Chapter 4

4

I t took so much to yank herself out of that dark place. It clung to her like the webs of a spider, pulling at her shoulders, trying to convince her to stay in the shadows even though she wished to wake. The man's future was a trap, not an escape.

She knew in some way who she was dealing with. There were hundreds of different creatures in this kingdom, even more in the other cities she'd visited with this circus. Their powers eked into her own. Sometimes she could feel them grappling with her magic or trying to fight back against her. The mist that gave her the visions was powerful, though. It saw, and she allowed it to do so.

Whatever kind of creature had been waiting for her in that crowd was unlike anything she'd ever come across. The man was dark. Darker than most, with a tinge of evil that made her heart race in her chest. But it was more than that.

What clung to her was a sense of nothing. A future that had no hope. No story. Just a man who made his own way because even the long vines of fate refused to touch him.

It was terrifying.

She struggled against that feeling, pushing and yanking herself to the surface of reality even though her power pulled her down. The oracle inside of her wanted to force his power to give way. It wanted to fight against him, rage against that darkness and make his future burst into the light.

But the woman in her feared what that would mean. She walked in the footsteps of all she saw the future of. She lived their lives. What was, what would come. And a glimpse into the terrible darkness made her fear it would unravel the sanity of her mind.

She'd seen only a glimmer of who he was, like he'd given her a taste because he knew she needed it. So many people had died in his grasp, trying to scream as he stole their power. As he turned them into nothing but a husk of a person who had once been alive.

There was danger, and then there was this man.

Her power fought against her, but she knew they had to hide. She needed to free herself from this torment of knowing what he had done and what he would do. She needed to flee, to do something other than lay here in the dark.

So she struggled to the surface, only to hear voices that had always kept her safe.

"She's not for sale," her master said, his voice deep and rusty.

"Everything is for sale. Now. What is your price?"

His voice... She hadn't expected it to be like that. A man who simmered with violence should sound like he was evil. A villain had a particular kind of voice. Low and unsettling. But this man's voice was not that.

He had a calm voice. Raspy at the very ends of his sentences, but that only made her even more intrigued to listen to him. She wanted to hear every word he had to say. To sip on his tones like fine wine because he was something she had never encountered before. A villain in the skin of a hero.

Sensations came back with the sound of their voices. She could feel warm hands holding onto her side, one even clutching her head as though supporting her. She couldn't imagine who was holding her, though. Everyone knew not to touch her when there was still mist steaming off her skin. Their futures were too easy to see. And she had never been good at keeping herself away from those futures because she wanted to touch them. She wanted to leave this life, because it was so much easier to...

Shadows clung to him just as he clung to her. His hand tightened on her waist, almost as though he knew she was waking. And still he talked, that raspy, deep voice saying far too much.

"I don't think you understand how much I am willing to pay. I could make you a very rich man."

Her master snorted. "I am already rich, demon king. I have traveled across all the realms. I have many loyal people who live with me. In a way, you could say I am just as renowned as you."

"You wish you were a king like me, but your kingdom is small and easily shattered."

Demon king? Surely this wasn't Envy himself who held onto her like she was a broken doll he needed to get fixed. But there were hints, she would admit. His hand nearly spanned her entire waist, and that darkness was unlike anything she'd encountered. She'd never touched one of his kind before, never thought she would ever get the opportunity.

A growl filled the room, and she knew they weren't just with her master. At least one of the shapeshifters had followed him in here, and that meant that they were all worried about her safety. Or well, she supposed they were worried about the asset. She brought more money into this circus than anyone else.

The phantom sensation of pain moved through her form. That mist was still pooling out of her body, but she was so far from anyone whose future she could actually read. There was no escaping this demon who held her.

Her mist sluggishly moved across the floor. She could feel the chill of the marble against it, like her magic was an extension of her body. It wanted to see the future of someone else. It needed escape.

"She's awake," her master said, before side stepping the mist. "If you want her to be coherent, you need to give her back to me."

"I think she'll be just fine on her own."

And then that hand at the back of her head moved. It slid through her hair, turning her head to look at the man who held her. She was a puppet in his grip, her entire head held in a single palm. Lilith could do nothing other than open her eyes and look at him.

Chiseled features stared down at her. There was a cleft in his chin that made her want to press her thumb to the hollow there. Full lips, but still slashing and masculine. A sharp nose, hawk-like, led up to piercing eyes that stared straight into her soul. Green eyes, the same color as the vibrant green of a new leaf.

"There you are," he muttered, that raspy voice sending a bolt of electricity straight through her stomach and between her legs. "I was beginning to fear you were really hurt."

She tried to say something, anything, so she wasn't just a dolt lying in his arms. But the moment she opened her mouth, she remembered that she'd been cut. Pain made her spasm. She didn't want to be here. Not with him. Not with them. There was an escape so close outside that door and all she had to do was wiggle out of his arms to find a new future to lose herself in.

"Told you," her master grumbled. "She's lost to her powers. Never been able to get her to use them right, you see. Oracles want to find the future and those prophecies rule her."

"They don't rule her." His fingers shifted in her hair, tilting her head to the side so he could look at her cheek. "My poor little diviner, you have been abused this night. Let me ease your pain."

"Don't touch her!"

But Envy did not listen. The demon king of this land lifted his other hand and gently pressed it to the wound on her face. Power sparked between those fingers, little shocks of electricity that danced along her skin and cajoled it to knit together. She had been healed before, but never by someone like him.

There was so much power in his whispered words. More than any other healer, which could only convince her that the rumors were true. He had consumed so much power from so many people that all he had to do was whisper to her skin and it would heal itself.

They all seemed to hold their breath as he completed his spell, and when he lifted his head and opened his eyes, all she could see was herself reflected in them. That dark gaze saw straight through her.

"Sweet thing," he whispered, that raspy voice doing more to her than she had ever expected. "I couldn't leave a mark on that beautiful skin."

His thumb came up, gently moving over her cheek as he brushed away the smears of blood there. Some of it had dried, and she could feel it cracking under his touch. But there was still a faint darkness on his thumb that he then lifted to his mouth and licked clean.

Her breath stuttered, shocked and faintly aroused. His eyes rolled back in his head at the taste of her blood and somehow that made her feel... things. Things that she usually only felt in the futures and lives of other people.

"That's more than enough," her master snapped, and she was brought back to this moment.

They were staring at her. All of them.

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.

The two shapeshifters went with him, but not before they each cast a pitying glance at her splayed across the cold floor.