“I was trying to defend myself from you strangling me! Which seems to be a favorite pastime of yours, by the way!”
“I was trying to stop you from doing anything reckless!”
“Reckless? Like run away from a madman, you mean?”
I swallowed back the bile trying to claw up my throat. “Are you saying you didn’t fuck me back that night?”
Her mouth opened and closed. She made a noise in the back of her throat, denial followed by shame. Finally, she tipped up her chin and stared me dead in the eyes. “I won’t because that would be a lie. We both wanted it. We both admitted things happened outside our control. And not just...physical things.” She held up her hand when I went to interrupt. “If I can be honest about that, then you can. We both felt something. I can’t believe I’m about to admit this after what you’ve just done to me...” She stared pointedly at the leash around her ankle, then back to my eyes. “But I still feel it. I stayed because I feel it. I waited until you were awake so I could go and get help.” Shifting from her ass to her knees, she didn’t pray at my feet, but she did implore, allowing urgency and vulnerability to etch her beautiful face, kneeling in the sunshine, hair glittering like gold, eyes full of understanding that I couldn’t tolerate. “You’re awake now. You can move without falling, which means you can feed yourself. Let me go. Untie me, and I give you a vow on my brother’s life, on my life, that I will run as fast as I can and return with transport to take you to the hospital.”
“Hospital?” I reared back, bashing into the wall behind me. “Why the hell would I go to a hospital?”
Her forehead furrowed. “Because you’re hurt. You...” She coughed delicately. “There’s no easy way to say this, Ka—” She pursed her lips, cutting off my name before she could finish.
Wise girl.
How did she get that out of me, anyhow?
What sort of delusion was I in when she’d pulled a fundamental piece out of my control?
At least, she’d learned quickly that she hadn’t earned the right to use it. Until she did, that name was off-limits to her. Perhaps my previous outburst had scared her, or she’d learned other things about me from my nightmares. Either way, she didn’t need to know I didn’t actually care about that name at all.
Yes, it came with suitcases of fucking baggage, and yes, it’d been screamed at me, yelled at me, whispered and moaned at me. It’d been murmured with tears and groaned with grotesque pleasure.
But in the end, it was just a name.
It didn’t define me because, after eleven years of solitude, I’d evolved past three little letters that’d done their best to label me as a Fable slave.
Kas was dead.
He’d died on the floor of the pantry after the asshole with the white beard kicked me in the skull so many times, he’d erased my memory for five eternal years—or at least, I thought it was five years. The calendars had run out by the time I did the math.
Regardless, for five fucking years, I was a nameless amnesiac man living off rapidly dwindling rations, facing starvation if he didn’t learn how to survive, and then drowning himself in the bottom of a bourbon bottle for a year straight because he couldn’t goddamn cope.
That was Kas.
Kas was a sex slave who’d died a hundred deaths.
I was above a name now. But...if she needed something to call me by, then fine. She’d have to earn the right to use anything. Even if she chose to call me after a damn broccoli, she would pay for that privilege.
Slouching over her knees, she sucked in a breath and said quietly, “You need a hospital because I’m not a doctor. You suffered a significant head injury. I’m worried about long-term damage. The fact that you were in and out of consciousness for days hints something serious is going on. I’m relieved you’re awake, I truly am. I even understand why you leashed me again. But...you have to let me go. Not for my sake, but for yours.”
“Right.” I braced against the wall, still waiting for the world to stop swirling. “Pity you won’t be going anywhere.”
“Why? Haven’t I proven to you that I’m willing to be your friend? That I’ve put up with shit no one else would—”
“And I haven’t?”
“Fine.” Temper flared, sparking gold in her stare. “You want me to repeat myself? No problem. I shouldn’t have tried to ambush you at the top of the cliff. I didn’t take in the risk of you falling into account, and whether you believe me or not, I’ll never forgive myself for that. I’m not going to point out that I was fully within my right to try to escape you. You took my freedom. You’ve done it again—”