Page 404 of Once Upon a Fable

He fell in love as she snuggled into his side, protected from the twilight breeze by his wing, watching the sunset together.

But he couldn’t keep her.

And when she left, his heart broke in two, believing he’d never see her again.

But the next day, she returned.

And for two years, she visited every afternoon.

She became his everything.

The dragon slowly began to believe. He willingly and wholeheartedly did something only fated mates were permitted to do. He gave her his heart and sealed the bargain that would forever link her life to his by making her drink a thimble of his blood that he disguised as blackberry juice from a nearby bush.

The moment she drank, his life was hers, and hers was his.

It was meant to be the perfect beginning. She would be as immortal as he because she now shared the heart of a monster.

But she lied to him.

She wasn’t his to claim.

She was married to another, bound by vows, and taken in body and soul.

Jareth had committed an unforgivable act. One that demanded payment in the cruelest of ways. He’d taken her from another man. He’d bound her to him when she wasn’t free to be bound.

Therefore, the blood bond between monster and maiden took away what he coveted.

Her heart stopped.

She dropped dead at his feet.

And her bones adorned his lonely cave ever after.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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I WAITED BEHIND KAS, afraid to step into the dorm.

Something wasn’t right.

The aura in the room was tight and tingling with rage.

Jareth growled under his breath as he slammed the book he was reading closed. His shoulders shuddered and the glint of the bourbon bottle, that he’d encouraged us all to drink in the games room, dangled from his fingers.

“I thought you said you were hungry,” Kas muttered, reaching to pat Jareth on the back. But his hand never connected.

In a lightning-fast move, Jareth shot toward one of the sad, single beds and threw the book down. It flopped open, its pages wide and taunting. His arm came up, his hand tipped over, and he poured a waterfall of alcohol all over it.

“Wait. What the fuck are you—?” Kas leaped forward just as Jareth pulled his lighter from his pocket. He punched the book with the flame dancing in his fingers, instantly igniting the pages with a whoosh of blue, bourbon fire.

“Holy shit.” I backed up, my mouth falling wide as fire billowed and roared.

Kas dashed to a bed next to the one currently smoking and curling with angry, desperate flames. Snatching the blankets off, he attacked the flame-chewed book, hitting it over and over again with the covers.

But it wasn’t any use.

The fire leaped from the book to the puddle of booze soaking into themattress. It ate up every inch of fuel, switching from a book fire to a bed bonfire.