Page 86 of The Demon Mark

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Lorenzo is just having a friendly chat with her. He won’t kill her,” she said.

“That’s been the whole point of every attack, or was I mistaken?” He arched a brow. “Your so-called master wants to kill her and get himself another oracle because he couldn’t keep her under his thumb.”

“He doesn’t want to kill her any more than the rest of us want her dead. She was part of our family and if she is willing to join that family again, then he is willing to let her live.” The fire eater clasped her hands, as though already begging him. “I’m asking you now, Envy. Please let her live. Let her come back to her family, because we are the only ones who understand her. You couldn’t possibly know what she needs. But we have lived with her for countless years. We are her family, and we have always taken care of our own.”

“Lies,” he hissed. “Ask your master why she has been so weak. Do you believe it was because the tea she was meant to drink drained her of her abilities? He’s been poisoning her for years, keeping her under lock and key to make him money. She remembers, now. And with a clear mind, she has chosen me.”

A few of the bigger men from the circus stepped forward, and he could see their intent. Then, over their shoulders, he saw Lorenzo make his move.

Envy saw red the moment that man’s hands touched Lilith. Then he felt every part of his body burst into flame as the circus master dragged Lilith through the crowd.

His woman wasn’t going willingly. Though she didn’t appear to be struggling too hard or screaming for help, she was still tugging back against his grip. Maybe she was afraid to make a scene. Maybe she was trying to make sure that Envy didn’t do something stupid. But he was going to do something stupid the moment he saw her being yanked out of his sight.

“I’m only going to tell you all this once,” he said in a low growl. “If you leave right now, I will let you live. If you do not, I’ll rip your magic out of your body and swallow it whole. Then I will tear you apart. Piece by piece. I will watch the life drain from your eyes and then I will gift her your skulls.”

They didn’t even react. None of them were so much as terrified by what he was saying, and they should have been quaking before him. They should have fallen to their knees and begged for his mercy and yet... they did not.

Sloth’s hand came down on his shoulder and Envy’s guts twisted yet again with the knowledge that something terrible was about to happen. Something he could not control and something he had not expected.

“How do they know who we are, brother?” Sloth asked, his voice pitched low as he prepared himself for a battle.

“I do not know.”

It was a good question, and one he would figure out as soon as they were screaming beneath his feet.

He didn’t have time to yank out the tattoo before the performers launched their attack. But they forgot that while he had creatures to battle for him, he was also a fighter himself. His illusion upon his and his brother’s forms fell away the moment he lunged. Double swords in his hands, he sliced and hacked at any meat that stood before him. He was careful around the villagers, though. Careful not to touch his own people, who had not betrayed him. Those who remained loyal would get a reward as soon as he was done with this.

He and Sloth both fought, their swords glinting in the sunlight as the circus people seemed to multiply. Screams echoed through the square, and countless of his innocent villagers fled the area. He hoped they would all get away unscathed, but he knew there was a chance someone would get hurt in all of this.

That worry made him careless.

That fear made him take a step in the wrong direction and white hot fire spread in a sharp line across his belly.

Hissing out a curse, he glared at the man who had cut him. It was one of the male shifters in the circus, and already his yellow eyes gave him away as one of the lycanthropes that should have stayed in Gluttony’s kingdom.

But then a voice rose above the others, amplified by magic and filling the town square. “Look at the demon king, already trapped. What a shame.”

Envy’s gaze sliced up to where Lorenzo stood on a stairwell, with Lilith in his grasp. The man looked all too pleased with himself, even from this far away.

“When I get to you,” Envy snarled, “I will cut out your tongue.”

“I’m sure you would love to try. But you thought the chimera was the only trick I had up my sleeve?” Lorenzo lifted a bottle in his hand and then tossed it onto the ground. It shattered in a plume of gold dust that glimmered in the dying light. “Good luck. You’re going to need it. I doubt you’ll survive, but if you do, we’ll already be gone.”

Envy shouted as Lorenzo dragged Lilith away, but then he froze as a sound filled the square. An echoing growl. A hissing bang. And then the golden dust gathered itself up into a serpentine form that grew larger with every passing second. The circus performers fled the area, their laughter filling the air until Envy and Sloth stood alone.

Staring up at the massive golden dragon that opened its jaws and roared.

34

Lorenzo’s hold on her shifted the moment they were out of Envy’s eyesight. But she knew it would. His angry whispers still filled her mind with their usual brand of poison.

“If you give me the chance to take you away from all of this, then I will let him live.”

She’d hissed at him, “You couldn’t kill him if you tried.”

“The dragon in my pocket says otherwise. I paid a lifetime’s worth of gold for it, which means you’re going to have to work extra hard to repay me. I’m saving you, girl. Now you either come with me, or I will make you crawl on your hands and knees after me.”

She knew he’d make good on that threat. He’d done it before. With all of her memories back, and him being so close, she could remember the time when he’d done that. He’d been bound and determined to break her in the early days. He’d starved her. Made her beg at his feet for food. Fed her out of a dog bowl. The worst kind of life until she’d relented and let him do whatever he wanted.

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