CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
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MEGHAN
No one batted an eye as Ban carried me into the living room and sat with me in his lap. His tail still curled around my legs, and I loved that. But now that we were out of bed, in spite of his warmth, I was chilly.
Ariel waved a hand and was suddenly holding a blanket, which Ban pulled over the two of us. He nudged my head with his, and I smiled. Ban was the one I’d woken up with. He’d made me feel safe even though I had no idea what was happening, and I still felt safe in his arms.
“You said you had more to tell me?”
My eyes were closed as I leaned my head against Ban’s. I could go back to sleep now, and would be happy about it.
Laurent cleared his throat. “We do. But before we tell you, I promise it’s actually going to help, and it’s not just all of us being horny.”
I opened my eyes.
“And it was Ariel’s idea.”
The spirit snorted. “Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome.” I heard the smile in Laurent’s voice.
“What is it?”
“Show me your fingers,” Ariel said. I held them up and he caught my hand, laying it out so we could see them. The tips of them were purple, like they were yesterday, but not quite as far. “It retreated again.”
I frowned at him, but he kept hold of my hand when I tried to pull it away. “This is the magic taking over your body. And we noticed last night that… it was taking over less of you after you’d fallen asleep.”
“After we’d fucked you, kitten,” Ban whispered in my ear.
Ariel chuckled. “This morning confirms it. The spark of the island’s magic we hold soothes it and slows it down.”
“So,” Trin splashed into the living room pool in what could only be described as a cannonball. “We think we can wait Prospero out. Until being without the magic kills his physical form. And in the meantime…” His smile was so wide, and he moved his eyebrows up and down in a way that had me laughing.
“Okay, now I get why you warned me about sounding horny. But this is a good thing, right?”
Ban’s hand slid up my thigh under the blanket. “I think it’s a good thing.”
“But the magic?”
“It will do it again,” Laurent said. “But this will slow it down. We’ll have the time we need to figure out how to get the magic out of you, get to know each other, have some incredible sex, and hopefully solve our Prospero problem.”
Something had been eating at me, and I needed to know the answer. “Prospero said something about the magic transforming me if it didn’t kill me. You said it wasn’t better. Tell me the truth. What could happen?”
None of them spoke, and they looked at each other.
“Is it really so bad that none of you want to be the one to tell me?”
Ariel ran a hand over his face and paced away from me before looking back. “There’s a reason the island’s magic is so mercurial. There may have been something more… natural when this island came into being. But people and monsters have always been drawn here for one reason or another. And when the magic takes over you, if you don’t die before it’s complete, you’re then a part of it. Absorbed into it.”
I blinked. “The magic is made of people?”
“Souls,” Trin clarified. “Some of it, yes. We’ve seen it happen more than once in our time here. As far as we can tell, no true consciousness remains. I hope there isn’t.” The last words were quieter.
“What if we can’t get it out of me in time?” I asked. “I’ll just… cease to exist?”
“No,” Ban said firmly. “That will not happen. We won’t let it.”