Free Blood of Half Gods: Kallen's Tale by Bonnie Lamer

doesn’t speak, just pushes the food through a small archway where a dining table of red oak is laid out for dinner.  Xandra’s stomach growls loudly as the food passes her.  Not surprising.  She definitely burned off her breakfast using that much magic. 
     
    Dagda stands up and downs the rest of his drink.  Setting the glass back on the table with the decanter, he walks wordlessly to the table, his mood unreadable.  The rest of us follow just as silently.    The only thing that could make this moment more awkward is for Radella to show up. 
     
    And she does.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
    We have already started eating when she arrives.  Dagda looks up at her with an unwelcoming face.  “Are we secure for the evening?” he asks her.
     
    She looks over at him and nods.  “We have a perimeter with three guards outside and two in.  As far as we can tell, there is no one within several miles.”
     
    “Damage to the carriage?”
     
    “Minimal.  Mostly scratches and minor dents.  Her magic was able to steer the carriage around major obstacles, and when necessary, cleared the trees out of the way.”
     
    “I took us off the roads?” Xandra asks in surprise.
     
    “You did not seem to care how you got to wherever you felt like going, you were only concerned with your own selfish desires,” Radella sneers.  Wow.  She is stupider than I thought.  Dagda has already made it clear to her who he will defend.  It is not her.
     
    Dagda slams his palm down on the table, making Alita and Xandra practically jump out of their chairs in surprise.  I admit, I may have jumped a little myself.  I believe calm and reasonable are no longer words that can be attributed to him.  “Damn it, Radella, I have tolerated enough of your petty jealousy and disrespectful attitude towards Xandra.  If you say or do one more thing that makes her even raise an eyebrow, you will have your magic bound, be tried for treason and punished by death.  Do you understand me?”
     
    I have rarely seen my uncle like this.  His eyes are now a dark, velvety green and his voice has the feel of satin doused in liquid cyanide.  His handsome face is set, as if made of marble.  Unblinking, impassive.  His voice is completely devoid of anger or passion.  There is no doubt in the mind of anyone at the table that he is dead serious.
     
    Radella’s mouth opens.  Then closes.  Then forms a straight line, making her thin lips disappear altogether.  She nods but the movement of her head is minimal.  Turning from Radella as if she is no longer in the room, Dagda says, “Kallen, Kegan, I will need your help in the morning.  We will assess the damage and fix what needs to be fixed.  I want to start the journey back towards Uluru just after sunrise.”
     
    “Of course,” I say.  Kegan nods in agreement as well.  Then, all that can be heard is the ting of silverware against the bowls and our teeth.  The faster we eat, the sooner we can escape from this nightmare of a meal.
     
    Xandra is the first to break the silence.  “What will happen now that we’ll be so late?”
     
    Dagda sits back in his chair and sighs.  “I have sent a messenger ahead to tell the Giants I have been delayed.  Of course, I did not tell them why.”  Nor will he, I am sure.
     
    Xandra blushes.  “Sorry.”
     
    Dagda raises his brows and looks at Xandra for a moment, then says, “A princess need not apologize for such a tremendous show of power.”  He is dead serious which shocks her.
     
    After a moment, Xandra asks, “What’s going to happen when we get there?”  Since she did not want to think about the trip until we left, Xandra really has no idea what to expect in the land of the Giants.  Who knows what misinformation regarding Giants was put in her head in the Cowan realm.  I remember some tale of a giant and a beanstalk from my Cowan studies. 
     
    “Quinn and Ellu are the tribe leaders for each line