Chapter 23

ChapterTwenty-Three

Greed followed her back to his bedroom in a daze. After piecing themselves back together after the best orgasm of his life, he’d insisted that she eat more. She’d been so injured that food hadn’t been her top priority and he wanted her to eat. He wanted her to consume as much as she could, and then he would bring her back to his bedroom and show her what else he could do with his massive cock.

She’d seemed to like that well enough, even if she’d had to stretch her mouth so wide that her lips were still red and puffy from the effort. But gods, he appreciated that effort.

He was still stunned. He’d never had a woman try to murder him with her pussy stealing all his air. He’d thought that would be rather demeaning, but he couldn’t get enough of it. Fuck the air. He didn’t need to breathe. He was immortal and if that was how he died... What a way to go.

Greed’s thoughts turned heated again. He felt like he needed to thank her somehow. That he needed to prove to her that he could do the same. After all, she had thoroughly changed the way he would forever see that ballroom floor.

It would take centuries to wipe away the image of her folds glistening above him, all that gold pouring off her body as if she was a goddess of old and wanted a sacrifice who could survive molten metal.

Ah. He was already uncomfortably hard again.

Trailing behind her through the halls, his eyes couldn’t look at anything but the sway of her hips and how lovely her ass looked underneath that fabric. His. All his.

He knew she’d said she was no one’s other than her own, but he knew the sound of her crying out in pleasure now. Greed would not stop hunting that sound for the rest of his life. It was the prettiest song he’d ever heard.

They reached the door to his bedroom, and he knew something was wrong. Both Ivo and Morag stood outside the doors, wearing matching expressions of displeasure as the two of them approached.

Apparently, it was time for him to be a king again and not just the man fawning over the young woman he’d found in the middle of the desert.

Sighing, he ushered Varya into the room and caught her chin in his hand. Staring down at those swollen lips, he gently skated his thumb over the lower one. “We’ll have to continue this another time.”

“Is everything all right?”

“It’ll all be fine.” Using her chin, he pulled her closer so he could kiss her. Hard. Hard enough to bite and leave a mark for when he came back. “We’re not done talking.”

“We didn’t do much talking.”

“We don’t ever do much talking,” he replied with a wry grin. “But we will talk when I come back. There’s much to say.”

Why did that make a worried expression cross her features? Varya had to know that wasn’t the only thing she would get out of him. She’d wrapped a demon king around her pretty, talented fingers. She wasn’t getting away that easily, not with a quick suck on the ballroom floor. No, he wouldn’t be satisfied for a long while yet.

Raising an eyebrow, he left her alone with her thoughts as he left the room.

His twin guards were right where he’d left them. Both of them staring at him with no small amount of disapproval, as if he needed their permission to entertain himself with another woman.

“What?” he grunted. “You two aren’t usually right in front of my room without something being on fire.”

“Gluttony’s here,” Ivo said, worry already marring his handsome brow. “A day early.”

Not just a day early. Greed glanced up to see the red streaks of a sunset already above their head. Gluttony was supposed to be here in a day and a half, in the middle of the afternoon, with an entire entourage warning everyone that another king was coming to visit. He wasn’t supposed to sneak into Greed’s home with dusk crawling across the sky.

Grumbling, he stalked away from the room. Both of his guards followed him, but he pointed at Ivo with a snarl. “Stay here. No one gets through those doors without my knowledge. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Not even the little thief who has snuck past you enough times.”

Ivo’s cheeks burned bright red, but his guard stayed where he was.

Morag followed close on his heels, both of them racing across the platforms and stairwells to the front of his home. But apparently, even this spirit couldn’t help but jab at him. “You should be more gentle with Ivo.”

“He lost her once already.”

“Because he was distracted. You can hardly blame him when you’re the one who has been teaching us to be more human.”

Greed snorted. “More human, Morag. Not for you to both fall head over heels for the first human that gives you any sort of attention. Ivo knows better than to be distracted.”

“Is love not the most human emotion we could feel?”

“He’s not in love.” The mere thought made him chuckle. Ivo didn’t know how to love if he didn’t know what genuine happiness felt like. Or sadness. Or all the other emotions that humans flipped through on a daily basis and didn’t even recognize they were feeling it. “None of us can feel love.”

“Lust did.”

“Lust is love, now. That’s different.”

But he’d seen the way his brother had softened around Selene. He’d seen how Lust had fallen under her spell and desired to be a better man for her. Was that what love was? Was that what he himself was feeling?

Surely not. He didn’t know how to be anything but greedy, and that was the way it was going to stay.

Before he could answer, they were already at the front gates. They stood wide open to the desert, sand already blowing into his home around the single black horse and tall, dark man standing beside it.

Gluttony hadn’t changed at all in the many years since they’d seen each other in person. His brother’s dark hair fell below his shoulders, framing an angular and handsome face. Of course, most humans found him unsettling. Red eyes set deep into his skull were perturbing to look at even when he was smiling, like he was now. Though he was the smallest of all the siblings, Gluttony’s lithe body was made for speed.

He’d seen his brother gut a man in the blink of an eye and then tug out his entrails in the next. He’d been laughing while he did it, threatening to taste the thick ropes as though that was a normal thing to threaten.

Apparently, Gluttony had gotten a little too close to that threat these days.

“You’re early,” he snarled.

“And you haven’t changed a bit. Ever the warlord, aren’t you?” Gluttony eyed the castle behind him with all the glass domes and beautiful trees. “Although this is much better than the tent you used to cart around. Nomadic, isn’t that the word? That’s what you were the last time I saw you.”

He had been nomadic, because this castle hadn’t been finished yet, and he had to keep traveling through all the small towns and cities because they were constantly falling apart. He had seen Gluttony before he’d set up the system of his advisors, and why was this all making him feel lesser? Gluttony barely had a kingdom to his name.

“At least I don’t eat my subjects,” he snarled with bared teeth.

“Oh please.” Gluttony waved a hand in the air. “Settle that tail of yours. It was one person, and I hardly ate the woman. She enjoyed herself immensely.”

“Until she died.”

“Unfortunate, yes.” Gluttony’s hand twisted, his long nails slicing in front of him as though he was slicing the woman’s neck. “I didn’t consume her body. Wrath is ever so dramatic.”

“Then what did you do?”

“I just drank her blood.” Ah, he hated it when Gluttony smiled like that. It revealed those teeth that looked like snake fangs. All together too long and very unnatural. “Like I said, she enjoyed it.”

“Until she didn’t.”

“Until the very end,” Gluttony corrected. “She enjoyed every moment because she wished to die, brother. I merely helped her seek the end in a way that was... mutually satisfying.”

“I find you disgusting.”

“And I find you poor.” With a deep inhale, his brother cast his eyes toward Morag. “Now who is this?”

“A guard.” Greed moved to stand in front of her. He should have remembered that Gluttony’s nose was almost as good as his own. Even though Gluttony wasn’t animalistic like some of the brothers, he always seemed to seek out a scent he enjoyed.

“Not a guard at all.” Gluttony’s smile never moved. “Oh, brother, we all have our secrets, don’t we? After all, I have my tastes and you have your games. I’ll keep your secrets if you keep mine.”

“I will keep none of your secrets.” Greed felt his body shaking. He wanted to change into his battle form so badly. All he desired was to rake his nails across that pretty face, even though he knew it would do no good. Gluttony would heal almost instantly.

Perhaps from all the mortal souls he’d consumed.

Gluttony rolled his eyes. “Then send her away before I catch any more of that scent. You could at least hide it better, Greed. Spirits all smell the same, you know.”

He flicked his fingers at Morag, who melted into the darkness. Her eyes gleamed for a moment before she was gone. Only then did he round on his brother.

“You will say nothing of this,” he hissed.

“Why would I? No spirit is as strong as we were when we changed. Your little pet project doesn’t threaten me.” Gluttony stepped closer, his hands spread wide and those wicked claws ready to fight if he had to. “Pride might have something to say, of course, but neither of us talk to him all that much. I won’t tell him about this if you don’t tell him about my new affinity.”

“You won’t be drinking from anyone here.”

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll have much say in that.” Gluttony leaned closer and inhaled. His nose wrinkled in disgust. “You could have at least washed up. You reek of her.”

Shit.

He was such an idiot. Greed had forgotten so much about his brother until it was far too late. Now Gluttony knew what Varya smelled like. What his treasure smelled like and if he was correct, Gluttony never forgot a scent.

If his brother knew how much she meant to him, or how tempting Varya had become to his own sanity, he’d...

“Stop it,” Gluttony hissed. “You’re doing that thing with your face that I hate. I forgot how annoying your existence is.”

“I’m not doing anything with my face.”

“You’re doing a lot with your face and I don’t like it.” Gluttony waved a hand full of claws right in front of Greed’s features before he finally stepped back. And just like that, Greed could breathe again.

Apparently, they weren’t going to fight. Maybe the two of them had grown up in the past few hundred years after all.

Gluttony eyed the jungle surrounding them and the glass domes above his head, then he cracked his neck. “You realize you have a problem in this kingdom, don’t you?”

“Yes, it’s called sand and erosion.” Greed rolled his eyes. “This kingdom has seen better lifetimes, I know. Thankfully, the other brothers of ours are more than happy to help. They send food, water, provisions. Helpful men, they are.”

Gluttony rolled his eyes at the not-so-subtle jab. “I don’t have a lot in my kingdom to give you.”

“You have everything in your kingdom, and we both know that.”

“Maybe.” Gluttony shrugged. “But I’m not the one who doesn’t realize there’s an entire group of people secretly running my kingdom from the very underbelly of my home. You don’t see the problem here? I’d imagine at least your newest plaything would have mentioned it once or twice. It’s a real obvious one.”

Damn it, Greed was drawing a blank. Who did Gluttony mean?

Of course, Varya had mentioned a few problems. Surely the Horde wasn’t that big of an issue, though. They had kidnapped him, yes. They also had some kind of spell or weapon that could knock out a demon. But he’d been attacked many times before in his reign and no one had actually managed to kill him.

Maybe he should have mentioned all this to Wrath.

Eyeing his brother with suspicion, he muttered, “Are you talking about the Horde?”

“Is that what they call themselves? A real nuisance.” Gluttony pointed to his horse, his long finger slicing through the darkness. “I was riding that beast through a few towns, looking to have a little fun…” He paused and gave Greed an unimpressed look. “Stop growling. I didn’t kill anyone, if that’s what you’re thinking. Anyway, I stopped to have a little fun and your problem attacked me the moment they got wind that I was another demon king. Not that many people knew who I was, so I must have told the wrong person.”

“And?”

“They threw something at me that spewed out smoke and made me feel downright lightheaded. I happen to be smart enough to hold my breath, but when they tried to collect me, I heard them talking about yet another demon king they’d knocked out with the same weapon.” Now Gluttony was glaring at him. “Care to share, brother?”

“Stop trying to make this about me. You’re here as a punishment. I’m not the one who messed up.”

Gluttony’s eyebrows had raised in surprise. “And yet, here I am, accepting my punishment. What do you think Pride or Wrath would do if they found out you were keeping this information from the rest of our family? A weapon that could knock us out for an undetermined amount of time is something the mortals have never created before. And here you are, sitting on that information like it’s not that important.”

“They haven’t killed me yet.” He refused to feel an ounce of guilt about this. He was Greed, and he was only proud that people in his kingdom were the ones to create such a weapon.

“But they’ve clearly tried,” Gluttony murmured, watching him with those red eyes that saw far too much. His gaze trailed over Greed’s beard, likely where most of the scent still was, and then eyed his hands, his tail with the slightest of kinks still in it. “You seem to need my help more than I need yours, brother. At least if I’m here investigating your little problem, you can keep your attention on whatever has recently made you get all grabby.”

“Enough,” Greed snarled. “I’ll get you settled in your room and then I don’t want to hear from you again for at least a month.”

“I won’t be here that long.”

“That’s the point.”

He stomped through his kingdom, his tail lashing through the air as he desperately tried to get his anger under control. Maybe he wouldn’t return to Varya’s side tonight.

He wasn’t so sure what he’d do now that all this anger and fear coursed through his veins.