Page 306 of Once Upon a Fable

He’d chained me because he needed something to bind me to him that wasn’t love.

He’d hurt me because any sign of affection reminded him of the family he couldn’t protect.

He’d wiped his memory clean of something that had the power to free both of us because it was the scariest thing of all.

Love.

An everlasting connection that would have made him become myeverythingand me to become his...sole responsibility to keep safe from unknown monsters, to protect me from himself, to sacrifice his pain over and over again. Forever the martyr. Always the abused. All because his heart commanded he shelter and guard those he cared for with every breath he had.

Wecould’ve become everything.

This could’ve becomeeverything.

But in reality, nothing was further from the truth.

Love for Kas was just another prison he couldn’t survive.

I backed away, slapping a hand over my mouth as a sob crawled up my chest.

It wasn’t just his broken mind I had to repair.

It was the fact that even in this hellish place with rapists and abusers, he’d learned the cost of love. Yet he’d only felt the weight of obligation instead of the freedom of being loved in return.

I would always be a threat to him. Never a cure.

I would always tempt him and remind him of what falling in love demanded.

Pain.

Unsurmountable pain that no one should ever have to endure.

Tears tracked down my cheeks as I choked on the overwhelming pressure inside me. I was bruised with it, trembling and shaking, hurting right to my bones.

I didn’t know what to do anymore.

I wanted to tell him I loved him even though he could never love me in return.

I loved him despite the hurt that would come from it.

I loved him regardless of the hurt I felt right now, the pain that crushed me into dust and scattered me in every corner of this godforsaken valley.

Ilovedhim.

But I didn’t think it would give him peace of mind to know that.

Not now.

Especiallynot now.

“Kas, I—” I swiped at my tears, doing my best to stop my agony. But it wasn’t just my agony that bled me dry. It was also his. God, I felt for him. I cried for him. Iachedfor him. I wanted to pull him close and tell him I would never hurt him like those monsters had. That he could fallfor me and not be afraid that he’d have to die in order to protect me.

Loving me would be gift enough.

Caring for me and finding happiness in my arms would’ve given my entire life purpose. It would’ve fulfilled my destiny. Completed fate and all the other star-crossed prophecies that’d led me to trespass in his valley.

I’d hoped we’d turned a corner last night.

But we hadn’t.