Page 89 of The Demon Mark

Other kingdoms did.

Sloth’s kingdom was known to have dragons in it, although very few people had seen dragons in a very long time. Even there.

He stared up at the golden beast, magic still falling off its sides in waves of golden dust. He had known it was possible, but he hadn’t realized it would look like this. The beast had likely been trapped in that bottle for a very long time. Because while it was still roaring and smashing whatever was in its way, he could also see that it was shaking its head from side to side.

It didn’t know where it was. After all those years stuck in a stasis that must have felt like a waking dead, it was finally released and yet... there was no way for it to know how long it had been since it had originally been trapped. The beast could only know that it was here now, and that somewhere nearby was the person who had trapped it.

Envy ducked to the side as a wave of shingles fell off the roof of the first building beside them. They tumbled down all at once, a great sheet of shattering pottery that crashed against the ground.

Rolling to the side, he avoided most of it although he still had to mutter out a few spells so that the shards didn’t slice everything in their path. He wasn’t going to save everyone here, though, and that was tough to swallow. He’d always been the protector. This kingdom was his and no one else’s and now... Well, he sort of felt as though this was his fault.

And it was. He had taken something that wasn’t his, and now he was paying the price.

Catching Sloth’s eye from across the town square, he gave his brother a nod. They both knew what had to be done, even though it was the stupidest and most dangerous thing they had done since their early days.

After all, fighting a dragon was never easy. It was even harder to fight when there was an entire city in their way.

He jolted forward, knowing the dragon’s eyes were on him as heat dogged his steps. Was the damn thing breathing fire now? He’d thought it would take a lot longer for it to find its breath after years trapped in that vial.

Leaping into the air, he landed hard on his side just as the flames passed beyond the stone building that now shielded him. But at least he was on the same side of the building as Sloth, which meant they had a few moments to plan out what they were going to do.

His brother leaned over him, a grim expression on his face. “How much of this city do you want to save?”

“All of it, if possible.”

“We might be a bit late for that,” Sloth muttered, before moving aside so Envy could see the rest of the damage.

And it was damaged. Infinitely so. The dragon had stepped on a considerable amount of homes already, its feet sinking deep into the ground and reducing them to rubble. There were likely a substantial amount of people who were, unfortunately, dead. He could almost feel the loss of their souls and was embarrassed to admit how much that bothered him.

He had never cared before. Not before Lilith.

Now, he wanted them all to live. He wanted them to know that he was the one who had saved them and, for once, he wasn’t the monster in their horrible stories. He was the hero.

Damn, he had never wanted to be the hero in his life and here he was, hoping that someone would appreciate just how hard he was about to fight for them.

“At least the houses are made of stone,” he muttered, getting onto his hands and knees before pressing himself up into a kneeling position.

Sloth shook his head. “Still a shame the roofs aren’t.”

“What?”

He’d forgotten about the fucking thatch roofs. Of course, he had forgotten about them, because Envy had never had a thatch roof on his castle. But many of his people couldn’t afford the clay tiles and stone was hard to sing into the shape of a roof. So, of course, some of them had started growing water weeds or trading with Gluttony’s kingdom for them when they could.

And there were houses on fire. The crimson glow spread throughout the entirety of his kingdom, hopping from house to house. Soon enough, it would consume his entire world. If he wasn’t careful, he would lose even more of his people to his own foolishness.

Grumbling under his breath, he did the only thing he could think of.

There was a small tattoo he hadn’t taken out for a very long time. The creature was one he had captured in Lust’s kingdom, and had never found a use for the small water fairy until this moment. Ripping it out of his skin, he let the little thing gather her wits before turning her to look at him.

“How much water can you control?”

She chirped something that made zero sense to him. But apparently, his brother could understand the magical creature who stood in Envy’s palm.

She was so small it was hard to even look at her with the blinding lights around them and the gathering thunder of the dragon’s anger. Her wings were gossamer, like the finest of dragonfly wings. A tiny blue dress covered her startlingly human form, and the way she crossed her arms over her chest was a very feminine anger that he was lucky to notice.

Sloth snorted. “She says she doesn’t appreciate your behavior, and if she helps, she insists on being released.”

He had no intention of releasing her. Envy had captured her fair and square, and she had to know that.

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