Page 50 of The Demon Crown

Someone needed to help her. She needed someone to push her upright, or at least roll her over. But then the sand beneath her moved. Again. Like the waves of the sea, it rolled beneath her body and shoved her to the side. Her face pressed against something moving in the sands, something warm and smooth and... scaled?

She rolled, unable to stop herself until she was lying on her back. Almost seated, but that gave her the opportunity she needed to move.

Her legs ached. Her lungs screamed that she couldn’t run while her heart thundered in fear and her ribs screamed in protest. No part of her body wanted to run, but she didn’t have a choice.

The Horde continued to shout. Their cries echoed through the air along with the faint, terrifying sound of a hiss starting deep in the belly of a monster she refused to look at.

She’d felt the scales press against her body. She’d felt the muscles moving underneath her cheek as it easily powered through the sand toward the group of men and horses that were likely to be the beast’s meal.

And that terror kicked her upright. That terror kept her legs moving even when she felt like she was going to fall over.

Varya ran.

ChapterSeventeen

This was stupid. He should have gone after her himself rather than wait for anyone else to bring her back.

Yes, there was now the added nonsense of his brother coming to his castle. Gluttony had cut too many ties with all the other kingdoms, and that was the only reason he was coming here. Greed was certain of that.

Of course, Gluttony and Greed did have their shared gripes with their counterparts. The others lived in rather easy kingdoms. No one else had been tricked into taking on a jungle kingdom that was slowly degrading into a desert. And Gluttony’s kingdom was a swamp that rarely saw the light of day.

Greed didn’t even know what he was going to do with him. He could keep him in the back of the castle, he supposed. He needed to make sure that all his servants understood they were never to be alone with the visiting demon king. Likely, he’d want to put Ivo or Morag in charge of keeping them safe. But that also put them far too close to his sibling who would notice that they weren’t human.

Gluttony had a big mouth. His brother would be the first to tell the others that Greed had broken the covenant they had all taken when they first took to mortal form.

No other spirit could join them. Not until they were certain what their existence would do to the world, and how it would affect the kingdoms that they ran.

But... It had been a thousand years since they’d taken these forms and he didn’t believe they’d changed that much. The mortals looked up to them as gods, however, and he supposed Pride recognized the inherent problem.

No one needed an abundance of demons or gods running amuck about the kingdoms.

Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair until it stood up in all directions. He had so much to manage inside these walls, and all he wanted to do was to be outside of them. He wished the sands were blowing in his face, cutting at his cheeks, whispering that he needed to find more hidden treasure. Treasure that he now found in the heart of a woman.

“You’re obsessed,” he muttered as he followed a stream that ran through his oasis. “Obsession is never good.”

He knew this about himself. He’d find something that he wanted and then he couldn’t think until he had it. Not even his mind could focus until he could put it on a shelf, looked at it every day, and then eventually grew bored with it.

The woman would bore him. Varya might be a strange mortal who had argued and slapped at him, but she was still the same as all the others. Someday he would look at her and she would have lost her shine. Her newness.

But that day was not anytime soon, and he wanted to keep her for as long as he could. He wanted that thrill in his chest that he had caught something impossible.

And oh, there was nothing like adding something to his collection.

Her golden hair would look so lovely spread out on his dark green pillows. Her tanned skin would lighten each day that she wasn’t subjected to the sun for long hours of the day. Soon her muscular body would round with luxury and all the food he would ply her with. He’d watch those changes knowing that he was the one who had bid her to change.

Having a mortal treasure might not be so bad after all. If he could only find her.

Tilting his head back in the air that was cool with mist, he filled his lungs. He could almost smell her on the wind. Her lovely, spicy scent that always smelled like the wilds and the tombs that she haunted.

She was still in his nose. After days of missing her, she was still in every one of his senses.

Until the scent mingled with blood.

A low growl rumbled in his chest and his eyes narrowed on the entrance to his home. The low wall would provide no protection against anyone who wanted to attack the castle, but no one had been so foolish in centuries. Who would want to directly anger the demon king who ruled them all? They had a death wish.

Or they wanted to draw him out.

Again, he filled his lungs with her scent and the acrid bite of blood. It wasn’t possible. Whoever had taken her wasn’t so stupid that they would drag her to his front door? They would know he would tear them apart limb from limb for the insult.

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