Page 399 of Once Upon a Fable

Jareth nodded. “Whatever you say, brother dear.”

He vanished down the corridor without another word.

CHAPTER TEN

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I COUNTED FOUR TIMES where my concussion almost claimed me.

Four times while I was touching, kissing, and making love to Gem when I almost lost my grip on this reality and slipped into another. The whiteness lingered on my vision as I’d sunk inside her. The sickness had remained as I’d fought vertigo and a pounding headache as I’d clung to the woman I was in love with and orgasmed.

The sex between us had been different to anything I’d ever had.

It’d been fierce and intense but also languid and soft.

I felt both satisfied and complete instead of punished and empty.

Coming inside her had been the hardest part. The ricochet of pleasure had boomeranged back on me, making me blind. Images of my family came and went. Memories that no longer held me prisoner but chose that moment to show me just how different my life was now.

Just how lucky I was to have found happiness.

Fuck...in that rhythmic clenching of my release, I’d beenhappyfor the first time in my life. I’d been blissful. I’d become addicted to it in a single second, fumbling to hold onto Gem as my ears rang, my head throbbed, and my body threatened to shut down like before.

But Gem’s sharp inhale, the tang of her fear as she waited for me to drop unconscious on top of her—possibly to wake up with no memory of this incredible milestone we’d shared—kept me awake.

I used everything I had.

I denied my headache.

I refused the nightmares.

And I stayed.

I...stayed.

Glancing down, I ran my fingers over my naked midriff. My fingers danced over silver scars and age-smoothed wounds, so fucking grateful that Jareth had found the key to Parable. Finally, it was off. Finally, Gemma was free, and...I’m free.

Truly free this time.

Free in my mind as well as my body.

Gemma interrupted my epiphanies as she tossed off the blankets and climbed out of bed. The flash of her naked skin, rosy nipples, and stunningly crafted body made me hard all over again.

“You’re so beautiful,” I whispered, dropping my hands to the blankets in my lap. My fingers itched to touch her and myself. Christ, I couldn’t describe how it’d felt touching myself. Skin to skin. Bringing pleasure instead of horror.

I’d tried to make myself come while looking down at her. I’d had full intentions of giving her a release, then granting her a pearl necklace, but the longer I kept stroking, the more I’d struggled to ignore the howls, screeches, and commands inside my head.

I’d gone as far as I could.

I still had a long way to go.

But tonight had been...good.

Gemma had been safe, I’d been happy, and Jareth...well, he’d been the reason I’d had the balls to do any of it.

Having him in the house allowed me to push the boundaries I’d put inside my head. I trusted him to keep me in line if I passed out and didn’t remember. I knew he’d protect Gem from me because he knew how much she meant to me.

Gem cleared her throat, her eyes drinking in my nakedness as I pushed away the blanket and stood, joining her on the other side of the bed. I glanced back at the same mattress where my blood had been smeared and my screams had been enjoyed, shuddering as ghosts came and went.