“Tell me the truth: I’m having a stroke,” she said to Law. “Or no, all those tick-critters injected me with hallucinogens and there aren’t really any dragons. Hell, maybe you aren’t even here.”
“I’m here. And that’s one of the small giants, and she just shifted from a dragon.”
“I get that there are small giants. Or rather, I don’t get it at all, but you said it’s true so it must be. But now you’re telling me they are dragon shifters?”
“It’s a rare gift among giants, usually shared among the virdanas. Most of the small giants can shift as well. A result of the curse, it appears. Not a fact that many among the giant clans were aware of until now.”
“Tell me more about this curse and what’s going on.”
Law nodded. “It’s very important for the small giants to make this alliance with the pixies. If they don’t, things will become very hard for them. The large giants don’t see them as true giants anymore and plan to strip them of all rights and property and turn them into forced labor. Right now, they come from multiple clans, so they have no united voice. The alliance gives them their own clan. It will mean they have a voice in the giants’ council and maintain rights and properties, plus have a virdana of their own, which is a big deal. Virdanas are extremely powerful.”
“A pixie virdana. A lot of giants are hating that, I bet.”
“To be sure, but there’s more. The curse made all the little giants infertile. Many are the last of their familial lines. It seems that male giants can get pixie females pregnant, and this is of major importance.”
“What about the little giant women? Can the pixie men get them pregnant?”
“It appears they remain barren.”
“Doesn’t seem very fair.”
He shrugged. “It isn’t but it’s steps in the right direction, and at least the females will keep their rights and properties.”
“Okay, the little giants get a bunch out of this, especially the males, but what do the pixies get?”
“The possibility of dragon shifter genes in their clan, for one. They produce a very rare dust long coveted by other clans and have been targeted over the years. Their numbers have greatly dwindled because of those attacks. This alliance gives them immediate protections, plus potential dragon shifter children to protect themselves in the future. Cherry on the cake is that they’ll have access to the giants’ business network.”
“It’s all very tidy,” Mal said. “Do the bride and groom even like each other?”
“I’m not sure it matters, but they seem to get along well enough.”
He wasn’t sure it mattered? That was a hell of an attitude. Shouldn’t people getting married at least like each other, even if it’s just for convenience? Then again, maybe he was just saying that the two didn’t have much choice about their marriage, so whether they cared or not didn’t matter. Hopefully that’s what he meant.
Mal gave him a weak smile and gestured toward the mess of bodies. “You should go find them, the bride and groom. Not sure how long the spell will last. You’ll want to get them somewhere safe until tonight. Whoever started this ruckus might not have been out to kill them, but that was a definite possibility. They could easily have ruined the wedding or started a war.”
She bent and scrubbed at her legs with both hands, then her calves and ankles. Her entire body was one big itch. She wanted nothing more than to dive into a swimming pool of calamine lotion.
“You need help,” Law said, not moving.
“I’ll see to her.”
LeeAnne stood a short distance away, looking like she’d like to cut someone’s throat. Her impatient gesture toward Mal suggested she was on the chopping block. “Come on, then.”
Mal rose on unsteady legs and picked her way across and around the bodies and followed LeeAnne back to the towers, marveling when the housekeeper maintained a slow pace so Mal could keep up.
They ended up in LeeAnne’s home office, or at least that’s what it appeared to be. A wall of windows looked out over the wildwood and sea gardens, with an all-too-good-view of the recent battlefield.
The carpet was a cool blue, and shelves full of interesting art objects lined the walls.
Mal wondered if they were souvenirs of travels or if LeeAnne was a closet QVC addict. Presupposing there was some sort of QVC for ancient artifacts and weird magical talismans.
There was no sign of a desk. Instead there was a comfortable seating area consisting of two couches and three easy chairs with a glass coffee table. It was such a showroom sort of space that Mal expected the chairs to be hard as rocks and was pleasantly surprised to find them cushy.
LeeAnne disappeared and returned with a small bottle of something and a thimble-sized cup. She took the wax off the delicate green bottle and filled the cup, passing it to Mal.
“Drink.”
Mal eyed it but decided if it were poison, dying would be preferable to this insane itching, and lifted it to her lips.
