Page 46 of Once Upon a Fable

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I ALMOST CHOKED.

I have something else to offer.

Six simple words yet the worst sentence of my life.

My captor stiffened before me. Ever so slowly, he pushed away the remnants of his strange breakfast.

I’d never been a stickler for meal plans and rarely stuck to menu suggestions, but his odd combination of celery, peas, and strawberries made me wonder if he truly was uneducated, or at the very least, uncaring about routines and practices.

Cocking his head, he eyed me in his severe, strict way. “Go on...” He waved a hand. “What could you possibly have to offer me?”

I licked my lips as a wash of shivers darted down my back.

If I did this, I already knew I’d lose parts of myself I’d never really known. If I offered up my body in a trade to keep my soul, I could quite possibly end up losing both.

He could fuck me and kill me anyway.

He could keep me alive and never return my freedom.

What was worse?

Certain death or unknown sexual servitude?

Inhaling hard, I rubbed at my chest where my heart hurled itself against my ribs. The palpitations were full of fear, adrenaline, and a fair amount of shock.

Alone in the dark, I’d tossed and turned all night.

I’d asked myself how far I would go to stay alive. What would I do at his bequest if he agreed to let me go?

My answers had varied.

They’d switched from stark, rage-filled refusal to stupidly giving him anything: accepting death and dying innocent and soon, or crawling on my knees in enslavement and doing whatever he asked in order to survive.

By the time the sun had risen, I’d been no wiser on what my choice would be.

Turned out, I’d just made it.

Survival instinct was too strong to ignore and everything else paled compared to death. I wanted tolive. I’d barely begun. I would make any trade that would ensure I saw another day.

That includes letting a bastard like him touch me.

I looked at him.

I drank in the long shaggy hair, the silvery scars, the angry burning eyes. I studied the man who would most likely possess me in ways no other man had done before. He would know me better than any other.

And he would do it without my consent.

Sure, I was about to give him the right to touch meifhe refrained from killing me. But it didn’t mean I would be a willing participant. I would lock away my mind and fortify my heart. I would give him the shell of who I was to retain the most important part of me.

Sex.

Would this make me a whore? Bartering my body for my life? Would I feel shame as he took me or vindication that I was brave enough to endure whatever it took to live?

My eyes skittered over to the PLB and its saluting antenna. It’d been hours since I’d activated it. If help truly was on the way, didn’t I owe it to them and myself to extend my lifespan? To give them a chance at finding me alive instead of some corpse hidden in this secret valley?

You can do this.