Текст книги "Fable of Happiness book three"

Автор книги: Pepper winters

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EPILOGUE TWO

PLEASURE BOLTED DOWN MY legs.

My hand pumped my cock, claiming myself all over again, keeping the whispers at bay as I let go to fantasies of Gem naked in our bed. Her legs spread, her body beckoning, love glowing in her eyes.

God, yes.

Hot water rained over me as I came, the shower washing away my cum as quickly as it spurted from my body.

White spots appeared in my vision, similar to the whiteouts I’d had as my concussion had slowly healed. However, unlike those moments where I had to fight to stay awake and not forget, my mind was now firmly in the present.

The white spots faded as I inhaled and straightened from where I’d curled around my cock. Tipping my head back, I sighed heavily, letting the warm water wash away all the small pieces of me that still struggled with life, granting me a fresh start so I could be the very best for Gemma.

Today would be hard, but it would also be the happiest day of my life.

A rush of anxiety filled me, followed by joy.

Fang barked as I turned off the shower and stepped into the newly renovated bathroom in our groundkeeper’s cottage. It’d been eight months since we’d moved into this new place. Eight months since we’d claimed a spot of paradise for ourselves, far enough away from the city to keep my inherent distrust of large crowds at bay but close enough to still have the conveniences of everyday living.

The tradesmen had tackled our home first, extending the living areas so we had a sweeping conservatory that brought the forest inside, a galley kitchen full of spices and ingredients for me to cook extravagant meals, and a high-yielding veggie garden that produced all year round.

Our bedroom had also been extended—the ceilings vaulted with a massive openable skylight above the bed so we could sleep beneath the stars without having to be outside.

I knew Gem had designed this place with all my comfort in mind. She ensured she brought the outside in, knowing that the wilderness and nature calmed me if humanity pushed me too close to my limits.

It’d become my most favorite place in the world.

Our home.

Our sanctuary where nothing but good times could find us.

“Get out of the way,” I laughed as Fang licked the droplets off my legs while I rubbed a towel over my hair. Catching a look at myself in the mirror, I froze.

The guy staring back was once again unfamiliar.

The glint in his eye was calmer, wiser. The long hair that almost touched my shoulders was a throwback to my days of refusing to groom myself, and the silver scars would always remind me of what I’d endured.

But...that was where the bad parts of me ended.

My mouth no longer turned downward with suspicion and anger.

My skin was no longer tight on cheekbones from lack of food in those colder months.

I’d put on weight. I’d healed.

The proof of that reflected in the mirror.

I smiled, watching how it came naturally to me now. It wasn’t forced. It wasn’t fake.

Smiling was one thing I’d become a master at because living with Gem made me so goddamn happy.

I can’t wait to tell her that I came.

An odd thing to confess that I’d jerked off in the shower. And I’d done it without too many heart palpitations, supervised closely by a dog who barked whenever I tripped into the past. But I wanted to share every detail with the woman who I adored—the woman who was about to become mine in every way.

Holy Christ, I’m getting married today.

I couldn’t breathe at the rightness of it.

At the joy of experiencing something I’d only read in books back at Fables.

I was about to become a husband.

Gem was about to become my wife.

Could life be any more perfect?

Fang trotted into our bedroom while I wrapped the towel around my waist and followed him. My suit was already laid out on the bed. Gem had gone to the main house to get ready, saying it was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.

She’d only been gone an hour, but I missed her.

I’d missed her enough to come to thoughts of her.

Then again, I’d jerked off, partly because I wanted to prove to myself that I could achieve an orgasm without her holding my hand, but I’d also obeyed her whispered command as she’d kissed me goodbye. She wasn’t lying that it turned her on to think of me touching myself.

It wasn’t a regular occurrence yet. I still suffered too many memories to willingly do it often, but today had been another cleansing, washing away yet another piece of darkness so I was ready to claim my wife.

Fang licked his paws as if he was getting ready for the ceremony too, watching me carefully while I slipped into ironed pants, shrugged into a new white shirt, and finished it off with a dark gray blazer.

We weren’t doing overly formal, but we weren’t doing wild valley heathen either.

After all, this wasn’t a small affair.

Not only was I getting married but I also accounted for half of the fifty guests who would witness our vows. People I’d met through shared tragedy, online commenters who’d turned into friends from my SOM channel, and strays of the world who believed they had no one, only to realize they had each other.

Our house was open to anyone who needed to stay. Be it for a night, a week, or a month. We didn’t turn anyone away. Welcoming domestic abuse cases, foster kids who never found safe housing, and men and women like me who’d been bought and sold at the whims of bastards.

Running my hands through my hair, I looked at the dog who’d helped put me back together again and sighed. “Ready?”

Fang barked and headed for the door.

I followed him.

* * * * *

“Didn’t fancy having a haircut for your own wedding, huh?” Joshua elbowed me as we stood at the top of the aisle. Our friends had already arrived, taking their seats, their voices hushed and waiting.

We’d chosen to do this in our garden, right outside the main house.

When we’d first bought this place—my popularity online with an outdoor survival channel ensuring I could match Gem’s down payment and pay back all my debts to her—the size and build reminded me of Fables. Now though, it looked nothing like it. The bricks had been whitewashed. The dead ivy had been ripped away. And the windows were open to fresh air and warm sunshine.

A priest stood to the side of Josh and me, his eyes kind and wise, even if his body did remind me a little of Storymaker. A flash of awareness shot through me, Fang nuzzled my hand, and I settled back into the present.

Any second now, Gem would appear.

I had no intention of missing a moment.

I looked at my almost brother-in-law. Over the past year, we’d grown close. I’d gotten used to his sense of humor, and he’d been fundamental in teaching me how to let down my guard around men.

We’d gone out for meals together; we’d drunk and watched TV together. It helped that he looked like Gem, so my mind stayed fairly calm, but I wouldn’t lie and say he hadn’t been a huge help in reclaiming my life.

And I liked having a friend.

Someone I hadn’t had to hold in the dark, wipe away their tears, and commit murder to keep them safe.

“Your sister likes my long hair.” I smirked. “It gives her something to hold on to when I—”

“Ah gross, man.” Josh gagged. “As far as I’m concerned, you guys just hold hands.”

I caught sight of Katie in the front row. Gem had forgone bridesmaids, but she still wore a cute pink dress, her hair up and attention locked firmly on Josh. “Just like you and Katie only hold hands?” I laughed under my breath. “I saw you guys on our last double date. You totally forgot you were still in the parking lot and not in your bedroom.”

“Yeah, well.” Josh sighed, his jokey exterior faltering as he looked at Gem’s manic best friend, who I had no doubt would become the sister that she’d hinted at back at the gala last year. “What can I say? She’s strong. Her grip from climbing is...” He shrugged. “Let’s just say it feels better than mine.”

“Say no more. I know all about that climber’s strength.”

We shared a look then froze as everyone stood and looked behind them.

Gem appeared.

Fang immediately took off, running down the grassy aisle, straight to her side. Her mother, Maggie, looped her arm around Gem’s, walking beside her in place of the father she’d lost so many years ago.

My heartbeat exploded.

Fuck, she was stunning in an off-white dress with silver lace over her shoulders and chest, fanning out into a heavy gown that kissed the ground as she walked toward me.

Fang moved with them, his gray and white fur matching Gem perfectly.

I swayed on the spot as the lingering effects of my concussion made my head pound. Blood rushed through my body, not knowing if it wanted to go to my heart or between my legs. I groaned beneath my breath as love poured through me.

Love and gratefulness.

Happiness and connection.

I wanted to run up the aisle and grab her. I never wanted to let her go.

“Ah, you’re so screwed.” Josh snickered as Gem slowed, kissing her mom on her cheek before walking the final distance to me. “You are the epitome of whipped, my friend.”

I elbowed him back as Gem came to stand before me. “Happily whipped, brother.” I grinned. “Totally, eternally whipped.”

Gem scowled at both of us, her eyes shadowed with makeup, her hair loose and long down her back. “What are you two muttering about?”

“Just how much I love you,” I murmured.

“Just how much you’re going to walk all over him,” Josh whispered. “Poor guy is going to wake up in ten years and realize he traded one slavery for another.”

Gem swatted him with her bouquet of daisies. “Marriage is not slavery, Joshua. Good God, you have no filter.”

The priest sniffed, his eyes widening at our inappropriate talk.

I took her hand. “I don’t care what it is. I just know that I’m yours, and we better get these vows over with so we can consummate.”

The priest cleared his throat with disapproval, but humor danced in his old eyes. “In that case, let’s carry on, shall we?”

Gem giggled—a wonderful sound that, until I’d learned how to live again, I’d never been privileged to hear. Now, she giggled often. At me. At Fang. At our wonderful life.

I focused on the priest as he welcomed our friends, gave us pledges to repeat, and oversaw the ceremony of vowing our lives to one another.

Gem slipped a gold band onto my finger, and it unlocked the final pieces of my heart.

I slipped a diamond onto her finger and wanted to bow at her feet for choosing me.

And when we kissed, I no longer begrudged what’d happened to me.

I no longer cursed fate for forsaking me.

I thanked it.

I thanked it for giving me hardship.

Because without it, I would never know the value of pure happiness.

* * * * *

“So...you’re a Sands now.” Josh clinked his champagne glass with Gem’s who stood next to me, my arm possessively around her waist. “Random last name. I like Ashford better.”

“Me too,” Katie piped up, her eyes once again full of hearts and rainbows wherever she looked at Josh. “I’d be a happy Ashford.”

I snickered at her less than subtle hint.

They’d been together for seven months now, and he still hadn’t asked her to marry him—even though it was obvious to everyone that he was a goner. Unlike me, when I’d proposed to Gem when we’d first returned to society, he was afraid. Afraid of commitment. Of putting himself out there in case it delivered pain.

I pitied him really.

He didn’t know the meaning of pain. If he did, he’d understand that he was causing himself more by denying the depth of his feelings for Katie and should just man up and claim her already.

Gem sipped her champagne, her gaze trailing over the happy crowd of friends and family as people mingled on our back lawn. We didn’t have a dance floor or DJ. Food had been placed on tables in the shade for grazing all day long. Picnic blankets dotted the grass, and a few lawn games had been set up for when alcohol lowered people’s self-consciousness, and they were ready to have some silly fun.

“I dunno. I rather like it.” Gem wrinkled her nose dramatically before giving me a dreamy look. “Sands reminds me of a destitute prince who gave away so much of himself only to be granted his one true wish.” Her eyes caught mine, making my heart pound.

Josh scowled. “That’s way too soppy for me this early in the afternoon.”

Gem laughed. “Well, you know as well as I do that the police haven’t had any new leads on Kas’s biological or adoptive parents. There’s no mention of him going missing, and no one came forward.”

Josh narrowed his eyes at me. “And you’re really okay keeping the same name that that bastard gave you from a book?”

I nodded, drinking my own champagne, eyeing up the simple wedding cake with vanilla sponge and strawberry frosting. I had visions of smearing that sugar all over Gem’s perfect body and consummating our marriage in as many sticky, delicious ways as possible.

Pushing thoughts of ravaging my new wife aside, I answered my brother-in-law. “Gem and I did toss out a few names when I needed to register for social security and taxes, but...” I shrugged. “As much as I have a complicated relationship with the one I have, I want to keep it. It’s no longer a name they gave me. It’s a name I fought to free.” I grinned coldly. “It’s also a daily reminder that I’m alive and they’re not.”

“You can still be scary, you know that?” Josh shuddered, but his eyes crinkled with mirth. “Just because I let you marry my sister doesn’t mean I approve of you yet.”

“Oh please, you practically booked in the date.” Gem giggled. “You guys hang out more than I hang out with you, Joshy-kins.”

Josh pulled her blond hair. “Hush up, Gemstone. Just because you’re a married woman now doesn’t mean I can’t still chase you around the garden and throw you over my shoulder.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.” He crouched. “Go on...call me that again.”

Gem scurried behind me. “Kas, you have my permission to punch my annoying brother.”

“Don’t put me in the middle of this.” I laughed, freezing as I fully took in this simple moment. I’d wanted this for so fucking long. I’d wanted banter. I’d wanted family. I’d wanted to have the safety and peace of mind to play with those I loved.

My heart panged thinking about my other family. Jareth had vanished ever since Tony told us that Quell was his daughter. I’d stayed in touch with the cops who’d been assigned to my case, requesting them to let me know if any other Fable survivors appeared across their desks, but so far...nothing.

Guilt was still a permanent piece of my heart, even if I did give back to others who might not have endured our particular brand of horror but had endured their own personal hell. I was helping as many survivors as I could, but I still had a broken piece inside me, knowing I’d failed those I’d pledged to save over twelve years ago.

Gem, Josh, and Katie kept volleying loving insults at each other, and my mind wandered, drinking in the wonder of today, running my thumb over the ring on my finger. I belonged to Gem completely now. In the eyes of the law and my heart.

The fulfillment that gave me was incomparable.

My gaze caught on Maggie, my new mother-in-law, as she waved at me from the food tables, a dainty plate filled with grapes and tiny pastries in her hands. She blew me a kiss, once again welcoming me into her family.

I waved back, noticing the sadness in her eyes from losing her husband was still there, but some of her grief had faded since I’d first met her.

She and Gem were closer now.

We often had dinners together and even had a spare room in the main house purely for her whenever she wanted to stay.

As glad I was that she was happier now, I doubted her loss would ever fully go away—just like mine wouldn’t. Loss wasn’t just gnawing emptiness; it could morph into a dull throb thanks to time. It would be easy to push that throb away eventually, but I didn’t want to. I wouldn’t...not until I knew every one of my siblings was safe.

The cops had officially closed the investigation on Fables a few months ago. Their combing of the valley had turned up no other facts in order to prosecute Storymaker and the other faceless men who’d stolen so many children. I’d been torn getting that news. I was glad that they’d stopped digging before they’d found the graves, but I was also sad that they hadn’t delivered justice to those who deserved it.

My hand curled tight around my champagne glass.

It’s not over.

Justice would come to those bastards.

I’ll make sure of it.

I had resources now. I had a name for myself online. I had money. I had power. Every day that my concussion healed and my sanity was stronger and not as easily triggered, I was one step closer to joining the fight that Jareth was currently enduring.

Gem suddenly froze next to me, her hand landing on my arm, her new diamond ring sending sparkles into my eyes. I squinted and shook my head, fear filling me at her reaction. “Gem...everything okay?”

Fang immediately appeared by my side as my anxiety spiked. My instincts fanned out, glancing at happy partiers, searching for unwanted evil in our midst. Fang let out a growl, feeding off me as I looked faster, filling with worry.

“Oh, my God,” Gem breathed, her fingers digging into my arm. “Tony’s here.”

I scowled. “Of course, he’s here. I saw him during the ceremony. A few rows from the front.”

“I know, but...he left early. And now, he’s back.... He’s back with...” Her hazel eyes met mine. “With a young woman. A young woman who looks like him.”

The world slammed to stop.

Fang nudged my hand as my eyes went tunnel vision, locking onto Tony as he stepped from the main house, his arm linked with a girl.

A girl I hadn’t seen in twelve fucking years.

“Fuck.” I stumbled, dropping my champagne.

Josh and Katie backed away as Gem covered her mouth, and tears shone in her stare. “Oh, my God. It’s her. It’s his daughter.”

Sickness washed through me.

Memories and mayhem.

I wanted to run.

Toward her.

Away from her.

As far as I fucking could.

Every part of me wanted to stay with my wife. To not approach a Fable sister with so many emotions suddenly raging inside me. I wasn’t safe. I couldn’t be trusted.

Fang knew that.

He glued himself to me, his body shaking to match mine.

I backed away.

But Gem grabbed my hand, dragging me forward, fearlessly, wordlessly. She dragged me all while I drowned inside, straight to a girl who looked like her.

Blond hair the same shade, hazel eyes that blended green and gold. However, that was where the similarities ended. Gem’s hair was long and lustrous. Quell’s was still dull and short from a lifetime of malnutrition. Gem’s eyes twinkled with pleasure. Quell’s were permanently blackened with the same fucking horrors I’d endured.

I couldn’t breathe as I closed the distance.

Tony stopped as he saw us stepping from the wedding crowd.

And then...Quell saw us.

Her eyes locked with mine.

Her knees gave out.

She collapsed onto the grass beside her father as tears spilled down her cheeks.

And then, I was running.

Gemma let me go, freeing me to fly to my sister. The family I’d loved and lost, the one I still suffered so much fucking guilt over.

Skidding to a stop, I dropped to my knees before her.

Nothing else existed.

Not the crowd.

Not the sudden silence.

Not even Gem as she went to stand next to Tony, their eyes trained on us on the grass.

Only Quell.

Isabella.

We stared at each other for an eternity.

Whispers crawled through my head. Images of her bloody and crying. Memories of us curled up in the corner. Recollections of me sneaking her food when she’d been punished.

I’d done my best to protect her, but it hadn’t been enough.

I’d used my body as her shield, yet her own still bore scars that I hadn’t been able to stop.

My eyes dropped from hers to her bare forearms and the silvery lead tattoos that matched the fine lines on my own arm. Unlike mine, she had a word. A three-letter talisman that I’d done my best to live up to and failed.

My name had been with her the entire time she’d been missing from me. It’d been on her skin every rape she’d endured when I wasn’t there. Every night she’d been hungry. Every day she’d curled up in a corner on her own.

Fuck.

My heart cracked.

Fang howled beside me.

And tears flowed hotly down my cheeks.

She reached for me.

Our arms flew around each other, and we did what we’d done as kids. We curled into each other, finding sanctuary in one another. We blocked out the outside world, returning to the only safety we had. The short-lived, fragile protection we found in each other’s arms.

All our coping mechanisms. All our distrust and terror wrapped us up, and we rocked together.

We hugged so damn hard.

Tears mingling.

Pasts blending.

A reunion I didn’t think we’d ever have.

She sobbed in my arms.

“Make it stop, Kas. Don’t let them touch me anymore.”

“I’m trying, Quell. I’ll do better next time.”

“I’m sorry you have to hurt for us.”

“Don’t be. I’ll gladly be hurt if it saves you.”

A panic attack unfurled in my chest, making it hard to breathe as darkness descended and I fell back, back—

Fang licked my face, his whine bleeding through the crashing memories inside me. He howled again as my mind struggled in darker places, returning to Fables, slipping back into the dorm, remembering things I’d worked through, let go of, and willingly put to rest.

“I want them to die. All of them.”

“They will,” I vowed. “I’ll do it myself. You’ll see.”

“And then we’ll be free?”

“Free as the birds, little Quell. We’ll grow wings and fly away from here.”

Quell buried herself into my arms, aging me, cursing me.

We were just two kids, hiding in terror.

“Silly, Kas, always trying to volunteer,” Storymaker hissed. “The day is coming when you’ll no longer be here to put up your hand, and then...all your little siblings will know exactly what they’ve been missing.”

Rage crashed through me.

Horror splashed acid on my tongue.

I wanted to kill them all over again.

I want them to motherfucking bleed.

Fang headbutted my side, interrupting the fury burning my every thought. He whined and nuzzled my neck—giving me softness when I’d gone cold, love when all I felt was emptiness.

His muzzle wedged between Quell and me, claiming me as his own, hauling me back from the blackness and ensuring I didn’t slip any further.

My racing heart rate paused.

I blinked and raised my head, recentering on our lawn, our wedding, and the house where Gem and I found such happiness. Everything was bathed in sunshine, freedom, and safety.

I sucked in a tattered breath.

I wasn’t a kid covered in wounds and bruises anymore.

I wasn’t a terrified brother doing his best to protect his family.

I was a married man who’d triumphed over physical and mental trauma. I was strong enough not to relapse. Brave enough to say, enough. Enough of the flashbacks, enough of the nightmares.

This was no longer about me.

I’d found my place with the woman I was meant to marry. Now...it was Quell’s turn. I would do whatever I could to ensure she found the same bliss I had. To understand that she deserved it. That we weren’t dirty or fucked up or any of the things Storymaker had made us believe. We were worthy. So, so fucking worthy.

I hugged her close, saner now. Back in focus and ready to be whatever she needed. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m so sorry, Kas.” Her voice was older than I’d last heard it, huskier and layered with nightmares that I was well acquainted with. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Fang whined and sniffed the girl who wasn’t my wife, curled into a ball in my hold.

I ripped away, my eyes wide with disbelief. “Sorry? Why the hell are you sorry?”

“For staying away from you for so long.” She looked up, sniffing back her sadness. “I wanted to see you the moment Jareth took me to that hospital. You were the only one I wanted to see, but...then I saw my dad again.” She looked up to Tony, who had his arm around Gemma, both of them crying and standing vigil around us. “And I knew that if I saw you before I accepted I was free...before I could learn how to be myself instead of what they made me...then I might never have had the courage to work through it on my own.” She sighed heavily, her eyes delving into mine. “I had to heal on my own...do you see? I let you keep me safe so many times in my youth, but this time...I had to do it on my own. I couldn’t put that pressure on you. We put so much pressure on you. All of us. All the time.” Her voice cracked. “What you did for us—”

I cupped her cheeks. “It’s me who should apologize. I wasn’t there for you for so many years. I gave you to a worser fate. I should never have—”

“It was that fate that showed me just how much you sheltered us. It taught me the level of pain you took for me.”

“A lesson you should never have had to learn.”

“Why? Because you deserved what they did to you?”

“No...but I knew what they wanted. It was already too late for me—”

“You sacrificed—”

“Just like you.”

She shook her head, her face twisting with disagreement. “I’ll never forgive myself for all those nights that I lay in bed—unsummoned and untouched—all because you took my place. So many nights, Kas—” Her fresh tears made mine react.

Fang whined again as I croaked. “But I failed, in so many ways. I let you get taken. I wasn’t there for all those years.”

“And I’m glad about that. If you’d been with us, you would’ve died. I know that. You would’ve kept sacrificing yourself until you couldn’t anymore.” Her eyes flew to Gem’s. “And you would never have found this.”

I shook my head, cursing her for her martyrdom. Didn’t she see? Her captivity the past decade was my fault. In our case, the devil we knew was better than the devil we didn’t. It was my fault. She was guilty of sleeping safely while I served on her behalf? Fuck me, I was guilty of falling in love and being happy, all while she still rotted in some monster’s hellhole.

“I’m so sorry, Quell.”

She shuddered, resting her forehead on mine. “No one knew what would happen that day. Or any day for that matter.”

“I thought Jareth said you ran. That you were the only one who got away that night.”

She flinched and tried to hide behind her hair—an old habit that twisted my heart. “I did run. I still hate myself for leaving everyone, but...they were screaming, and men were shouting, and I just bolted. I ran through the night. I ran until I was lost, and then panic filled me.” She licked her lips. “I started leaving a trail of ribbons.” Her face hardened. “You know that awful Mr. Jovie liked to dress me up like a doll...well, I used those ribbons from the pigtails he gave me and left a trail, tying them to branches, fully intending to make my way back to Fables and find you. I wanted to tell you what’d happened. I wanted to go save our family. Together.” Fresh tears fell from her dull hazel eyes. “But then...dawn broke, and they found me. I didn’t know what happened to the rest until Jareth came for me.”

Gem suddenly dropped to her knees, joining us in our protective huddle. “You said you left ribbons?” Her skin had gone white, her eyes wide and dilated. “What...what color was the satin, do you remember?”

Quell nodded, her nostrils flaring. If she was like me, she’d remember every detail. Panic tended to do that to a person. It was a curse, imprinting every little thing into permanent reminders on your psyche. “They were yellow.”

“Oh, God.” Gem fell onto her ass, shaking her head. “The ribbons tied in the trees were yours. It wasn’t the guy in the climbing forum who left them. I thought they were old. One was so brittle it disintegrated when I touched it.”

Quell locked eyes with my wife, an unfamiliar openness filling her face. Unlike me when meeting new people, she didn’t keep them at bay. She looked at Gem like an instant friend instead of a wary enemy.

And that filled me with fucking gratefulness.

The horror of Fables and our past faded a little as Fang licked my cheek, still keeping a careful eye on me with my emotions swinging from dark to light.

“You found them?” Quell...Isabella...whispered.

“They were what led me to Kas.” Gem rubbed at a tear as it rolled past her chin. “Without them, I would never have found Fables.”

“And you found Kas still there, right?” Quell dipped her head. “Jareth told me that Kas had found someone. That if he...” She threw me a shy look. “If he managed to move on that he would probably marry you.”

Gem gave her a wobbly smile, lifting up her hand and showing off her new ring. “He did. Only an hour or so ago. I’m so sorry you missed it. We did send an invite—”

“That’s my fault,” Tony interrupted. “I only gave it to her this morning. I didn’t know how she’d take it...and I wasn’t prepared to undo all the great healing she’s undergone the past few months. But then I felt guilty for not trusting her health, so I gave her the choice.” His eyes linked with mine. “You’re family, Kas, after all. What sort of man would I be if I kept your sister from your wedding day?”

My chest hurt as I accepted what he said. It wasn’t just the words he’d used but the passion behind them. He accepted that a small part of Quell would always belong to me—just like a small part of me would always belong to her. I might have been the boy who’d accepted so much pain on behalf of his daughter, but I was also the man who constantly reminded him of what his little girl had endured.

That shit wasn’t easy.

For anyone.

Standing slowly, I patted Fang on his head as the poor dog continued to whine. Grabbing Gem’s hand in my left and Quell’s in my right, I pulled both women to their feet.

I waited for Quell to flinch away from my touch—to have issues with a man being so close regardless that we knew things about each other that no one else would understand, but either she’d healed faster than I had or our bond was still intact, because she squeezed me back. That sibling connection we’d all accepted and cultivated while huddled in our dorm, gravitating to one another and loving each other because that’s all we had, was just as strong now as it was back then.

We stood awkwardly, silence cloaking us.

I couldn’t take my eyes off my wife and my sister.

My heart fisted all over again at the thought of the others. Where were Sarez, Elise, and Nyx? Had Jareth found them yet? Would they all have happy endings like me and Quell or had some of them died? By their own hands to escape or by those who played with their lives for sick pleasure?