Page 85 of The Demon Crown

He’d been the protector they all wanted, and that hurt more than she expected it would.

Varya’s shoulders rounded with exhaustion. She stepped toward them, her eyes catching Altan’s warm gaze before she focused on the two demons resting while the town swarmed around them.

His brother stood first. Lean, lithe, and so tall, she wondered if he had a few inches on even Greed. The man held out his hand, long nails not quite drawn completely in. “Gluttony.”

“Varya.”

“A pleasure.” He reached for her hand, bent over it, and pressed his lips against her skin. Ever a gentleman, even though she had the sneaky suspicion he wasn’t.

Greed growled from his place on the ground. His arm was still over his eyes, so she had no idea how he knew what his brother was doing. But he still snarled out, “Get your hands off her, Gluttony.”

His brother flashed her a dark smile, but he released her hand almost instantly. “My brother has always been territorial about his things.”

She bristled at the terminology. She was no one’s object, and she certainly wasn’t Greed’s “thing”. But now was not the time nor the place to argue while there were so many eyes on them. Instead, she looked down at Greed and nudged him with her foot. “We can go now.”

“I think you can see that I’m resting, Varya.”

“Get up.” Perhaps the words were harsh, but she had an argument that was already bursting on her lips. If he didn’t move, she was going to scream at him with an audience. And it didn’t matter to her if he hated her for it. Right now, she wanted to get in a fight and the only person who deserved that was him.

He grumbled, but still rolled onto his feet. The fur someone had laid out over him fell off, and he stood in front of her, completely bare. Though he glared at her like she was the problem, she pointedly stared at his half hard cock and then back at him.

“It doesn’t know we’re fighting,” he grumbled as he strode away from the rest of the people. And it made her even more angry that he clearly expected her to follow him without questioning where they were going.

Stomping after him, she tugged the furs closer to her body and tried to keep the words inside her before they all came spewing out. How dare he? How dare he make that choice and then try to make that choice for her when there were people who needed her help? He knew what she did. He knew she would do anything for her people, no matter the cost.

Nothing would stop her from helping if she could. She would steal and lie and cheat for them. She’d been captured, endured countless beatings, fallen off a cliff, and broken her collarbone in three places before dragging herself homefor them.And he thought he could just order her to ignore all that?

The man was insane. He was a selfish, good for nothing prick who had tricked her into fucking him because he thought she was some stupid little girl who would let a dick lead her around on a leash.

Well, that wasn’t going to happen.

No sir. She was better than this, and he clearly wasn’t.

Once they were far enough away from the tents, she looked back and muttered, “Shouldn’t we wait for Gluttony?”

“He made his way here. He’ll make his way back.” Greed lifted his fingers to his lips and let out an ear-piercing whistle.

The sound of hooves responded almost immediately. His massive, leathery beast had been waiting for its master to call for it, apparently. It appeared in the distance, dunes away from arriving at their side almost lightning fast.

This time, at least, it didn’t snap at her. It just calmly waited as its master swung up onto its back. Naked and covered in blood, he looked every inch the warlord the old legends claimed him to be. He held out his hand, and she knew it was an order. There was no denying him when he wore that expression of rage.

She looked at his hand and ground her teeth together. “I’m angry with you.”

“Good,” he snarled, then grabbed onto her without waiting for her to make a choice. He swung her up onto the back of the leathery beast, his arm a band around her waist. “I’m angry with you, too.”

“With me?” she hissed.

He kicked the beast into movement and suddenly they were flying across the desert. It moved like it was barely touching the sands. Normally, she would have taken a moment to realize how amazing this was. How fast they moved when she hadn’t even realized it was possible.

Instead, it just made her even more angry that he’d had a beast like this, which moved so fast, and he hadn’t told her. No wonder he found her at that tomb when she had struggled for days to get there. She could have gotten that goblet in a few hours if she had a mount like this. And he’d been hoarding them to himself?

“Yes, I’m mad at you,” he snarled in her ear. “You put yourself in unnecessary danger—”

“My people needed my help!”

“—without thinking for a second that you might die. You left my side and then you ran headlong into flames, Varya! There were countless soldiers there who were trying to kill you.”

“I fought them off. I can take care of myself, you know.”

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