Page 85 of The Demon Mark

He knew it was the truth, but damn it, having Sloth be the voice of reason grated on his nerves. He didn’t want to be that person who flew off the handle, but the moment he saw Lilith bend down and start talking to a young boy, all the warning bells went off in his head.

Something wasn’t right. He could feel it deep in his bones. Either Lorenzo knew what they were doing or he had prepared for this moment. There were too many variables. Too many people.

“Why did she pick a crowd?” he muttered, stepped through a group of people to get closer to her.

“Because while it is easier to hide in a crowd, it is also much harder to run.” Sloth shrugged and grabbed an apple from a nearby cart. At the woman’s cry of outrage, he handed her a gold coin that was far too much for an apple. Probably too much for the entire cart’s worth. “I like your woman. She’s smarter than the others.”

“You haven’t met the others.”

“I’ve met the women our brothers have chosen. Selene gives me goosebumps. That woman is so full of witchy magic that it makes my skin crawl.” He shuddered. “And Greed has too much fun with Varya, causing all that chaos.”

“You haven’t met Katherine yet, then. She’s smart.” Although, nowhere near as smart as his Lilith. He supposed he was a little biased, though. He thought Lilith was better than all of them combined.

“Ugh,” Sloth said.

Immediately, all of Envy’s hackles rose. “What? What is it?”

He peered through the crowd, trying to find the danger that Sloth had seen. But there was nothing. Just Lilith stooped down to speak with the little boy and no one even looking at them. Of course, there were a few side eyes of people who recognized her. But no one that he would consider to be a threat.

“That look on your face,” Sloth said before making a fake gagging noise. “That’s disgusting. You’re so deeply in love.”

Envy scoffed. “I’m not in love with her.”

But he was. He could feel it deep in his bones that life would never be the same without her, and if he had to lose her, then part of him screamed he should follow her into that oblivion even though he didn’t have a soul to do so.

Shock chased the realization and his knees went weak with horror. He... couldn’t be in love. Sure, the demon kings had realized long ago that they could feel some semblance of emotions that weren’t their own, but never anything this deeply.

It wasn’t possible for them to love. He grabbed onto the nearest stall, trying very hard not to keel over as he realized he’d been wrong and that he himself had fallen prey to the emotion. For what else was love then, not wanting to live without the other person in his life? Even if that meant she had to be part of his life from afar, he would take that over not having her at all.

It hurt. It ached. Every part of him that clicked into place as he admitted the feeling to himself made his entire body hurt. He wanted to rip at the beating traitor in his chest, but that would deny himself the sweetest fate of all.

He’d do anything for her. And that was so much better than serving himself as he had for a thousand years.

“There it is,” Sloth muttered, biting into the apple obnoxiously loud. “Hurts, doesn’t it? Sinks into your skin as you realize you have to protect someone who doesn’t want to be protected. Her life is her own, and it’s not yours to tell her what to do with it. Unfortunately, this almost means that you might have to watch her die. What a shitty existence.”

It was shitty. Because even now, as he stared at his brother, all he could think about was her safety. That his love, his little woman, was going to be in his life for the rest of hers.

“But she’s mortal,” he whispered.

“Apparently, there are ways around that. The longer they’re by our side, the longer they live. I wouldn’t know.” Sloth tossed the half eaten apple onto the ground. “Mine ran from me and then she died. So don’t let her get too far from you, brother. You’ll need her close.”

Shit. Speaking of. They’d been talking far too long.

He whirled, looking for her. And for a moment, he thought he’d lost her. He could see that she wasn’t with the young boy anymore, nor was she with the mother. But then he realized that Lilith was still in the same spot. The other two had just left.

He saw her bright head of pale hair standing next to someone that he recognized. Lorenzo himself stood with her, talking a little too close. Just close enough to make all the hairs on his body rise and his teeth bare in anger. That man had no right to be anywhere near her, and certainly not that close.

A low growl echoing in his throat, he stepped forward to interrupt them, only to have Sloth grab him by the back of the shirt and force him to stay still.

“What?” he snapped.

And then Sloth slapped the back of his head. So hard that it rocked him slightly forward. But when he lifted his head again, he saw his brother’s concern.

The performers in the circus had surrounded them. There were enough of them to be concerning, but not enough that he would consider them a real threat.

He placed his hand on his thigh, the place where he had the largest of his tattoos. He hadn’t taken the harpy out for a very long time, mostly because her screams made his ears bleed. But if these performers thought they could back him into a corner, or that they had seen all of his tricks, then they were very wrong.

But the fire eater stepped forward, her bright red hair flaming in the fake sunlight. She stood far too strong and confident before the man who would kill her.

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