25. Clay

25

CLAY

E ven when they’d been starved, beaten, and brutalized, giants could still be idiots—and total assholes.

“If any of you fuckers think of touching her,” I snarled, my sword clenched in both fists, “we’ll show you just how vicious we can be.”

The closest of the giants scoffed, while a few others glanced at their companions like they couldn’t believe I thought I could be a threat.

Ozias growled, the sound only barely Erenlian.

That brought the crowd up short.

“What the fuck is he?” one of the giants snapped, fear in his voice.

I grinned, but I couldn’t really enjoy the brief stalemate. Not when this whole situation was a great big cosmic joke.

My eyes darted to Brock. It wasn’t enough that he was here, oh no. There was also Duke Deter fucking Ensid and his bloodthirsty son, Norbert, along with fuck only knew who else.

If I ever met the gods, I’d punch them straight in their holy faces for this bullshit.

“We’re your allies,” Gwyneira spoke up. “That’s what matters. We want to?—”

“I say we kill the humans and take our chances,” Norbert called over her. “End this and just?—”

Casimir stepped from the group, and Norbert cut off, his eyes widening as they locked on the vampire who’d knocked him down in the tunnel.

But then, he’d always been a fucking coward.

“If you want to make it out of this situation alive,” Casimir said, “you won’t do as they say. Or do you honestly believe the same people who murdered their own with such ease will keep their word and let the people they’ve treated like animals go free?”

Worry flashed over a few faces. So clearly, they’d thought of the obvious already. They just didn’t want to admit it.

Hope being such a seductive bitch and all.

“Regardless of what the Aneirans do,” Duke Deter the Asshole said, “there is no reason to keep these creatures alive.”

His eyes raked past me and my brother, and to anyone else, I’d bet it looked like he was just scanning us all equally.

I didn’t believe that for a second. Good ol’ Deter knew us, same as we knew him. Meanwhile Norbert was acting like he didn’t recognize us at all, and Brock was looking anywhere but our direction.

Fucking cowards, the lot of them.

At Deter’s words, several giants started forward. I shifted position, my hands tightening on my sword, and the urge to drive the blade into Deter’s face made my muscles quiver.

“Only a fool kills that which may provide his only hope of survival,” Casimir replied evenly as Ruhl flowed around his feet like a swirling cloud of impending death. “And as for my point…”

He spread his hands out to either side, and a weird sensation rolled through the air. Bright, but invisible. I’d almost call it shiny, if shiny had a texture. Like if light glinting from a gold surface had a feeling to it.

I couldn’t see anything of what he was doing, but then again, I didn’t really care. The vampire was on our side. Whatever the hell he was up to, it’d be intended to protect Gwyneira, and therefore I was fine with it.

The giants were confused as hell, though. The ones coming toward Casimir stopped, their big stone brows furrowing like creases in rock.

It’d be funny if our treluria wasn’t in danger.

“What’s he doing?” asked the one at the forefront of the group, a giant who looked about in his late twenties with his hair hacked short and uneven so it stuck out around his head.

Byron spoke up from behind me. “He’s showing you what happens if you listen to those Aneirans.”

The short-haired giant looked between the vampire and the scholar. “But he isn’t changing any?—”

“Oh, but I did.” Casimir lowered his hands, regarding the massive giants like he couldn’t care less that they were twice his size. Everything about the vampire radiated that same royal confidence that had made us hate the guy when we first met him.

Now I just grinned, enjoying the show.

“That was a glamour spell,” he continued. “Very old. Very rare. Quite difficult to perform, really, but I believe you’ll find it worth my effort in”—his lips curved into an icy smile—“five… four… perhaps three…”

The crackling on the walls returned. “Your quick compliance with the queen’s command has been noted. You are now granted your freedom… to enter the next life. Kill each other or starve, it makes no difference to us.” The guard’s voice was sadistic when he finished. “Erenlian scum.”

All hell broke loose. Shouts rang throughout the cavern. People started crying, running for nowhere, and banging at the manacles on their wrists like that might work to break the things.

I rolled my eyes. Nobody could panic like a giant.

At a nod from Dex, we retreated with the princess between us, our swords at the ready to stab any fuckers who might come close to stepping on us.

Maybe the Erenlians hadn’t really believed the Aneiran guards before, but they sure as hell had lost any trace of hope now.

“That is enough!” The air shook as the duke’s voice boomed from the walls.

Wincing against the noise, I didn’t bother hiding my glare. Obnoxious bastard. He always did know how to gain the attention of a room.

“Creature,” Deter continued imperiously to Casimir, like he hadn’t just implied everybody should kill the vampire. “I order you to use your power in the service of Erenelle and enable us to leave this place.”

My brow shot so high it made my damn face hurt.

Casimir only chuckled. “You order me?”

Deter glanced at Brock, twitching his chin toward the depths of the cavern, and all he said was, “Go.”

Brock hesitated, eyeing the duke and the vampire and then the crowd like he was weighing something. But like the good little lapdog he was, the lackey did as he was told, striding off through the crowd.

Ignoring him, Deter walked toward us, drawing himself up as if to emphasize just how much bigger he was than the vampire.

He always did love that move.

“I do. I am King Deter Ensid of Erenelle.”

I choked at the title.

Next to me, my brother blurted out, “ Excuse me ?”

Deter’s eyes raked over us, and he didn’t bother trying to hide his disgust. “Silence.”

A strangled noise left me. “Not happening. How the hell are you king ?”

I could feel my friends’ eyes on us. Gwyneira’s too.

“Do you know this man?” Dex asked.

Deter spoke over him, turning back to Casimir. “You will use your magic to undo these bindings now.”

One brow rising like Deter was some bratty child who’d interrupted him, Casimir regarded the guy cooly before turning to me and my brother like the old bastard barely existed. “I take it this man only claims the crown, not that he actually possesses it?”

I scoffed, and Lars responded coldly, “He’s a duke.”

“The dwarves will be silent,” Deter snapped.

Casimir continued ignoring him. “And how do you know this duke?”

Deter’s jaw clenched with obvious rage at being so completely disregarded.

“He’s our uncle,” my brother said.

I heard Gwyneira’s breath catch, while my friends stared at us or Deter. A low growl left Ozias, making several nearby giants recoil.

Roan spoke up, a hint of the demon’s rumble in his voice. “Oh, is he now?” His dark eyes slid to Deter, his monster’s promises of bloody retribution in his gaze.

I knew I liked that demon.

“But… wait.” Niko looked between us and the direction Brock had gone. “That means Norbert’s your cousin and… Are you related to Brock too?”

“He’s our brother,“ Lars replied.

Niko’s mouth dropped open with surprise.

“Creature,” Deter snapped at Casimir, “you will assist us or face the consequences of defying the ki?—”

“And you will cease referring to me as creature this instant. I am Casimir zel Elric ver Altreya, king of Zenirya, and you will speak to me and my associates with respect, or I will rid Erenelle of the one who makes a pretense of claiming its crown.”

His fangs on clear display, he leveled an expression on Deter so regal, I would’ve thought the cave was his throne room. Not waiting for a response, the vampire turned back to us. “May I assume this is not a pleasant reunion?”

I sneered. “Oh, Uncle Deter tried to kill us quite a lot when we were kids. It was his favorite fucking hobby.”

“And he was instrumental in convincing our parents that kicking us out onto the streets to die was the best way to remove the ‘shame’ of our existence,” Lars added.

Casimir’s brow arched. “Indeed?” His gaze returned to the duke with a predatory gleam, while behind me, Gwyneira gave a small, barely suppressed growl.

I stopped myself from looking back, if only to keep from drawing attention to her. While Casimir could reveal his royal identity and use it to our advantage, Gwyneira’s would make all hell break loose.

My restraint didn’t help. Deter’s gaze ran over her, and the contempt in his eyes made it a gods-damned miracle someone didn’t gut him on the spot. “Very well,” he snapped like he was barely conceding the point. “But what of this… woman the Aneirans wished dead?” he demanded. “I see she possesses teeth like yours. I take it she’s Zeniryan as well?”

“Yes.”

Casimir didn’t elaborate, and after a moment, Deter sniffed and visibly dismissed Gwyneira from his mind. But then, he’d always been a sexist prick and an idiot on top of being a sadist. Rather than spare a moment to consider whether this beautiful woman actually posed a threat, he immediately concluded she wasn’t worthy of attention.

Which was good, really, given the situation.

I still wanted to break his teeth for looking at her that way.

Drawing himself up, the old asshole skimmed his eyes back and forth across Casimir, Ruhl, and the group of us “dwarves” with a look I recognized. The one that said he’d momentarily lost his sense of control over the situation, so now he was redoing his calculations of whom to disregard and whom to manipulate.

Intimidation hadn’t paid off. Brute force definitely wouldn’t, not if he knew shit about vampires. And since assholes like him really only had three weapons at their disposal and he’d already used contempt and rage, that left…

“If you truly are a king,” Deter said, his tone suddenly even and reasonable, “then I propose a treaty between our nations. Zenirya would do well to receive aid from the giants of Erenelle.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. His version of charm always had needed work.

Casimir appeared amused. “Even if I believe you possess the authority to form treaties on behalf of Erenelle, the Kingdom of Zenirya has extended its protection to the people you see with me. They are honorary Zeniryan citizens, all of them—including the ones who have just reported your attempts at murdering them. I would never consider such a treaty without my citizens receiving a formal statement of apology and an iron-clad promise that they would never again be subject to any violence—or attempted violence—against them.”

For a heartbeat, Deter’s face tightened like he’d bitten into a damn lemon, and I choked back a laugh.

“We’re Zeniryan now?” Niko hissed to me.

“Oh,” I whispered back. “I’ll be a three-headed golden goose if it lets me see that look on that asshole’s face again.”

Byron spoke up from my right. “And we would need the terms of this treaty spelled out in exacting detail before Zenirya would agree to anything, regardless.”

Contempt crept back into Deter’s eyes when he regarded Byron. “Who is this?”

“My royal advisor,” Casimir replied like it should be obvious. “You will treat him with the same respect you afford me if you wish these discussions to continue.”

Fuck, I was loving this. Maybe the vampire king would give us all titles to shove down good ol’ Uncle Deter’s throat.

The duke regarded Casimir and Byron in silence for a moment, but clearly he couldn’t figure out a way around this. If anyone could get those manacles off the giants, it’d be the vampire and the scholar. Even Deter seemed to recognize that, especially since he had no other choice.

“Very well, advisor. Your Highness.” That sucking-on-a-lemon tension still lurked under his controlled tone. “We require your magic.”

“And why is that?” Casimir replied.

“Because we have another route out of here.”