Page 32 of The Demon Crown

Lunk?

No one had ever called him that in his life!

Frowning, he watched her move to the end of the bridge and then look back at him. She should be angry, but instead she looked... pleased with herself?

The damned woman was playing with him and he didn’t know how to feel about that. She was all together not what he expected, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

He stalked after her, his movements quiet and slow as he took in the situation. She wanted to play the game. That was fine. Greed knew how to toy with others in the same way she was toying with him. All she had to do was ask for him to give her the attention she so clearly wanted.

The next room was where most people had been greeted. He remembered the golden days of the Sanctum of Exiles. The days when there had been countless people here, all certain that they would never see him in the flesh.

“There used to be a podium over there,” he said, pointing to a small crumbled section that was decorated with broken glass tiles. “The entire section had a mural of sun. Handmade with glass and more beautiful than anything you’ve ever seen in your life.”

“I’ve seen a lot of beautiful things in my life.”

“Not like this.” He walked up to it and picked up a yellow shard the size of his hand. Holding it up, he watched the faint light flicker through it. “This was a kingdom of wealth, and oh, the art they created. I still have some of their pieces in my castle, but it’s not the same without the artists themselves there to see the awe they inspire.”

She paused in front of him. Her lovely blue eyes turned green through the lens of the glass. Those big eyes stared up at him with a soft expression he’d never seen on her face. “What?” he asked.

“You want me to believe you’ve been here before, when you were the one who sent them to this place? The exiles all wanted to go home.”

He tsked. “Is that what they’re saying these days? I never sent them here to rot. They all wanted to make their own place, and it’s not like it’s easy to build an entire city in the middle of the desert. These caves were safe. Cooler than the surface realm. They were easier to know who was coming in and who was going out.”

“Is that why they made it so hard to get into the kingdom?” She rolled her eyes and turned away from him, and he swore she wiggled those hips a little more as she strode away from his side. “It sure seems like they were trying to keepyouout.”

He didn’t follow. Maybe that was because he couldn’t stop staring at her perky ass, or he’d heard her wrong. He had no idea. Greed had a hard time thinking about anything other than what he wanted to do to her when she gave him that look over her shoulder.

Still, maybe he needed to get himself a little more under control. “What do you mean, it seems like they were trying to keep me out?”

“Well, so far it’s been all intricate puzzles.” She glanced over her shoulder, a wicked grin on her face. “Clearly puzzles too difficult for you to figure out.”

Oh, and now he was insulted.

Feigning anger, he pressed a hand to his chest. “You think I can’t figure out these easy little traps that they tried to make difficult?”

“I think you’d find it harder than you expect.”

He’d been here when these damned puzzles were made. But she didn’t need to know that he was cheating a bit if he could remember where they were.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he feigned looking around them in detail. Long roots and vines hung down over their heads, the faintest hint of light spearing through the darkness. The remaining glass podium flickered in the light that touched it, but he remembered this place being much brighter in his day.

Ah, that was the puzzle, wasn’t it? The light.

He snapped his fingers at the thief. “Give me flint.”

“What makes you think I have flint?”

“You have everything ready for your travel here, do you not?” He tried very hard not to look down his nose at her, but was quite certain that he failed. “Flint, woman.”

“Oh sure, now that I’ve challenged you all of a sudden I’m ‘woman’, not little thief or treasure.” She swung her bag over her shoulder and rummaged around in it before handing him flint and steel.

As she dropped it in his hand, he curled his fingers around hers and tugged her closer. That soft gasp she made was music to his ears. “I’d call you by your name if you would tell it to me.”

Her glassy eyes met his, so round and wide and startling. “I don’t think I want you to know my name.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I think you would use it to your advantage.”

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