Page 32 of Rock Giant

“I have not.”

Paul just smiled.“There, I think we have enough.Just need a bit of… Where’s my knife?”

Jodi handed him the multi-tool she found in her pocket, which he used to cut the thorns off some twigs he’d harvested.He sat cross-legged where they were and began weaving the bits of foraged hedgerow together, even including a few mushrooms in her crown.

“Have you figured out your oaths?”

“Not yet.”She joined him on the grass.She’d forgotten how magnetic he was, and how he seemed to suck her closer purely by being present.He’d changed.There was a seriousness coupled to his practicality that hadn’t been present three years ago, and a harder edge to him, as if someone had taken a chisel to his softer edges.

“Cutting it a bit fine, aren’t you?”

Apparently so.Although there was still no sign of Nash.She was keeping half an eye on the path up to the stones.Then again, he never worried about punctuality.He sauntered through life, and no one ever seemed to mind if he was a bit late or a little early.She wished she could say the same about herself, but everyone—literally everyone—mentioned it and never let her forget it if she was late.It happened more often than she liked, which is why she always set out to be early.

“What would you say?”It was interesting seeing him without the spikes of coloured hair he usually sported.The shorn look suited him though.He had the bone structure to carry it off, plus, it looked invitingly soft.

“Me?”Rock Giant lifted one brow.He smiled at her when she ran her hand over his head and leaned into the touch just like Flugwhump did when she scratched between his ears.“You’ll have to be there when I get hitched to find that out.”

Just the idea made her heart pang.

Stupid really.Of course, some girl would snatch him up someday.The real miracle was that no one had done so already.

“No hints that could help a girl out?”

His smile withered a little, though his pupils remained dilated.“Hints at what you should promise a guy I’ve never met.It is a guy, right?It’s not a sapphic snuggle party I’m making this for?”

“Nope,” she confirmed.“And you have met him.”

“Really?He can’t have been very memorable.”

It might have helped if she’d mentioned Nash by name and explained their connection, but she got distracted watching him weave in the daisies she’d collected, only to remove them again immediately.Jodi retrieved them and made them into a necklace.It gave her something to do with her hands that didn’t involve touching him.

“Here you go.I think I’ve got it the right size.”

Paul knelt to place it on her head.Jodi put the daisy chain around his neck as a thank you.

He stood back to admire her.“Now you look like a faerie queen.”

“Waiting for my knight to appear.It’s always knights they marry, ain’t it?”She stood and did a little twirl and gave a curtsy.

Paul nodded his approval.“Not sure about elven knights, mind.They’re wily buggers.All the songs agree on that.”He started singing one she didn’t know the words to, full of longing and loss and rich with meaning.Even sung in his somewhat off-key tenor it raised goosebumps across her skin.

“What are you seeing?”she asked him a little while later.They’d moved over nearer to the track uphill at her behest.His gaze kept darting in the direction of the standing stones, while hers focused downhill.

“Ah…” He wagged a finger at her.“You have the means of determining that right here in your crown.”He plucked a bunch of mushrooms from the assemblage and almost had them in his mouth before she stayed his arm.

“Not sure you need anymore.”

He considered; lips pursed.“I remember you.You like contradicting me.Jodi Castle, the girl with heavenly thighs, wandering hands, and an inferiority complex.”

“Nice to know what you think of me.”

“Just saying what I see, but go ahead, tell me I’m projecting.”

“Are you?”In response he brought the mushrooms to his lips again.Jodi redirected his hand and bit the heads off them, leaving him with just the stalks.“What’s shitting on your parade, Paul Reed?”

“Well, there’s this girl I know who’s getting hitched…” He watched her chew.Damn, these things were bitter.“Nah…Just the usual.You know how it is.Sometimes pernicious little hobgoblins come and hang out on your shoulders and fuck your shit up.”

“Is your shit fucked up?”