Page 24 of All the Devils are Here

I was no longer coherent. Somewhere outside of myself, I could hear my own voice screaming from the pain. Ariel’s body was rigid as steel against mine, his voice barely audible as he begged me to hold on. I couldn’t listen because I was doing begging of my own, and nothing stopped. Not the pain and not the pressure.

A brief break, and my body sagged, unable to fall because Ariel was still holding me upright.

Underneath Ariel’s smoke, a palm covered my heart, and the other withered hand closed around my throat. Pure pain erupted, stronger than before, and it was too much. “Please.” My voice croaked. “Stop.” I felt my body caught by smoke and mist before everything went dark.

* * *

“She’ll be fine, Ariel.”

“You just tortured her. Do you understand that?”

A sound that was near to a growl. “I’ll torture you next if you don’t remember your place, spirit.”

Ariel’s low laugh filled the space. “With what magic? You gave all of yours away just now. I hope she survives, because I will savor every fucking second of your unraveling.”

There wasn’t any response, but weight circled my wrists along with a shiver of low magic, and the metal pressing there didn’t feel like the skin was burned. But my eyes flew open, anyway. Not in time to stop him from cuffing thick silver chains on me.

“Who the fuck are you?” I asked. “And what did you do to me?”

“Just a little gift from me to you.” He said. “For a few days. I just used the last of it to seal these. When you die, I’ll get it back. Or I’ll get what I want, and you’ll live.”

My mouth dropped open, and I looked back and forth between him and Ariel, who was looking at the man like he was seconds away from murder.

Generally, I didn’t think of myself as a violent person, but I wouldn’t care right now. Murder might be the only good option. “What?”

“Like I told you. You’re bait.” He looked at me, focusing on the place where the scrap of a dress he gave me rode up my legs where they’d laid me down. “If I didn’t need you—”

Arielsnarled. “If you finish that sentence, I don’t give ashitwhat happens to me. I will end you and accept my fate.”

The man merely smirked.

I didn’t know what to do or think. There wasn’t anybody who cared about me enough for me to be used as bait like this, and almost no one I knew would have the skills to get here, let alone take on a maniac magician. I meant enough to Christine, but she had nothing to do with this.

“Who is it you think I have any power over?”

“Khalas,” he said, standing and moving away. “But you may know him as Laurent.” The way he said the name made his disgust clear.

Shock rolled through me. “What are you talking about? Laurent and I aren’t anything. He won’t come for me. He won’t even know where I am. And whatever you think, he’srejectedme twice. I’m not whatever you need me to be. And why the fuck are you chaining me to a wall?”

He shrugged. “That’s for your own good. The magic of the island can be… temperamental when it’s passed around. And I’ve never given anyone this much before. You’ll be glad you’re here soon enough.”

He crossed the room to the door and gestured for Ariel to go first before turning back to me. The shadow looked at me, and this time it wasn’t devastation in his gaze. It was nothing but feral heat, and I wanted no part of whatever this was. This asshole might have tortured me, but Ariel helped.

Before he left, the magician turned. “My name is Prospero, and you are going to be my salvation, Meghan Irela, whether you like it or not.”

The door slammed behind him, and I was left alone and in silence.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

____________

LAURENT

“You need to wait there,” Christine said over the phone, repeating the argument she’d been losing for the past half-hour. “We can be there soon.”

“Christine, stop.” Erik said from the background. “You are staying here with us, and Laurent is going to get Meg. It’s the end of the discussion.”

She growled in anger, and I understood it. The only reason I wasn’t growling right now was the cool cap of ice that had formed over me. Everything was swirling beneath the surface, but I was calm and getting everything ready.

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