Page 20 of A Tale of Mirth & Magic

E LIKKI

I woke up slowly, morning sun seeping through the wide window. As I came to, I took stock of my surroundings.

Naked under the covers—not unusual.

Cuddled up next to someone else who’s mostly naked—also not super unusual.

Feeling blissfully serene after a deep, peaceful night’s sleep—very strange. Almost alarming.

I sat up slowly, blinking at the bright sunlight.

I almost never slept through the whole night.

The early years of being on my own, when I often had to sleep outdoors or in dodgy places, had forced me to adapt to more of a cat-nap style.

I usually slept lightly, waking to the smallest noises, often needing hours to fall asleep for even a short time.

It was a habit I mostly hadn’t been able to shake all these years later.

Sex helped. A few drinks. A good solid lock on my bedroom door. But I could barely remember falling asleep last night. Just a calm warmth overtaking me, and Barra tenderly wrapping me with his blanket and his body.

It must have been the head. It was incredible, just as good as the first time, and it probably relaxed me so much I just drifted off. I’d also had a big meal. And a long day of travel. It definitely wasn’t because of Barra specifically. Even if he did make me feel safe and cared for. Secure…

I looked down at him, still sound asleep. Shirtless, his lavender body sprawled over half of the bed, and I admired the muscles and curves of his thick torso, the slight paunch at his stomach. Last night I’d run my hands all over them, and my fingers itched to do it again now.

He looked so serene in his sleep. All those worries and anxieties that often flit over his face when he was awake were swept away.

I bet he slept like a baby every night. His mas probably read him and his sisters bedtime stories and sang lullabies when they were growing up. Tucked into his bed with gentle hands, a kiss on the forehead. I pushed down my jealousy at the thought.

It had been the circumstances that overrode my sleep survival instincts, I told myself. Not him. He was just a person that was here for now. Soon he wouldn’t be. And that was fine.

I stretched hugely, enjoying the sensation of being well-rested and warm, comfortably swimming in this sea of a bed. Part of me wanted to lie back down and tuck into Barra’s arms again. Maybe watch him while he slept. Enjoy the drowsy look in his eyes when he woke up and saw me.

But I desperately had to pee. Slipping down from the bed as quietly as possible, I put on my robe and padded out to the hallway bathroom. After I’d done my business and washed up, I glanced in the mirror.

Oh, shit.

With everything that had happened last night, I never got around to combing my hair. It had dried tangled, and now there was a huge, knotted mess blooming around my head. This was going to take forever to fix.

Still—worth it. I pinched my cheeks and smiled at my reflection. Looking good, girl. Ravishing, as always.

Grumbling only slightly at the state of my hair, I stopped in my own room to throw some clothes on and grab a comb before heading back across the hall. Forgetting that Barra was sleeping, I banged the door open.

“Oops! Shit. Sorry!”

But he was sitting up in bed, propped against a couple of gigantic pillows and glaring out the window.

“Oh, you’re awake! Never mind, then,” I said, jumping onto the bed.

“You’re back,” he said.

“Yeah, I had to pee. And freshen up a bit.” I winked at him. He blinked back at me.

I started attacking my hair with the comb. Pulling one section apart, I worked it through in bits, painfully.

“Ow, ow, owwww. Stupid long hair,” I said. “I’m chopping it all off!”

“I love your hair,” Barra said.

I ignored the warm buzzing his words sparked in my chest and focused on hacking my way through the tangled strands. “Well, right now I hate it. I’d rather cut it than deal with this mess.”

“Come here. I’ll do it for you.” Barra opened his legs to make space and patted the coverlet.

“Really?”

“Yes. I used to do it for my sisters all the time. Let me.”

I wasn’t going to ask twice. Scooching my ass backward on the bed, I kept going until I was pressed against his crotch. Leaning back, I laid myself against his solid, bare chest and wriggled happily.

Barra chuckled. “El, you have to move forward a little for me to do this.” He tugged the comb out of my hand.

Sighing, I scooted away a bit. “Fine. But be gentle. I’m not above biting if you hurt my scalp.”

“I’ve been warned,” he said, starting to carefully move the comb through a piece of my hair.

I needn’t have bothered. He worked through each knot methodically, making sure to hold the strands so it didn’t tug painfully on my head. Whenever we got to a particularly nasty section, he distracted me with stories about all the mischief his younger sisters got up to when they were little.

“And I suppose I’m to believe that you were perfectly well-behaved?” I said, grimacing as he reached a tough tangle at the back of my head where I’d thrashed against the coverlet last night.

“I was, for the most part,” he said. “I was afraid not to be.”

“Right. Because your mas sound so strict.”

“I know, I know. But it took me a while to realize they’re such softies.

” He cleared his throat, hesitating. “I grew up with my da for the first years. With the giant folk, in the mountains not far from Nepu. It was… difficult. Half-giants aren’t easily accepted among their own kind—giants or humans.

My birth mother had run off when I was small. She wasn’t happy with my da. Or me.”

My chest tightened painfully, imagining this young, unhappy version of Barra.

He continued, “My da cared for me, but he couldn’t be everywhere.

I was much smaller than the other giants my age, and children can be cruel.

When I was about six or seven, he decided that it wasn’t a healthy environment for me.

I was bullied, I didn’t have any real friends, and although overall the adults treated me with kindness, I could always sense the edge of pity and distaste that most of them felt toward me. ”

I touched Barra’s knee, stroking it with my thumb. He worked the comb through my hair, gentle as ever, even as he spoke about this.

“So he arranged for me to live in Nepu. Get a fresh start. Ma Reese is technically my aunt—my birth mother’s sister.

She and her partner, Ma Wren, welcomed me with open arms. They’d already adopted Telen at that point, and they say that they’d always wanted a big family.

Sassura and Monty came along soon after. ”

“Do you still see your father at all?” I asked.

“Oh yes, of course,” Barra said. “We do a camping trip twice a year. And I try to get up to visit him at least once every month or so. It’s too hard for him to be accommodated in Nepu. He’s about seventeen feet tall,” he said, affection in his voice.

“Damn! And I thought you were tall,” I said. “Well, that’s wonderful. That you and he still have a solid relationship, despite everything.”

“It was difficult for him to let me go. But he wanted to do what was best for me. And even though I couldn’t understand it when I was little—part of me just thought he didn’t want me, like my birth mother—I realized later how untrue that was. And my mas made sure I knew how loved I was.”

He had three parents and three sisters. I barely had one, even if you counted my mother and father together.

As if he was reading my silence, Barra said, “You told me before that your ma and da didn’t get along. Were they together or did you grow up with one of them?”

I barked a laugh. “Neither. They lived far apart. Both found me to be too ‘difficult,’ so they were constantly shuttling me back and forth. I don’t think I ever went longer than a year at a time with either one of them.”

“Assholes,” he said.

That surprised another laugh out of me. “They were assholes. They really were.” The familiar hurt was there, that soreness on my heart whenever I thought of my childhood. But for once it felt good to talk about this, like lancing a wound I’d been ignoring for too long.

“I can’t imagine anyone not wanting to be around you,” Barra said, still running the comb through my hair.

“I don’t know. I could be a lot when I was young,” I said.

“Or maybe they just weren’t enough.”

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. I blinked furiously, glad he couldn’t see my face. I swallowed hard, then said, “Thank you. For saying that.”

The comb stilled. Barra leaned in, resting his chin on my shoulder. “I meant it.”

“I think—I think I was unhappy. For a very long time.” I think I’m still unhappy a lot of the time , I thought to myself.

His arms looped around me, holding close.

He didn’t say anything. Didn’t try to make it better or prod for more details.

Just held me, somehow knowing what I needed in that moment.

After a while, my body relaxed and he resumed his slow combing.

The rhythm soothed me, though my skin felt stretched too tight.

“There,” Barra said eventually. “All done.” He gathered up the weight of my hair and smoothed it out, throwing it over one shoulder. Bending, he pressed a kiss to my bare neck. I shivered at the touch.

This all suddenly felt too intimate. I had to get moving.

Scooching from between his legs and off the bed, I said, “Thanks! I’m starving. Want to get some breakfast before we set off?”

“Oh. Sure.” Barra stood. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, of course. All good.” I took my comb from him and slipped out into the hall. “See you downstairs in a few!”

I could breathe easier once I was in my own room, the solid door closed behind me.

Where were my shoes? Focusing on hunting them down distracted me from the scramble of thoughts storming around in my head. Thoughts I couldn’t quite look at straight yet.