Page 417 of Once Upon a Fable

I tensed. “Go home?” I laughed sarcastically. “First, I don’t have a fucking clue how to go home and second, it’s gone. Who knows what’s left standing after Jareth’s party with alcohol and flames.”

She nodded. “I know.” She kept my stare, worry flaring over her face before she said quietly, “When I said home...I meantmyhome.”

“Oh.” My muscles locked beneath her weight. “Yeah, of course. I knew that...” I cleared my throat. “And, eh...where is that exactly?”

“A few hours’ drive from here.” She straightened in my arms but didn’t try to leave, which I appreciated. “I’ll hire a car. You can stay with me. My place is private, even if it is in suburbia. I have a garden at the back and neighbors that stick to themselves. It’ll just be me and you, just like in the valley. You don’t have to worry about a thing, okay?”

I shivered. “Worry about what?”

Shadows filled her eyes. “I don’t know. Whatever worries normally fill your head.”

“Worries like food gathering and wood collection? How to weatherproof a mansion in time for blizzards?”

She laughed under her breath. “Nothing quite that dramatic. We have supermarkets with unlimited food. My house is kept warm by central air. The only thing you need to worry about is staying calm enough that youdon’t pass out and hurt anyone.”

I opened my mouth to admit that I wasn’t so sure that was possible, but she added, “When the doctor comes, you need to tell them about your concussion too.”

“What?” My eyes flared. “No way. They’ll keep me here. They’ll—”

“They’ll what?” A male voice ripped my attention to the doorway. A young man stood in a white overcoat, a screen in his hands with a black pen hovering over it. Nodding at Gem, he stepped into the room. “Hello, you two. I hear you’ve had quite an adventure.”

My urge to protect Gem rose again, fighting against the desire to hit this man before he could grant pain. Gem patted my arm, keeping me inline before answering for both of us. “It’s definitely been a night we won’t forget.”

The man laughed, his blue eyes switching from me to Gemma, his stare calculating and shrewd.

I didn’t like him.

I wanted to strike him.

I wanted to ensure he was more afraid of me than I was of him. To let him know that I might’ve once been a toy for men to use but not anymore. I wouldn’t let anyone fuck me that way again.

My breathing sped up.

Gemma wedged her ass harder on my thigh, bringing me back to her.

I inhaled, doing my best to stay calm as the doctor grabbed a spare chair from the corner of the room, brought it closer to us, and sat down. Resting the screen-notepad thing on his lap, he crossed his legs. “Okay, start from the beginning. How are you feeling?”

Gemma fidgeted on my lap, but she still didn’t try to move.

I was grateful for that.

Having her weight on me kept me conscious and present. It made me stay with her instead of spiraling into the mess of memories, worries, and violence inside me.

My nostrils flared as Gemma said, “The beginning isn’t really important. What is important is we were in a house fire. We tried to put it out but were unsuccessful.” Her tone turned sophisticated and informative, capable and strong.

I fell a little more in love with her.

“We both might have smoke inhalation, and I have a few bruises from my career as a professional climber.” The ease in which she explained all the injuries I’d given her—willingly and unwillingly—blew my mind.

It made me doubt, just for a second, that she wasn’t still playing a game to win my heart. She seemed a proficient liar. But then her hand reached for mine and her eyes trapped me, and my heart finally took a deep breath.

She was with me.

She wasmine.

It didn’t matter that all of this was shit-fucking scary. I’d once been ripped from this world and placed in a forest, and now I’d been draggedback just as brutally.

I belonged here, not in the wilderness.