Page 58 of All the Devils are Here

“So we need to figure out a way to get the island’s magic out of my body before it kills me, and without Laurent giving up his heart and life. And also a way togetyour hearts so you can be free.” I couldn’t quite stomach saying that we would kill him, though it would probably end up that way.

In a fucked up way, Prospero wasn’t wrong in what he’d said to me. Life meant something very different in this world.

“Simple,” Ban said. He smiled, and I liked the sight.

Ariel sighed. “We have a little time, I think. The island is a… force. It reacts. Plays. It’s almost like it thinks before it moves, though it’s not conscious. But we do know it doesn’t react well to being put into human bodies, which is why it will keep trying to kill you.”

“Great,” I muttered.

“But Prospero has never separated himself entirely from his power before. And that could make all the difference,” Trin said.

I sighed. “He wants me dead. The island wants me dead. Too bad you can’t just kill me and bring me back.”

The reaction was immediate. Laurent was on his feet and Ban shifted into his feline form. The mates on either side of me tempered their reactions, but only just. Magic flooded my system, silver and bright, and Trin kept me pinned so tightly to my side it was nearly painful.

“No.”

I looked at Laurent. “Stop my heart and restart it. You couldn’t do that?”

“Even if that wasn’t far more difficult than people think it is, I wouldn’t do it. Ican’tdo it, Meg.”

“But would it work?”

Ariel leaned forward and gently placed a hand over my heart. “I don’t think so. The kind of death we’re talking about is not the kind you come back from.”

I closed my eyes. “This is impossible.”

A new presence came close, and I found Laurent kneeling in front of me. “He wants it to feel that way. But like I told you. No matter what, you’re getting out of here. Even if that means I have to sacrifice myself to him just to get close enough.”

“Stop it,” I hissed. “Don’t even think about it.”

The look on his face told me there was no chance in hell he wouldn’t think about it. That if there was a way to save me this instant, he would do it, even if it cost his life.

“We have time,” he said. “Now that you’re safe. And it will not be fixed tonight.”

That’s right—it was the middle of the night now, even though it felt like daylight in here.

“He’s right,” Ariel said. “It’s not getting solved now. The magic will regroup.” The heat in his eyes told me exactly what he thought was getting solved now.

“I—” I swallowed. “I don’t know how to do this.”

Trin was the one who turned to me. “I do. Do you want all of us? Trust us?”

My whole body was on fire and I couldn’t seem to meet his eyes, but I nodded.

“Then you don’t have to know how,” he said quietly. “All you have to do is say yes.”

Nerves swam in my gut. Four mates. Exactly like my dream. I wanted it more than I could put into words.

I lifted my gaze to his. “Yes.”

He hauled me into his arms and kissed me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

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MEGHAN

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