Page 38 of All the Devils are Here

“I will.”

As soon as he was here, our options opened. He wasn’t bound to Prospero. Even if he wasn’t Meg’s mate—and I hoped he was—we needed him, and he couldn’t get here fast enough.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

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LAURENT

It was there.

The island.

Míann.

Just a little bump on the horizon, but I could see it. I could barely sit still with the need to be therenow. By all rights, I could have been there faster by bargaining with more wind spirits or one of the ocean creatures. But I couldn’t guarantee that for the return trip, and whether or not I was making it with her, there would be a return trip for Meg.

So I was going the slower, human way. Even if it killed me.

The sun was past its highest point and was now sinking. It was a long way before dark, but I would be there by then. Whether Prospero would know where I was and when I arrived, I didn’t know.

I couldn’t worry about that until I got there.

What I really wanted was to see Meg and beg her forgiveness. I didn’t care what it would take for her to believe that it was real. I would do whatever she wanted.

If she was all right.

Prospero was unpredictable. To lure me in, he was using Meg, but what he was doing in the meantime was anyone’s guess. But if he knew what was good for him, he wouldn’t have touched her. Because if he had, I would rip his head from his body with my bare hands.

I might anyway.

My rage made me focus and press against the fear. The whole journey I’d been fighting the urge to shift. It wasn’t likely I’d sink the boat, but suddenly becoming stone in the middle of the ocean wasn’t ideal. Still, my instincts wanted me in my most powerful form.

Later.

The journey felt like it took forever and also no time at all. When I began to see the shapes of the trees in the distance, I also spied a small wave underneath the water, speeding toward me.

Trin exploded out of the water, landing on the boat in a splay of tentacles that was somehow graceful. “It’s about fucking time, Khalas.”

“Don’t call me that.” But still, I smiled. It had been too long since I’d seen my friend. “Is she safe?” I couldn’t talk about anything else until I knew.

“She is,” he said, nodding. “Scared, and locked away, but she is safe.”

“What did he do?” I barely recognized my own voice.

Trin’s mouth was a grim line. “He gave her all his power. And she’s in the mountain, chained to a wall. Claims it’s protecting her against when the magic loses control.”

“WHAT?”

There was no way to control the reaction. My wings ripping out of my back and the boat rocking with my sudden shift.

Trin nodded. “She also doesn’t think you’re coming.”

I was nearly entirely stone now. “Why not?”

“Because you rejected her. She doesn’t imagine you’d have any reason to. She doesn’t think she could be bait when you don’t care about her.”

“That’s not—”

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