Page 96 of The Demon Mark

But then the entire room rumbled, the floor quaking as something massive entered the space. For a moment, he thought it was an earthquake. Those were devastating to his kingdom, and they could destroy a significant amount of homes and lives if they were left unchecked.

Until a flash of gold appeared, and Envy knew what had made the entire ground rumble. He hit the ground hard, watching as his brother’s wings spread wide. Sloth clung to the walls, his talons digging deep into prophetic parchment that screamed as they were crumpled to dust. With a snap of his jaws, he caught the woman up and swallowed her whole.

It was rather unsettling to hear her shrieks as she was swallowed, and the echoing sounds of her cries in Sloth’s throat before there was sudden silence. The magician spat out a few words, but his shuddering tones weren’t enough to let the spells take flight. They sizzled, sputtered out, and fell right onto the ground before Sloth grabbed that man as well.

His screams were much quieter than the priestesses, but no less disturbing.

And in the remaining silence, Lorenzo turned to him. Envy could see the man’s mind working, rolling over all the possibilities of what he could say and how he could save himself. The man was good with his words. Even Envy remembered how convincing he could be. But weren’t most nobles good at speaking?

Envy held up his hand the moment Lorenzo’s mouth moved. “I really don’t care, Lorenzo. There will be no pity.”

“But as the demon king, shouldn’t you want to know?—”

His brother’s head came down and those massive jaws snapped around Lorenzo’s torso. While Envy would have preferred to kill him himself, it was rather satisfying to see the man struggling in his brother’s jaws. The teeth sawed back and forth, a significantly more painful and drawn out death than the other two. Blood splatters painted the stone until the bottom half of Lorenzo’s body dropped onto the floor with a wet slap.

“Perfection,” Envy said, his voice filled with so much aching wonder. “I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

Sloth grumbled his own approval before he was soaring down to the lower levels, where he would change back into a man.

Leaping forward, he rushed to Lilith’s side. She was still on her hands and knees, her arms covering the back of her head and mist rolling over her entire form. But the moment he reached for her, that mist died down. Almost as though it recognized him.

He marveled at the delicate white tendrils that wrapped around his arms, holding onto him in what almost felt like an embrace. It wanted to pull him toward her. It wanted him to take her in his arms and let her hide from the rest of the world.

Her magic didn’t have to ask him twice.

Envy scooped her up into his arms and squeezed her tightly to his chest. He turned her around, forcing her face against his neck as he held onto her. “Easy, my love. Easy. I’m here.”

She struggled, trying to get away from him even as her power flexed around the two of them, creating a bubble of a shield that no one else could get through.

“Come back to me,” he whispered. “I need you here with me. My love. My darling. My future. My Lilith. Come back to me.”

38

There was so much screaming. So many futures that were blinking out of existence, and there was nothing she could do to stop them from disappearing. Every time someone died, she could feel that thread being snapped as they were thrust out of their futures.

Some part of her rejoiced. She crowed with happiness that the people who had harmed her would no longer be able to harm her or anyone else. That devilish part of her wanted them to feel the same pain she had felt while they stole and ripped at pieces of her she couldn’t get back.

But then another part of her, the softer side which had always wanted people to be alive and well, that part sobbed. So many lives, so many people who had a chance to do good things if they just changed... they were gone. Those opportunities for them to save themselves were gone with them.

She wanted to believe that everyone had a hint of good in them. Her entire life had been based on that fact. And she’d seen it hundreds of times in the futures where people had the chance to make the wrong choice. If they didn’t choose that route, then their lives went in a much better direction.

The rock like man who died first had his future set firm as the stone that made up his body. She knew he would not change his mind about killing her, nor was he interested in changing. He wanted her dead. He wanted to see her body lying there and then he would get addicted to it.

But the shifters? They still had a chance. She’d felt the rumblings between the two of them, and she knew the brothers hadn’t enjoyed that she was in pain. They didn’t want her to lie there like that, writhing on the floor when there were quicker ways to kill her. No matter what future thread she had tugged on, they always let her die. Every time. But they would learn from it. They would grow.

Until their lines were also snapped.

The priestess was long gone, but she still mourned as that thread snapped. The magician? He’d still had a chance to save her. He was the only one whose future hadn’t ended every time with her dead. A few of the other times he was going to take her for himself, but there was a chance she’d get away if he did that. There were always chances.

Until he also died.

And then there was just Lorenzo. She struggled to open her eyes for that and had a hard time believing what had even happened. There was a dragon? Surely she was out of her mind. There was no dragon here, and Envy wasn’t standing so close, just watching as the man was sawed in half.

Blood splashed toward her, and the shield of her magic was the only thing that prevented it from drenching her. It was with that her mind snapped.

Everything was too much. There was so much death, and she’d never wanted that. She wasn’t this feral creature who wanted everyone to be punished for what they had done to her. But there was still a part of her that was so happy they were gone, that was so relieved that she wouldn’t have to feel them anymore.

Someone grabbed her, yet another person who thought they had any right to touch her. She fought at first, struggling against the arms that banded around her and the touch that was so unwelcome. She didn’t want to be touched by anyone else. She wanted to keep her power, because they were killing her by taking it away. Didn’t they understand that? The very breath from her lungs was gone because they kept taking bits and pieces from her and she didn’t want to keep fighting them...

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