Page 64 of The Demon Crown

“You have no idea.”

He took his time feeding her with his own hands. The act was strangely erotic, knowing that she could only get her sustenance from his fingers. They both became more and more adventurous with each other as well.

She’d picked up a saffron dusted roll on her own, but the honey on top had dripped down her chin. Greed used his thumb to chase down the small, sweet drop and then sucked it from his finger.

But it was the chocolate that undid them both. He gave her a small bite of dark chocolate that he’d stolen from Gluttony, and he hadn’t been able to stop himself. She bit into it and he leaned forward to lick the smallest hint of that dark magic from her lips.

And then he was lost. She tasted like everything he’d stolen and everything the world desired. She tasted like the finest of wines and he hadn’t even poured that into her mouth yet. But she was here, his, and he was the only one with this treasure on his arm.

Snarling against her lips, he backed her away from the table. Greed didn’t know where he was going with her, only that he wanted her. Needed her. That he’d shred this mortal form if he didn’t get to indulge himself in her for a few moments.

“I want you,” she said, her mouth skating down his throat and her tongue leaving little marks of red behind. “I don’t care that you think I’m too injured. I want you now, and I will have you.”

“Ach, you do not know what you ask.”

“I’m not broken.” Varya glared up at him, fierce and powerful as the woman he’d always wanted.

A lump formed in his throat and he tried to swallow it down. She was... more than he’d expected. He’d found himself a thief in the desert and suddenly she had become this wild and wicked thing who consumed him every time they met.

For a moment, he feared for his life. He worried about what would happen if he gave in. If he let her devour him, just as she so obviously wanted to do.

But he wanted her as well. He wanted to steal her away, and if that meant giving her a part of himself, then he would. She would rip and tear at all the magic he had, and still he would feed off her greed.

Because that’s what she was. A greedy little thing who demanded he attend to her and he would do all of that and more.

Greed bent her back over his arm, just far enough to see her wince. Her ribs might be healing, but they were not entirely where she thought they were. Not yet. “You do not know what you ask.”

“I do.”

“You think this will be fun evening entertainment and you’ll disappear into the night afterward? But I am Greed, Varya. And if we do this, then you are mine.”

Though she was clearly uncomfortable, not yet in pain, she still stared into his eyes as though trying to understand him. “What are you asking of me?”

He pressed his mouth to her long neck and inhaled deeply of her scent. “I want your pleasure, and I want your pain. I want every feeling you can give me, my treasure, and I will share it with no one else. If you think you can take that, I promise you that you cannot. No one has yet been able to.”

He’d broken so many women. Shattered them from the inside out after they realized this wasn’t what they wanted. They’d been enticed by his looks and his fortune, but none of them had wanted him to own them. Body and soul.

But he stared into those wide blue eyes and he wondered if this was the one he’d been searching for.

ChapterTwenty-Two

Her heart thundered in her chest. Varya knew what his words meant. He was more than just some selfish king who wanted her to bend to his whims. This was Greed himself. A man who would want everything she had to give to him and then still take more because he thought he deserved it.

Could she do this? Could she bend to him completely?

Some part of her hated the idea of it. The same part wanted to stay wild and free, and that was the voice that she listened to. The voice that said she deserved to take what she wanted and not care about anyone else. Fuck whatever he wanted from her, because she was the one with wants and needs and no one had ever listened to those before.

No one had ever put her first until him. No one had healed her wounds after a difficult adventure. She’d never had a single person tell her that she was important to them, or that her life was worth taking care of. Instead, they’d all asked for more.

Her ribs screamed, but even that pain reminded her how alive she was and that this handsome man wanted her.

Greed could never take anything from her that she didn’t want to give. And he knew that. He was trying to scare her, and she refused to let him.

Baring her teeth in a snarl that he would understand, she met his heated gaze with one of her own. “I’m not an object to own.”

“And yet, you would be mine.”

Why did that send a thrill up her spine? She didn’t want to be tied down to anyone, nor did she want any man to ever own her, but the thought ofhimbeing that person? Well. It made a girl think.

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