Page 120 of All the Devils are Here

Meg hadn’t even noticed the way the magic was moving up her body as I held her, curling inward toward her heart. It was surging despite her bond to Trin. If I didn’t do it now, she would die, and shecouldn’t die.

I closed my heart to the sounds of her grief and pulled myself upright.

Now.

It had to be now.

Stripping off my clothes, I folded them and left them on the couch. Selfishly, I wanted Meg to have something of me. My scent wouldn’t last, but maybe it would bring her some comfort.

Shifting into my gargoyle form, I let myself move with speed across the island to the mountain. Earlier we’d come here, and found Prospero locked in his lair, alive, blockaded, and with enough power to keep himself that way until this moment came.

Khalas.

What the man had named me all those centuries ago. It meantsalvation, and I was going to make it true. But for Meg. My mate. Not the monster I was sacrificing myself to.

I allowed my steps to fall heavily as I went to his door. Let him know I was coming and wonder whether it was to attempt to kill him or surrender. At the very least he deserved that uncertainty.

“Prospero.” I pounded on the door.

It seemed like an eternity to listen before I heard his steps, and the movement of whatever was blocking it. Finally, he opened the door, and I cursed whatever fate had given him just enough power to hold on.

The man in front of me was nearly a zombie. Emaciated and drawn, it felt like he could crumble to dust and surrender his own soul to the island at any moment.

“I see you’ve finally come to your senses.”

I pushed past him into the space. It was crowded and cramped with every bit of magical paraphernalia available. Things were everywhere, bordering on squalid. It was such a far cry from the spacious and bright home I’d left, and it wasn’t because Prospero was dying or in hiding. This was who he was.

“I’ve finally understood what it means to love someone more than life itself,” I said. “Something you’ll never know.”

“You don’t know what I’ve felt in my life. I had one before you.” His smile was both gleeful and grotesque, going around and collecting things.

“Whatever you’ve convinced yourself, Prospero, my death will not restore your humanity. The magic you spent is gone. The only thing you’ll accomplish is to save my mate from dying, and for that, I thank you.”

He led me out of the room and into the room with the cage. Where we’d rescued Meg after the magic dumped her here. The work table was cleared off. “There.”

I took a breath, and went, fighting the memories of the first time I lay beneath Prospero’s tools. I hated the feeling of such helplessness, but it wouldn’t last long.

The bastard was taking his time.

“Do it already.”

He chuckled, still smiling. Like the old Prospero and not the desiccated husk in front of me. “Never thought I’d hear you beg for death, Khalas.”

“And you never will. I’m asking for my mate’s life. So get it over with.”

“First, I’ll take your heart, and then I’ll take your life. Then maybe you’ll finally live up to your name after all these years.”

Prospero placed the chisel over my already broken heart, and I closed my eyes.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

____________

MEGHAN

Iwas lost in myself.

The pain of everything was crushing me, and I couldn’t lift it. Ariel’s body was on top of mine. My head was cradled by Ban’s paws, and Trin was with me too. He had one of my hands. I couldn’t stop the sobbing or the pain. If this was what it was like to lose a mate without a bond, what would it be like to lose a bonded one?

---