Page 127 of All the Devils are Here

Shock froze me, and then disbelief. Reaching out a hand, I turned my hand to the sky and imagined a violet flame hovering over my hand.

It appeared.

I looked at her and shook my head. “What—”

“It is freely given,” she said gently.

Ariel stepped forward and pulled me to him. He touched my hair and swept his fingers down my face. There was awe in his bond I didn’t understand. Turning us to the Island, he said words I never thought I would hear.

“You made her immortal?”

“A gift.” She looked at each of us in turn. “An exchange, as is natural. Be happy.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. There wasn’t anything else to say. How could you thank someone for giving you everything?

She bowed at the waist. “It is you who deserve thanks. Take your joy here as you may. But when you leave, do not look back. I will bind this island so tightly no one—human or monster—will ever set foot here again.”

So Prospero would be here forever, trapped in his own mind with no chance of escape. There was a part of me that felt sorry for him.

A small enough part that I dismissed the thought entirely.

She walked to the edge of the cliff, form glittering into nothing. “Do you have a name?”

Turning back, she smiled, and just before she disappeared, she spoke a final time. “I will remainMíann.”

The five of us were left staring at a darkening sky. Stars were beginning to appear, and it was far too silent. After the sword hanging over our heads for so long, it felt strange to be… free.

“Holy shit,” I finally said.

It broke the silence, and suddenly we were all laughing. My mates passed me from one set of arms to another, and I began to lose track of all the places they kissed and touched me.

There was too much to talk about and too much to absorb, but we needed each other more than we needed words.

“I’m happy to have some good cliff side sex,” I said. “But if you want more, you better take me to bed.”

Laurent scooped me up in his arms. “It would be my pleasure, mate.”

Tumbling into the bedroom together, there was laughter and lust, kisses and a thousand kinds of pleasure. I got lost in them. All of us got lost in each other. Or rather, we found everything we needed. Our deepest desire had been fulfilled.

We were whole.

EPILOGUE I

____________

MEGHAN

Icould see Christine on the pier, and she wasbouncingwith excitement. My own fingers were drumming on the edge of the boat, waiting. There was so much to tell, I felt like I was about to burst.

We stayed on the island a few more days, enjoying the sun and the beach and each other, before Ariel conjured a boat big enough to get us all home. The Kings arranged a private area for us to arrive. Mostly for Ban. We didn’t want him to hide.

“Ready?” Laurent asked, wrapping an arm around my chest and pulling me against him.

“I don’t even know,” I said. “I went on a boat to a party and came back immortal. It’s a big change. She doesn’t even know yet.”

We hadn’t told them anything about what happened, because it wasn’t a story you told over the phone.

Laurent laughed and kissed my hair. It was purple now. Permanently. I closed my eyes, savoring the feeling. Through our bond, he was enjoying my scent, the fact that he could hold me, and he was also thinking about bending me over the railing so he could railme.

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