Page 113 of The Demon Crown

She flicked her tongue against his skin, drawing his attention back to her. “They hurt me, Greed. I showed up on your doorstep broken and bleeding. Remember how that felt? Do you remember what it was like to see me like that?”

The flash of rage in his eyes was her only warning. Claws curled in her hair, pushing it away from her face as though he had never seen anything more lovely. His voice deepened to a low growl. “Careful, treasure. You don’t want to remind me what they did to you.”

“I want to remind you.” She tilted her head back, letting his claws play along her throat. “I want you to get angry at them, my king. I want you to punish them for what they did to me and to your kingdom.”

Oh, those were the words to say. Though he didn’t mind worshipping at her feet, she thought perhaps these were his favorite moments. When she begged.

Perhaps it was because seeing her like this was so rare. She got on her knees for no one other than him, and if this could convince him...

“You will stay here,” he said, his fingers picking through the knots in her hair. “You will be safe where I will not worry about you.”

“Greed, you don’t know how to find the Horde,” she replied. “You’ve never been able to find them, but I am good bait. You know they want me. You know they will do anything for the map that I stole from them.”

“Perhaps that is true, but I will not risk you.” His eyes had changed again, golden coins that flashed with more greed with each passing moment. “They do not get to touch you again.”

“And if they do?” She’d grown tired of being on her knees. Because Varya knew she wasn’t going to listen to him. She would fight by his side, just as his woman should. And if he had an issue with that, then he could fight with her later. In the bedroom, as all their fights should take place, tangled in his sheets.

“I will remove their hands.” Greed palmed her hips, dragging her a little closer. His mouth found her sternum, just underneath her breasts, where he lingered. “And then I will take their heads.”

“Mm,” she hummed underneath her breath.

Never in her life had she thought she would find it so attractive to have someone threaten another person’s life for her. The mere thought of murder had always enraged her. She’d seen it happen enough times in her life that it had always been senseless. Life wasn’t meant to be dealt with so casually.

And yet...

“I like it when you’re possessive,” she said, straddling him. “I like it when you want to kill for me.”

“Do you?” His claws dug into her sides as he drew her with him so he was laying down on the bed with her on top of him. Greed trailed his nose up her neck, inhaling deeply. “You smell like me.”

“I’m surprised I don’t reek.”

“You do.” Again he inhaled her, then flashed her a feral grin. “I love it.”

She wanted to hear him say that one more time. She wanted to hear him say that he loved her, and those words would carry along with her for the rest of her days, but...

This had to be good enough.

Reaching between them, she grasped his cock in her hand and lined him up where she wanted him. And as she sank down onto his massive length, feeling the burn and the stretch and her body telling her that they needed to rest, she let out a sigh of happiness.

Perhaps a little pain with her pleasure wasn’t all that bad.

ChapterForty

When he rolled over the next morning, his nose buried deep in her freshly washed hair, Greed felt a sense of happiness that he’d never experienced before in his life. He’d always had moments of peace, certainly, but that need to steal, take, and keep always crept back in.

Not now.

Not with her.

He tightened his arm around her waist, drawing her deeper into him just so he could hold her a little tighter. She was the peace he’d been searching for. The energy that he’d been missing when he’d been trying to satisfy his urges in a thousand different ways. She wanted to be around him. She wanted him. And just knowing that eased some dark part of his soul.

By all the gods, he was a lucky man. Waking up with the sun filtering through the glass above their heads, the leaves of their jungle leaving pretty shadow patterns on her bare skin. Blonde hair draped over his bicep where she rested against him.

He would never get over the marvel it was to have a woman trust him so much that she would fall asleep in his arms. All the others had either not stayed at all, or they had woken at the slightest sound. He’d spent a thousand years knowing that he had given no other person enough peace of mind to sleep in his presence.

But this one did. Her chest rose and fell with each deep, even breath. The graceful length of her neck all stretched out. She’d have a crick in her neck if he let her keep sleeping like that.

How was he supposed to wake her, though? When she looked so perfect, all curled up like that? Her legs tucked in, one of his own in between hers. She was... his. Completely. And this time, he didn’t question the thought as it crossed his mind because he knew how right it was.

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