Page 11 of The Demon Crown

She’d waited too long, really. The man had to wake up at some point, but she didn’t know if she could just leave or not.

Staring up at the spears of light above her head, she took a deep breath and counted to fifty. When that didn’t seem to help, she did it again. She’d started counting when she was little and anxious and the habit hadn’t ever left. She liked counting. It calmed her nerves with repetition that was even and familiar.

Varya had to go back to where she’d stowed his body. She’d put her jacket over him, leaving her arms and shoulders bare. Her leather chest plate was only so good for heat, though.

At least Greed put off a lot of heat on his own. She’d huddled up next to him for the past three nights, fully expecting to wake up with his arm around her waist and his nose in her hair.

He never did.

She tried not to feel too disappointed with that fact. After all, it had been a long time since she’d entertained the touch of another person. She wasn’t about to do it again any time soon.

Huffing, she rolled onto her feet and started back toward the safety of the entrance they’d come in through. At least she knew there was an exit there, even if she didn’t know how to get back to it. Maybe she’d clamber up those rocks today, but she was afraid the Horde was still there. She could only assume they weren’t. They’d have tunneled in here by now if they knew where Greed and Varya were hiding. So she should be able to... to...

She stopped, hands curling into fists at her sides.

Greed was gone.

She’d left his body right there, the same place he always was because she didn’t know what else to do with him. But her jacket was still there. No giant body bleeding all over the sands for her to take care of, though.

“Damn it,” she hissed. “Where are you, you colossal idiot?”

She followed the sound of splashing to the pool of water that was icy at best. She’d tried to bathe herself yesterday, but the water was so bitterly cold that she’d thought her nipples would crack right off. The best she could do was splash herself a few times and then wait until her leathers dried out.

The last thing she needed was some idiot demon thinking he could get into a pool of ice water and somehow cool himself off when it was just going to make everything worse. She had to leave this cave. Wasn’t he worried about the kingdom or saving... whatever it was demon kings did?

Stomping toward the water, she crossed her arms over her chest and stood there, staring down into the pool.

And there he was. Pants on the ground next to her feet and all that muscle laid out in front of her to stare at. His bright red hair was slicked to his skull, giving her the opportunity to really look at the sharp edge of his cheekbones and the way the water played on those broad shoulders. There was the faintest dusting of freckles on the caps of his shoulders, but nothing else other than warm, bronze skin. He was built like a god, like what an artist would imagine the perfect man to look like, and she shouldn’t be having those thoughts.

Not when he turned around and there wasn’t even a faint dusting of hair on his chest to distract from those broad planes that dipped toward his waist. Sharp abs flexed under her eyes, shifting her gaze to the narrow strips of muscle that ran over each of his hips and drew her gaze to more red hair, and...

Damn it.

She snapped her gaze up to his grinning expression and refused to look down again. “What are you doing?”

“That fever of mine is still hot,” he said, his voice guttural and low. She could feel him looking at her body, almost like a physical touch. “But maybe I’m hot for another reason. Come in the water, little thief. Let’s find out together.”

“That’s enough from you.” She had to force herself to not press her thighs together at the thought.

She’d heard of this king. Women whispered of his talents in the market as they glossed over how their husband had been disappointing the night before. The demon king Greed was a myth among women. A man who pushed and pushed until there was nothing left but a quivering mess beneath him.

What would it be like to touch a god like that? Just how much could she push him when all she wanted was to bite into that strong column of muscle at his throat and ride him?

No, she would not have these thoughts about a living myth. He was a man standing right in front of her, shivering, even though he was trying not to let her see it. And though his words were brave, his face was slowly turning grey, and he’d widened his stance as if he didn’t trust his balance.

She kept her arms crossed and narrowed her eyes. “You can’t get out, can you?”

“I am fine. I’m a demon king. My healing is much faster than yours.”

“All right. Take two steps to your right, then.”

He eyed her with no small amount of suspicion. “Why?”

“Because I want to see that you can put weight on that right hip when I saw the blade they’d used slice right through to the muscle. If you can balance on that foot alone, I’ll leave you to your bathing.”

His eyes flashed gold, reflecting the sudden beam of sunlight that illuminated his form. The water around him seemed to glow. Glistening droplets clung to his shoulders as if even they didn’t want to let go.

A muscle in his jaw jumped, but he didn’t move.

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