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Chapter 35

35

F or 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.

“Down you go,” the one holding my arm grunted.

A cool breeze wafted up the stone staircase, greeting us with the scent of fresh earth and moss. It grew heavier the deeper we descended, ever-burning torches lighting our way down into the castle’s bowels. A heavy, metal gate waited at the bottom, and I heard the trickle of running water before I saw it—a wide canal splitting the room below in half before passing through an arched tunnel and leading to who-knew-where. Three barred-off cells lay on the other side of the canal, lit by a stream of sunlight let in from above and with clean-looking hay scattered about the floor. Each cell had a bucket tucked into one of its corners, with a cot set up on the opposite wall.

A rowboat floated in the canal, bridging the two sides, and the pug-faced guard pushed us down into it, with the lead guard positioning herself in the back. Danny huddled on the floor by her feet while the other two sandwiched Mariana and me between them. “We keep the troublemakers farther in,” she said, pushing the boat off and using a long pole to guide us into the darkened tunnel.

The air grew colder, and I repressed a shiver. “What troublemakers? The boy may have made a grave mistake, but you did turn his sister into a harp. And Mariana and I have done nothing but try to help you all.”

“Bold words from the person who snuck into our home in hopes of stealing our treasure. Your imprisonment here was the only justifiable event to occur in this entire duration. I only regret your little friend made it out before the castle could claim him, too.”

I started, shock undermining my efforts to appear unaffected. “You—how do you know that?”

“Same way we know you’ve fed off our tigers,” grunted the female giant sitting on Mariana’s other side. “Filthy, thieving leech.”

“And defiled our pools with your half-breed lover,” the male added. “Before destroying our sacred altar.”

White, hot rage seared my chest, and I yanked ruthlessly at the bindings holding me back from wiping the disgusted look off the giant’s face as I growled, “You were watching us?”

“Not by choice.” The leader’s voice dripped with resentment. “Trust me.” She stopped the boat beside a barred door set into the tunnel wall, and opened it with a key she produced from her vest pocket. “In you go,” she ordered, shoving the three of us through the door and into a dingy little square of a room. There was no sunlight, no cot. Not even a scattering of hay, although I was relieved to at least see an empty slop bucket in the corner. A torch mounted on the opposite wall cast the only bit of light. “We’ll be back to collect you when the queen is ready for an audience.”

“I don’t suppose you know when that will be?” Mariana asked, looking around our cramped quarters.

The guard smiled thinly. “We haunted these halls for sixty years as invisible wraiths, only taking corporeal form at night when the curse warped us into bats and snakes and the like with a taste for human flesh. We’ve watched and we’ve waited for longer than you’ve been alive.”

Mariana arched a brow, looking wholly unimpressed. “And that’s our fault, how?”

The door slammed shut, the lock clicking into place. The giant glared at us from the other side of the bars. “I hope you rot.”

Mariana and I exchanged looks while the giants rowed back down the tunnel and out of sight. “Well, they seem grateful,” Mariana deadpanned.

“Probably arranging a celebration in our honor as we speak,” I added, looking around the dank cell. How the hell are we going to get out of this?

“This is all my fault.” Danny crumpled onto the hard floor, knees tucked tight against his body. “I never should have trusted that old man. He swore the curse would only affect the prince.”

I squatted down and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I wouldn’t beat yourself up about it, kid. Sixty years as a frog is punishment enough.”

He sniffled. “But now Annabelle’s gonna be stuck as a harp forever, and they’re going to chop us up for meat pies and grind our bones to make their bread. It’s what they do.”

Mariana blanched. “Do they really? I always thought those were just tall tales. Gross.”

“I’m sure they’re just rumors.” I shot her a look over the boy’s shoulder. “Those guards had just been freed from their curse. They were justifiably grumpy. Once the queen’s had time to cool her head, I’m sure she’ll listen to reason and let us go.”

Danny peeked up at me, his watery eyes gleaming with hope. “You think she’ll let me go? And turn Annabelle back into a human?”

No, but I’ll find a way to get you both out if it kills me. From the grim set of Mariana’s jaw, I could tell she was thinking the same thing. “I do.”

Danny wiped a grubby hand over his eyes. “Okay. So, what do we do now?”

“For now, we get some sleep,” Mariana stated, meeting my gaze. Rest up for what’s to come.

“Agreed.” I moved to the back of the cell and slumped down against the wall.

Mariana settled beside me. “Come on, then,” she said, calling Danny over with a smile that made my heart do funny things in my chest. “You can snuggle with us until we get your sister back. We don’t bite.” She paused, her gaze flicking toward my mouth. “Well, technically he does, but you’re safe.” She looked up to meet my eyes, her amber orbs glowing subtly in the dark. “He’s only going to be biting me from now on.”

I grinned, filling it with promises. “Damn right.”

And as impossible as it seemed, huddled there in that dark cell with no foreseeable way out, I was happier than I’d been in years.

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