Page 98 of The Demon Court

ChapterThirty-Three

“You aren’t concerned in the slightest that she’s no longer in your bed?” Greed asked, a goblet dangling from his fingers as he stared at Lust.

They’d spent the better part of the day drinking. Lust had dumped all his issues in Greed’s lap, and his brother had done the same to him. Apparently, his kingdom wasn’t doing as well as he’d hoped, surprise, and Lust was having issues with relationships.

How had the world turned on its axis?

“Of course I am,” he replied. “She’s supposed to be in my bed with me. What woman in her right mind leaves the bed of a god?”

“We aren’t gods.”

“We might as well be to them!” Lust gestured to the windows, as though just by doing so he was pointing at all the people in his kingdom. “We’re thousands of years old. We’re stronger than they could ever hope to be. We have power that they’ll never be able to emulate.”

“Some of the sorceresses can.” Greed tried to drink out of his cup, only to find it empty. Frowning down into the depths, he added, “Although I’ll admit even they seem to struggle with the powers we naturally control.”

“Exactly.” Lust didn’t know what his point was. He’d lost it. “She should be in my bed without me having to ask, is what I’m saying. She should want to be in my bed and see it for the honor that it is.”

“Other people do.”

He nodded. “They do. They do. There are countless women in this castle that would crawl to my bed on their knees if I asked them to. Some of them have.”

The gold in Greed’s eyes flashed brightly before his brother said, “Then why don’t you ask one of them and leave the little sorceress in the past?”

A flare of anger, dark and powerful, burned in his chest. The mere thought of another woman in his sheets, tarnishing the scent of her, made him want to wring necks. He squeezed the metal goblet so hard that it bent in his hands. He tried to get control of that emotion. But he’d drank enough alcohol to make his anger take center stage, no matter how hard he tried to push it away.

“No woman would dare,” he snarled. “No other deserves to be in her place, her rightfully earned place. She is the only person who will have that honor.”

Though Greed had instigated dark emotions, his brother looked very smug. “Then there’s your answer. You seem to think that you can let her go as easily as she seems to have let you go. But you can’t. She has you wrapped right around those pretty fingers, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll go mad without her.”

“Indeed.”

“And yet, here you are. Sitting with me.” Greed waved the goblet again. “When you could spend some time groveling?”

He could.

Why was he drinking with his brother when he could beg her to return to his room? Where he could get down onto his knees and whisper sweet nothings against her skin. Maybe he’d press his lips to her belly, listening for that soft sigh she gave so he knew to continue. He’d lick his way up her inner thigh—

“Ugh,” Greed groaned and threw the goblet at his head. “Just get out!”

Right. He was still in public.

Lust stood and staggered from the room. The alcohol in his blood wasn’t helping, but he had to find her. To convince her that she was more than just a woman, more than just a bedmate to entertain him. There was something different about her, like she’d claimed, but maybe not for any reason that she’d thought of before.

He... wanted her. No, needed her. That was the right word. He needed her in his life and he wouldn’t suffer another minute without her in his arms.

That was a perfect plan.

Except when he got to their room, there was no one in it. How he continually lost her in this castle was beyond him.

“She’s not here,” Lara said from behind him.

He startled, flinching at the sound of her voice before blowing out a long breath. “Don’t do that.”

“Are you drunk?”

“Only a little.” Enough to make foolish decisions, because apparently he was running after a mortal woman like the castle was on fire. “Where is she?”

Lara blinked at him before crossing her arms over her chest. “I thought you knew.”

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