Page 156 of Once Upon a Fable

Kneeling in front of him, careful to stay out of reaching distance, I murmured, “I’m not a guest. My name’s Gem. No one is going to hurt you or your family ever again. You have my word.”

His head shot up. Doubt widened his eyes...then suspicion clouded his face. “Is this another trick?”

I stayed as calm as I could, squashing the urge to grab his cheeks and force him to wake up. To listen. To remember. “It’s not a trick. You’re safe.”

“If I’m so safe,” he spat. “Why am I tied up? Where is my family?”

I glanced at the rope knotted securely around his wrists. “You had an accident. You fell off the cliff surrounding this valley. I think you have a concussion, and I doubt you’ll remember this conversation. I don’t know if I should be telling you this, but I can’t pretend that I’m one of those monsters in your past.”

I sighed and swallowed, forcing myself to go slower, to try to make him see sense. “I don’t know where your brothers and sisters are. You’ve been living alone for a while now. No one else is here but you.”

“You’rehere.” He bared his teeth. “You’re not telling the truth. I can see right through you. You’re here, and you’ve trapped me. You’re the same as them. You think you can control me, use me—”

“I’mnothinglike them.” I hugged myself against such a notion. It made my skin crawl with vile disgust. “We met when I entered your home unannounced. We, eh...we’re friends.”

“I don’thavefriends.” He twisted his hands, trying to get free. “You’re lying. This is some new game. I’m done, okay? I’m fuckingdone!” His twisting grew to yanking at the rope. He scrambled to his feet, only to be jerked down again from where I’d tied the leash to the couch leg.

His breathing accelerated, his stare drenching black. “Let me go. If what you say is true, let me the fuck go!”

I shoved upright and stepped back. Fear returned. If he got loose in this condition, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But if I left him tied up, if he didn’t snap out of this fantasy, what harm would it do to him long term?

“Let me go!” he roared.

“I’m sorry!” I wrung my hands. “I can’t untie you. Not yet.”

“Let. Me. Go.” He bit at the rope, looking unhinged and not entirelyhuman. “Do it!”

“It’s for your own protection. And mine.”

He chuckled under his breath. “Of course, it’s for yours. You know what you’re doing is wrong. You know I will do anything to protect my family. If that means being hurt by you or finding a way to end you, I’ll do it.”

“Kas...” I breathed his name, uttering it like it was magic to end this curse.

It didn’t end the curse, but it did do something.

It made him crumple to his knees again.

His fury extinguished. His fight erased. He bowed before me, shut down and submissive. “Christ, I’m sorry. I’ll behave. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—” He choked. “Just please, I don’t understand what you want from me. Tell me, and you’ll be pleased. I’ll be whatever you want. As long as you keep my family out of this.”

Oh, God.

I rubbed at my aching heart as I watched such a strong, scarred man come apart.

I fell in love in that heartbeat.

Not because of his damaged mind or his aggressive ability to make me come alive beneath him...I fell in love because of his selflessness.

It wasn’t a romantic form of love.

It wasn’t a platonic form of love.

It transcended all of that.

It was love that bloomed in my chest like it would for any creature willing to put themselves in the path of pain for the sake of others.

I fell in love with his sacrifice.

And I couldn’t be there anymore.