Taming the Giant Read online

  Bram wondered if she felt anything close to the attraction for him that he was feeling for her. Did she remember the dreams they’d shared? Did she have the same urge to touch him that he felt to touch her?

  He didn’t know but he prayed to the Goddess that he might soon find out. In the mean time he would simply have to be patient.

  * * * * *

  Alanah led him through the kitchens, which were buzzing with excited, curious women, to the entrance of the castle cellars. When she came to the curving archway, she turned to find Jenla close by as always and felt a surge of relief.

  “Jenla,” she said loudly, raising her voice so that everyone in the kitchens could hear her. “I am granting this giant a private audience as he requested during the High Court. We are not to be disturbed unless I call for you.”

  Jenla’s brown eyes were wide but she bobbed a quick curtsey.

  “Yes, my Princess,” she said, in an equally carrying voice. “I will stand guard and see that no one bothers you.”

  “Thank you, Jenla.” Alanah nodded her head regally and looked back—and up—at the giant. “Follow me. You, er, may need to duck your head,” she added somewhat lamely.

  “I can manage.” There was a quiet amusement in his deep voice. “Lead the way, Princess.”

  Aware that she was putting herself in a very vulnerable position with this strange, huge, male, Alanah turned her back and led him down the cellar stairs and into the quiet, dim depths of the area below the castle.

  When she reached the foot of the stairs she took a torch from the wall and lit it with a practiced flick of the flint and steel medallions she wore around her neck. They had been her father’s and they had never failed him—they served Alanah well too--the torch lit quickly with the first clear spark.

  “Where are we going?” The giant’s voice rumbled like thunder in the caverns.

  “Someplace private.” She looked up at him. “That is, if I can trust you.”

  “You can,” he said simply.

  “So…you’re a gentle giant, then?” Her hands itched to touch him. She wanted to reach out and stroke the broad, strong chest and rippling abdomen—she really couldn’t reach higher than that with him standing up.

  His chest was smooth but there was a trail of curling dark hair that started at his navel and led down, disappearing into the waistband of his simple blue trousers. Alanah wondered what it would feel like against her fingers. Would it be silky or coarse…or both? She was actually reaching out to him—her fingertips so close she could feel the heat radiating off his big body—when she realized what she was doing.

  What’s wrong with me? I don’t even know him! Mortified, she drew her hand back quickly, as though she’d been burned.

  “Oh yes,” the giant murmured, his eyes catching and holding hers as she looked up uncertainly to see if he’d noticed her movement towards him. “I can be very gentle, Alanah.”

  “How…how do you know my name?” Her voice was slightly breathless in her own ears but she couldn’t seem to help it.

  “The same way you know mine. Don’t say you don’t know it,” he added when she opened her mouth to say exactly that. “Just think about it for a moment.”

  “Bram.” The name came to her from out of the darkness, a soft, silent note meant for her ears alone. “Your name is Bram,” she said, looking up at him.

  He nodded. “It is, Alanah.” A slight smile curved the corners of his sensual mouth. “But you can keep calling me ‘giant’ if you want.”

  “Bram will do.” Trying to recover her composure, she jerked her head. “Come on. Even with Jenla standing guard, there are bound to be lots of prying eyes and listening ears.”

  He followed her willingly enough and Alanah led him through the echoing caverns to the place she’d been dreaming of all day—the bathing cave. There the soft murmur of the rushing water would cover the sound of their speech and render their words unintelligible even to Thiera’s spies, Alanah was certain.

  She sat on the raised stone edge of the hot spring pool and motioned for her companion to do the same. He settled beside her but considerately sat on the floor which was several feet lower. This had the effect of nearly putting their heads on the same level. At least, Alanah didn’t have to crane her neck quite so far to see him.

  “Why are you here?” she asked as soon as they were settled. “What do you want from me?”

  “You know what I want.” His voice was deep and quiet. “You’ve known it from the first time we dream-shared.”

  “Um…” Alanah cleared her throat, uncertain how to answer his words. She decided to ask another question instead. “So you’ve been dreaming of me the whole time I was dreaming of you?”

  “That’s how I found you,” he said simply. “I followed my dreams.”

  “But…from where?” Alanah shook her head uncertainly. “Did you come from some other land beyond the great waters?” Her father had told her once that men used to venture out in boats much larger than the small fishing craft they had now. But the seas were rough and there was no land to be found, no matter how far the sailors went. Eventually they came home and tried no more. Maybe there was something out there though—maybe the sailors hadn’t gone far enough…

  But the giant was shaking his head.

  “I am not from beyond the waters,” he said. He looked at her intensely. “Alanah…what if I told you I’m not from anywhere on your world?”

  “Not from…what do you mean? I know you're not a demon from Hell as Thiera claims. But…do you mean you’re from…out there somewhere?” She nodded up at the stone ceiling, meaning the sky.

  The giant nodded. “Yes.”

  “But…but that’s impossible,” Alanah protested. “How could you possibly be from…from up there?”

  “Think about it,” he said softly. “Remember what you’ve seen in the dreams you had of me. Did you never see me in the command center of my vessel? Did you never see the viewscreen when it was showing space?”

  “Space?” She frowned. “I remember thinking that you must be very high up because your window showed only stars.”

  “We were very high up indeed—we fly among the stars,” Bram said gently. “I captain a ship that is able to move through space.”

  “Space?” she said again, frowning. “I don’t understand.”

  “Space is the black, airless, freezing void that surrounds and separates planets and stars and other heavenly bodies,” he explained patiently. “You can see it at night but during the day because the light of your sun blocks it out.”

  “So…there are other worlds? Other…planets? Out there just…floating around in blackness?” What he was telling her was hard for Alanah to comprehend.

  “I know it sounds strange but please try to let your mind be open.” Bram spoke earnestly. He had his arms wrapped around his knees and he leaned forward, his sapphire eyes blazing into hers. “Please, Alanah—I need you to be open to me now.”

  “I was taught that the stars were the fires of the gods who…who watch over us,” she explained haltingly. “And I never thought about there being other worlds…or people who might come from them.”

  “My people are from Hallah Six—home of the Jor’gen,” Bram explained. “Well, some of them are. The other half of my ancestry is Kindred—a group of genetic traders who are mostly male. They seek out females of other races to mate and bond with.”

  Alanah’s breath seemed to catch in her throat.

  “Is that what you’re doing here?” she whispered, looking up at him. “Looking for…for females?”

  “In part. Most of our females died long ago and so we left our planet in a great Mother Ship and have been searching for more every since.” He held her eyes earnestly. “But Alanah, I’m also here to warn you. Your people—all of them—are in grave danger.”

  Alanah frowned. “What kind of danger? What do you mean?”

  He sighed. “It’s difficult to explain and I’m afraid you might not believe me