Fable of Happiness (Fable #2) by Pepper Winters

He frowned, raising his hand to cup mine over his cheek. He linked our fingers together, holding me tight. “I don’t know if I can.”

“Try.”

He flinched, his gaze dancing over mine. “What if this keeps happening? What if I keep forgetting?”

“Then I’ll just keep reminding you.”

“What if I don’t believe you?”

“Eventually, you will. You’ll learn to trust me.”

“Trust you?” His eyes narrowed. “How the hell am I supposed to do that when you keep telling me I’m temporary.”

“Ah, so you do remember some things.”

His jaw tightened. “I remember that you held a knife to my heart. I lined it up for you. I told you to push.”

I stilled, working back through time and trying to figure out when Kas’s memory had faltered. “Is that the last thing you recall happening between us?”

He fell silent, tugging at certain strings in his mind until he found one with substance. The range of emotions that scattered over his face was fascinating. Rage, worry, anger until finally, trepidation mixed with hesitation. “I think so. We...we were in the foyer. I took your knife and held it over my heart and told you to kill me now instead of making me work my ass off for the next few months only to kill me as winter arrived.”

I winced.

If that was true, he’d erased almost twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours where we’d worked our way closer and triumphed over what was keeping us apart.

Who knew if those memories were still inside him or if they’d been totally wiped away? Either way, we were back at the starting line.

Silence reigned until he coughed gruffly. “Do you wish you’d done it?”

“Done what?” I blinked.

“Taken me up on my offer.” He dropped his stare to his hands. “Do you wish you’d pushed that blade into my heart?”

A strange kind of laughter bubbled in my chest. No sane person could ask that after what we’d shared last night. Which only made sadness smother my laughter because for now, Kas wasn’t sane. And I couldn’t tell him the truth. I couldn’t crawl into his lap and murmur that I was in love with him. He couldn’t know just how much I cared because I had an awful suspicion that my affection for him would drive him deeper into his mind.

Love had scarred him. And until I knew how deep those scars went, I would stay quiet.

“Well?” he asked, shifting in the chair, impatience rising.

I spread my palms in surrender. I had no idea what to say. “That’s up to you.”

His head snapped up, his eyes locking onto mine. “You should know by now it isn’t up to me at all.”

“Well...it’s up to you to keep me safe then, regardless of the darkness inside you.”

He sucked in a breath, studying me. “You think I can control it? Control the filth inside my head?” He laughed once. “Because I don’t.”

Silence fell between us because, once again, I didn’t know what to say.

I could be positive and assure him that, yes, I believed he could control it, but in reality, who the hell knew if that was true.

“I’m not stupid, Kas.” I tossed hair over my shoulder, standing straighter. “I know parts of you will always be dangerous. Suppression has been your only tool at surviving what happened here, which has made you unstable.”

He tensed, coiling in the chair with power.

“I, eh...” I forced myself to keep going, not quite sure what I wanted to say or even how to word it. “While you were alone, trapped in this valley, I can see why you never worked through your trauma. Why you chose to bury it instead of face it because no one was here to help you. But...I’m here now. I’m strong enough to listen to what you endured. Use me to be free of it. Tell me. Allow those memories to finally be free.”

“Stop—”

“Who knows, maybe that’s all it would take to lighten that darkness. It could—”

“Stop talking.” He suddenly pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “You’re making my headache worse.”

I let silence fall for a few heartbeats before murmuring, “If you tell someone. If you willingly welcome memories instead of pushing them away, maybe they won’t have power over you anymore, and you won’t have pieces of your life taken away without your consent.”

He snickered, his tone full of snow. “And I suppose you want me to give you every detail, huh? Every rape, every punishment? As if.” He balled his hands. “That will never happen. You’d run away screaming.”

“Or I’d welcome you with open arms.”

He froze. “I’ve told you before, but I’ll tell you again, don’t push me. I can’t promise I won’t push back.”

I stared him dead in the eyes. “You won’t raise a hand to me again. I assure you of that.”

His shadowy gaze turned darker. “Is that a threat?”

I arched my chin. “It’s a promise. Your mind might not remember what occurred last night, but your heart does.”

He bristled, fear as well as anger etching his face. “And I suppose you’re about to tell me that I confessed I’m in love with you, and you’re everything I ever wanted, and if we had two white horses, we’d ride off into the sunset together.”