Page 35 of All the Devils are Here

The very thought of him in pain for me twisted me up in knots. “Please. I don’t want you to be in pain, and I don’t want him to keep you from me.”

He growled and pressed his forehead to mine. “He cannot keep me from you. I will be close by.”

Instantly, he shifted to his feline form and was gone out the window without a trace of sound.

I sat up, making sure my clothes were arranged properly before I heard the footsteps outside my door. Prospero entered with a tray and a smile on his face. “Good morning.”

“You and I have different definitions of good,” I said. “Waking up still a prisoner is not in my definition.”

His smile tightened, and he approached, putting the tray on the end of the bed. In spite of myself, my stomach growled. On the tray was one of my favorite breakfasts. French toast and bacon. There was even a side of eggs and a glass of what looked like orange juice.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, but I assure you, it was and is necessary.”

“Once again, different definitions,” I said. “I don’t feel like it was necessary to kill that many people to get someone’s attention. You have magic. You couldn’t have sent a message? Stopped by for a brief hello?”

Prospero’s eyes were razor sharp, and there was no more kindness in them. He looked different today. Older and more haggard. Even his walk was more rigid. “I appreciate that you are naïve enough to think it can always be so simple. But on the other side of nearly a millennium on this island, there is no price I will not pay to be free, Meg. You would feel the same. The lives of one or the lives of many make no difference, nor does your life.

“This might be the last time you see me. While the magic runs its course, I must remain in the mountain near the power the island has placed here. An extension of its heart. But do not think because you don’t see me that you’re free, or that I won’t get exactly what I want. Enjoy your meal.” Turning, he stalked toward the door.

“Is it poisoned?”

The smile he sent over his shoulder held nothing but violence. “Only one way to find out, I suppose.”

I flinched at the slamming door, and almost instantaneously Ban was at the window, shifting into human form before he hit the floor. It was the first time I’d seen him fully standing like this, and I stopped to stare.

Frozen in place was more like it.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t known his body was sculpted. There was nearly no fat on him, which made sense given both his forms. But once again he wasn’t wearing clothes, and below his abs was…

Well, it was a cock. There was absolutely no way to call that thing a penis, or even a dick. That thing was a cock, end of story.

Because it was long and thick despite not being hard.

You would have thought I’d never seen one before, given the fact that I couldn’t move. But he was just standing there, looking at me with no self-consciousness. And the small smirk on his face told me he knew why I was suddenly more a statue than a gargoyle.

In the dream I’d had, I hadn’tseenany of them like that, because I’d never seen what they were packing. But I’d felt them. And what I was seeing now didn’t disagree with that. But it didn’t matter.

“It’s not poisoned, by the way.”

It broke my trance, and I looked over to find Ariel by the door. He was smirking too, and that made me blush.

“I was watching him while he conjured the food, and he didn’t taint it with anything.”

“Oh.” My voice was quiet. “How did he know this is what I like?”

He floated closer. “It’s not hard to conjure things based on someone’s preferences once you’re near them.” As if to illustrate, he twisted a hand, and a flower appeared. A purple daisy, beautiful, and nearly the shade of violet which shone under my skin yesterday.

I put my hand on my stomach. Now that there was food in front of me, I was hungry. But still, the ease with which he made the flower appear was… strange. It was my favorite flower by far. But it didn’t mean anything if all it came from was magic.

Again, my heart grieved for a loss I couldn’t name.

“Oh,” I said again.

The food was there, and it smelled amazing, and at the very least there was no confusion about what Prospero and I thought of each other.

I pulled the tray closer and began to eat. Itwasdelicious, and I wasn’t going to be a person who refused food on principle, as long as he wasn’t poisoning me.

In the corner of my eye I saw the flower disappear into smoke, and a look on Ariel’s face I couldn’t quite interpret.

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