Page 27 of The Demon Crown

He had no idea.

That little woman had wriggled her way under his skin and he wondered if she might stay if he was a better version of himself. Still greedy and desirous of all the things she could give him, but perhaps a little softer around the edges.

Like Lust.

Lust had changed himself almost entirely for his woman and he looked... Happy. Greed hated that he’d seen the way they looked at each other. Now he couldn’t get the sight out of his mind.

He wanted it, he realized. That’s why he had pursued Selene at first, and that was why he’d let her go. Not because he wanted to help his brother, but because he had been so jealous it made his throat close up and his hands curl into fists. Greed didn’t want Lust to have something he didn’t have, and now his brother had the most stunning woman with power unlike anything the brothers had ever seen.

He wanted... that. He wanted his brothers to be jealous he’d found the better woman.

And now, he thought, perhaps he’d found someone who would give him that. He thought perhaps he would bring this woman to his brothers and display her in all his gems and jewels. They would gasp in awe over what she looked like and they would tell him for the first time that they were jealous.

Rubbing his chest, he tried very hard to keep the thoughts to himself. He didn’t want anyone to know what his plan was. Not yet. Not even his most trusted guards.

“Greed?” Ivo asked, his voice hesitant. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” He waved a hand and then tried a pained smile. “This woman saved my life. You understand? They had Bonescraper, the blade which almost took my life centuries ago. They knew exactly how to hurt me and they would not stop until I was tortured and beaten. She didn’t have to save my ass, but she did. And now I wish to repay her for that.”

Ah, it was cruel the way he played Ivo. The spirit’s loyalty had never once been in question, but loyalty like what the thief had proven? It was bound to ignite a fire in his guard’s chest. Ivo respected one thing and one thing only. The proof that the person anywhere near Greed was just as loyal as he was, and that meant that he would suddenly be very interested in this thief as well.

Flicking his gaze to Morag, he played with the strings of his other guard’s heart as well. “She was unlike any woman I’ve met before, Morag. Fierce and dangerous. She fought me every step of the way, corrected me when I stepped out of line, told me when she didn’t like what I was doing. There was a fire in her unlike any I’ve seen before. She thieves, yes, but she does it for a reason I cannot understand. I think, perhaps, you could understand it.”

And there it was. Passion. The pink hue in her eyes darkened, the only sign from his second guard that she wasn’t quite what she seemed. The two of them were suddenly much more interested than before.

If he was anyone else, he might have felt a little guilty for manipulating them like this. But he had created them. Given them the breath in their lungs. He had the right to aim them, just as they wanted him to. If that brought them further away from being mortals who made their own decisions, who learned and grew, then so be it.

He would aim these weapons at that little thief and they would drag her kicking and screaming back to his side.

“You can find her,” he told them. “My guards, my friends, who are so much more talented than any of my other scouts or soldiers. You will find her and then you will report back to me. Don’t touch her. Not yet.”

“She’ll never know we’re there,” Morag said. She pressed a fist to her heart. “But we will find her for you, Greed. And then you will have your newest toy.”

His newest toy.

Why did those words sting?

Instead of looking deeper at that, he turned his attention to Ivo, who nodded. “I’ll find her, Greed. No matter the cost.”

ChapterTen

The Sanctum of Exiles was a holy place. Well, sort of at least.

Varya had heard about it when she was a little girl. This was where they sent all the people in the kingdom who had broken the law. The ones that weren’t fixable. And in their kingdom, most laws were meant to be broken. Murder, thievery, all of that was fine. But there were a few laws that Greed himself did not abide by.

Did anyone else know what those laws were? No. Of course not. The idiot that she couldn’t get out of her head was the only one who knew what those were. And she had a sneaky suspicion he could change them whenever he wanted.

Still. It wasn’t a good idea to be here, of all places. And yet, here she was.

Tightening her fingers around the straps of her bag, she blew out a very long breath. Steeling herself for whatever she might find on the other side of the cave mouth opening.

Someone had carved it into the head of a lion. Long fangs hung down from the mouth and up from the opening. Stalactites and stalagmites had grown up further in, making it look like the throat of the lion was filled with even more teeth.

If she made it out alive this time, she would be surprised. But it was worth it. She’d take the risk for her friends that needed someone to do it. The gods knew she wouldn’t send anyone else out here when they had children waiting for them back home.

A week had turned into ten days. She’d had a difficult time trying to get a mount, and even Altan had agreed that she needed one if she was going to go on this journey. He’d been a little weaselly about it, though. Insisting that he was the one to make the deal for her to get the mount, and then saying over and over that he couldn’t find one. No one would barter with her either. They just kept saying Altan was handling it.

By day eight, she’d gone to the next town over, a half day’s walk at that, and bartered for a donkey. The old beast wasn’t happy to plod all over the sands, but it had managed faster than she’d have walked. And it carried food and water, which she would have had difficulty lugging around.

---