Page 70 of All the Devils are Here

But I saw the way Laurent’s mouth tightened. There was a possibility, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

“We’ll find a way,” Ariel said. “Once Prospero is absorbed himself, we aren’t nearly as limited.”

“And how long will that take?”

“We don’t know,” Laurent said.

I saw the pros to the plan, and I wasn’t about to say no to sex and a chance to get to know my mates. But it wasn’t a perfect plan. It wasn’t even really a plan, it was hope tied up with a ribbon. One thing could go wrong and I could die. Or Laurent could die if his hand was forced.

Any of them could die trying to save me from whatever trap the island decided to throw my way. Being taken again scared me, though I knew they would save me. Nothing would stop them from finding me. Still, it was terrifying.

“Meg?” Trin’s voice.

I gently pushed up from Ban and kept the blanket with me. “Can I… can I have some clothes?”

Ariel caught the blanket and pulled me closer. “In the bedroom, in the closet.”

I nodded, padding back the way I’d just come and found the closet he’d mentioned. Last night I’d been a bit preoccupied.

This space was beautiful too. Airy and open with pale white walls and ambient light. The air was slightly humid because of the open water, but I liked it.

The giant bed looked like it belonged on one of the sets of the ballets and operas I performed in. An overly ornate headboard and footboard, with the bed in the center of the room instead of pushed against the wall. There were shelves behind the bed with various books and decorations.

In the closet there were plenty of clothes. Dresses like the one Prospero had given me, and everything else. I pulled on a pair of leggings and a soft t-shirt. Simple and comfortable—but at the same time easy to move in. I didn’t know when the island would take me again, and I didn’t want to be caught off guard.

Ariel appeared around the corner and leaned against the wall. I looked at him and glanced away. The way he looked at me felt like he saw through me completely, and it was unnerving.

“Are you all right?”

I huffed a breath. “Not really, no.”

It would be so easy to say that I was fine. Because in one way, I was. This, here? This was incredible. I wanted to stay here and drown in the feeling of having mates, of being owned and loved and figuring out how the hell we worked as a unit.

But that wasn’ttrulyan option until we all got out of here. Alive.

Sex and mates and comforting kisses were amazing, but they were masking the truth. I could die. Laurent could die. Any of us could die, and there was so much hanging over our heads I didn’t know how to ignore it.

He came to me slowly. It was strange the difference between him last night—his incredible dominance, seeing what I needed even if I couldn’t verbalize it—and him now. There was only gentleness in his face and body.

“We’ll keep you safe,” he told me.

“I know.” I shook my head. “I know you’ll try. But there’s so many things that are based on chance, and we could still lose everything. All of that? It doesn’t make me less scared.”

Ariel reached out and pulled back. I didn’t let him. Catching his hand, he took over as soon as I consented, pulling me into his embrace. “It’s okay to be scared,” he breathed. “I’m terrified. For you. For all of us. I’m furious that I’ve just let myself be here and not notice what Prospero was doing and planning. I promise you, Meg, I won’t let anything hurt you.”

A sob caught in my throat, and he gathered me up in his arms. “I know you want to. But you can’t promise it.”

“The hell I can’t,” he said. “I would rather shred myself trying to reach my own heart than let you be hurt again. I will do whatever I have to. You are mine to protect.” That last part was softer.

“I don’t want to cry,” I whispered, even though I was halfway there. Hot tears pressed behind my eyes, but I worried that if I started, it would all be too much. A spilling over of both bad and good.

Yesterday I couldn’t have imagined letting Ariel comfort me, and now I couldn’t imaginenotletting him. Pushing him away had been tearing at me, in spite of everything. I knew he didn’t have a choice in what Prospero ordered him to do, anymore than Laurent had had a choice. But I’d been so…

I wrapped my arms around his neck and let myself go. It wasn’t pretty—I wasn’t one of those women who cried elegantly. It was messy and ugly, choked sounds forcing their way out of me so forcefully I couldn’t breathe.

Ariel simply held me. He didn’t hush me or try to make it better. All he did was stand with me in the storm and weather it with me.

It came out in a flood. Everything bottled up, and it wasn’t all bad. It was just… overwhelming.

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