Page 33 of The Demon Mark

Having time to herself was nice. No one was around to tease her power into trying to escape from her body, and the drink had helped her gain control again.

However, it left her with a lot of time to think. And if there was anything she had learned about this strange ability of hers, it was that thinking was dangerous.

Because soon enough, usually about a week, the need would rise inside her again. She would need to tell someone their future. She would want to disappear into their lives and prophesize what would happen to them. There were so many desires in her body that she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. So instead of fighting it, she just gave in.

The power in her sighed, knowing that it was going to get what it wanted. She hadn’t heard it so pleased with her in a very long time. It took control over her movements, leading her limbs to the small wardrobe that Envy had delivered at the beginning of this last week. It was full of items for her to wear.

But one in particular always caught her eye. It was a white dress, simple and peasant like. A tight bodice with short sleeves, and a simple pleated skirt that would fall to her ankles. She still had her boots, maybe because he thought she would feel more comfortable with a weapon she could throw at him.

The thought made her snort with laughter. Boots wouldn’t hurt that man, no matter how much she wished they would.

“What are you up to?” she asked, still following the natural inclination to get dressed and lace up her boots.

But then again, her power wasn’t a separate part of herself. It was a lovely little thing that flitted through her form and told her body to move when it wanted, and that was about it. They were the same person, but not quite. There was always a natural instinct that she had learned to follow. Even if it made little sense in the moment.

Lilith stood in an awkward corner of the room, waiting. For what? She hadn’t figured that out yet, but clearly she was supposed to be standing here. Or actually, just one more step to the right.

And then a portal opened in front of her. It must be time for Envy to bring her food, and that must mean...

Now, something in her whispered.

She stepped through the portal at the same time he was coming through. Pain exploded throughout her body, but she grit her teeth knowing that freedom was just on the other side. Even though it felt like her entire being was slowly unraveling, Lilith knew she had to keep going.

She had the vague sense of him moving through her, around her, beyond her, into the room that waited for him. How strange it was to have been inside another person before popping out on the other side of the portal and into what looked like a well-used office.

Lilith didn’t spare any time. She took the cloak that was hanging on a stone coat hanger and wrapped it around herself before striding out into the hall like she’d been here a dozen times.

Considering the opulence of the rooms she’d previously been in, Lilith had expected the rest of the castle to be beautiful. Every attention to detail in her room had led her to believe this place was carved by the finest artisans. Instead, the hallway was little more than a hole carved in stone. There were small crevices in the walls where flickering orbs illuminated the shadows, but that was it.

No carvings. No beauty. Just... utilitarian.

She poked her head into the first room that she came across and found it was entirely empty. Just a stone room, empty and blank of anything. The next room was the same.

And then she realized she had to hurry. Already there was a sense that Envy was about to follow her. He’d realized that she wasn’t hiding anywhere in her room by now. Probably he’d think she had killed herself first. That was the easiest guess. He’d look in the bathing pool first, only to find that her body wasn’t floating there. Then under the covers. Perhaps underneath the bed.

But there weren’t a lot of places to hide from his gaze in that room, and he was a clever man. He’d realize what had happened soon enough.

She wasn’t quick, either. She felt his presence behind her long before she wanted to. He was breathing hard and his footsteps were far too angry to not echo down the halls.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he boomed, the sound of his voice bouncing off the walls as he moved in front of her.

“Going out,” she replied, side-stepping his arm that had snuck out to grab at her.

“You aren’t permitted to go out.”

“I think you’ll find an oracle needs very little permission to do most things,” she muttered, before walking around him again. “I’m going out.”

“I told you to stay in your room,” he snarled. His face had reddened with emotion, the peaks of his cheeks burnished with anger and his jaw a little sharper than usual.

“Couldn’t.” Lilith started down stairs that had no railing and seemingly disappeared into the darkness. Were those clouds in that void? Was it so deep that clouds could form?

“Get back to where I put you!”

She turned on the stairs, glaring at him with every ounce of anger in her body. “No!”

Her shout echoed with his, spiraling down the stairwell and getting lost in those clouds. They both breathed hard, staring each other down as though the other would break first. It wasn’t going to be her, though.

Finally he sighed and rolled his gaze to the ceiling. “Fine,” he muttered. “But I’m coming with you.”

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