Page 31 of A Castle of Broken Memories

“Preferably a magical artifact of some kind,” I added. “I don’t suppose you know where the giants would have kept something like that?”

Harp frowned. “I’ve only ever been in a few rooms, so I’m not sure how much help I could be…”

“It could be anything, really,” I urged. “So long as you saw magic involved when they used it.” I placed a hand on her arm, pleading. “Please, if you can think of anything at all…”

“Weeeell”—her gaze bounced back and forth between Jack and me, a sly little smile forming on her pink lips—“I might know a good place to look. It won’t be easy to get to, though.”

“You tell us where, and we’ll find a way to manage it,” I promised. “Don’t worry.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” Harp replied. “It’s Jack.”

I glanced at Jack in surprise, and found him glaring at Harp, his lips pressed firmly together. “Why are you worried about him? I thought he was used to navigating the castle.” Although he had seemed to struggle earlier…

“He’d be fine if he were at full steam, but⁠—”

“Harp,” Jack interjected. “Leave it alone.”

She frowned. “He hasn’t properly fed in months!”

“Damn it, Harp,” Jack muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Fuck. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Vampires may not need blood to survive, but purebloods like Jack required a steady source to function properly. To be honest, I was surprised he was moving as well as he was. “Why didn’t you say something? I would have let you have some of my blood.”

“I don’t need it,” he mumbled from behind his hands.

“What do you mean you don’t need it?” I threw my hands up in exasperation. “For fuck’s sake, Jack. You’re a pureblood vampire—the longer you go without blood, the weaker you’ll be. Just take the damn drink. I don’t mind.”

“Well, maybe I do,” Jack replied, dropping his arms to his side. “Did you ever think of that?”

My jaw hinged open. “That makes zero sense. You need blood, and mine is about as potent as it gets. What’s the problem?”

“Nothing,” Jack muttered. “It’s stupid.”

“So tell me.”

He scuffed the toe of his boot on the stage floor, looking supremely uncomfortable as he glanced over at Harp. “It’s just… drinking blood is so… intimate. And drinking yours…” His ears burned bright red as his voice dropped almost to a whisper. “I want to be with you, Mari, but you’ve made it abundantly clear you don’t feel the same way right now. And I’m afraid if I were to sink my fangs into you now, after all those years dreaming about that very thing…” He shook his head. “I don’t know if I’d be able to stop.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but all that came out was, “Oh.” Quite frankly, my brain had short wired somewhere along the lines of ‘sink my fangs into you’. Because I knew exactly what that felt like. And fuck me, but I wanted it.

19

Could I be any more pathetic? I sounded like a damned teenager going through puberty. But it was the truth—connecting with Mariana on that level would push me well beyond the brink of control, and if I wanted any chance of winning her back, I needed to take things slow. That, and there was that niggling doubt about how she’d respond. What if I bit her, and she hated every moment?

It would destroy me.

Mariana stared at me in stunned silence, those amber eyes of hers flaring wide while her teeth worried the soft flesh of her lip. But then the moment passed, and any hint of vulnerability was hidden behind an inscrutable mask. “Suit yourself,” she said. “Just don’t go passing out somewhere dangerous. I’m not risking my ass to save someone too stubborn to take proper care of himself.”

Okay, now that was a Mariana I remembered. I bit back a huff of laughter and turned my attention to Harp, who looked far too interested in Mariana’s and my interaction. “Where do we need to go?”

A suspiciously mischievous smile pulled at Harp’s lips, and I could practically see the gears turning in her head. “Veloria’s Blessing.”

“Veloria’s Blessing,” I deadpanned. She had to be kidding me. “As in, the castle’s chapel.” The sacred place all of the giants married if Harp’s stories were true. The irony of the location scraped at my already raw emotions. If only I hadn’t climbed the beanstalk, if I’d gone straight home that night instead, Mariana and I would have attended our own sacred ceremony. And I wouldn’t have traded the love of my life for a decade of outrunning monsters and endless fishing. “What makes you think we need to go there?”

“On the altar where the couples present themselves was a beautiful crystal decanter. It would be filled with wine before the ceremony, and the queen would pour it into the couple’s goblets. At the end of the ceremony, they would link arms and drink.” Harp’s gaze grew dreamy as she stared off into the distance. “I only witnessed it once before the curse was released, but I can still recall the way the decanter sparkled with magic when the queen poured the young couple’s drinks. It was beautiful.”

“And you think the decanter might be a magical artifact,” Mariana surmised. “If it is, it just might be strong enough to hold the curse.” She threw me a questioning look. “You know how to get there?”

I pulled the map out of my pack and held it open. “Veloria’s Blessing.” I scanned the parchment until I found the room I was looking for and grimaced. “Twenty doors up—too far to make in a single trip. We’ll need to work our way there, popping into rooms as we go to take the heat off. Gregar usually stops watching the door after about twenty minutes or so.”