Page 51 of All the Devils are Here

So fucking cold.

Laurent was still here, and we were still sinking together. He reached through the bars and snapped the thick gold chain with one set of stone claws.

I saw him shift into a human and swim upwards.

Trin didn’t let me go. He breathed another lungful of air into my mouth before guiding us through the hole in the bars Laurent made. Then, with one thrust of his tentacles, welaunchedupward.

The surface broke around me, and hands were already there, pulling me out of the water and laying me out on the stone floor. Ariel’s face looked down at me, filled with panic and fear.

“Meg?”

I blew out the rest of Trin’s air and inhaled, still shaking.

He lifted me off the ground enough to wrap his arms around me. “You’re all right,” he breathed, and it sounded like it was more for him than for me. “You’re safe.”

Behind him, Laurent was heaving air into his own lungs, leaning on the edge of the pool. “Fuck, that’s cold.”

“And that was too close,” Trin said.

“It was electrified,” I said. “I couldn’t—”

A growl interrupted me. “Let me warm her.” Ariel released me reluctantly to allow Ban’s long body to lie against mine. The normal warmth I’d felt him give off was now like a nova. Nearly painful as it burned through my frozen limbs, and I turned toward him, blindly seeking that heat.

“We can’t stay here,” Ariel said. “I’m not sure it makes a difference to the magic, but it could.”

“No arguments from me,” Laurent said. “The house?”

“Our house,” Trin confirmed.

Vaguely, I heard Laurent’s laugh. “Still in the same place?”

“No, we had to move it. Follow us.”

My face was tucked into Ban’s chest, and I didn’t move it as I was lifted. It was still so warm. As much as I wished I could stand and tell them I was okay—beokay and stand up for myself—I couldn’t.

I felt the smooth movement of Ban’s steps as we walked, and beneath my ear, a gentle purr.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

____________

MEGHAN

Ididn’t fall asleep, but I was definitely in a daze as we went wherever they were taking me.

“Does Prospero know about this?” Laurent asked.

“He has his suspicions, but hasn’t ever said anything.” Ariel said. “Frankly, I’m sure he knows. But there’s not much he can do, he doesn’t know the extent, and thankfully he doesn’t care enough about us to ruin it. In spite of his power, I was still born of the same magic. It gives me some leverage. We move it every once in a while out of caution. If he directly asked me, I might have had to tell him. But now that Meg is here, it’s safe.”

“Thank fuck,” Trin said.

Because I was their mate, and they couldn’t hurt me. Telling Prospero where we were could lead to harm.

It felt good to be safe, even if I wasn’t quite ready to open my eyes.

“You all live here?” I managed.

“Yes and no,” Ban said, the words rumbling beneath my ear where he still held me. “We do, but we pretend we do not, as not to give him ammunition.”

---