Chapter 28

28

L ilith had just about decided it wasn't all that bad to be alone. She had her room and things to do. There were plenty of places in this castle to explore and honestly, she didn't need Envy.

It took about two hours for her to figure that out before she was bored again. And this time, she knew it was because he wasn't around her. She hated this was how she felt, though. After everything that she'd been through in her life, and all the places she'd been, she shouldn't be so attached to a man.

Especially a man like Envy.

Her last master had been a terrible person. He had treated her horribly, and that was enough reason for her to be well aware of what she had done wrong. Trusting any man to take care of her was the problem. She needed to take care of herself.

So she had gone to the library that she'd found days earlier. There had to be books on how to take care of herself. And yet, there was nothing in there other than stodgy old books full of spells. And she didn't know the first thing about magic, so it wasn't all that interesting for her to read them.

How had he only been gone for a couple of hours?

Lilith had gone through her entire thought process of what she'd done wrong in her life, everything she could have done better, and of course, what she should do moving forward. Then she'd gone to the library again. And then she'd even gone back to her room and organized all the clothing that was left in her closet. She pulled every piece out, inspected all of them to make sure they were in good enough quality and then ended up flat on her back in bed, staring at the ceiling.

"What is wrong with you?" she muttered. "You used to be fine without men. You could wander about without even thinking of them, and now, all of a sudden, you're incapable of living without him?"

Of course, she knew there was another factor in all of this. A factor that made her cheeks burn bright red and every part of her body flare white hot.

Maybe it wasn't that she missed him at all. Maybe she just wanted to fuck him.

After all, he'd made it seem like it was going to be quite the ordeal to even get him to fit. Her hand wandered down her torso, lingering on her breasts before it meandered down her belly.

If he was here, he'd know how to scratch this persistent itch that never seemed to leave her. He could whisper in her ear, telling her all sorts of naughty things until her entire body lit aflame. That's what she wanted, after all.

Lilith didn't miss him. She just missed the feelings he gave her.

Yes, that was so much easier to think about than to consider she might actually miss a man who was responsible for hundreds of deaths throughout the kingdom.

The crackling sound of a portal filled the room, and she was about ready to end the person's life. Who cares if it was even Envy at this point? If he walked through there, he better be crawling on his hands and knees, ready to beg her for her forgiveness with his tongue. But no, of course it wasn't him.

She was still reclined on the bed when the other man was flung through the portal. He caught himself on the bed in a whirl of movement, naked as the day he was born with a blanket pooled around his feet, spinning to glare at the portal before looking around the room as though he expected to be attacked.

The moment his yellow eyes landed on her, they warmed. And she had the distinct moment of realizing his eyes were slitted before they widened into normal pupils as he looked back at her.

"Well, what do we have here?" he asked, his voice deep and gruff.

Lilith took her time surveying him. He was, after all, a rather impressive specimen. Taller than Envy, he was long and lean in an almost shocking contrast. There was the faintest dusting of scales along his cheeks, quite pretty as the fake sunlight glinted off of them. His deep brown hair was tousled, as though he regularly ran his fingers through it. And there was the faintest hint of pink on his cheeks, as though he'd run here.

Or perhaps, as though he'd been thrust out of bed before he was ready. But perhaps her thoughts had turned far too much into the lustful lifestyle that Envy had given to her.

She didn't know what to do. So she stayed frozen where she was, looking at him while he looked at her before she blurted, "Who are you?"

He tossed his hair, like the rake he clearly was, and flashed her another bright grin. "Oh, pretty ladies like you have to earn my name. Who, I should be asking, are you?"

She wouldn't tell him a thing about herself. That smarmy smile made her skin crawl, and she pressed herself against the headboard and drew her legs in tight to her chest. "I'm not sure you're supposed to be here."

Another man stepped through the portal and it closed behind him with a sizzle of magic. Envy glared at the two of them before bursting into movement. One moment, the stranger was leaning against the bed and the next, Envy had and yanked halfway across the room before yanking a long tunic over his head.

Envy glanced over her, making sure every part of her was where he had left it before grunting, "You're well, oracle?"

She nodded, lest he start fighting with the man in his grip. Or hitting the man in his grip, she supposed. The stranger wasn't fighting in the slightest.

Instead, that stranger was now looking at her with a rather slack jawed expression. "Oracle? Wait a second. Is this her?"

Envy rolled his eyes and loosened his grip on the man. "Yes, brother, this is her."

"Brother?" Lilith asked.

So much was happening at the same time here, and she didn't have a chance to catch up. How did this man know who she was? How were they even brothers? They looked nothing alike, and she would have noticed if they did. Why were they even in her room? And what was the point of all this?

She shook her head, trying to clear the questions from her mind so she could ask at least one. "What are you two doing here?" she finally asked.

Envy gave his brother a little shake. "Loop holes."

"Loop holes?" Now there were even more questions on her mind. "Envy, I don't follow."

"No, I suppose you wouldn't." He released his brother and came to sit on the side of her bed, gently shifting her hair out of her face and tucking the strands behind her ears. "When I left, you said that there was no way to see our future. That we were going into everything blind. You cannot see my future or your own. Correct?"

"Right." She eyed his brother, who had lurched a little closer, listening to their conversation as well. "So, where does he come into all of this?"

"You should be able to see his future."

The future of a demon king? Probably. She hadn't met a humanoid creature yet that she couldn't see their future. "Most likely."

"Then he's already agreed to help protect you. Which means if he is part of our futures, then you should be able to see what will happen and the best path forward. Because I can promise you, as lazy and uncontrolled as my brother is, he wouldn't let me die. And if you are as important to me as he thinks, then he won't let you die, either. So there is a path we can take that will ensure you and I are fine in the end."

He looked so proud of himself. With a smug grin on his face, he looked between her and his brother before gesturing as though she should get it on with.

But futures were delicate things. She needed his brother to desire to see his future. Or maybe those were just the rules from when she had been learning. Lilith's mind was so scrambled, she wasn't sure if she would even make sense of the future if she dove into it.

Opening her mouth on a little gasp, she spat out, "I don't know if I want to see his future."

"I don't want you to see them," his brother grumbled. "Sloth, by the way."

He held out his hand like that was an introduction.

"Sloth?" she repeated while shaking his hand. "Is that a name?"

"That's my name, yes."

She looked between the two of them before muttering, "That doesn't sound like a name."

Envy covered his mouth to hide the grin, but she still saw it before he said, "None of our names sound like real names, little love."

No, they didn't. They were designations or, at best, emotions that should be rare to feel. And yet, all of them wore these names like a badge.

Still, it was hard to think about all of that when he'd called her little love right in front of his brother. Her heart bloomed with a bright pink glow that spread all the way down into her fingertips. He wasn't hiding his feelings about her from anyone.

Why did that make her feel so special? Like she had won some kind of award that no one else had ever been gifted? Her face turning bright red, she tried to look back at his brother and focus on what he'd asked her to do. "I can look into his future, but not if he doesn't want me to."

"Sloth," Envy said, his voice lowering. "You know you have to do this."

"I don't have to do anything."

"Brother." What a difference in his tone.

Lilith got distracted by the depth of it. The disappointment that radiated throughout all of it, as though he was telling his brother without words that this had to happen.

She hoped that Sloth would help. This was a loophole through all of their problems, but she also knew how hard it was to let an oracle peek into his mind. The future was a personal thing, and oracles saw far more than the future.

Sloth hesitated only for a few moments. He looked between the two of them, perhaps seeing more than either Envy or Lilith could. Then he sighed and held his hand back out to her. "Look into my future, oracle. And perhaps you will find an end to all this."

Mist rose on her skin immediately. The other creature that lived inside her, the piece that had always fought for control, salivated at the idea of seeing into the past of a demon king as well. She wanted to know what it was like to live as him. What his story was. And what paths of his future would be revealed in the process.

She wanted to live like only seven kings could live, and that was too tempting to deny.

Biting her lip, she reached for him.

It was a thrilling opportunity to dive into his mind. The oracle in her latched onto him, although her magic had to coil around his wrist and hold him still when he pulled back. Her white eyes stared into his and he said quietly, "Say nothing aloud, oracle. Not until you are finished."

She wanted to argue with him, because futures were always verbal. She had to talk about them. Otherwise, what was the point of seeing them? Unfortunately, this was not a promise she would make him.

But as her mind spiraled into what he had experienced, what he would experience, and how much of his life branches there were, she understood why he didn't want her to say anything.

Because of her .

A bright beacon of light who had once been in his life. A creature of unending beauty and kindness, a woman who had not just touched his body, but his heart. She could see their souls intertwined in a dance that so few ever waltzed.

"A soulbond," she whispered. "The gods have blessed you."

His hand turned in her grip, holding onto her wrist with an iron touch that burned and ached even in this state. But she didn't care. She didn't even stop.

All she wanted was to bask in that love that should have lasted a lifetime. Until... until...

Tears dripped down her cheeks. Pain bloomed throughout her heart, as though he had reached into her chest and yanked it out of her. Because the pain inside of him was too great even for her to share. That soulbond had been severed. Ripped and torn apart by a death that had yanked the woman from his life and pushed her into the realm of the dead.

Even now, she could hear the ringing words that threaded throughout the entirety of this man's futures. "You will spend the rest of your life searching for me, demon. Waste all your many years trying to replace me. I will not go to the land of the dead until your suffering is complete."

"You've been cursed," she whispered.

Again, he jerked in her grasp. "You are meant only to see the future, oracle. Look or I will force you out of my head."

She should, but... one last thing.

She looked through the tendrils of that curse. Through all the opportunities for it to go awry. She felt his guilt and his assumption that he was the one who had caused all of his brothers to start changing, but that wasn't true.

And then she peered into his future. Knowing, without a doubt, that he needed her to be there.

The power in her flared hotter, stronger, more capable than he gave her credit for. She wouldn't allow him to force her from his mind, not until she could help. Not until she could fix what had been broken inside of him and mend it back together with the needle and thread of her words.

Breathing hard, she searched through every ending, every beginning, and she found the one that not only allowed him to live the longest but also for Envy and Lilith to be unaffected by the world that so desperately wanted to tear them apart.

A sharp gasp echoed through the room as she released him. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't get enough air into her lungs even though she gulped mouthful after mouthful down.

"Lilith?" Envy asked, grabbing onto her and trying to steady her. "Breathe, little love. Breathe for me."

She was trying, really she was.

But then her gaze found Sloth's troubled expression and she couldn't stop looking at him. Couldn't stop the mist from rising off her skin again. "You were loved. So deeply and without question. But you ruined it."

He shook his head, taking a step away from the bed. "You were supposed to look into the future for yourself, oracle."

Even Envy's hands tightened on her waist. "Lilith. Did you see a way to help us?"

She shook her head in refusal of both men. "She's already here. Her soul fought through the underworld to return, just as she always planned. But she does not remember you, nor will she. You have been searching for her, but she's already where you've been looking. You missed her, Sloth. And you have to find her because she won't come back a second time."