid-conversation, and their chat hadn’t slowed at all.
He kept his shirt on and made the bed, inhaling her faint scent from the pillow. His kind were not generally known for detailed senses, but Lucia’s scent was distinctive, even to his nose.
When she emerged from the bathroom in her sweatsuit and damp hair, his heart stuttered in his chest. He walked over, and she threw her arms around him, pressing tight against him.
She whispered, “I am learning to sleep again.”
He stroked her back and felt five hundred feet tall. “I am very glad for you.”
Lucia whispered, “I am glad for me, too.”
He felt the forced positivity in the words as if she were reinforcing that she was allowed to be happy.
Therapy was kicking in, and she was determined to follow it.
He looked down at her and marvelled at the strength of her.
She had lost everything and still survived. Her soul was already that of a giant.