Page 106 of The Demon Crown

Bathing would be a good option first, then food, then water. Oh, she needed something to drink. Her mouth was so dry, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

The door to the room opened and Greed slipped inside. He had a tray balanced in one hand, clearly trying to not make a single sound. He even exaggerated his steps as he closed the door so slowly that it didn’t make a sound as it clicked shut.

Was he... tip-toeing? He was! Just gliding across the floor as he stared at the tray with so much concentration. Like he didn’t want the single cup to touch the single plate. As though making no sound at all was life or death, and if he did, then everything would crumble down around his ears.

This darling, dear, ridiculous man who wanted nothing more than to take care of her. He wanted to treat her like a queen. Like the most precious item he owned and for once in her life, Varya couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He had done so much wrong. She was mad at him for so much.

And yet he looked like a complete idiot trying to be quiet when his big body already thudded hard against the floor. He was a bull, rushing into the room but trying his best to be quiet as a mouse.

“I’m awake,” she said, her voice filled with wry amusement.

Greed almost dropped the tray. But he got ahold of it before it toppled over, balancing everything in a wobble that should have sent the glass to the floor. Somehow, he recovered.

She might have laughed if his eyes hadn’t found hers. And the relief she saw there, the hope that burned through him like a fire... Ah, it made her burn too.

“Varya,” he said, his voice strained. He rushed to her side, setting the tray on the table beside the bed before sitting down at the edge.

She’d thought he would be gentle. He certainly had been the entire time she’d been fighting with the spirit. And he still was. But he didn’t ask permission to reach out and run his hand down her bare back. And he didn’t ask if he could skim his lips down her shoulder, sending goosebumps scattering across her body.

“You’re awake,” he whispered against her skin.

And how did she respond to the reverence in those words?

Varya leaned closer to him, wincing as soon as she smelled herself. “And I haven’t bathed in how long?”

“A week.” He pressed another kiss closer to her neck. “A week of utter torment.”

“I thought you said the spirit would heal me.”

“It will now. It was too weak to stay inside your body, so it had to feed upon you or be expelled.” His voice deepened, a little gruff and angry if she heard it right. “I should have guessed it would do that. I should have known.”

Maybe he should have. She couldn’t have guessed it.

But Varya felt... stronger. More powerful. More capable than she had in a very long time. As she stretched out her arm, staring at the muscle as though she’d never seen it before, she could almost feel the little spirit inside of her.

“Should I be able to know it’s there?” she asked, her voice low and quiet.

“No.” He moved her tangled hair out of his way, his lips skimming over the long column of her throat. “It will be as if it is not there at all.”

But she could feel it. The heat that burned through her before was much less than the fever she’d been suffering from, but it was still there. And it wasn’t her. She could almost sense the strangeness that moved through her body at its own whim. First in her arms and hands, then into her belly, where it coiled up. A life, inside her. Not a baby, but a spirit that lived deep inside her very being.

“Come on,” Greed said, his hand petting through her hair. “Let’s get you clean. If you feel well enough?”

She did. She thought. Maybe she shouldn’t move, but a bath sounded lovely. Almost enough to distract her from the strange spirit deep inside her body that already seemed to stir again at her thoughts.

At her nod, Greed scooped her up in his arms. Gentle, oh so gentle. Didn’t he know she was stronger now? He didn’t have to treat her like she was made of glass, even though it felt rather nice to have him holding her.

Again, like the last time they’d bathed together, he didn’t remove his clothing. He just strode into the water of the pool with her. Greed held her tightly against himself, almost as though he didn’t quite trust himself to let her go.

And that was ridiculous, wasn’t it?

That power stretched inside her again, unfurling like a bloom with soft petals dancing in her mind.

“What an adventure it would be to test him,” it said. “Perhaps we should push. Just a bit. How deep do you think that well of patience goes?”

It was wrong. So wrong. She shouldn’t push him when he seemed so focused on making sure that she was well.

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