Page 124 of The Demon Crown

He was their king. He was meant to protect them, and so far he’d done a rather shitty job of it. None of them felt protected when the world had fallen down around their shoulders.

And he would fix this. He would.

So he’d left their stone town behind and rode with them. He helped carry many of their things, strapping down his nuckelavee with so many bags that the animal nipped at his arm when he brought the last one. But he patted its back and whispered that he wouldn’t be riding.

Because he wasn’t going to.

He walked among them. Greed hadn’t ever done this in all the years that he’d been ruling this kingdom. Never once had he thought to spend time with his people unless they were actively training for war. And even then, it was less because he wanted to be around them and more because he wanted to make sure they didn’t embarrass him.

They were afraid. So many of them had no idea what they would do next, and somehow, they turned to him for answers.

He didn’t know how to respond. Greed barely knew how to take care of himself. But when they looked at him, like he was the hero they’d been waiting all their lives for, he found himself discovering those answers.

He’d house them in the castle while they rebuilt their village. The Horde would not be around for long; he would see to that himself. He’d fix what had been broken, and he swore that time and time again. In the meantime, they needed to band together and get a group of leaders for him to speak with. When he returned from finding Varya, then he would need some of their own people to help him with the plans.

And the people responded in kind. They told him about all the things they’d been lacking. They explained how they needed him to give them more food and water, and if it wouldn’t be too much of a burden, perhaps he could open trade with the other kingdoms. There wasn’t enough here for them to grow good food or even create good clothing.

The guilt that gnawed through his chest after he realized most of his people were wearing rags... Ach, he knew Varya would be so pleased to know how much it hurt.

It took them too long to reach the castle, and even then he knew he wasn’t going inside. He trusted his own people to get them settled. There was plenty of room in the oasis, even though it would be a little tight.

Greed didn’t care if they emptied his food supply or destroyed the remaining plants in his kingdom. He’d fix this. He had to. And the only person he trusted to tell him how to do any of it was the woman the Horde had taken.

Simmering rage still burned deep in his belly. The moment he found those murderous tyrants, he would unleash a rage unlike anything they’d seen before. They thought they could play with a god? They were about to learn how stupid that really was.

Gluttony remained behind with him, leaning on the pommel of the saddle with a feral grin already spreading across his face. “So we are not done hunting?”

“Did you think we were?” Greed wheeled his mount around, turning it to the blasting wind of the desert and the icy night that spread out before them.

Her scent was still in the air. He didn’t have to go back to the town to smell her. Likely, his brother could scent the same. Gluttony had spent enough time with her, although he doubted his bloodthirsty sibling could smell her hair or the fine scent that always lingered on her clothes. No, worst case scenario, he’d ask Gluttony to track her by the scent of her blood alone.

The rage that suddenly burned through him... He inhaled it. Allowed it to spread throughout his body and into his fingertips that curved into claws. If he wasn’t careful, it would consume him. Override all thought and reason until he had her back in his arms.

A low growl rumbled through his chest, but then he realized the sound was also coupled by the heavy hoofbeats of horses joining them. How dare anyone try to stop him now? He’d gotten them here, hadn’t he? He’d brought them to safety and now they would leave him alone.

He turned toward the newcomers, a snarl on his lips that should have frightened them off. But it was Varya’s friends. Altan and the others who had been there when the snake had attacked her. The men and women who were supposed to have protected her.

Some vicious part of himself whispered that Altan would never be able to protect her like Greed could. Even though he knew the other man had never wanted her like that. Or at least, so he continued to say.

“Let us ride with you,” the dark man said, pulling his horse up right next to Greed’s. “This fight is all of ours, not just yours.”

Itwasjust his. He’d made it almost impossible for anyone else to fight with him. Mostly because he intended to plow through the Horde members like they were blades of grass and he a scythe that had come to cut them close to the ground. They would not exist after he was finished.

They would beg for his mercy. He would not give it. Someday soon, they would talk of this day. How the Demon King of Greed had taken to the war path all on his own, with his bloodthirsty brother at his side. They’d nearly destroy the entire kingdom together, but wasn’t that the reason everyone had always feared him? The Horde thought to test his legends.

They would die screaming for that foolishness.

He opened his mouth to tell them all just that, but his brother beat him to it first.

Gluttony sounded like an actual king as he imperiously said, “You may join us, but remember, you are all mortals. A battle is significantly more dangerous for you to join than it is for us to start. Stay out of our way.”

“We know how to fight,” Altan replied.

“Not like us,” Greed growled. And he knew he didn’t sound like a person at that moment. He sounded like an animal, and he wanted them to see him as such. Because he was.

He was a terrifying beast, and they needed to see him as that. He wasn’t just their savior. By the gods, he wasn’t even remotely a savior for anyone. He did what he wanted for himself.

Except... His gaze skated to the castle, and he felt a deep-seated satisfaction knowing that everyone had gotten through the walls. They were safe. He’d done that. He’d made sure that they were taken care of, at least for the time being.

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