Page 134 of Once Upon a Fable

He can’t...it’s not possible.

I blinked, expecting him to still be there. Smirking that mocking grin, long hair touching his shoulders, eyes so dark with history they defied common color.

But he didn’t appear.

There was nothing.

Just me and the fading energy of a man who’d imprisoned me.

A man I just killed.

Oh, God.

My heart cramped as I wedged fists into my belly.

No one can survive a fall like that.

What have I done?

Yes, he’d taken my body and my freedom, but I’d done something a million times worse....I’d taken his life.

I—

My horrified shock suddenly gave way to coldhearted analytics.

Wait, he could survive.

He might—

Scrambling to my feet, I grabbed a branch and looked down.

Down.

I tried tosee him.

I guessed the height of such a plummet.

A thousand feet perhaps?

More? Less?

I don’t know.

Youhaveto know.

The buzzing turned vicious in my ears and marrow.

He might be alive.

It’s possible—

Panic fought with calm as I edged from the drop-off and dug both hands into my mud-dirty hair.

You have to find out, Gem.

You can’t leave him.

Images of him in pieces at the bottom of the cliff made me sick. Shattered bones, vacant eyes, a scarred body that was no longer alive.