Page 81 of The Demon Mark

“Lilith, if there was ever a time to ask me to do something, it is now.” He chuckled, the sound rusty and raw in his chest. “I would give you the world, if you asked.”

As strange as it was to say, it was the truth. He would give her any and everything that she wanted.

Her sigh breezed across his collarbone as she tucked her face away from his sight. “It’s just... I wish I could stay. And I know that’s silly of me to ask, but I thought... Well, it just might be nice if I could.”

“Stay?” He pulled her upright, setting her astride him so they could have this conversation face to face. Clearly she didn’t want to look at him, because she continued to play with the hair on his chest, then ran her fingers along his collarbone. But he wouldn’t let her not look at him. Not in a time like this. “Lilith.”

“I know we’ve never talked about it,” she relented. “It’s just... I wouldn’t mind staying, you know.”

“You thought I was ever going to let you leave?” He couldn’t believe her words. “What part about me kidnapping you left you confused? Little love, you couldn’t run anywhere on this planet where I would not chase you. I’m not letting you go.”

“I know that you’re not...” she huffed and then slapped her hands down on his pecs. “That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I want you to want me to stay!” The blurted words seemed to reveal too much of her emotions, but he didn’t care. Right now, they were music to his ears. “I know that’s silly and I know that’s not at all who or what you are. But I want you to want me for more than just because someone else had me. I want you to want me as yourself, not as... Envy.”

There was a time when he would have corrected her. Envy was who he was. It was the very core of the emotion that had created him, and it was the reasoning behind all of his actions. He had glutted himself on envy so many times that he had quite literally become it, and then became so powerful that he could take a mortal form. His power came from desiring what others had.

And yet... he didn’t want to keep her because someone else had her. At least, not entirely anymore.

Hands on her back, he cajoled her back to his chest, where he could wrap her up in his arms. Because now he understood why she didn’t want to look him in the face while she talked. He understood the deep rawness of the wound she bared to him. And maybe because he didn’t want her to look at him while he said this, either.

“I want to keep you,” he whispered into her sweet smelling hair. “I want to keep you safe. Not just because I want no one else to have you, but mark my words, I will cut off the hands of any other man who touches you.”

“Then why do you want to keep me?” He could feel her lips curving into a smile against his skin.

“Because I want you to stay. For who you are. For how you make me feel when you’re with me. For all of those reasons, I want you to stay.” And then he realized he was still demanding it, when that was part of what she was saying. She didn’t want him to keep her because of any reason other than wanting her. So he quickly added, “Will you stay?”

She pressed a kiss right over his heart and replied, “Yes. I think I’d like that very much.”

The warmth in his chest bloomed into something both beautiful and wicked. It was so much better when someone chose to stay with him. It fulfilled the very demon inside of him. Because she’d chosen to be with him over anyone else.

No one else would suit for her, and that was far better than stealing anything in the world.

They remained like that for a while. With her pressed against his heart, and him listening to the soft sounds she made as she relaxed into him. The quiet and stillness after what they had just experienced was more than welcome. He’d never thought he would want to be wrapped up in a woman, but here he was.

How strange it was to care about another person like this. And even stranger, to want them to find peace in touching him.

“You know we’ll have to talk about it sooner than later,” she whispered. Her words feathered through the bubble of relaxation that had built around them. But he refused to see it break.

“Of course we do. I know you saw into the future. I assume you chose the future for all of us that would keep us alive?” Although, now that he thought about it... “You’re not going to pick the picture where my brother and his long-lost love end up together but you and I don’t. Correct?”

“That’s the problem when oracles make attachments. It becomes awfully hard not to pick any future that isn’t one where I end up happy with you. It’s not the right choice, sometimes, but... Yes, I found a way for all of us to live.”

“Good. Because as much as I like my brothers, I will always choose the selfish path when it’s with you.” He tightened his arms around her. “And you aren’t lying?”

“I couldn’t lie to you if I tried,” she replied with a laugh." You are too entangled in my soul for me to ever not tell you the truth. You are..."

She hesitated, and he wondered if she was stopping herself from telling him the whole truth again.

Someday, she wouldn’t feel the need to do that. Someday, he would get it out of her to say what she was thinking without pausing or wondering if he was going to judge her for it. But he wouldn’t push her today. Not when everything felt so raw.

“So?” he asked. “What did you see?”

“We need to draw them out. There was a large square in the middle of this kingdom. I’ve never been there before. I was telling people prophecies while you and your brother waited in the shadows. Lorenzo came with many people, but you still killed him.”

“Can you tell me any more details than that?”

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