Page 74 of The Demon Mark

A bright beacon of light who had once been in his life. A creature of unending beauty and kindness, a woman who had not just touched his body, but his heart. She could see their souls intertwined in a dance that so few ever waltzed.

“A soulbond,” she whispered. “The gods have blessed you.”

His hand turned in her grip, holding onto her wrist with an iron touch that burned and ached even in this state. But she didn’t care. She didn’t even stop.

All she wanted was to bask in that love that should have lasted a lifetime. Until... until...

Tears dripped down her cheeks. Pain bloomed throughout her heart, as though he had reached into her chest and yanked it out of her. Because the pain inside of him was too great even for her to share. That soulbond had been severed. Ripped and torn apart by a death that had yanked the woman from his life and pushed her into the realm of the dead.

Even now, she could hear the ringing words that threaded throughout the entirety of this man’s futures. “You will spend the rest of your life searching for me, demon. Waste all your many years trying to replace me. I will not go to the land of the dead until your suffering is complete.”

“You’ve been cursed,” she whispered.

Again, he jerked in her grasp. “You are meant only to see the future, oracle. Look or I will force you out of my head.”

She should, but... one last thing.

She looked through the tendrils of that curse. Through all the opportunities for it to go awry. She felt his guilt and his assumption that he was the one who had caused all of his brothers to start changing, but that wasn’t true.

And then she peered into his future. Knowing, without a doubt, that he needed her to be there.

The power in her flared hotter, stronger, more capable than he gave her credit for. She wouldn’t allow him to force her from his mind, not until she could help. Not until she could fix what had been broken inside of him and mend it back together with the needle and thread of her words.

Breathing hard, she searched through every ending, every beginning, and she found the one that not only allowed him to live the longest but also for Envy and Lilith to be unaffected by the world that so desperately wanted to tear them apart.

A sharp gasp echoed through the room as she released him. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t get enough air into her lungs even though she gulped mouthful after mouthful down.

“Lilith?” Envy asked, grabbing onto her and trying to steady her. “Breathe, little love. Breathe for me.”

She was trying, really she was.

But then her gaze found Sloth’s troubled expression and she couldn’t stop looking at him. Couldn’t stop the mist from rising off her skin again. “You were loved. So deeply and without question. But you ruined it.”

He shook his head, taking a step away from the bed. “You were supposed to look into the future for yourself, oracle.”

Even Envy’s hands tightened on her waist. “Lilith. Did you see a way to help us?”

She shook her head in refusal of both men. “She’s already here. Her soul fought through the underworld to return, just as she always planned. But she does not remember you, nor will she. You have been searching for her, but she’s already where you’ve been looking. You missed her, Sloth. And you have to find her because she won’t come back a second time.”

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Envy made sure one last time that Lilith was catching her breath before bolting after his brother, who had run from the room. They’d both managed to terrify Envy. Lilith because he thought she was dying. All of a sudden her lungs had seized, and he had the horrible realization that maybe Sloth was too powerful. Maybe his brother was actually shoving her out of his head and, in doing so, was killing her.

And then Sloth had frozen while she whispered about all the things his brother had lost and it nearly broke him to hear it.

So Sloth had been in love. Not just curious about a woman, but genuinely in love with her. Sloth had lost something so deeply precious to him that none of his brothers could have understood it. After all these years, Envy’d had no idea that his laziest of brothers had been suffering.

Just the thought of losing Lilith made him feel like he was losing his mind. He couldn’t survive this realm without her, which was likely a terrifying thing to say to anyone but in his own head. And yet, that was the truth.

He would do anything to keep her safe. Whether someone was trying to take her from him, or life itself. He had a feeling that it wasn’t even the demon part of him, either. Almost as though it wasn’t that he coveted her or that he wanted her to himself.

How he felt for her was stronger than envy itself.

“I’m fine,” she said, sounding more like herself and less breathless. “Go get him.”

So he sprinted into the hallway to catch his brother before Sloth figured out how to get home. They still needed him here, even if that was the last thing Sloth wanted to do.

His brother always had been faster. Where Envy was broad, Sloth was narrow. The speed with which his brother could run was impressive, if a little foolish, considering how slippery the stairs were that led up the center of his home. But Sloth had already slipped through one of the newer portals Envy had set up, raced out of the library, and up quite a few stairs. Unfortunately, he didn’t climb every single day like Envy did.

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