Page 15 of The Demon Mark

And yet...

She lifted her hands and pressed them against her lips. She could still feel him there. His breath fanning across her mouth, his power radiating off of him as he leaned over her. He had wanted her. Her.

She hadn’t ever seen that look on a man’s face before. She’d seen them look at other performers, or even her priestesses like that many times in her life. Men wanted women.

But his expression had said he coveted her.

Another shiver traveled down her spine, and she wondered what would have happened if she let him continue. if she’d given him permission to kiss her. To touch her. Would he have lingered on the curves of her body that had never felt the touch of another man? Would he have indulged himself in the secret places where only she had touched?

It didn’t matter. They were moving, and she wasn’t supposed to be here.

Sighing, she turned to leave. The mist had gotten better. It wasn’t entirely tamed, but it had retracted enough that by the time she returned to the others, there would only be a fine oil slick on her skin.

The flapping sound of feathers startled her. Then it was a beak, shrieking toward her from the shadows. She threw up her arms, trying to prevent the monster from clawing at her face.

The shrieking beast was not to be deterred, however. It continued to claw at her features, those nasty talons threatening to rake down her arms and driving her away from the scrolls. She shouted, trying to get the attention of anyone who could help her, but the sound of her voice was muffled. Like someone had put something over her lips.

There was another door behind her. It led to a small, tight tunnel that would bring her to the stables. At least the bird would have a difficult time in those tight quarters. If she could get to that, then she might be able to save herself.

Turning toward that door, she froze as she peered through her arms and saw a great hulking shadow that waited in the corridor. The bird stopped attacking her, but the creature waiting in the shadows was much worse than any kind of predator.

She watched the creature’s shoulders bunch. It moved as though it were hunting her. And when the light sliced across its face, she could see the reflection in its slitted eyes. This was not just any monster. It was a beast made of shadows, larger than any cat she had ever seen, with glinting fangs popping past its lower lip.

Exhaling, her muscles tightened as her eyes darted to the side. She could leave the way she’d come in, she supposed. But that would lead these creatures right to the people who had given her a home. The other circus performers were powerful in their own right, but were they strong enough to survive an attack?

Her hesitation cost her precious time. Within moments, the beast in the shadows lunged. It was a cat, but massive. Those paws were the same size as her face as she ducked onto her hands and knees and tried to roll out of the way.

The creature snarled, sharp teeth snapping at her as it skidded to a stop on the other side of the room.

It had left the corridor vacant, though. Freedom called to her. She rushed back to her feet, lunging in the direction where she hoped she could escape.

A snake looped down from the ceiling. Its open mouth with dripping fangs came so close to her face that she shrieked in fear. She could smell the poison on those tips. She could sense how close to death she was.

All she could hope was that she got close enough to the exit to give the others the warning they needed.

“Run!” she shouted, hoping her voice would carry over the muffling that was placed over her lips. “Please, run!”

But no one heard her. She wasn’t even sure they could.

Darting back toward the cat, she dodged its attack and then ducked underneath flapping wings. The snake hissed behind her, and she didn’t know where to go. She was pinned, backed toward a wall where they would surely devour her.

Until she stepped through the wall.

There shouldn’t have been a passageway here. She knew all of them. Every single one. It was easy to remember them because her master had shown her through all of them. They all knew the secret tunnels and entrances that would let them get away from the people who paid to see them. The wall here was solid. She’d touched it a hundred times herself.

But no longer. Now she passed right through it as the shadow creatures pushed her back, further into the darkness. Until she felt it pressing down upon her and she heard the scrape of a footstep behind her.

“I’ve been thinking about something you said.” The demon king’s voice erupted from the darkness. Though it was hard to focus on when she knew there were other beasts circling her. “You cannot see my future at all?”

She shook her head, unable to reply past the fear that coiled around her tongue.

“Interesting. So you cannot see my future, and that means you had no idea what my plans were.” He stepped closer to her, a wave of heat pressing against her spine as he stopped behind her. “Little oracle, are you sure you’re all that good at telling the future at all?”

She wanted to say that she was. She saw so much more than any other oracle who had come before her. That was why she was better at this. That was why there was a room full of prophecies and mist that dripped from her skin rather than just from her exhalations.

But none of those words came out of her. She couldn’t force herself to say a single thing. Instead, she just stared into the blackness and wondered if this was to be her end.

His voice came from her right this time, startling her so much that she flinched into the wall. Her shoulder scraped against the stone, the bitter ache of that bruise cutting through the fear that sent her heart thundering in her chest.

---