Page 86 of All the Devils are Here

The light pulsed, like it was speaking in a language only he could hear. But I’d never heard the magic speak. Not with words, anyway.

His face was ragged with pain. “I will give you all that I am, and you will give me everything.”

Prospero thrust his arm into the light, and the scream was inhuman. I wanted to look away, but the image was behind my eyes, and no matter which way I turned, I still saw it. Like what I’d seen before, Prospero’s body lit up from within, so bright I could see his skeleton. And the lightfilledhim so he was even brighter before the magic dropped him.

His chest was bloody. I recognized the placement on the left side of his chest—knew it well enough by now because of my mates. Prospero’s heart was gone. Given to the island in exchange for power.

Confusion hit me.

“But I thought he was still human before he made Laurent.”

An impression ofyesandno.

I shook my head, looking around me in the infinite glow. “How does this help me?”

All the light was being sucked out of the air, and I was falling again. “Wait,” I called. “How does this help?”

My body jerked awake, and I scrambled, startling and confused about where I was and what I was and how I got here.

“Whoa,” Laurent’s voice settled my mind, and his arm pulled me back against his chest. “You’re okay.”

My heart was pounding, and I couldn’t really breathe. What the hell was that? What did it mean? I felt shaky, like the kind of shaking you did after you trained too hard and hadn’t eaten.

Part of that could be the incredible sex, but it wasn’t all of it.

I was lying on my side, and Laurent wasn’t knotted inside me anymore. He lifted the hair off the back of my neck and kissed me there. “More bad dreams?”

Turning my face down into the bed, I closed my eyes. “Confusing dreams,” the words were a mumble.

Laurent turned me over so he could see my face and gently pinned me to the bed with his body. He was only partially on me, but the weight was enough to bring me back to myself.

He smiled down at me, and my stomach did a flip. How many times had I imagined waking up with him? And now I hadfourmen I could wake up with. I nearly teared up at the realization that I wouldn’t have to sleep alone anymore.

“How do you feel?” He asked.

“Physically?”

Laurent’s eyes sparkled. “Physically. Mentally. All the above, mate.”

When he called me that, joy bubbled up through my chest, and I couldn’t contain it. I smiled as I took stock of myself. “I feel good. A bit sore, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“Not too much?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Nope.” I bit my lip. Too much? No, it hadn’t been too much. He’d taken me to a place I didn’t even know I could go last night. Somewhere there was no thought or fear. Only him, and pleasure.

Some of it felt like I didn’t even remember. “Did you call me a good girl?”

Laurent smirked. “I did.”

My stomach swooped. I’d always read it in books, but I’d never really understood the appeal. But what came through the haze of my mind was something I needed to try again. But saying it out loud also felt vulnerable in a way I wasn’t used to.

But this wasLaurent. If I couldn’t say it to him, then who? Still, my cheeks flushed.

“What are you thinking, Meg? I can’t read your mind yet.”

“You’ll be able to read my mind?”

He placed his palm in the center of my chest, pressing gently. “Not exactly. But you’ll be able to feel my emotions, just like I’ll be able to feel yours. So no, no mind reading. But over time, it might feel like that.”

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