Chapter 47

ChapterForty-Seven

“Are you sure you don’t want to go back?”

Selene rolled her eyes at Lust as he rounded the corner of his desk. Which she was seated at, as she’d taken over most of his office now that she was better. “Yes, I’m sure I don’t want to go back to the Tower. They will run it just fine without me.”

“They will not run it well without you.”

“I trust them to do the right thing.”

“The last time you said that, a High Sorceress threw you off the top of the Tower.” He rounded the back of her chair and leaned over it, pointing at a line on the letter she’d been reading. “Sibyl doesn’t seem all that confident that things are going well.”

“Sibyl is annoyed with Ursula for stealing her best quill, and she’s angry at Bathilda for claiming to see a future that she doesn’t like.” Selene shrugged. “It’s all entirely normal behavior. They’re siblings. They don’t get along well.”

“I still think we should send someone out there to keep an eye on everything. Greed has offered—”

“Greed needs his people where they belong,” she interrupted, trying her best to hide the smile on her lips. “If we want to keep watch over our own sorceresses, we do that without the help of your brother.”

“While you stay here, far away from them and their meddling.”

“As you wish.” She didn’t want to go back. That monolith held too many poor memories for her, and she refused to spend even an ounce of energy worrying about her sisters. They would figure it out under her watchful gaze. While she stayed safely in her castle with her demon king.

Sighing, she leaned back in the chair and smiled at him as he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. “You look lovely today.”

“Thank you. A very talented man picked out my outfit.” She ran a hand over her complicated braids, then added, “And he did my hair.”

“A man who is obsessed with you, I assume.” A low growl rumbled in his chest, and he nipped at her lips. “If you settle for anything less than that, I’ll have to take you over my knee.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Another voice interrupted them. “You two are disgusting now.”

Oh, right. She’d forgotten Greed was here.

Blinking the haze away from her eyes, she smiled at Greed, where he stood in the doorway waiting for them to see him off. “You’re sure you’ll be all right? It’s a long journey back, and I’m sure your brother wouldn’t mind sending you rations for the way.”

Greed’s lips curled in disgust. “As if I’d take anything other than water from here. It’s a good place for a vacation, but hardly anywhere to stay for a long time. I’m ready to get back to my own people, my own food, and my own bed.”

Lust sat down on the arm of her chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “And here I was, believing your people were nomadic.”

“They are,” Greed snorted. “I’m not. Besides, there’s nothing here for me to take that I can hold over you. Especially now that you’re—” He choked on the last word. “Love.”

Selene glanced up at the man she adored and smiled. “Ah, well he might be a spirit of that, but he’ll always be Lust to me.”

Lust’s eyes heated as he looked down at her, and a red tinge appeared on the tops of his cheekbones. That was new, now that he’d changed spirits. But she loved knowing what he was thinking. “For you? Always, little moon.”

Their romantic moment was yet again ruined as Greed gagged.

“Enough,” he said, pressing a fist to his mouth before he shook his head to clear it. “If I have to see the two of you moon over each other for one more second, I will vomit all over your floor and not feel an ounce of guilt. Goodbye. Both of you.”

Lust called out, “Be careful with your thief situation! You never know which one of us might fall to the whims of a woman.”

The only response Greed gave was to flip his brother off over his shoulder as he disappeared down the hall.

Selene watched as Lust chuckled, the sound music to her ears. When had he laughed so much? Never? She’d only heard the sound a few times before he changed what spirit he was, and now she didn’t think she could live without it.

“Thief?” she asked as he picked her up out of the chair and placed her on his lap.

“Apparently, someone is upset. A thief has stolen quite a few priceless objects from outposts all over the kingdom. They’re showing back up after being sold or ransomed. Greed doesn’t take kindly to someone stealing what he’s already stolen.” Lust ran his finger over her bottom lip, his eyes tracking the movement. “He needs to deal with that quickly, and not by making an example out of them and killing the person.”

“He’s going to kill them then, hm?”

“Most likely. But you never know. I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever fall in love with a sorceress, either.” He leaned forward to follow the path his finger had taken, kissing her lips tenderly with each slow glide. “And yet, here I am. Madly kneeling at her feet and worshiping the ground she walks upon.”

“You do not.”

“I absolutely do.” He leaned back to glare at her, suddenly very serious. “And if, for a second, you do not feel worshiped, then you will tell me. I’ll prostrate myself onto the floor and let you step on my throat.”

“I don’t want to do that,” she replied with a laugh.

But then his cheeks flamed again, and oh, that expression. “What if I want you to step on my throat?”

Selene hummed low under her breath before kissing him again, this one lingering a bit more than the first. “Then I suppose we can make that happen.”

She let out a little squeal as he gathered her in his arms and leapt up from the desk, rushing back to their bedroom, which they had hardly left for the better part of two weeks. Maybe the two of them would settle down eventually once they’d gotten their fill of each other.

But as she stared up at his beloved face, at his wild grin and eyes filled with love, she rather hoped they wouldn’t.