Chapter 14

14

E nvy hated children. He hated them with every fiber of his being. Usually he avoided them at all costs, because their youth always made him wonder what they would become later on in life. Would their powers grow? Was he the monster for thinking about killing them when they were this small?

Not to mention they were always sticky. He didn't like sticky things.

But as he kept them at a very far distance from the shadow creatures that he conjured from his skin, he had to admit this wasn't as bad as normal. At the very least, they were behaving. They weren't grabbing onto him with those slimy fingers or trying to touch the creatures that existed beneath his flesh.

The magic he harbored was more dangerous than they could fathom. Young humans were simple creatures, and he was the beast they needed to stay away from.

Until they giggled, at least, and then he thought perhaps they didn't have to stay as far as he'd originally thought. That sound wasn't so bad.

He entertained them, encouraging the light sound even as he kept an ear on what Lilith was saying to the young woman, who looked at her with rapture in her eyes.

It was quite the prophecy. One that would bring about an age of ruin for the men in his city, although he couldn't find an ounce of pity for them. If they were as bad as Lilith claimed they would be, then they deserved whatever fate this brothel owner would bring upon them.

"Mister!" a little voice chimed right by his ear.

Frowning, he looked down at the dandelion puff of a child who stared up at him. The little girl was so blonde, her hair was nearly white. She was pale as well, although all of his people were pale considering they lived underground. But there was a translucency to her skin that made him pause.

Ignoring the shadows that were entertaining the other children, he focused on her. "You aren't like the others, now are you?"

She pursed her lips. "I'm just like all the other kids here."

"No, you aren't." He reached out and dragged his finger down her cheek, watching as a blue vein throbbed at his touch. "You're something else entirely. I'd suggest you were part troll, but there haven't been trolls in these parts for years."

She sniffed, clearly uninterested in having this conversation with him. But that wouldn't do. He wanted to know, and now he would have the answer.

She must have seen the intent in his gaze, or perhaps the sudden focus that made him more dangerous than others. The little girl leaned closer and whispered, "My mother was a rusalka."

"They don't live in this kingdom."

"She came from another."

Gluttony's most likely. The last thing he needed was more creatures like her filtering into his home. He already had a hard enough time dealing with his people, who had magical powers they shouldn't have. Let alone a powerful little girl with a voice that swayed men to their graves.

He was ready to summon one of the shadows and choke her with it, but then a hand landed on his shoulder. The distraction was enough to let the little one bolt, a change in his plans that he didn't appreciate.

He looked up at Lilith, and all of that frustration disappeared. She watched him with eyes that were more the natural color he had expected. Blue, lovely, so clear that he thought he could see an ocean inside of them if he peered hard enough. And there was a softness in that gaze that he had yet to see.

Almost as though she had melted looking at him, if only because he was with this little girl. The little girl who had escaped him, as it were, but he supposed he could let her go.

"Done?" he asked.

"Not hardly." She held out her hand for him to take. "There are more people who need me."

"We are not staying in this city any longer. You will return with me to my castle, and I will put you back where you are supposed to be." But even he could hear that there was wiggle room in what he'd said.

She just continued to stare at him.

Those lovely eyes had widened only a little with each word that he said, and he could see she didn't believe him. In fact, she was just standing there. Waiting for him to change his mind.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You are a captive, oracle. You don't get to do whatever you want."

"I left your castle, didn't I?" She blinked a few times, and then he saw mist beginning to rise from her skin again. "It won't stop. It'll just keep moving farther and farther away from my body until I can no longer control it. Soon enough, it will reach throughout your entire city, forcing me to seek out futures until it kills me."

He didn't want her to die. He needed the power that she kept inside her. Otherwise, she would be gone. Again. The power of the oracle would once again be so far out of his reach that he was incapable of finding it for another hundred years or so until an oracle stumbled into his kingdom once again.

Sighing perhaps a little longer than the last time, he gestured with his hand at the door. "Go on, then. I'll follow you."

And so he did. He trailed along behind her like a guard dog ready to tear into anyone who looked at her for too long. He certainly wanted to. Even with the empty streets, he could feel eyes on them. Perhaps the young girl had gone out to warn others that the demon king was here. Perhaps word had simply gotten out from people looking through their windows.

Whatever the reasoning, Envy knew they were being watched. He could feel it deep in his bones that they were not alone, and it was driving him mad.

The itchy feeling persisted even as they strode into another house. This one only had an old man, who wasn't much of a threat considering the shaky way he stood to greet them. Envy remained by the doorway, watching the shadows down the street as that itching feeling still festered. Someone, or something, was coming for them.

"Hurry up," he grumbled.

"An oracle does not hurry," she replied with a prim voice that he had yet to hear from her.

As she sat down with the old man, holding onto his hands as the mist rose from her skin, he wondered if this was the real Lilith that he was getting a glimpse of. So far, she'd been terrified of him. Interested in the beginning, but mostly terrified. Of him, her freedom, the world surrounding her, there were more reasons for her to be afraid than he could count on all his fingers and toes.

And yet, now she seemed so confident. She sat with that old man and told a demon off for rushing her without hesitation. Like she'd been born to do this.

He watched her murmur with the elderly man, and he mused that perhaps he wasn't dealing with Lilith at all. The confidence, the way she moved so comfortably in her body, those were signs of an ancient creature. She had no fear left in her, and he wondered if now he was dealing with the oracle.

Not Lilith.

He waited until she finished with the old man before he stepped closer to her. As she drifted by him, he grabbed onto her upper arm.

There it was. The magic that had given him so much trouble when he'd tried to take it from her. It held onto him right back, digging into his skin as though there were knives attached to the end of its power.

"Release me," she said, her voice lower and vibrating with magic.

"I'd like to speak to Lilith now."

She tilted her head slightly, observing him with white marble eyes. "Astute, spirit, but we are busy at the moment."

Well, that wasn't Lilith. So he was right. She didn't have all of her wits about her when she was like this. Or at least, she wasn't herself in the sense that Lilith wasn't home at all. Whoever resided in her head at this moment was the oracle who saw through the very future itself. How odd.

He watched her trail through the streets again, following behind her as his mind skittered through all the possibilities. While he still very much wanted her power—and still intended to steal it from her at some point—this was also a unique opportunity to watch how she did what she did. He could observe how she used her magic, and perhaps that would give him an idea of how to take it.

This was how he would learn more about the oracles. She wouldn't have to tell him about her power at all.

And the longer he followed her lithe body, the more he knew that wasn't going to be a chore.

She was beautiful. Even in this state, when there was something eerie about looking at her. She moved with an inhuman grace, stuck in a human body that was so limited. Her hands twitched at her sides, fingers constantly curving and moving as though she were stroking the very mist that rose off her skin. Her eyes turned toward whoever needed their fortune told, and she walked in that direction with unerring confidence.

She didn't notice any danger around her. But he did.

The first man who approached her had hungry eyes. Envy didn't know if he wanted the power that radiated from her skin or if the man was merely hungry for flesh. It didn't matter. He peeled one of his shadows from his skin and let the sharp creature roll along the stones toward the man who lingered in the shadows.

The oracle didn't even react to the sound of his screams. In fact, it seemed like she had known what he would do because she turned her face away from the alley at the same moment the sharp ball of blades reached the man.

Leaning into her, he grabbed her by the throat and forced her to stop where she was. "I thought you said you couldn't see my future, oracle?"

She only paused to indulge him. He could feel it in the leashed power that pressed against his palm and slowly pried his fingers off her skin. "I still can't. You are nothing but a void, demon king. But I can see other people's futures, and that man's was already written."

How strange it was to release her and see her continue walking, as though the most dangerous man in this kingdom hadn't just had her throat in his grip. And fuck, it had felt so right. He had wanted to hold on to her longer. To curve his fingers to where her heart would beat against his skin.

He didn't want to hurt her, though. He only wanted to feel that flutter increase as he leaned closer to those plush lips.

Envy needed to get his head on straight. She was just the first oracle he'd gotten close enough to actually try to steal her magic. Or the second, he supposed, if he included the one he'd killed.

He didn't include that one, though. A failed attempt at getting the magic from them was obviously something he wanted to forget rather than to admit he had failed. This was the first powerful oracle in his grasp.

He wouldn't waste this opportunity.

So he watched her. Even though it made every part of his body harden and ache with the need to devour her. Or her magic. He didn't know which.

Because this oracle was just as beautiful as her host. The lithe body was just the shell that he found himself attracted to. But there was more than that. He could see the spark of kindness in her hands as she reached for those who needed her words. She trusted him implicitly to keep her safe. Even though there was another who tried to attack them, she didn't even look at the shadows.

One could argue it was because she already knew that he would take care of her. But even that made something strange twist in his chest. He had never been the trustworthy individual. He was a demon in the body of a man who stole magic from others. A creature who could peel his tattoos off and use them as weapons. He wasn't a good person.

But she trusted him with her life. And that was as terrifying as it was strange.

Finally, he knew they were done. She was weaving as she walked, her body showing the toll of all those prophecies, and there was only so much time left until the artificial sun in his kingdom rose on the horizon. He'd always tried to mimic this kingdom like they were living above ground, and the sun let him know how much time had passed.

She'd pushed herself too hard, too far, and now she was going to pay the price for that.

Envy found he didn't appreciate that she'd hurt herself. He was the only one allowed to harm her, and even then, he wasn't certain that he liked the idea of her in pain.

He walked up behind her and bent to scoop her into his arms. She protested, but barely.

"There are more," she whispered.

But in her gaze, he could see there was the faintest hint of blue eyes staring back at him through the milky white sheen that covered them when the oracle was in control.

"You've told enough fortunes for the night," he replied, flicking his fingers underneath her back to conjure a portal that would bring them right to his castle. "You are finished, oracle."

"But—"

"No," he interrupted. His voice was firm and hard. There was no arguing to be had. "You are finished, oracle. Do not make me repeat myself a third time."

She fell silent, and he was certain that he had Lilith back in his arms. The woman went limp as he stepped toward the portal and then through it into the room he'd built for her. Even the pain of portal jumping didn't wake her, or perhaps she was simply getting used to it like he had.

So much for the prison he'd been so certain he had successfully built. How was he supposed to guess that she was crazed enough to walk through an unknown portal?

Mad woman.

Insane.

Foolish and uncaring of her own safety.

And yet, he laid her down on the bed carefully. She was already asleep in his arms, just underlining how little she cared about her own safety, considering he was her largest threat.

But still. As he brushed his fingers through her hair, laying the pale locks around her face, he couldn't help but make sure she was comfortable. He didn't want to take care of her, but damn it, the woman had no one else.

And some part of him whispered that he had to do this.

Someone had to take care of the oracle. Why couldn't that someone be him?