Page 10 of The Demon Mark

She could sense there were more eyes through the fake doorway. Everyone would know that the demon king had grabbed onto her and that she hadn’t fought. She tilted her head and saw that anger in her master’s eyes.

There would be punishment for this. Her master would keep the herb away from her. He would make her suffer in a room where her power couldn’t get out and she would have to sit in that pain and anguish. No, this could not happen.

If she let this happen, then agony of days on end would ruin her. She’d done it before. She remembered what it was like.

Struggling now, she kicked her legs and ignored the tangled wet fabric that still clung to her skin. It wasn’t like anyone here hadn’t seen it before. They’d seen her bare as well, because in Lust’s kingdom, people preferred their oracle to be nude. She had been bared before hundreds, because her body wasn’t her own. It was a vessel for the power that lived inside her. Nothing more, nothing less.

Her legs kicked out, her elbow nearly catching his jaw. Envy must have been surprised because he let her go. His arms opened, and she found herself dumped onto the floor.

She hit hard enough to bruise. Her knees and elbows striking first, but she wasted no time. Crawling, she bolted toward her master and then plastered herself against his sweaty thigh.

He smelled like he’d been in the barn. There were creatures back there, ones usually she took care of unless she was performing.

She didn’t want to touch her master, but she didn’t want him to think that she was in the thrall of this demon, either. She couldn’t... go. Where would she go? The herb was the only thing that kept her alive! If she didn’t have that herb, then she was useless.

She’d take her own life before she allowed that to happen.

Breathing hard, she looked at the demon who still sat on her bed. There was a wet stain across the dark fabric of his clothing. From her, she knew, but still it made something in her twist.

She liked looking at him a little ruined. Like he’d been caught doing something nefarious.

Licking her lips, her eyes flicked back to the floor as he stared at her with a gaze that made her burn.

“Name your price, circus master.” Envy leaned back on his hands, looking like he wasn’t bothered at all. “There is no number too great.”

“As I said before, she’s not for sale.” Her master’s hand came down on her hair, and she had to school herself not to flinch. She hated it when he touched her. But she was the one pressed against his leg and trembling, so hadn’t she asked for this? “I think you can see she’d rather stay with me.”

She could feel Envy’s gaze on her. That look was more of a physical touch than the hand on her head right now.

“I don’t know if she wants to stay or if she feels like she must,” Envy murmured. But then he stood.

Boots thudded against the stone, pausing right in front of them. Her master stiffened as the demon king knelt before the two of them. Envy’s hand came to her chin and forced her to look at him.

Those green eyes saw too much. They saw her fear, her anguish, and her hesitation. He knew there was something in her that was curious about him. But that there was a much larger part of her that feared what would happen if she entertained that thought for even a moment.

“Such a pity,” he murmured. A flare of emotion darkened his green eyes even further before he released her. And then he stared at her master, somehow larger than the biggest man she’d ever met. “I’m unused to not getting what I want.”

“Then perhaps now is a time for you to practice,” her master snarled.

Envy merely nodded and then walked out of the room. The faintest skittering sound echoed from the bath house, as though a group of people had scattered the moment they realized he could see them.

She had never thought to be terrified of another person. Lilith had spent her entire life being the one that others reached out to. She knew how to calm someone down, and she knew how to see their future, but she had never seen someone who threatened her very existence with his.

The hand in her hair tightened, twisting around the strands as her master forced her attention to him. “You only got through two prophecies tonight.”

She swallowed hard. “I know. The woman attacked me?—”

“I don’t care if someone attacks you. I don’t care if they scar that pretty little face of yours. They are paying for a show. You are supposed to convince them of whatever story you tell, and then you make me money. I thought I’d made that clear.”

“You have, master.” She bit her lip, staring down at the floor. “It will not happen again.”

“And then you caught the attention of the biggest monster in this kingdom? You lost me more money with that. I’m afraid there will be no tea for you tonight.”

But her herb! She had earned it. She had been attacked and then she had stayed, wouldn’t that at least...

Her master tossed her onto the floor. Lilith barely caught herself, saving a broken nose, as her face was nearly crushed against the floor. “Please,” she whimpered. “Just a sip?”

“A sip is for people who earn it,” he snarled before leaving her room.

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