Chapter 38

38

T here was so much screaming. So many futures that were blinking out of existence, and there was nothing she could do to stop them from disappearing. Every time someone died, she could feel that thread being snapped as they were thrust out of their futures.

Some part of her rejoiced. She crowed with happiness that the people who had harmed her would no longer be able to harm her or anyone else. That devilish part of her wanted them to feel the same pain she had felt while they stole and ripped at pieces of her she couldn't get back.

But then another part of her, the softer side which had always wanted people to be alive and well, that part sobbed. So many lives, so many people who had a chance to do good things if they just changed... they were gone. Those opportunities for them to save themselves were gone with them.

She wanted to believe that everyone had a hint of good in them. Her entire life had been based on that fact. And she'd seen it hundreds of times in the futures where people had the chance to make the wrong choice. If they didn't choose that route, then their lives went in a much better direction.

The rock like man who died first had his future set firm as the stone that made up his body. She knew he would not change his mind about killing her, nor was he interested in changing. He wanted her dead. He wanted to see her body lying there and then he would get addicted to it.

But the shifters? They still had a chance. She'd felt the rumblings between the two of them, and she knew the brothers hadn't enjoyed that she was in pain. They didn't want her to lie there like that, writhing on the floor when there were quicker ways to kill her. No matter what future thread she had tugged on, they always let her die. Every time. But they would learn from it. They would grow.

Until their lines were also snapped.

The priestess was long gone, but she still mourned as that thread snapped. The magician? He'd still had a chance to save her. He was the only one whose future hadn't ended every time with her dead. A few of the other times he was going to take her for himself, but there was a chance she'd get away if he did that. There were always chances.

Until he also died.

And then there was just Lorenzo. She struggled to open her eyes for that and had a hard time believing what had even happened. There was a dragon? Surely she was out of her mind. There was no dragon here, and Envy wasn't standing so close, just watching as the man was sawed in half.

Blood splashed toward her, and the shield of her magic was the only thing that prevented it from drenching her. It was with that her mind snapped.

Everything was too much. There was so much death, and she'd never wanted that. She wasn't this feral creature who wanted everyone to be punished for what they had done to her. But there was still a part of her that was so happy they were gone, that was so relieved that she wouldn't have to feel them anymore.

Someone grabbed her, yet another person who thought they had any right to touch her. She fought at first, struggling against the arms that banded around her and the touch that was so unwelcome. She didn't want to be touched by anyone else. She wanted to keep her power, because they were killing her by taking it away. Didn't they understand that? The very breath from her lungs was gone because they kept taking bits and pieces from her and she didn't want to keep fighting them...

Until that voice. The voice that had always eased her pain and torment finally broke through the panic.

"Come back to me," he breathed, and she knew that was all that he had ever wanted. Envy had fought through countless people and a dragon to get to her side.

She wasn't sure if the other person in the room was the dragon that he had fought against or what that creature was, but it didn't matter. She was in his arms. Safe again.

"The bottles," she rasped, her voice so quiet she wasn't even sure he would hear her. "Break the bottles."

She wasn't herself without them. All of her power was locked away, and it was struggling to get back to her. She knew that was what she needed to feel more like herself, and all she needed was for someone to help her this last bit. If he would just...

Envy reached out a hand and muttered a spell. She felt the blast of energy even as it moved across the ground toward the crates filled with bottles. It was the first time she'd gotten a chance to look at how much they'd taken from her, and it really was so much. There were at least eight crates full of bottles, each one brimming with power and magic.

Enough to see the future for days on end. Enough to make every prophecy anyone would ever dream of. And those were years' worth of performances.

Lorenzo had planned to make a fortune off her magic after she was dead.

Gritting her teeth, she braced herself for the flow of magic back into her body. Envy's magic struck the crates and shattered them. Wooden shards flew in all directions along with the glass that exploded so forcefully that it looked like sand as it sparkled in the air. The mist rose above the remains and then found her. It was like looking at a loved one who had been lost for far too long.

In one moment, the mist was on her. Surrounding her. Funneling into her body as she breathed it in and it wriggled underneath her skin. It joined back with her, flowing into the rest of the stores of magic that were hidden within her body. The flare of power was so bright, so powerful, that for a second she lost all control of it.

Her eyes rolled back in her head and suddenly she was in her own head. The oracle had taken control of her body. For a moment, she thought it would attack Envy. It was so angry .

Rage flowed through every bit of her and she knew the oracle powers which had been given to her since she was a little girl, wanted to destroy something. It wanted to raise all those people from the dead and then slit their throats itself.

For a moment, she was vengeance incarnate. She was the creature who would rain down the worst futures upon their heads and force them onto paths of self ruin and destruction.

But then her hand came down on his chest, and all of that anger eased. Because she didn't hate him. Not even a little. He had become her safe harbor and the only person who mattered when it came to keeping her safe. Even her power knew that.

And for the first time, she felt an inkling of... something when she touched him. A wiggle in the back of her mind, like an excited dog who was just waiting for her to release it so it could go to him.

So she did. She released her hold on the magic and it flung itself at him. All the power in her, new and burning bright in her chest after nearly having been stolen, it circled around the two of them and then focused on the point where she held her hand over his heart.

And she saw it. She saw... everything.

She saw herself and him in the future that she hadn't ever expected. Just the two of them. She'd always anticipated that a future with him would be ruling over this kingdom and forcefully making these people bend a knee to them, but that wasn't the future her magic thought was the most important thing for them both to see.

Instead, she saw them in his office. She was certainly a little older. Her hair was twisted up on top of her head with the faintest threads of gray running through it. She had a book in her hands where she sat on a new sofa right in front of the fireplace in his office. He'd changed the carvings to something a little less terrifying. A garden with hidden faces peering out at her. The floors were covered with warm rugs, no longer so cold for her to walk upon.

Envy sat at his desk, with glasses perched on his nose and Orphe on her usual perch. The two of them were looking over reports from neighboring kingdoms and trades that were infinitely better than they were in the past. But when he looked up, his eyes were warm as they looked her over.

With a sharp word, he sent Orphe flying out onto the balcony so he could join Lilith. He was stronger than ever, his power rippling through him in a teasing curl of magic that was so much more than she'd ever seen from him. Even a hint of oracular magic, which appeared to be because her power moved between the two of them now.

He hadn't had to steal it, she realized. No one could take oracular magic. All he had to do was become someone trustworthy enough for her to share it.

He sat down on the couch with her, his arm stretched behind her as he leaned in to look at what she was reading. The mist flowed between the two of them, him exhaling it like he'd been smoking and her inhaling every bit. Together, the magic passed between the two of them. Strengthening them.

It appeared the oracle fed off all the power that he had inside of him, so many years of stolen magic that only made the power even stronger. She'd never seen anything like it. Her magic had never fed off someone else, but she knew that in the future, they were stronger together.

There was happiness if they walked this path together. They could feed off his magic and see so much more. They didn't need to touch someone else to see their future. Together, they could just... see it. If they wanted to know what would happen, all they had to do was think of it.

And they didn't abuse that power. She knew that deep in her very soul.

Coming back to herself, just like he wished, she looked up into his soft gaze as he stared down at her. Carefully, he smoothed her hair behind her ears and held onto either side of her neck.

"I love you," Envy said. "I love you so much it's hard to imagine a future without you. So I am glad to know that you have seen more than just the lingering nightmares. You see a life where the two of us are happy, and I know that I will do everything in my power to ensure that comes true. Because you are everything to me, little love. Every inch of me loves you with the strength and unending endurance of a mountain."

Her heart thudded hard in her chest. Once, twice, again and again until it was almost beating out of her ribcage. "I love you too," she whispered. "So much that I am willing to part with all the power that makes me who I am. I will break every rule that was taught to me, every bit of the fiber of oracles. I will renounce all of them so that I can live with you."

"Ah, little love. I adore you just as you are. There is no need for you to change a hair on your head for me to love you more." His fingers flexed in her hair and he drew her closer, their breaths mingling together. "Now kiss me, Lilith. Kiss me so I can know you truly are alive."

Wrapping an arm around his neck, she drew him into her for a kiss that seared through every part of her body. She kissed him as though she was dying and this would be the last time she ever kissed him. Because it felt like it was. She loved him so much and there wasn't a bit of her that would ever forget it.

He'd not only saved her from the villains who wanted to kill her, but he'd given her a future that was the best she could dream of. A gift of a future like that was far better than any she could dream up on her own.

When they finally came up for air, she heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stone stairwell toward them. With her arm wrapped around his neck, she covered them with the mist of her power. It was so easy now. All of a sudden, it was like the attack had linked her power with what she wanted. Now, it wasn't her and the oracle, they were one and the same.

But it was just Sloth. Not another person coming to attack them. Just a demon king who staggered up the stairwell, breathing hard, with Orphe perched on his shoulder. His stomach was rather distended and uncomfortable looking.

"Sorry to interrupt, lovebirds. I just thought we could get out of this crumbling room, if it's all the same to you. I can't leave without Envy making me a portal, after all. And I think I've done my fair share of the fighting, so I'd like to go home."

Right, of course. They were wasting time and...

Envy caught her chin and made her look at him, not his brother. Those green eyes were filled with mirth and he pressed one more kiss to her lips. "My queen, do you give me leave to bring my brother home?"

"If you must."

"I think it would be best to get rid of him. I have plans for what I want to do to you." His eyes heated for a moment before he stood with her in his arms. When he turned, he hesitated when he saw Orphe on Sloth's shoulder. "Where did you get off to?"

Orphe spread her wings, an aggressive stance that said she was very much prepared to fight her master if he said one more word. "I got the dragon. You were going to lose the fight."

"I fought them off just fine. I didn't need Sloth."

Her feathers ruffled, but she settled down a little. "You were going to lose."

"I was not!"

The words rang throughout the room filled with her prophecies, and Lilith swore she heard the whispers all combine into one sentence.

"Look at her," the prophecies seemed to say. "She's finally found a home."