Page 32 of The Demon Mark

“Give me the seeds then, and the rest of the plants that you have. I will learn.”

The circus master scrubbed the back of his neck. “I can’t do that.”

With one glance toward the spell, the shadow moved toward the man again.

“It’s not that I don’t want to!” the man rushed, now leaping over his chair to get away from the mist. But he could only get as far as Envy’s locked door before he realized how trapped he was. “I don’t have any more! I made a mistake with my last batch, and the seeds didn’t take. It’s gone. All of it is gone. Why do you think I was leaving? I was going to the oracles to see if one of them might have some seeds to spare.”

“Then tell me where they are.”

“I don’t know,” the circus master said. “Besides, they won’t even speak with you. They’ll see you coming. Probably already have. I have to go alone, and I certainly can’t bring a fucking demon king with me or we’ll never find them.”

Damn it.

The man was right. The oracles already knew who had Lilith, and they certainly would not give them any of the herb if he kept her.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “How do we trick a group of oracles?”

“You don’t,” the circus master muttered. “Trust me. You don’t.”

Well, shit. That made everything more difficult.

Blowing out a breath, he nodded at the man and called the spell back to himself. The circus master sagged against the door while Envy put the spell back where it had come from. “Get the seeds. You have one month.”

“That’s not enough time.”

“That’s all the time you get before I release this spell to devour you.”

“Without the seeds, punishing me gets you nowhere.”

Envy grinned, and he knew the expression was not a kind one. “No, it doesn’t. But it would make me feel better. The door is unlocked now.”

Watching the man scramble from his room didn’t help his emotions at all. Inside, he was screaming. Raging. He wanted to break something and hear it shatter against the wall of his office.

But when Orphe flew in through his window, he knew that wasn’t the answer. He certainly wasn’t breaking his most precious spirit.

“Did you hear all that?” he asked.

“Yes,” she croaked, adjusting her feathers as she landed on her perch. “This will be more difficult to keep her alive. You should just steal her power.”

“Can’t.”

“Can’t?”

He didn’t know if that was the truth. But can’t and won’t were very similar feelings, and for the time being, he wanted the oracle alive. If only because she’d felt so small in his arms, so delicate.

So breakable.

Sighing, he pulled at his bottom lip and shrugged. “She’s become a rather high maintenance pet, don’t you think?”

Orphe gave him an unimpressed look as he chuckled. High maintenance, yes. But all pretty things were.

13

Lilith wasn’t sure how long she stayed in that room after she drank the tea. It was a strange feeling to be locked away like this. In some ways, it was nice. No one entered or exited the room other than Envy. He came to visit her three times a day with food and water.

Each time was a little different from the last. He always asked how she was doing, and she could feel his gaze sweeping over her entire body as though he wasn’t sure if she was telling him the truth about how she really felt.

But then he would leave her food and disappear back through the portal.

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