Page 531 of Once Upon a Fable

I just hadn’t understood how much until I could stand here, staring at my lost sister, and not drown beneath absolute bloodlust. Not to go running off with the need to slaughter every man who’d touched her, every woman who’d used her, and do my best to be that hero she’d carved into her arm.

“Kas...” Quell—Isabella, you idiot—murmured.

My attention snapped to her. “Yeah?”

She shifted on the spot, glancing at Gem and then her dad. “I, eh...I came today because I didn’t want to miss you anymore. I want...I want to be close again. I’mreadyto be close again. I know it will be hard...for both of us. But I think I’m healed enough that our relationship can be a good thing instead of bad. I...I’ve missed you, Kas. Every day. I’ve missed my big brother—”

I snatched her into my arms, noticing the slimness of her compared to the power and strength of Gem. My arms lashed out again, grabbing my wife, pulling her into the hug too.

Common sense told me I shouldn’t grab Quell as fast as I did. I shouldn’t force her to be so close to Gem after everything she’d endured.

I did to her what Tony had done to me at the gala.

But I couldn’t help myself.

I was fucking overwhelmed.

Drowning on emotion and gratefulness.

Fang barked and danced around our legs, his body heat pressing close.

“It’s okay, boy.” And I meant it. I actually fucking meant it and that allowed me to breathe heavily and accept everything. To accept what happened to Quell when I wasn’t there to save her. To accept that our lives had forked but had finally reunited.

We were both standing. Both surviving. We were the winners, not them.

Finally, I let the two women go and inhaled hard. “I’d like to be close again, too.” I smiled at Tony, then at Quell. “I’ll do whatever you need to help you find happiness like I have.” I caught Gem’s stare, tripping into even deeper love with her. “You’ve already unofficially met my wife, but let me make the proper introduction.”

My breath caught at the way Gem watched me with an unconditional, everlasting love. She made me burn from the inside out. For all thethings that’d been done to me and Quell, I’d done bad things to Gem too. I’d trapped her, used her, made her fear and cry.

Yet she’d forgiven me.

She’d fallen in love with me.

She was my savior...in every sense of the word.

Never taking my eyes off her, I murmured, “This is the woman who saved my life. Gemma Sands.”

Quell—Goddammit Isabella—nodded at my wife. “I’ve been watching your videos online.” She smiled shyly at us both. “I’ve watched both channels actually. Climbing and survival techniques and, of course...your Survivors of Monsters.” She wrung her fingers together before stopping herself and bracing her shoulders. “Your videos helped me, Kas. You helped...just by sharing your story. I never knew how bad it was for you. You never let us see how much pain you were in.” She flinched. “Your nightmares told us that you weren’t coping, but when you were awake, you never once complained. You always took our place, even when you could barely stand.”

I shrugged, the back of my neck prickling with her misplaced praise. “I did what I could.”

“And not a day went by that we weren’t grateful.”

“And me,” Tony murmured. “I still can’t be near you without fighting the urge to hug you in thanks.”

I cracked a smile. “I’d say it was my pleasure, but that would be lying. But I would do it all over again for those I love.” I looked at Gem and took her hand, then glanced at Quell. “And I love you. Both of you. I love you, Gemma, for bringing me back to life and agreeing to spend the rest of your days with me. And I love you,Isabella, for giving me a reason to keep living...so I could one day know that life isn’t all darkness and pain. You gave me purpose. All of you. And it’s time that we find the rest of our family, so they can learn that too.”

Quell flinched and reached into the pocket of her baggy dress. The light blue material suited her complexion, but the size completely swamped her. I didn’t need her to tell me that she’d worn an oversize dress deliberately to hide her figure, still not comfortable with strangers’ eyes on a body that’d once belonged to so many.

“Here.” She passed me an envelope. “It appeared in our letterbox a few days ago. It was one of the reasons I agreed to come today.” She smiled at Gem. “First, to offer my congratulations to you both and secondly...on behalf of him.”

“Him?” I studied the heavy scrawl on the envelope, my heart instantly pounding.

Jareth.

His scribble was recognizable from all the graffiti he’d done on the dormitory walls. The lines of profanity he’d write describing Storymaker and the guests before scratching them out before he could be caught.

Gem touched my arm as Fang leaped up and sniffed the envelope with a soft growl. “Go into the house. Read it. Then come back to us.”