Page 52 of The Demon Crown

The healer sucked in a breath as she saw the state of her new patient. “What happened?”

“I do not know,” Greed snarled. “She showed up at our front doors in this state. Or are you suggesting otherwise?”

Ivo put his hand on Greed’s chest, gently pushing him away from the healer who ignored the snarling demon who stood on the opposite side of her patient. The woman had no fear as she started trailing her hands over Varya’s limp body and then shifted her onto her back.

“Careful,” Greed hissed.

Again, Ivo moved him farther back. “We have to let her work.”

“If she keeps moving her like that, she’ll do more damage.”

“She won’t.” Ivo stood in front of him, forcing Greed to meet his gaze. “The healer will do her best. Your treasure is weak and we do not know how long she’s been like this. We cannot interfere or we will be the ones hurting her. Yes?”

He couldn’t stand to leave her. Not like this. Not when the healer was already cutting her out of the leather armor, and what if she cut through Varya’s delicate skin? He refused to see more holes in that skin that haunted his dreams, not when the thought made his throat close up and panic claw in his chest.

He’d never felt like this before, and Greed hated it. He didn’t know what to do with empty hands and eyes that had seen too much.

“I can’t leave her here on her own,” he said, wide gaze locking onto Ivo’s. “If she wakes in a strange place... She’ll be terrified.”

“Humans are often terrified.”

“She won’t know where she is.”

“She will.” Ivo gave him a little shove. “She came to you, Greed. She knew where we were and she knew to come here after what happened to her. We will leave her here. This is where she needs to be.”

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t suck in enough air because what if she woke up and needed him? What if she required a familiar face in a place that surely wasn’t what she had expected?

Breathing like he’d sprinted for hours, he stared into Ivo’s calm expression. “She’s never been here before, Ivo. She’ll wake up and have no idea where she is or who is around her. I can’t put her through that after everything that’s happened to her.”

Ivo’s gaze softened, but before he could say a word his sister blurted, “We don’t even know if she’ll live, Greed.”

And oh, he wanted to take out all his rage and aggression on her. He wanted to scream at her to say that again. To suggest that Varya wouldn’t make it because that wasn’t an option. His treasure would live. He demanded it.

Because he couldn’t think of a life where he wouldn’t see her mischievous expression in the middle of a tomb. Or the sound of her laughter as she raced away from him in the desert. He didn’t want to know what life would be like without her little grunts of frustration as they sparred, or the catch of her breath in her throat when he kissed her.

He couldn’t let her go without seeing happiness in her eyes. And not just a smile, but true happiness as she saw the kingdom change because she’d asked him to do it.

He would give her all of that. All of it.

Pushing past Ivo, he moved the healer away so he could lean down and press a soft kiss to her bruised and bloody forehead. “Live for me,” he whispered against her skin. “And I will give you the world.”

ChapterEighteen

The sun played across her closed eyelids. She’d never seen that pattern before, all spotted and moving across her face. She could feel the warmth, but it wasn’t overwhelming like it usually was in the desert.

Varya didn’t want to wake up. She’d been having the most lovely dream. A soft bed, a cool hand that touched her forehead and a quiet voice asking if she needed anything.

When was the last time someone had taken care of her? It had been ages. She was the person who took care of others, and that meant she had to stand on her own two feet. Probably more than anyone else she knew. But that was all right. It helped Varya to know that her family and friends were well. Still... Maybe it was okay for someone to take care of her for a little while longer.

Blinking her eyes open, she frowned up at the greenery above her. She’d only seen plants a few times in her life, and they were always either spiky cactus or the long, thick triangles of aloe vera. Otherwise, she’d only seen a few leaves here and there when someone spent their life savings for tea or healing herbs.

But these were actual plants. Green and bright and thriving above her head as they leaned closer to the sunlight. Pushing up onto her elbow, Varya glanced around the room with wide eyes.

The glass windows were so perfectly made that they almost didn’t look like they were there at all. Tall and over three stories, they stretched above her head and warped into a circle at the top. There were two empty beds on the same side of the wall where she was. Three empty on the other side. None of them had anyone in them. The clean, cream-colored sheets were pulled so tight they looked almost fake.

And all the plants. There were so many of them. She didn’t know what they were, but some of the leaves were larger than she was tall. They were massive, and the air smelled so good, like herbs and spices and dirt. When was the last time she’d smelled dirt?

Maybe when she was just a child. She’d stuck her nose into a small pot where someone had kept an aloe plant and she’d inhaled just to know what the earth smelled like without it being covered by sand.

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