Page 60 of A Castle of Broken Memories

“Easy enough, since I plan on spending every night lying right beside you.” He lowered his head, and I parted my lips to meet him, hands gripping his hair as if he might disappear at any moment. His arms tightened, that same urgency fueling our kiss with need.

“Ahem.”

With matching sighs, we turned to find Annabelle-Harp and the young boy watching us with both amusement (her) and disgust (him).

Her mouth twisted in a sympathetic grimace. “As much as I hate to break up such a sweet moment, there’s the little matter of getting out of here we discussed earlier?” She pulled the boy into her side. “And given Danny’s involvement in the curse, I’m thinking sooner is better than later should the giants actually return.”

“She’s right.” I reluctantly stepped out of Jack’s arms, immediately mourning their loss. “You and Danny need to carry Annabelle out of the castle. Hopefully, Tenebris and Calum will have noticed the change when the curse broke and will meet us, but if not, I’ll need to find them before I go.”

“Didn’t we just promise not to separate?” Jack exclaimed.

“If there was another way, I’d jump on it in a heartbeat, but you have to get these two out, and there’s no way I’m leaving without my boys. I can’t do that to them.”

Jack swore under his breath. “Fine. I’ll take them to the top of the beanstalk, and if you’re not out by then, I’m coming back in to find you.”

I nodded. “Deal. Now, let’s move.” Jack and Danny moved to lift Annabelle-Harp, but I gently brushed Danny aside. “I’ll help carry her down the stairs, and then you can trade out when we get to the bottom, all right?”

“I can manage down the stairs,” the boy protested.

“I’ve no doubt about that, but I need your sharp, young eyes checking to make sure the coast is clear before we slip out the door. Last time we went into the foyer, there was quite the hulking monster guarding it. Who knows what might be there now?”

Danny’s face lit with understanding. “Scouting ahead, gotcha.” He fired off a sharp salute before running off to the large, freestanding door nestled among the grass. Several yellow dandelion heads had sprouted around it since the curse broke, and a vine of green ivy trailed up and around its arched frame. Danny had to stretch up on tiptoes to reach the handle, but before he could manage to turn it, the door swung open on its own. He fell on his bottom with a startled shout, and Jack and I dropped into fighting positions with daggers drawn when four mountainous men and women in pressed, red uniforms marched into the room.

The giants had arrived.

35

For all my years spent living in their home, I’d never actually seen a real giant. The tallest was a woman whose head came just a few inches shy of hitting the door’s frame, making her at least ten feet tall. Her hand rested on the pommel of a sword hanging at her side, and her narrowed gaze raked over our little group with disdain and just a hint of a crazy eye twitch.

“Hugo and Lorellia, take the interlopers to the dungeon to await Her Majesty’s orders. Andor, bring the harp to His Highness’s chambers and have her play for the prince. He’s in hysterics.”

“Yes, Captain,” the other three chorused sharply, immediately starting forward. As if we didn’t even register as a threat.

Fuck that.

I waited until the pug-faced brute who lumbered my way was close enough to grab me, then pivoted away from his massive hand when it came for my arm. Leaping onto his back, I plunged my daggers into each of his shoulders and sunk my fangs into his thick, sweaty neck. Blood filled my mouth with a savory taste that was borderline rank, but I forced myself to swallow it down anyway.

My muscles rejoiced from the resulting power surge.

The giant roared, arms swinging wildly as he attempted to snatch me off his back, and from the corner of my eye I could see one of the female guards—a behemoth of muscle and bone, towering almost as tall their leader—struggling in a similar position with a feral-eyed Mariana perched atop her shoulders. There wasn’t time to admire Mari’s skilled technique for long, however, as I found myself being yanked free of my target from behind and thrown face-first onto the ground. A heavy boot dug into my back, pinning me in place.

“Enough,” the leader said. “Surrender now, or my man Hugo will crush the boy’s windpipe.”

“Danny!” Annabelle-Harp screamed, reaching for her brother as the fourth giant lifted him into the air, his meaty hand wrapped around the boy’s neck. Mariana swore, but she threw her daggers and slid down, hands raised. The leader moved to each of us in turn and pulled our hands behind our backs, securing them with linked bracelets that warmed against my skin to an almost uncomfortable degree.

“They’ve been enchanted to withstand a giant’s brute strength,” the leader explained. “So I wouldn’t recommend wasting your time trying to get them off.” She shrugged. “Or do. No skin off my nose. I have a sixty-year backlog of tasks to attend to, as it is.”

“Just like that?” Mariana asked, her gaze roving dubiously over the injured guards, neither of whom seemed the least bit concerned with the fact that they were bleeding. If I hadn’t heard him bellow when my dagger sunk into his shoulders, I’d wonder if the giant I’d attacked was even capable of feeling pain. “You’ve been under a curse for over sixty years, and within minutes of waking, you’re all back to business? If I were in your shoes, I’d be reaching for the nearest bottle of wine, because fucking hell.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re welcome for that, by the way. If it weren’t for us, you’d still be cursed, but by all means, throw us in the dungeon.”

I didn’t even try to hide my smirk. My mate was ballsy as hell, and I loved it.

The leader sighed. “You may release the boy, Andor, and take the harp up to His Highness. I will assist in bringing these three down to the dungeon.” She snatched Danny up with one hand and swung him over her broad shoulder. “In case the two of you have any more tricks up your sleeves,” she said, gesturing for the injured guards to escort us through the door.

Annabelle-Harp cried out, her golden arms stretching toward Danny as she was hauled up the steps. “Please. He’s just a boy,” she sobbed. “My brother.”

“He was an assailant to the crown and a blight on this entire kingdom,” the leader called back, her brisk stride never slowing as she led us down through a cluster of chattering giants gathered on the foyer floor. Fucking hell. Where did they even come from?

Their voices hushed to low murmurs when we passed, but I could feel the heat of their glares on our backs as the guards brought us to a plain, wooden door tucked beneath the spiral stairs.