Page 24 of The Demon Mark

Damn him. Damn her. Damn all of this for making him feel when that was the last thing he wanted to do. He had been fine before he saw her, and he intended to be that way again.

A woman could not distract him from his purpose. And his purpose was to consume as much magic as this form could take, and then he would spread that magic to all who followed him. If they were good enough. If they pleased him and proved that they were worthy of his attention.

It was how it had always been, and how it would always be. She, however, threatened that.

He had to let her go. Orphe was right. He was losing his mind to this little creature and if he didn’t do something with this problem, then he would start to drown. He had a kingdom to run. He couldn’t obsess over a woman like Gluttony had.

He had to focus.

So, ghosting his hand over her once again, he pulled at her power. Tugging, as it were, on the essence that made her... her.

He’d done this many times, usually intending to cause pain. He could yank at a power so strongly that it hurt the person that held it. Of course, that was difficult to do with an oracle’s power.

Usually powers were like a thread that coiled throughout a person’s body. He could yank on it, tugging and tugging until it popped out. It was easy enough, although usually fatal for the person he tugged from. Mist was something he had yet to gather up in the way that it needed to be gathered.

Her power rose from her skin. Like a fine sheen that turned into glistening gossamer all over her body. He could see it with his naked eye, not needing to use his own magic to know where it was coming from.

But when he pulled, it moved. Her power wasn’t trying to flee or wriggle in her to get away from him. It was reaching for him.

“Do you want to leave her so badly?” he asked the magic, a soft smile on his face. “Then I will take you.”

The moment it coiled around his wrist, he knew he was wrong. So very wrong.

It grabbed onto him and yanked. He pressed his palms against the bed, forced to loom over her as his eyes went wide with shock. It continued to travel up his wrists, pinning him to the bed with so much force he wasn’t sure if even his own magic could make it stop. He could feel the greed in that power, the sheer need to see his future and whisper dark tidings in his ears.

It moved up to his shoulders until his view writhed with white mist.

“Lilith,” he wheezed, jerking his neck back so that it couldn’t wrap around his throat. “Lilith, wake up.”

She opened those pretty blue eyes. Ice stared up at him, her expression hardening as she realized the circumstance he’d found himself in. With a sharp-eyed glare, she jerked out from under him and pulled on her power. The mist recoiled into her, a chided child who had been found playing with something it shouldn’t.

He noticed she rubbed her arms, as though she patted the mist into her skin. “You shouldn’t touch me while I’m sleeping,” she hissed.

Envy tried to catch his breath, still braced on the bed with his arms shaking. What was that?

He stared at her, breathing hard, before he realized she wasn’t going to tell him. She had no intent on making this easier for him, nor was she going to explain herself.

Letting out a long breath, he nodded at her. “Noted, oracle.”

And then he conjured another portal and stepped through it. Because he wasn’t all that certain what else he could do.

10

Envy wasn’t sure what to do with her. He conjured a few warding spells, and then a few spying spells, for good measure. He sent them into her room, disguised as flowers to watch what she was doing. For the most part, she talked to herself. Muttering words that he couldn’t quite hear even through the spell.

Soon, though, he could see the madness set in. She twitched often. Her fingers flexing at her sides while her head jerked to the side. Her breath became more rapid, her chest rising and falling. She was almost frantic as she searched for a way out of her room.

This wasn’t sustainable. He knew that. But also he didn’t know how to get her magic out of her.

It was a conundrum, and he didn’t like not knowing the answer to anything. Envy always had an answer. Orphe usually had one if he didn’t.

And neither of them knew how to get the magic out of this woman.

“Other oracles?” Orphe croaked. “Perhaps they would know.”

“I’m not sure if there are any others. Not to mention they would be almost impossible to find. She’s still on her hunger strike and claims she will not eat here.” He pulled at his bottom lip. “Besides, they are unlikely to give up their secrets.”

Orphe clacked her beak, nodding in an eerily human way before he looking back to him. “Understood. There are many oracles I could find, but it would take time. You may lose her before that.”

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