Fable of Happiness Book Two

by Pepper Winters

  I’d forbidden it.

  Once Storymaker was dead, and my family had packed their bags, I’d escorted them to the cave. I’d bound the hands of the chef and his scullery maid, trusting them to keep their mouths shut in the real world.

  I’d offered them two choices. Live or die. Forget what happened here—swallow their own pain, or tell people. One option meant they could go home; the other meant they’d have to stay with me.

  They’d been kind to us. They’d snuck us food when we’d been starved and gave us medicine when we’d been beaten. They weren’t like our master, and I had no desire to kill them.

  As we stood in the mouth of the cave, moonlight had cast all of us in silver.

  The energy between us was weird. Not quite celebratory, not quite afraid. Wariness that this was a trick was the main mood.

  The only things anyone had bothered packing were a spare set of clothes and some food for the journey. No one had bothered to take the Fable book we’d been given or any other mementos of this cesspit.

  Good fucking riddance.

  Despite the lack of luggage, no one noticed I hadn’t packed at all.

  They didn’t notice I hung back as we got closer to the cave.

  They turned in shock when I stopped on the outskirts of the stone cathedral, and whispered, “Goodbye.”

  The chef and his maid waited in the shadows while my family returned in a flock. A flock of kids who’d grown into adults, all scarred with the same troubles.

  “Kas?” Nyx touched my arm, her eyes wide. “Goodbye? What does that mean? You’re coming with us, right?”

  Wes leaned heavily on Jareth who had him propped up between him and Neo. Sweat ran down his face, fever and sickness evident in his stare. “Come on, man. Let’s go.” He shivered even in the hot evening. Whatever those bastards had done to his leg, he’d been poisoned from it. “You saved us, Kas. Don’t be a jackass now.”

  I half-smiled. “I’m never a jackass without reason.”

  “Exactly.” Wes winced, coughing in pain. “So enough dilly dally. Let’s go.”

  “I agree. Go.” I pointed into the black tomb of the cave. “Between all of you, you should remember the way.”

  “We can’t do this without you, Kas,” Sarez murmured, clinging to my hand. “We wouldn’t even be here without you. If you think we’re going to walk away—”

  “You’re not walking away. I’m coming after you.” I cupped her cheek, staring into her eyes before looking at everyone in turn. “I promise. I’ll find you.”

  “Just come with us now.” Quell sniffed, tears tracking molten silver in the moonlight. “We can’t say goodbye.”

  Wes swayed, his skin green and leg smelling rank. They couldn’t delay getting him help.

  They have to go. Now.

  This wouldn’t be easy. Christ, it would be the hardest thing I’d ever done. But I wouldn’t let them wait here while I did what had to be done. My job wasn’t over yet. I’d vowed to keep them safe, and they weren’t safe...not yet.

  “I’ll follow soon. I give you my word. I just need to clean up first.”

  “Clean up?! You’re going to bury those bastards?” Elise snarled. “No way. Let them rot.”

  “If anyone finds this place,” I said. “They’ll be a manhunt if they find a house of corpses.”

  “No one will find it.” She waved her arms. “That’s the point! No one ever found us.”

  “I’m sure Storymaker has an outside contact. He’ll have a contingency plan if anything should happen to him. Who else sends regular supplies and food? The network isn’t dealt with yet.”

  “I don’t care. He’s dead. You’re coming with us, Kas.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not, Elise. Not until it’s over.”

  “This is stupid.” Maliki snorted. “Who cares if Storymaker has friends. We’ll be gone. They won’t be able to touch us.”

  My temper flared, worry rippling down my spine. “Don’t you think he has our records, Mal? Our real names? Our homes and where he stole us from? They’ll come after us. They’ll go after someone new. Do you honestly want other kids going through what we did? Are you that selfish to turn your back on those that might replace you?”

  Everyone fell silent.

  My anger faded, but my worry only increased. “This isn’t over. The shit I’ve done...” I choked, shoving away the bitter memories—the countless “games,” the eternal pain and imprisonment.

  I’d survived by channeling my agony into something good. Into a shield to protect those I could.

  I’d almost finished that task, but if I didn’t stay and destroy any information that would lead others to us or kill anyone else associated with this disgusting, disgusting place, then I’d fail.

  I’d be turning my back on others who needed me, not caring when another guy like me was raped or another girl like Quell was forced onto her knees to blow a man three times her age.

  No way.

  Just...no.

  I can’t.

  “Leave.” I pointed into the darkness. “I’m not asking. Go.”

  “But—”

  “No buts.” I shook my head at Maliki. “Wes is dying. You need to leave. I’ll deal with the bodies, and then I’ll follow.”

  “But how will you know where to find us?”

  “I’ll manage.”

  “We’ll come back for you.” Zanik spoke up. “I’ll stay and help—”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Zan, you have to keep the others safe. You’re the second oldest. Get Wes to a hospital, protect our sisters. I’m fine. Truly. I need to know you’re all together.”

  “This is just stupid,” Neo snapped. “We go together, or we don’t go at all.”

  Wes had perfect timing as he suddenly groaned, vomited, then passed out.

  Jareth and Neo snatched him, preventing him from falling face-first into cave rock.

  I chose that moment to use the authority I’d gathered over the past few years. I hadn’t deliberately become the leader of our mismatched group, but I’d cultivated respect and done things to keep them safe that’d left scars upon scars inside me.

  I’d done that so one day I could do this.

  “If you love me, you’ll leave. Wes doesn’t have much time. Find somewhere safe, wait, and I’ll return to you, I promise.”

  Looking at each one a final time, I turned on my heel and ran.

  I sprinted back to Fables.

  I left them in an unwinnable situation.

  Wes was sick.

  I was not.

  They would do the right thing and leave.

  By the time I returned to the mansion, I couldn’t fucking stand up.

  It was empty.

  Silent.

  Too silent.

  My guts were a mess. My heart howled for their disappearance. My loneliness was a crushing, pulverizing madness.

  Things that were already fractured inside me splintered a little more.

  I could feel it happening.

  A fissure in my psyche. A crack in my memories.

  For three days, I swam in insurmountable pain.

  I channeled that pain into energy that enabled me to dig a mass grave on the boundary of the forest. I’d wanted it to be farther away from the house. I’d tossed around the idea of a mass cremation.

  Neither were viable for multiple reasons.

  Whenever my heart howled for my family, I’d grab a pair of decaying ankles and drag a Fable guest down the stairs, out of the house, through the gardens, and into the communal grave.

  By night, I didn’t sleep.

  Their ghosts haunted me until my throat choked with blood from my screams.

  By day, I existed in a repetitive cycle of dragging bodies, burying cadavers, and dealing with the stench of death in the noonday sun.

  And by the time Storymaker and his guests were jumbled together and covered in mountains of earth, I was close to death myself.

  My body was nearing critical, yet I couldn’t rest
. My mind was creeping closer to a complete shutdown, but I had too many things still to do.

  I had to burn Storymaker’s paperwork, but first I had to read them, hoping to find the homes of my family, so I could return them to their true loved ones.

  I had to undo all the evil he’d done, so I could somehow, someway, deserve my own salvation.

  Unfortunately, the longer I lived at Fables on my own, the more my thoughts twisted and churned. The evil in the house was repugnant, spread by blood, flies, and the unmistakable scent of rot.

  Fables had become a crypt.

  Because of me.

  I was a murderer.

  I had their blackened souls on my hands, and that blackness seeped inside me. Molecule by molecule, drop by drop, their filth spread from my fingers to my wrists and my wrists to my arms. Inching through my bloodstream, coating my lungs, my heart, my bones until it reached my mind.

  Until it slipped into my skull and claimed me.

  You’re as bad as them.

  You’re evil.

  Diseased.

  I tried to wash it away.

  I became obsessive.

  Days turned into weeks as I cleaned carpets and bleached bedding.

  I scrubbed so fucking hard, the blood I cleaned up was replaced with my own, proving that I was the same as them.

  I bled red. Same as them.

  I was tainted. Same as them.

  And when I looked in a mirror, all I saw was them.

  A man intent on hurting others.

  A man who had hurt others.

  So I smashed those mirrors for telling lies. I rained shards all over the floor for showing the truth.

  The truth that I was a man alone.

  Alone because he deserved to be alone.

  CHAPTER TEN

  HE STOOD BY THE window.

  His silhouette menacing and dangerous in the dark. Meager moonlight etched shadows with silver, revealing the rope that had been around his ankle now lay loose and abandoned on his carpet bed.

  I froze on the threshold. The plates I held trembled as fear skated down my back.

  He’s untied himself.

  Shit.

  That shouldn’t have happened unless he was awake long enough to work the rope.

  Which means...

  Either he’d remembered who he was, or he’d lost himself completely to his nightmares. Either way, I was probably in trouble.

  Looking over my shoulder, I debated backtracking to the kitchen. Of tiptoeing from the house and going for help now that he showed enough improvement to survive alone. But then I looked back at him. Truly looked, and my heart panged.

  His shoulders rolled in the shadows, hands balled at his sides. His broken arm still bandaged with the splint. His entire aura spoke of someone who’d woken in a world he didn’t understand. Who needed a guide or at the very least...a friend.

  But beneath that aura was another and another. Layers upon layers, twisting up a man who could snap at any moment.

  Make a decision, Gem.

  Leave or take a chance.

  Each one came with consequences.

  My idiotic heart couldn’t decide, but my feet chose for me. I backed up a step, taking the safe way, only to stiffen as he murmured, “I know you’re there.”

  I swallowed hard, trying to read his voice—to guess which Kas I would be dealing with tonight.

  Slowly, he turned from the window and faced me. His gaze pierced through the dark, trapping me in place. His stare still held power and chemistry, pebbling my nipples and increasing my heartbeat with equal parts connection and concern. “Don’t leave when you just got here.”

  “I, eh—I brought dinner.” I raised the plates higher, showing off the rapidly cooling eggplant. Nervousness made me chatty. “Are you hungry? I know I am. I cooked some veggies. I felt like something warm. That’s probably why the lights went out. I used the oven and—”

  “Don’t be nervous. You cooked for me. That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done.”

  I clamped my mouth closed, cursing myself for not leaving. This version of Kas already played with my mind. I liked this one. This one was genuine and watched me as if he’d been in love with me his entire life.

  “Come here.” He held out his unbroken arm. “I want to thank you.”

  I didn’t budge.

  Our eyes locked and a familiar tug of war began. Somehow, his body summoned mine, but as usual, my mind was stronger. I stayed where I was, clutching my plates like a double-handed sword.

  “Fine.” Biting his bottom lip, he swayed forward and crossed the room. “I’ll come to you.” His steps were laborious, aches and pains obvious from his tumble down the cliff. He moved as if he was ancient but also...youthful. Wary as well as welcoming. Jaded as well as eager.

  All instincts told me to back the hell away.

  To run.

  But I stood like a stupid statue as he bypassed his bed on the carpet, closed the distance between us, and took the two plates from my shaking hands. “Thank you.”

  His voice wasn’t one I’d heard before. Not the violent slice of the man who’d tried multiple times to strangle me. Not the heavy emptiness of a man begging for pain to prevent others from being touched. And not the beautiful timbre of an innocent asking me out on a date.

  This was more.

  Deeper, richer, sultry, and sweet.

  “You’ve always taken such good care of me,” he whispered as he placed the food on the side table, careful to protect the meal but also discarding it for the moment. “I wouldn’t have been able to survive here without you.”

  I sucked in a breath, my mind finally catching up to this new Kas.

  Regardless that I hadn’t met this version yet, he felt like someone I could relax with. He glowed with kindness, trust, and affection. He made my heart do stupid things.

  Stepping back toward me, he went to capture my hand with his. My body hummed for his touch, but instinct was still in control.

  I’d been strangled by him one too many times.

  I backed up.

  He flinched as if I’d taken a dagger to his soul. “I would never hurt you. Ever. I’d rather cut out my own heart.”

  I pressed my lips together, forcing myself not to speak. Not to deny that sentence. Not to risk him waking to a different personality or switching into a man I couldn’t defeat.

  “You’re scared,” he breathed. “I’m so sorry you’re scared.”

  I didn’t breathe or blink as he came even closer. His broken arm came up, along with his other, poised in place as if I was the damaged one—the one with triggers and torments.

  “I’ll always take care of you, Quell. Just like you take care of me.”

  I didn’t have a chance to deny I wasn’t one of his adopted siblings as his arms went around me. His chin went on top of my head, his body slipped flush with mine.

  And in that moment of connection, something happened.

  Something out of our control.

  It was like coming home.

  Returning to a place that I’d been searching for, time and time again, never to find. A familiar and unfamiliar acceptance, belonging, and indescribable peace.

  Peace?

  In his arms?

  You’ve gone mad.

  Two weeks in this valley and I was as messed up as him.

  “Christ, I’ve missed you.” His arms banded tighter, trying to meld our bodies into one. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  His hug tightened even more, aggressive with desperation to hold me. His body enveloped mine as if I’d always belonged to him.

  We fit together perfectly.

  I struggled to stay stiff in his embrace.

  I’d never had such a visceral reaction to a hug.

  A hug that started off soft and innocently platonic but quickly deepened into need.

  He trembled as he hugged me harder, burying his nose into my hair and heating my skin with his breath. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop them. I t
ried. I wish I could have borne it all for you. For all of you.”

  Tears came to my eyes.

  I wasn’t hurt that he thought I was someone else. I wasn’t jealous or envious of this girl called Quell. I was grateful. Wonderfully thankful that buried beneath all his trauma, there was still a good person inside him. A person who treated others with gentleness.

  Who cared.

  A few of his prior episodes, I’d gone along with his begs and threats, giving him the lines his mind needed to believe in a fantasy. But this time, I didn’t think I could pretend to be Quell.

  I couldn’t hug him as her. I might not be jealous of a girl he’d been tortured with, but I was tired and exhausted and every other word that described crippling weariness. I just wanted to eat, sleep, and figure out how to help both of us.

  And that doesn’t include falling in love with a fractured man.

  His arms loosened around me, pulling away so he could see my face.

  I winced as he looked at me. Fear creeping back that any moment the gentleness between us would evaporate.

  “Wait...” His dark eyes absorbed the night, becoming blacker and depthless. He did a double take, shaking his head as if the overlay of his dreams flickered, deleting Quell and delivering me.

  My palm itched to get my knife. To protect myself.

  But in a breath, his hands swooped to my cheeks, his thumbs grazing over my cheekbones as he stared harder into me. “You...”

  I shivered as his eyes devoured me. His hips pressed against mine, his body heat making my blood bubble and race.

  “You...” he breathed again. “I recognize you.”

  My entire body locked down. I prepared to fight for my life.

  Stupid, Gem. Stupid!

  Pulling back, I brought up my hands to latch around his wrists—one good, one broken—and gathered the courage to shove him away from me.

  Only...

  His nose brushed against mine as he leaned in and bowed over me. “You came back.” His mouth brushed mine, reverent and whisper-soft. “You didn’t forget me.”

  I shivered.

  Who did he think I was now?

  “Thank you,” he murmured against my lips. “Thank you so fucking much for making my wishes come true.”

  I froze as he kissed me.

  His lips crashed on mine, his hands slipping from my cheeks to my nape before cascading down my back to my hips. Pulling me into him, he gave me nowhere to run as his tongue parted my mouth and poured yet more tangled emotion down my throat.