Page 30 of The Demon Mark

She could feel her master disappear into the ether. Perhaps there was a portal he walked through that the demon king had summoned, but then all she could focus on was that they were alone. There was only the darkness now for her to see.

And he was so gentle as he ran his finger over her lips. “You have to drink this.”

She didn’t want to. She wanted to escape just for a little while longer.

“Come on now, sweetheart. Open that pretty mouth for me.”

She’d never be able to deny him, not when he spoke to her like that. So she opened her mouth and allowed the tea to slide down her throat as she sank into oblivion.

12

This oracle was proving to be more and more difficult to keep. Here he had been, convinced he had stolen himself a self sufficient creature to live in his home, only to realize she needed to be taken care of.

And the worst of it came in the form of a man who was far too confident that he’d trapped a demon king under his thumb. The portal he’d sent the circus master to led to Envy’s office. When he strode in after the man, it was to see a satisfied expression on the man’s stupid face.

Now, Envy needed information from the man. He needed to be at least a little cordial so that this circus master would tell him what he needed to know about this herb. However, what he really wanted to do was put a fist through the man’s face.

Literally through it. He would love nothing more than to feel the splattered bits of brain sticking to his fingers while staring into the cavernous maw that would be the man’s face.

What a shame he couldn’t feed that fantasy yet. But soon, he would. All he had to do was wait a little while yet.

“Put that down,” he snarled, staring at the paperweight in the man’s hands.

The circus master chuckled and set it back where he’d gotten it. “You can’t blame a man for looking. How many people have been in the demon king’s office? Not many, I’d wager.”

No one was the actual answer. He didn’t let anyone into his life, even less into his home. Those that had seen his office were like him. Other demon kings from other kingdoms who had been useful. Not someone from the gutter who thought he now had the leverage to crawl out of the muck and use Envy to his advantage.

He knew men like this one. They were always looking for the next thing that could make them money. And Envy had walked right into his trap.

He needed to gain control over this situation, and quickly.

So he walked to his desk. His calculated movements likely were eerie to a human eye. He moved fluidly, too swiftly, and with a straight gait that marked him as something other. Right now, the man’s mind should be screaming that he was in the presence of a predator and he should run.

But the man had little self preservation, it seemed. Because this fool shook his head and then took the seat in front of his desk. Then the circus master leaned the chair back on its legs, as though it wasn’t a precious item that was one of the few pieces in this kingdom with actual wooden legs. “So, you’re clearly going to offer me a deal. The herb’s price is high, before you ask. I’m the only one left alive who knows how to grow it.”

“How’s that?”

“Oracles have always had keepers. There might be more like me with another oracle in another kingdom, but there aren’t any other oracles in this kingdom. How long would it take you to find some other keeper? Probably too long. She’d die before that. You know it. I know it.” The man let the legs thud back onto the floor and grinned. “So the price is high.”

Of course it was. Envy leaned back in his chair, relaxed in every part of his body other than his right hand that clutched his own chair arm underneath the table so hard he thought he might crush the stone into dust.

“This would have been rather important information to know before you let me take her.”

“You stole her,” the man grumbled.

“Semantics. She’s mine now, and you knew the moment I walked into your home that she would be mine. You should have told me that she was so fragile.”

“As if you wouldn’t have taken her, regardless.”

He didn’t know why the man spoke so eloquently. A circus master such as himself should have spoken with an accent, or perhaps shorter, clipped words. And yet, this man spoke well. Almost as well as Envy did.

Narrowing his gaze on the man, he let out a low hum. “Perhaps I would have.”

“You know you would have. I know all about you, demon king. You take what you want, no one can stop you from doing that. It’s fine, you know. I understand the need, but there are a great many ways to feed your desire than just... taking.”

The man was about to offer him something more. Like some common drug dealer, this idiot was going to sweeten the deal for more money, or more magic, or whatever it was this man wanted.

“You have quite an interesting vocabulary for a man who runs a circus. Better vocabulary than some of the nobility who live in this kingdom. Considering your talent for haggling and how quickly you seem to catch onto how other people tick, I have to assume that you are not just a circus master. Or at the very least, you weren’t born this way.”

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