Page 19 of Greed of Giants
We followed a dirt path, hollow echoes of my past rising like ghosts, unseen but their presence lingering. Great redwood trees rose, their roots long, their trunks so thick I couldn’t see around them. Seeing the land like this, vibrant, alive, made the full weight of what I’d missed settle against me. The land, shifting, yielding, growing, changing. The way the great kingdom I was to inherit was now ash. Life had gone on, always, without me. Without us.
Moisture thickened the air. The trees gave way to grassy hills, far-reaching meadows, and then a sparkling expanse. Water covered by a veil of mist as far as the eye could see. We were at a bay, sand stretching onward, pale as bones.
She was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it because of the roaring in my ears. The weight grew heavier. Unbearable. My breath came short and fast, fingers curling into fists. I’d tried to ignore it since I woke, the magnitude of knowledge, of being the only one left, of coming back to life thousands upon thousands of years later.
It slammed into me like a beast I should fight. The need to rip, to tear, to do anything other than be reasonable, came over me. I couldn’t be around her like this, couldn’t be restrained, couldn’t explain anything. I needed to be alone. I needed to get away.
Without a word, I ran. Bare feet pounding over the meadow and stone, ignoring the stabs of pain as I fled.Faster. Faster.As though I could outrun my past, my decisions, my biggest regret. Outrun it all. Sand flew upbeneath my feet, but I didn’t stop, didn’t allow it to slow my progress. I hurled myself headfirst into the water, breathing in its salty brine, and let myself sink.
My fists punched uselessly at water. Raw screams erupting from my chest, swallowed by the depths. No one could hear me. No one could see me. No one could save me.
This was my punishment. To return to a world that had forgotten me, carrying the weight of those who never would.
9
Ilaris
The giant was gone.
Something had taken hold of him, his expression slid, eyes darkened, fingers trembled, and then he was running as though something terrible were chasing at his heels. I’d glanced behind, but there was nothing, just us and the quiet lapping of the waves against sand.
It was a relief to breathe in normalcy after that shadowed underground and that terrible door. I still shuddered, and deliberately forced myself not to peek over my shoulder. Instead, I walked to the hut, shut the door, and locked it. I was half-tempted to cover the windows and push the table in front of the door.
But I was overreacting. The things in the ground weren’t going to escape. They hadn’t after all these years. Why would they now?
I took another deep breath and put down Jasper, who trotted around the hut, sniffing at corners. His presencewas soothing, and for a moment it was as if the last few hours hadn’t happened at all. Slowly, I unpacked my bag, took off the armor and stoked the fire.
I’d make a cup of tea, a small meal, and then study the runes I’d sketched. I just had to make it through tonight. Tomorrow morning, Harlan would return to guide me to the ruins, but I’d convince him to take me back to the mainland. From there I’d have to figure out a solution.
I had enough information to make up a story about the giants, to come as close to the truth as I dared without encouraging curious explorers to find what lay underneath the earth. For a moment my mind strayed to Scholar Benjamin. Surely this was his cabin. Where had his notes gone? I’d ask Harlan on my quest to investigate the truth.
I couldn’t imagine it would take me long to put together my story. What would I do for six months?
Darkness fell as I ate, spread out my notes, and started journaling, committing every memory to paper. Jasper curled up by the fire while I lost myself in the familiar scratching of my pen against parchment and the quiet lick of the flame against wood. The sound of the waves in the distance was soothing and, moment by moment, my discomfort dropped away.
This was what I loved: the sensation of discovery, writing out what I’d found, letting my mind wander through labyrinths of knowledge. Except, as I flipped a page, my mind meandered in a direction I did not expect. There, in front of me, lay my sketch ofhim.
Prince Killian. The last giant.
I ran my fingers over it, studying the curve of his back, his large hands and. . .it was only a sketch, but my breathstill caught. That slow sensation dragged across my chest, and I rubbed my heart, recalling the blood oath.
Had he lied to me about it? I didn’t feel pain or need, but he was gone. What would hold me to it now, or had he released me?
Outside, the rhythm of the waves shifted. Something wove through the familiar crash and pull. A melody, faint and threaded with sorrow. I lifted my head, pen hovering above parchment like a conductor’s baton frozen mid-symphony.
Music. The same music I’d heard this morning, when, half-awake, I assumed it was Harlan’s flute. The notes drifted on the night air, wordless and haunting, rising and falling with the tide, stirring something deep in my core. It was beautiful, even though it spoke of heartache and ruin, yearning and loss. My skin prickled, drawn toward the melody.
A large shadow moved past my window, caught in the flickering light from the fire. For a moment I imagined dripping fangs and claws. A reminder of all those inhuman eyes, watching behind the door. The Unmaking, patient in their prison.
I leaped to my feet, eyeing my armor as though it would keep me safe from things that had waited centuries for freedom.
The music swelled, closer now, no longer just from the waves but circling the hut like a predator testing for weakness.
A tap came at the door.
Not so much a tap as fingernails, claws, scratching against wood. Then came a thud that rattled the frame. Ijumped, slamming my hands over my mouth to trap the scream building there. Jasper woke and calmly got to his feet. His ears went up as he noticed the door and trotted toward it.
“No, Jasper,” I whispered, not sure how frightened he was of the Unmaking. He was too young, too small to get into a fight. I needed him to stay away from whatever lurked outside, wearing the night like a cloak.
