Page 8 of The Demon Mark

He hadn’t wanted to reveal himself. This was supposed to be a chance for him to find someone with equal power, or at least enough power to be interesting. And then he would come back in the middle of the night, consume all her magic, and leave. It was the same thing he’d always done.

But he was getting bored with all that, anyway.

Reaching up for his mask, he took it off and then set it down on the marble beside her head. The faint click echoed in the room before he turned to look at the men.

The tattoos that covered him from neck to toe began to move. The snake around his neck slithering up higher until he could feel the faintest flicker of its tongue against his cheek.

It was ever so satisfying to watch all the blood drain from their features. Even they knew to be afraid of him. Envy knew the rumors that were rampant in his kingdom. They claimed he was a demon, both in birth and while fighting. Impossible to beat.

He rarely used all of his powers together, although the rumors of what he could do ran abound in this kingdom. In truth, he didn’t even know his own limitations.

Perhaps using all of his power at once would kill him. It certainly would kill anyone else.

But he doubted that it would.

“My lord,” the man finally muttered, bowing his head low as his two shapeshifters did the same behind him. “We did not know it was you.”

“That much is clear.”

“The oracle was a gift from another kingdom when she was just a child. She has been in my care since then. It is my greatest honor to keep her alive, and to spread her prophecies far and wide.” He kept his head bowed, but Envy could see the man was still shaking with rage. “I would like to ensure that she is well after her attack.”

“She is well.”

“You and I both can see that she is still bleeding.”

She wouldn’t be, if this man would leave and let Envy work. Sighing, he turned his gaze to the ceiling as he let the breath out for a long time. Finally he tsked and looked the man in the eye. “How much?”

The man’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“How much for her?”

“I—” The man’s eyes narrowed in anger, but at the very least, he kept his tongue from spitting that same anger out at Envy. “She is not for sale.”

“Everything is for sale. Now. What is your price?”

4

It took so much to yank herself out of that dark place. It clung to her like the webs of a spider, pulling at her shoulders, trying to convince her to stay in the shadows even though she wished to wake. The man’s future was a trap, not an escape.

She knew in some way who she was dealing with. There were hundreds of different creatures in this kingdom, even more in the other cities she’d visited with this circus. Their powers eked into her own. Sometimes she could feel them grappling with her magic or trying to fight back against her. The mist that gave her the visions was powerful, though. It saw, and she allowed it to do so.

Whatever kind of creature had been waiting for her in that crowd was unlike anything she’d ever come across. The man was dark. Darker than most, with a tinge of evil that made her heart race in her chest. But it was more than that.

What clung to her was a sense of nothing. A future that had no hope. No story. Just a man who made his own way because even the long vines of fate refused to touch him.

It was terrifying.

She struggled against that feeling, pushing and yanking herself to the surface of reality even though her power pulled her down. The oracle inside of her wanted to force his power to give way. It wanted to fight against him, rage against that darkness and make his future burst into the light.

But the woman in her feared what that would mean. She walked in the footsteps of all she saw the future of. She lived their lives. What was, what would come. And a glimpse into the terrible darkness made her fear it would unravel the sanity of her mind.

She’d seen only a glimmer of who he was, like he’d given her a taste because he knew she needed it. So many people had died in his grasp, trying to scream as he stole their power. As he turned them into nothing but a husk of a person who had once been alive.

There was danger, and then there was this man.

Her power fought against her, but she knew they had to hide. She needed to free herself from this torment of knowing what he had done and what he would do. She needed to flee, to do something other than lay here in the dark.

So she struggled to the surface, only to hear voices that had always kept her safe.

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