Page 36 of All the Devils are Here

I needed to not look at him and not remember his words in my dream. Because it would simply make all of this harder.

Ban sat next to the bed. It made him look comically short, but it also hid his cock, and it was good because I didn’t need the distraction.

The three of us existed in silence while I ate. And I dideat. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t eaten in at least two days, and those were the ones I’d actually been conscious. When I finished the tray I felt like a bloated marble, but I was also relieved, and my body was happy. And it wasn’t like I needed to stay in shape for the ballet’s season.

The juice wasn’t orange, but mango, which was a pleasant surprise.

Ban took the tray and set it just inside the door, and Ariel took his moment, kneeling by the bed where he’d been yesterday. “What can I do?”

His voice was only misery. “Tell me what I can do to make it better. Anything to show you I didn’t want to help him.”

“It’s fine, Ariel. I know it’s not real.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ban was still standing at the door, watching closely too.

“Whatever you feel for me, it’s just because of the magic. Like you said yesterday, the magic gives you what you want, and it took my loneliness and gave it to you. Made you want me. Like you said, it’s not a blessing. It’s just mocking me.”

“That’s not—”

“It’s okay,” I insisted, my voice thickening. “It knows what I wanted, but I don’t want it just because of a spell. Hopefully, when I get to leave, it’ll leave you alone.”

“Meg…”

I couldn’t even look at him, because even if what they felt wasn’t real, the pain in my chest was. And I couldn’t bear the kindness. “I’d like to be alone for a while. Please.”

There was a long silence. “Very well. But at least take this.”

I tasted the frisson of magic in the air, but didn’t look until I suddenly felt their absence. When I looked up, both of them were gone.

At the end of the bed sat a blanket where Ariel had left it. I pulled it up over me, welcoming the small comfort, and closed my eyes. It was easy to imagine I was anywhere but here.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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TRIN

“What did you say to her?” Ban stalked into the living room and Ariel was close behind him, glaring.

Our home was one of the few places we could be away from Prospero. Right now it mattered less, as he was confined to the mountain, and the lower levels at that. He couldn’t watch us here. That was the most important part, but when he could call any of us at will, it didn’t matter much.

“We saidnotto tell her.” Ariel snarled. I’d never heard him sound like this.

“What happened?”

He only spared a glance at me. “For some reason, Meg thinks that what wefeelfor her isn’t real. That it’s only because of the magic of the island and nothing more. And she shouldn’t know that, because we said we weren’t going to tell her.” He glared at Ban again.

“I didn’t tell her.” The shifter sat on one of our chairs, elbows on his knees. “I didn’t say anything about us being mates. But I understand now why she was melancholy.”

Ariel still looked on the verge of thunder, and the air spirit could conjure storms that rivaled the one Prospero had used to take Meg, so I just looked at Ban. “Tell us what happened.”

He did quickly, and I winced at the mention of him saying Meg was his, but he told the truth. He hadn’t told her. “You’re her mate too?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Then it makes sense, Ariel, if she only thinks that Ban is in love with her. It’s a fiction because the magic is giving her what she wants. Not revealing the mates she was always meant to have.”

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