Chapter 26

ChapterTwenty-Six

Watching her was magic. Varya moved to the rhythm of the drums like the goddesses of old. Her body swayed, her muscles flexed, and the innate grace she used to rob tombs proved to make her an impressive dancer who captivated him with every beat.

He’d never felt like this about a woman before. Though, he couldn’t be certain if that was simply Varya or if it was because he’d seen Lust with his wife. All Greed knew was that he wanted what Lust had shown him. He wanted to know what it was like to have a woman who loved him, who saw him as the man who hung the very stars in the sky and the man who she would always lie down next to at night.

Greed wanted her. He wanted Varya in his bed and in his arms and to know that she wasn’t ever going to disappear again. That she was his, he was hers, and that was how their world would continue forward.

He’d never wanted that before. Leaning against one of the makeshift tables someone had built, he held a mug of ale in his hands and watched as she swayed and leapt with the others who danced all around her.

He didn’t dance, but Greed didn’t want to. He wanted to watch her with her people—his people—and to see how much they adored her.

This woman had claimed that she was alone. That no one would notice if she disappeared. And yes, he had heard everything she’d said to Ivo. The man was not a closed book when it came to conversations that were private.

Sipping his drink, he saw that she was very wrong.

Varya wasn’t alone. She’d never been alone. She helped these people, and they adored her for it. They danced around her, laughing and drawing her into wild, whirling circles where they twirled her until she screamed with happiness.

By the seven kingdoms, she was lovely. Her hair whirling around her head, his paint glittering on her skin, and that stolen clothing barely holding onto her form. Could he love this woman? Absolutely. Would it change him? He hoped to the gods it would.

He’d seen how happy Lust was, and how his brother had felt more than he had in ages, and for the first time, Greed realized he wanted that too. He wanted to fall in love and see what it did to him.

Another person leaned against the table beside him, a mug of ale in his hand as well. The dark-skinned man had eyes that saw everything. Eyes that particularly looked at Varya with far too much comfort.

“Is it true, then?” the man asked. “You’re Greed himself?”

There was no hiding it. He was nearly seven feet tall with bright red hair. Who else did they think he was?

Greed nodded. “You found me. Congratulations.”

“Never seen you at the Festival of Lights before.”

“Never had a reason to come.” Greed took a sip of his drink, letting that simmer with the other man before he snorted. “Not much of a reason to come now, if I’m honest. This festival was created before me.”

“Most of us still know that.” The man turned toward him and held out a hand. “Altan.”

“You already know my name.”

They shook hands, and he saw a flicker of interest in the other man’s eyes. “So your name really is Greed, then? I always thought it was a moniker. Like calling someone King.”

Greed chuckled and felt the muscles in his shoulders relax. At least he wasn’t about to be grilled. The last thing he needed was a jaded ex-lover of Varya’s getting in his way. He’d bury him in the desert, of course. Somewhere no one would find his bones until the dry heat had mummified him. But he didn’t think Varya would particularly be happy that he’d done so.

Even if this Altan wanted to protect Varya from the demon king, he didn’t think anyone could sway his mind now. He wanted her, and he would have her. No matter what the cost ended up being.

“My name is really Greed,” he replied, turning his attention back to the woman who had linked hands with another and was now spinning wildly in a circle. They were going to throw up if they kept that speed up.

“So how did you meet Varya?” Altan asked, his eyes seeing a little too much.

Greed turned the question around on him. “How did you meet her?”

“We grew up on the streets together. Her parents died when she was very young, so mine took her in. And then they died too.” Altan gestured toward her with his mug. “She’s like a little sister to me, although I feel more for her than a sibling. She’s not blood, but she’s the closest I’ve got.”

So there was someone waiting to make sure she had come home. He’d known she must have been wrong about that, but he hadn’t guessed the person waiting for her would be such a handsome young man. “Is that so?”

“Her parents left her with one saying in her head, you know? And that’s what makes her story about how she met you even more unbelievable. It makes it hard for me to think that she’s allowing you to be here, with us... willingly.”

Ah, so her parents had hated him. That wasn’t all that surprising. Most people in the kingdom blamed him for the state of their lives, and in some way, he was responsible. It had taken hundreds of years to get their people in line. The nomadic tribes were always fighting each other when he’d arrived. No one had wanted to listen to the redheaded man who didn’t look like them or sound like them or understand their kingdom in the slightest.

He’d fought. He’d won. Neither of those had won him many supporters.

The people in this kingdom had been searching for someone to blame for years. They didn’t want to realize that it was their own folly that had nearly run this kingdom into the ground. So they blamed him. They turned him into a monster who had taken their kingdom by storm, ruined all their good crops and all the people who had once led them.

The rumors about him were terrifying and full of blood. He didn’t care. As long as the people in this kingdom feared him enough to listen, that was all that mattered.

But... The other side of that was how lonely it had become.

He watched as Varya and the other woman leapt through a bonfire together. They ran so quickly not a single flame singed either of their clothing, and they fell into a laughing heap on the sands.

“Varya and I are similar in many ways,” he replied. “She is not afraid to take what she wants, or to hold a knife to someone’s neck and force them to see reason.”

“That is not the expression of a man who sees an equal,” Altan replied. He stood in front of Greed, blocking his view of the only woman that mattered. “But you don’t see anyone as an equal, do you? Demon kings are rare throughout all the kingdoms, and you would be a fool to not realize just how powerful you are compared to the rest of us. Those eyes see her as more than an equal. You see a companion. Why?”

Greed could lie. He could say it was because he’d seen what she looked like with her legs spread wide and her cheeks burned with passion. He could singe the other man’s ears as he told him about the sounds she made as his tongue circled that button between her legs that made them shake.

But that wasn’t what Altan was looking for. And for a rare moment in his life, Greed was truthful. “She sees what I do not. I came to this kingdom knowing it was broken and that it would be a challenge for me to fix it. I like a challenge. I like a battle. She was the first person to tell me I was doing something wrong. She was the first to show me the lies that have been said in my name and the first to hold me accountable. That woman is not afraid of me, and having someone look at you without fear is addicting.”

“Ah,” Altan murmured, then spread his arms wide as he stepped back into the crowd. “You will find many here who would have no problem telling you what you’ve done wrong.”

“Is that so?”

“We’re all brave, Greed.”

He followed the man, curious about what this thief had planned. “Then you are all fools if you think I will accept so many people telling me what they think they know.”

“Ah, we have nothing to lose.” Altan winked, nearly disappearing into the crowd now. “And everything to give. You are welcome amongst us, Greed, demon king of our homeland. We are not your enemies, just as you are not ours.”

Curious. Greed hadn’t thought it would be like this. He handed his mug of ale to someone else and stalked the other man with a single question burning in his chest. “Why? This is a kingdom of thieves. I have built this land to grow on lies and manipulation. You think your group of people is different?”

“I do.” Altan pointed at the drummers and they sped up their pace. People whirled around them, skirts and jackets flying as they all raced to keep up with the music. “We have nothing to give and nothing to take. Our people live with food and drink and happiness in times like this. Dance with us, Greed. Learn what it is to be part of your people. Not above them.”

Greed narrowed his eyes. “What are you getting out of this? No one seeks an audience with me without a desire in their heart.”

Altan held up his hands for peace. “Ah, you have caught me! I now have Greed’s ear if you dance with us. If you celebrate with my people, then surely you have cast your favor upon our town. We have no advisor to lend you advice. Perhaps if you are kind enough, then you will allow us to have that.”

Ah, there it was. And the man likely wanted to vote himself as that advisor.

Yet, it didn’t seem like a terrible idea. This man understood his people and their needs. And more than that, he seemed to have a better heart than the others.

Tiny hands slid into his. He stared down at Varya’s red cheeks and bright smile. “You came to dance! I can’t say I believed that would ever happen.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he replied. His feet didn’t know the complicated patterns the others seemed to know. He feared he would bump into a couple and knock them into the sands. He was too large to be in a crowd of people like this. And yet...

He wanted to be. He wanted to be here when she held both his hands in hers and stared down at their feet. “Do this,” she said, showing him the movements that weren’t all that complicated after all. He leapt from side to side, feeling like an idiot trying to move his bulk as the others were doing.

But she was smiling at him. Grinning so big it must hurt and... there it was. That expression he’d seen Selene wear when she looked at Lust. The expression that whispered of deeper feelings and a heart that ached while looking at another person.

He felt the echo in his own chest. He felt the pulse of something powerful and echoing. He must be the only person in this crowd who looked at her and felt like this. In looking at her, he knew she shared this feeling. She shared the heart thumping desire that burned through him. And not just to fuck her, but to hold, cherish, and keep her.

Strings joined the drums, and he tossed his head up to see the fiddles that three people now played alongside the others. The entire crowd shouted with happiness as the music swelled around them.

He felt himself caught up in all of it. Was this what Altan had meant? That if he danced with these people for an ephemeral moment, he would become part of them?

The crowd surged and Varya tugged on his hand. “Jump!” she shouted, and then leapt into the air. Everyone around him jumped, so their heads were almost at the same height. And he watched them all. Their flashing smiles. Dark skin, light skin, red hair, blonde, dark, all of it. All these people who were joyous in their celebration.

He saw all the colors of their clothing. The freckles that dotted some noses and others who had scars on their eyebrows. Young and old. People from every part of this town that were hungry or thirsty or needy, none of them were turned away. They were all right here, celebrating together, and that joy swelled around them and sank into his skin in a way it never had before.

For all the centuries that he had been their king, he had never seen them like this. And was this greed? No and yes at the same time.

There was no need to steal or take or devour, but these people were greedy, as they gobbled up every ounce of joy they felt this night because it would not come again for another year. They took from each other and they gave. An equal give and take that shared so much emotion it filled him near to brimming.

They leapt again, the swell of people moving around him like a wave, and he stood still in the middle of it all. Watching them and feeling them. For the very first time, he could feel the hearts of his kingdom thudding. He felt their love for each other and he had never wanted to be part of that love until now.

Varya’s hands tugged at the waist of his pants, and he looked down at her as a newer version of himself. As the spirit who had spent so many centuries seeking and consuming greed, but who now realized there was so much more that he had never seen.

“Jump!” she shouted again, her words carrying over the drums and the fiddles.

And he did.

He moved less vigorously than the rest of the crowd. Some of them were so small that he could leap over their heads if he wanted and he didn’t intend to hurt anyone. But he jumped with them and felt the scream of laughter from all who surrounded him. He felt it in his heart.

More than anything else, though, he felt her smile. Her joy that he was trying. And he wasn’t doing it well. He danced like the children who were still at the edges of the crowd. He was too big and too awkward for any of this to look like he had any talent whatsoever.

But she looked at him like he’d done something magical and he felt like he had.

For her. He would do the impossible.