The Heartstone Saga by Archibald Bradford (short novels in english .TXT) 📕

since he’s got my heart stuck to his wrist forever, that means he has to come too.”

Miranda’s frown deepened as her eyes narrowed into a glare, not falling for the same lie that she’d used on the council.

“Bullshit Nina. We both know you can remove it.”

“Huh, maybe I could at that. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to. Oh well. Should we stop wasting time and head out?” She finished innocently.

The Gigas knew that Nameless wasn’t happy about being stuck in an office, even if the work was fulfilling, and she also knew that he would never complain about it, so if she could spring him for an afternoon stroll by being stubborn, she would.

The operative rolled her eyes but assented.

“Fine, but if he gets smacked around by an Ogre, that’s on you.”

“Like that’ll happen.” Erica smirked; “She’ll be too busy trying to get into his pants.”

Not wanting to get into it, Miranda shook her head and left, forcing Nameless to scramble to keep up.

Meanwhile Ginger watched them go, a look of longing on her face.

“Why can’t I go on any adventures?” She muttered in complaint.

Outside they linked up with Kala and Jan and headed out, though Nameless took a moment to reach out to Volka and let her know what they were up to.

In all honesty, he was a bit puzzled at the Aegis response to a simple rumour, especially given how busy they were.

But when he voiced his confusion, he earned a long-suffering sigh from Miranda.

“Do you know why the Ogres trashed the Aegis’s old headquarters?” She asked.

“Not... exactly. History wasn’t a big part of the training. All I remember from school was that it had something to do with a proposed law, one that was later struck down.”

The operative snorted, expecting the half-ass response.

“The law in question was regarding the age of consent for Ogres. And whoever proposed it was a complete nincompoop. Since Ogres mature physically much faster than mentally, some members of the Aegis were uncomfortable with allowing them to have sex with humans before their intellect was fully developed. Which basically meant that the Ogres would have to wait decades before being able to look for a bond-mate.”

“An ill-conceived idea, I take it?” Erica remarked drily.

“They were conflating regular intelligence with emotional intelligence.” Ophelia interjected primly; “Ogres are monsters and monsters love sex. As much as any human. And telling children they can’t have something they desperately want can be a nightmare, believe me. How would you have reacted if someone told you that you weren’t allowed to bond with our master until you were at least forty?”

Erica nodded her agreement.

“Truth.”

“I would... probably have broken some things.” Milly admitted.

Miranda shrugged, causing Jez to wobble on her back.

“That’s exactly what they did. No one was badly hurt, but they were rather heavily censured for it.”

“Explains why we don’t see Ogres around the city I guess.”

“There is no law keeping them out, at least not formally, but they’ve always steered clear of Garland because of the Bastion.”

Ophelia’s feet briefly touched the street as she half-flew along beside Milly, the Flutterby not hiding her indignation.

“It really isn’t fair for them to be so ostracized, but such is the world we live in.”

Nameless felt her discontent through their bond, and reached out with his heart to reassure her.

“A battle for another day.” He promised aloud.

Chapter 32:Feeling Blue

As it turned out, finding a giant who wasn’t trying to hide was as easy as one would imagine, though finding one sitting on the side of the road and crying was also as heart wrenching as one would imagine.

Nameless knew that Ogres were large, and yet somehow he had always just pictured a blue-skinned Amazon, since every one of the blonde warriors that he’d met had towered over him.

But the Ogre would dwarf any of them, as she was ten feet tall if she was an inch.

She was dressed in a simple tunic cinched at the waist with a simple brass buckle, while her skin was a rich shade of blue, with her hair a slightly darker shade.

It was bizarre, but she reminded him a great deal of Nina.

She was sobbing while holding a tattered red sash to her cheek, a forlorn and piteous sight.

Before Miranda could say anything, Ophelia was moved to action, flying to bring herself to eye-level with the bereft monster.

“Hello dearheart, what’s the matt-”

She didn’t finish as the blue-skinned girl abruptly reached out and seized her with both hands around her hips.

“So pretty!” She gushed as she held Ophelia close and rubbed her cheek against the Flutterby’s breasts.

“Serves you right.” Miranda muttered as she crossed her arms, annoyed at Ophelia’s careless approach.

The kindly woman squirmed in discomfort but managed to maintain her composure despite the operative’s words.

Which is more than can be said for the Ogre when Nina’s hammer hit the ground and drew her attention with a minor quake.

The Gigas glared at the other suddenly wide-eyed giant.

“Yes, very pretty. Also mine, so let her go you dumbass.”

The enormous blue girl was a formidable sight, but at the three-foot-tall Nina’s words she immediately let out a shriek and released Ophelia, who had to awkwardly flutter her wings to regain her balance in the air.

“Really Nina, I’m sure we were fine-”

Even as the Flutterby spoke the Ogre leapt away, gripping a startled Miranda by either shoulder as she sought to hide behind her and Jez, crouching down to make herself as small as possible.

“Biggest giant! Please no squishing me!” Her echoing voice came out in a pitiful whine.

“I changed my mind! I can’t take an Ogre!” Jez wheezed out as the big girl’s breasts smooshed into her back, pinning her in place.

Miranda could feel the