Page 87 of The Demon Crown

“So, why are we out here again?” Gluttony asked, leaning over the pommel of his saddle. Morag hadn’t been pleased about letting his brother take her mount, but there were only so many nuckelavees to go around.

“Because we are hunting down the idiots who thought they could attack my festival and get away with it.”

“Oh, your festival is it now?” Gluttony’s dark brow raised. His brother had insisted on wearing a wide-brimmed hat, he looked foolish wearing it, but his lily pale skin would have burned by now if he hadn’t. “And here I was, believing you hadn’t even thought of that festival for hundreds of years. What was it called again?”

“The Festival of Lights,” he ground out.

“Right. The Festival of Lights. Where your people send up their lanterns with wishes written on the inside, hoping that the gods themselves would hear their prayers. Isn’t that about right?”

“What are you trying to get at, Gluttony?”

“I’m just saying.” The creak of leather in Gluttony’s hands was the only sound that gave away that he might not be quite as flippant as he pretended. “You were never interested in this before that woman waltzed into your life. And you’ve never wanted to hunt someone down for burning through a camp. You are the warlord king who took this kingdom and let it burn. Remember?”

Of course, he remembered his own history. Greed couldn’t forget it, no matter how hard he wanted to. He’d been here for centuries, had indulged his kingdom in whatever future they wished to carve for themselves. That didn’t mean he couldn’t change. Or that he didn’t want to.

If he didn’t look at the desert, casting his gaze out to the wild landscape beyond, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t launch himself at his brother and knock him off the horse he’d provided.

Gluttony had always gotten underneath his skin, though. They had never gotten along.

“So we are Horde hunting,” Gluttony said as the silence stretched a little too long between them. “Interesting. And why are we Horde hunting?”

“Because they attacked a village of people during what was supposed to be a truce between all the cities. The Festival of Lights is known to not allow stealing, thievery, or murder.”

“And that is by your own grace and choices, of course.”

“Of course.” It wasn’t. Greed hadn’t ever made those rules, but he would uphold the ones that his own people had made. They wished for peace during this time, and that suited his own needs. He wanted revenge.

Apparently, Gluttony saw right through him and into the thoughts that he tried so desperately to hide. “And this has nothing to do with the woman, then? Or that tent that you two disappeared into? You realize I have exceptional hearing. I know exactly how you were entertaining yourself while the rest of the town continued to celebrate.”

“I don’t need your approval to do such things. Besides, you weren’t even supposed to be there.”

“Of course not. But I want to, once again, ask why we are in the middle of the desert hunting the people who are simply doing what you have taught them is acceptable? Burn down villages if you want what they have. Take what is yours and ask for no quarter or apologies.” Gluttony lifted his voice to a higher pitch, as though Greed spoke in a tone higher than his own. “They do what you tell them to do.”

“And now they will feed my desert with their blood,” he growled. He could feel the anger rising. His cheeks burned bright red and his chest felt hot. All at once, that rage coiled in his chest and snapped. “They ruined what could have been the best night of my life. They took from me the treasure that I have always desired and now I will hold their beating hearts in my hands for it! Everything would have been perfect if they hadn’t walked into that festival and ruined it!”

“Eh,” Gluttony said with a light shrug.

Greed’s vision turned white.

“Eh?” he repeated, spitting the word in his brother’s direction. “What does that mean? Eh?”

“It means, brother, that you have yet to consider that all of this fuckery might be your fault.” Gluttony turned on top of his mount, facing Greed directly while he ticked off his fingers. “You were the one who tried to get her to leave her people when they needed help. You were the one who taught the attackers to do exactly what they were doing. Let’s not forget that after you helped save her people, only because she forced you to do so, that you then blamed her for making you feel worried because you thought she might be dead. And then she knocked you off your own horse, and you let her go.”

Greed wanted to wrap his fingers around his brother’s neck and squeeze. “So you want me to take all the blame for what has happened?”

“I think that’s the logical choice, yes.”

“You want me to be the villain in this story when there is someone out there that we can actually hunt? Someone we can kill because they have killed so many others?”

“I do not know you to be a man who has any interest in mercy.” Gluttony tilted his head to the side, watching him with dark eyes that saw far too much. “This is mercy, brother. You are hunting down the people who harmed innocents. It’s unlike you.”

But that wasn’t why he was doing it. Sure, Greed would take their adoration and their devotion because of what he did.

He was only out here hunting because the Horde had unwittingly stolen from him when they attacked that village. They’d stolen a night of pleasure that he never wanted to forget, and that memory would forever be tainted by their touch now.

He wouldn’t stand for it. They would pay for their foolish mistake and he would watch them cry out for mercy. And he would give them none.

Gluttony watched him with those knowing red eyes. Seeing right through to his soul and then snorting. “So it’s like that, then. You want to punish them for making a mistake that is actually yours. That’s fucked up, Greed. At some point, you’re going to have to admit that you make mistakes as well. And sometimes you have to sit in your own punishment.”

---