Page 65 of The Demon Mark

Leaning back on the sands, he watched her.

Like a true lady, she had spread a blanket on the sands and made him conjure a small umbrella for her to sit underneath, so she didn’t get too burned. And then she’d set about working on a small embroidery piece that she said would eventually turn into a skirt for herself.

She’d brought embroidery with her.

Embroidery.

He didn’t understand why she would go through so much effort. If she wanted an embroidered skirt, he could just conjure her up one. He could even pluck the desire out of her head so it would be as she wished it to be.

And yet, he was also fine with her working on her own. Perhaps there was some small part of her that desired to be creative. Who was he to challenge her?

Envy meandered a small way away, keeping his eyes on her in case something attacked. But it also gave his familiar a few moments with him alone.

Orphe glided out of the sky where she’d been circling them and landed on his shoulder as they both surveyed the horizon. His pet had healed well enough, although there was still a streak of white where feathers no longer grew. She could fly, but there would forever be a strangeness to her movements, now.

“Things are getting worse,” she said.

“The old circus master is doing more rounds, I suppose?”

“His name is Lorenzo. He was born in Pride’s kingdom, just like her. A noble, if you thought he was lying.” Orphe’s eyes narrowed on a dust devil that spun to life far from them. “He has a lot more talent and charm than I gave him credit for.”

“How many people are following him now?”

“Quite a few.”

“I assume they are watching you come and go? If he’s as smart as you make him seem, he will not be blind that we are watching him.” Which would make killing him perhaps a little harder.

Envy didn’t want to walk into the man’s home and murder him easily. There wasn’t any fun in that. And if there was going to be yet another rebellion in his future, he wanted to make a point that would last a few hundred years. No one, and nothing, would ever stand in his way. They all forgot just how powerful he was. And he was more than happy to remind them.

“They know who and what I am. They do not stop me from watching, though.” Orphe turned a troubled gaze to him. “That concerns me. They don’t mind that I spy or listen.”

“So they want me to know what they are doing, then.” He scoffed. “The confidence.”

“I’m not so sure you’re the one they want.” Orphe opened her wings, buffeting his back with the wind of her anger before settling again. “They rarely speak of you. And if they do, it is in the suggestion that you are an obstacle to get around. They talk of her constantly, though.”

“Her?” He turned to look at the gold and white creature hiding from the sun. She was pleased with herself, clearly. A small smile decorated her features in the sunlight. She never once looked up at the two of them speaking.

“You took a powerful creature from him. He not only wants her back, but he needs her back. Without her ability to see the future, he does not know where is safe for his people to go. Perhaps even more, it took all his profit away. She was the reason people came to see the circus. They are destitute without her. Already he’s gone through most of the money buying new side shows that will draw people in.” Orphe shook her head. “He is not good with money.”

“So she was his golden ticket back into a life of nobility?”

“It seems that those who serve the oracles live a life of poverty and piety.” She shrugged her wings up and down. “He was not interested in such a life.”

Of course he wasn’t. This Lorenzo only cared about himself. Envy had seen that long before the man had betrayed his oracle.

It was frustrating, however, because it made the man a little unpredictable. Envy wasn’t certain whether it was smart to track him down or keep Lilith safe in the castle and see what the man would do next.

“I assume the chimera took up most of his funds?” Envy made sure his intention was clear with his words. “I do not want another in my castle.”

“I don’t think there are more funds. But the rest of the circus concerns me. They think they can overthrow you. His words exactly are, ‘Bring the magic back to this kingdom’. He’s claiming that if you are put six feet under, that all your magic will return to the families you took it all from.”

He snorted. “Magic doesn’t work like that.”

“You and I know it, but they do not. They believe they are saving generations’ worth of magic.” Orphe spread her wings, getting ready to take off. “If he succeeds, he will take her back. If he fails, he intends to kill her and return to the oracular order to get another.”

Her last words disturbed him. Lorenzo might be an unpleasant man, but he hadn’t thought he man would stoop that low. Clearly Lorenzo had been abusing the one oracle he already had in his grasp. What right did he have to get another?

Killing Lilith did nothing for the circus. All it did was create another barrier for the man to get more money until he could beg on his knees for them to give him another.

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