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CHAPTER SIX
GEMMA’S FACE WAS THE first thing I saw clearly.
Her strained, beautiful face with golden-hazel eyes, pinched cheeks, worried lips, and leaf-tangled blond hair.
And everything fell away.
The nightmare faded, leaving only streaks of horror slinking through my blood. How Storymaker had returned from the dead. How he’d thanked me for filling his house with slaves once again. How glad he was that he had fresh meat for his eager guests to sample.
I shook my head, doing my best to stop the echoes in my head. Storymaker had been rotten and worm-eaten. He’d been a walking corpse. Bone fingers complete with ribbons of skin hanging off a gaunt skeleton, stepping like a ghoul into the conservatory where Gem slept.
He’d touched her.
He’d run his motherfucking putrid fingers over her forehead while she slept. “She’s pretty, Kassen. You did good. She’ll be a nice addition to our Fable family.”
His sentence was far too similar to the thought I’d had when I’d first met Gem. When she’d broken in the bathroom and asked for privacy. When she’d picked up her pieces and dealt with me head on. She was strong. Probably stronger than I’d been when faced with such ownership. I’d respected her so much in that moment. I would’ve been honored to serve beside her because she had far more courage than I ever did.
I’d launched myself at him, smashing through the walls of the conservatory in my dream.
His emaciated, decomposing body vanished. His nasty cackle throbbed in my every heartbeat. “I’m taking her, Kas. She needs to be introduced to our guests. Don’t you think?”
I’d looked back to where Gem had been sleeping.
She was gone.
Her blankets empty.
Nothing but loneliness.
I’d lost myself then.
I’d forgotten it was just a dream.
I’d stepped over the line of reality and nightmare.
And I’d run.
I’d bolted after Storymaker, chasing him to the only place in this valley that housed Fable guests.
The boneyard.
The pit of decaying devils.
His laughter had grown louder and louder as I’d dug at the ground, desperate to get beneath the earth, fighting against a panic attack that Gemma was down there, with them, unable to get free, lost in the dark, being touched and hurt and—
“Christ.” I wiped my face and sat up, gently pushing Gemma away so she wasn’t hovering over me. I swallowed hard as vestiges of the nightmare lingered in my thoughts.
I’d dug as fast as I could.
I’d been prepared to break every nail and shred my entire hands if it meant I could free her from those monsters.
But then Storymaker had tapped me on the shoulder.
He’d morphed into Mrs. Snook—a sadistic witch who liked to play with canes—and she’d laughed shrill and nasty. I knew she swung both ways. She’d made Sarez scream. She’d left scars on Elise, just like she’d brutalized Zanik and Maliki. Her all-inclusive tastes made absolute ferocity pour through me.
I would never let her harm Gem.
My hands had wrapped around her throat.
I’d wanted to kill her.
I would’ve killed her if someone hadn’t punched—
I touched my temple, wincing at the throbbing agony. “What...what happened?” I swallowed a final time, giving myself entirely to reality and slamming a door on sleepwalking, sleep-digging, and all the other shit inside my skull.
Gemma swallowed nervously, her gaze skittering behind me before replying gently, “Jareth hit you.”
I winced. “Why?”
“He, eh...” She once again looked behind me before rushing, “You had another nightmare, Kas. You thought I was...well, I don’t know who you thought I was but...” She sat on her heels, her face falling, drawing my attention down her features to her stu
“Ah, fuck.” I scrambled away from her, sickness rushing up my throat. “Did I...?” I shook my head. No. It wasn’t possible. I was in love with her. I’d accepted that I was in love with her. I would never hurt her. Not now. I would rather fucking die. “I did that?” My voice sounded like an animal trapped in an incinerator.
I’d tried to save her from Mrs Snook.
When really...the opposite was true.
Moving back to her, I hesitated before cupping her cheeks and raising her face. Her eyes locked with mine, wary and hurting but forgiving and wise. “You weren’t awake. I shouldn’t have tried to help. I just...I couldn’t stand by and watch you dig with your bare hands. You were calling for me. You sounded...” Tears glossed her stare. “You were distraught. I had to do something.”
“I thought you were down there.” I inched closer, never taking my hands off her cheeks. “I thought they had you. I’m so fucking sorry. I was trying to save you. I would never—”
“I know.” Her hands landed over mine. “And Jareth knows that too. He knows you’d never hurt me intentionally now, no matter what he thinks.” Her voice rose, deliberately sharp, delivered with conviction and irritation to the empty forest around us.
I frowned a little but never looked away from her. “Well, I’m glad he did something to stop me from hurting you. I would never have forgiven myself if I’d gone too far.” My voice cracked. “I mean it, Gem.”
All of it.
Everything I’d felt for her the night before. The shock of falling. The switch of my loyalties. The choice of putting her first. It all spewed out of me, desperate to be said in case I forgot. In case the next time I blacked out or had to be knocked unconscious, all this progress would be erased.
The words burned my tongue.
Commitment buckled around my heart, chaining us together with binds far stronger than the broken chain we still wore. “Last night...when I ran from you.” I licked my lips, ru
A twig cracked behind me, wrenching Gemma’s stare to something over my shoulder.
She shook her head just once before focusing back on me.
I went to look behind me, my skin prickling with awareness. I was being watched. We both were. I didn’t want an audience when I’d chosen to be vulnerable.
Was Jareth still here? Or had he left after punching me in the head?
If he didn’t go, he needed to leave before this next part. And if it wasn’t him, then fuck, I had a new enemy in which to fight.
However, Gem guided my attention back to her, and the depth in her eyes undid me.
All thoughts of violence, hate, and anger evaporated.
I was left swimming in remorse, guilt, and the undeniable revelation that if any part of me wasn’t in love with this woman, that part no longer existed.
I belonged to her.
I was no longer a slave.
I was no longer owned by anyone but this incredible girl who just kept on forgiving me when I didn’t deserve it.
And I couldn’t do it anymore.
I dug my fingers into her cheeks. I grazed my lips over hers. And I said three terrifying words. Words that I would die by, live by, do my best to survive by.
Because she’d chosen me.
Fate had chosen her for me.
And I would finally start trying to deserve her instead of letting my past destroy her.
“I love you.” I kissed her, inhaling her scent of papaya and woodsmoke, interlaced with sharpness from the forest and earthiness from the grave. “That was the second thing I realized last night and the main reason I ran. I love you, Gem.” I kissed her again, chaste and soft, my heart pounding against my ribs. “I think I fell for you the moment you found me. I’ve just been too shit-terrified to admit it.”
She gasped in my hold, her mouth parting as I kissed her a third time.
Salt laced our kiss from her tears.
Letting her cheeks go, I pushed her backward, insanely grateful when she didn’t fight me.
Lust roared through my veins. All the need from last night. All the pent-up desire, possessiveness, and fear when I’d seen Jareth holding her in the dark overflowed.
I couldn’t catch a proper breath as I lay over her, pressing her onto her back and settling between her legs. Our lips co
All the darker urges to possess and claim faded away. I’d hurt her again. I was done hurting her. From now on, I would only touch her with the gentleness she deserved.
Her head raised off the grass as she kissed me deeper, sending a tangle of heat between my legs. I hardened. I wanted.
I opened my mouth wider for her, sinking into the kiss but refusing to let her push me into places I couldn’t control.
I kept most of my weight on my elbows, either side of her body. I kept my touch soft and loving. For the first time in my life, I didn’t want to rush sex. I didn’t want to get it over with to avoid pain. I didn’t want to finish to prove I was in command. I was free of that shit and lost in the moment with her.
Just her.
Gemma in my arms, her taste on my tongue, her body pi
I didn’t need to dominate to be free of my own wounds. I didn’t need to hurt her to fulfill a sick revenge. I was free. Free to enjoy every fleeting touch, every gasp, every lick.
“Kas...” She tried to pull me closer. “I need you.”
I shook my head, guilt smothering me. “I shouldn’t have started this.” I nuzzled into her neck, kissing my way across her bruises. “You’re hurt. I should let you rest.”
She arched her throat, allowing me greater access. “I should push you away and order you to never come near me again.”
I sucked in a harsh breath as my head shot up. “Is that what you want?”
Her hazel eyes glowed. “Not at all.”
“Then why—”
“You said you should let me rest. And I replied with an equally silly suggestion.”
I scowled. “It’s not silly that I finally value your life. That I would rather end my own than yours.”
She cupped my cheek. “No, that’s not silly.” Pulling me down for a kiss, she murmured into my mouth, “Just like it’s not silly for me to admit that I love you too. That all the should-dos and common sense decisions no longer have any hold on us. Only we matter. Only we understand why we can’t fight this. Why we’re no longer in control of how we feel, how we should act, or what we should do.” She ran her touch over my cheekbone. “I don’t take a single second with you for granted. I’m grateful that Jareth didn’t knock out more of your memory. I’m thankful that you remember. That you remember me. That you...love me.”
“Always.” I kissed her, harder this time, balancing on soft and savage.
She moaned as our tongues swept and stroked.