Page 119 of The Demon Crown

He froze in her grip. “You’re welcome.”

“I’m not the first woman they’ve done that to. I’m just one of the lucky few who escaped.” She shuddered. “It could have been so much worse, Greed. But for the sake of all those other women who didn’t get away, I want to be there with you. To fight. To kill a few of those fuckers, and I need you to let me go with you.”

She felt him melt in her arms. He curved around her even tighter, drawing her ever closer as his sigh brushed through her hair. “My treasure, if it will make you happy to kill them, I will present you their throats and hold them as they bleed.”

She’d never heard a more romantic declaration of love.

ChapterForty-Two

They rode together on the hunt, Greed and his bride, with the sands kicking up behind them as they charged toward their mutual enemy. His mind told him to be frightened. That she would soon find herself in a predicament that neither of them could fix. What if he lost her? What if she was attacked?

But his heart knew that she could handle this. His heart crowed with glee that he’d found someone just as feral as him. Someone he could fight beside rather than hide away like the treasure she was. She was both a hauntingly beautiful gemstone and a sharpened blade. A weapon as much as she was a safe haven for his mind.

By the gods, he was a lucky man.

She rode like she’d been born on the back of a horse. And though her mount could not keep up with his, they still rode together regardless. He watched her strong thighs grip the beast beneath her, watched the look of determination on her face warping into one of pure malice as they followed the Horde’s trail.

The last time they watered their mounts, he grabbed her by the waist and drew her closer to him. Whispering so no one could overhear them, he asked, “What do you think?”

“I think we’re hunting the hunters,” she muttered in response. “They seek to do damage. To draw us both out of hiding, but I do not know why.”

“I think I do. Your Horde leader seemed fixated on me, yes?”

He’d been thinking about it on their ride. The Horde wanted to take over the kingdom, and they knew they couldn’t as long as he was standing in their way. Which meant they needed to take care of the king first.

The attack. The fog. The magic. Wounding Varya. It all made sense for them to be attempting to draw him somewhere they could capture him for good. Exactly what Wrath was terrified of happening and spreading out to the other kingdoms.

Gluttony appeared beside them. His brother’s eavesdropping really needed to stop. But at least Gluttony had decided to be helpful.

His brother pensively stared at the scouts around them. “So you think Wrath was right.”

“I do.”

Varya looked between them, confused. “Right about what?”

“He thinks that there are groups throughout the kingdoms trying to spread the idea of trapping us all. People who wish to put us in cages for the rest of eternity so that others can rule our kingdoms. And now I’m thinking perhaps that is exactly what they are doing.” Greed rubbed the back of his neck. “Unless it is all about you.”

“I doubt that. They didn’t care in the slightest who I was or where I came from.” She frowned at him, and he took the time to adore how expressive her face was. Her thoughts played across her features long before she said them. “If they’re trying to take over the kingdom, you would be the first person they’d need to fight. You’re right in that.”

He sensed she wasn’t entirely on board with his thought process, though.

And, of course, his treasure pointed out something that neither of them had considered. “Why are they going toward a town, then? They know you won’t stop them. You never have before.”

Greed looked at Gluttony, who just shrugged. “Don’t know. Why don’t we ask?”

He loved the feral grin that crossed Varya’s face at the thought. Who would have ever guessed that he would find a bloodthirsty woman so damned attractive?

He had. Of course, he’d always hoped he would find someone who was as bloodthirsty as he was. He’d just assumed that he would never find someone like her. Women didn’t exist who wanted to tear apart the world like he did, and then this one had fallen into his lap.

As they gathered their mounts, ready to make the last stretch toward the town as the sun dipped to the horizon, he watched her swing up onto her horse and pull out one of his blades. It was one of the twin blades that he always carried with him, and here she was, somehow having stolen it from him.

He loved her. It hit him as hard as the hammer had when all of this started.

He loved her so much that it was like she’d crawled inside him and become a part of his very soul. He wanted to hold her all the time. He wanted to hunt with her just like this for the rest of eternity. But mostly he wanted to kiss her, because she had ruined him for anyone else.

The light in his soul affixed on her. She was the guiding star in his night sky that drew him toward good and better and best.

What he wouldn’t do to offer her a life that she deserved. A partner who was better than Greed, more than just a demon who only knew how to satisfy himself. He wanted her to see him and to light up just like he was now.

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