Chapter 4

ChapterFour

This damned demon.

Varya should have left days ago. She had the map. She had the key to her people’s salvation and here she was, sitting in a fucking oasis in the middle of a cave system, waiting for the demon king to wake up.

Three days. He’d been asleep for three days and she’d been packing his wounds with yarrow that she’d found beside the small stream that led into a pool. She’d been trying her best to keep him alive, and he hadn’t so much as twitched.

If he died, she knew they would kill her. Who? Oh, there were lists of people who would kill her if they found out she’d been with the demon king when he died. His own guards, for one. Half the people in this kingdom who somehow liked the man. His brothers, no doubt, would hunt her in whatever kingdom she tried to flee to.

Varya would have to live the rest of her life on the run, and she wasn’t so good at that. She’d escaped the Horde this long only because she’d learned from other people. But she had a mouth that ran off without her permission and a rather memorable face.

Although, she supposed if she had to be anywhere right now, this wasn’t a terrible place to be.

The demon king had pointed her in the right direction of a cave that was safe for them. He’d forgotten to tell her it was a literal oasis. The stones above their head trapped moisture and kept it a cool, consistent temperature even at night. Holes in the ceiling rained sand with the breeze, but let the light in during the day so there were countless numbers of plants growing inside this cavern with a ceiling that was easily five men high.

A stream of water that snaked out from underneath more rocks gathered up in a pool at the center, crystal clear and drinkable. The food was a little scarce, but she’d found enough prickly pear and some rats to keep herself well fed. The demon king wasn’t likely to eat while he was asleep, so she did her best to stay alive.

And wait.

She’d waited too long, really. The man had to wake up at some point, but she didn’t know if she could just leave or not.

Staring up at the spears of light above her head, she took a deep breath and counted to fifty. When that didn’t seem to help, she did it again. She’d started counting when she was little and anxious and the habit hadn’t ever left. She liked counting. It calmed her nerves with repetition that was even and familiar.

Varya had to go back to where she’d stowed his body. She’d put her jacket over him, leaving her arms and shoulders bare. Her leather chest plate was only so good for heat, though.

At least Greed put off a lot of heat on his own. She’d huddled up next to him for the past three nights, fully expecting to wake up with his arm around her waist and his nose in her hair.

He never did.

She tried not to feel too disappointed with that fact. After all, it had been a long time since she’d entertained the touch of another person. She wasn’t about to do it again any time soon.

Huffing, she rolled onto her feet and started back toward the safety of the entrance they’d come in through. At least she knew there was an exit there, even if she didn’t know how to get back to it. Maybe she’d clamber up those rocks today, but she was afraid the Horde was still there. She could only assume they weren’t. They’d have tunneled in here by now if they knew where Greed and Varya were hiding. So she should be able to... to...

She stopped, hands curling into fists at her sides.

Greed was gone.

She’d left his body right there, the same place he always was because she didn’t know what else to do with him. But her jacket was still there. No giant body bleeding all over the sands for her to take care of, though.

“Damn it,” she hissed. “Where are you, you colossal idiot?”

She followed the sound of splashing to the pool of water that was icy at best. She’d tried to bathe herself yesterday, but the water was so bitterly cold that she’d thought her nipples would crack right off. The best she could do was splash herself a few times and then wait until her leathers dried out.

The last thing she needed was some idiot demon thinking he could get into a pool of ice water and somehow cool himself off when it was just going to make everything worse. She had to leave this cave. Wasn’t he worried about the kingdom or saving... whatever it was demon kings did?

Stomping toward the water, she crossed her arms over her chest and stood there, staring down into the pool.

And there he was. Pants on the ground next to her feet and all that muscle laid out in front of her to stare at. His bright red hair was slicked to his skull, giving her the opportunity to really look at the sharp edge of his cheekbones and the way the water played on those broad shoulders. There was the faintest dusting of freckles on the caps of his shoulders, but nothing else other than warm, bronze skin. He was built like a god, like what an artist would imagine the perfect man to look like, and she shouldn’t be having those thoughts.

Not when he turned around and there wasn’t even a faint dusting of hair on his chest to distract from those broad planes that dipped toward his waist. Sharp abs flexed under her eyes, shifting her gaze to the narrow strips of muscle that ran over each of his hips and drew her gaze to more red hair, and...

Damn it.

She snapped her gaze up to his grinning expression and refused to look down again. “What are you doing?”

“That fever of mine is still hot,” he said, his voice guttural and low. She could feel him looking at her body, almost like a physical touch. “But maybe I’m hot for another reason. Come in the water, little thief. Let’s find out together.”

“That’s enough from you.” She had to force herself to not press her thighs together at the thought.

She’d heard of this king. Women whispered of his talents in the market as they glossed over how their husband had been disappointing the night before. The demon king Greed was a myth among women. A man who pushed and pushed until there was nothing left but a quivering mess beneath him.

What would it be like to touch a god like that? Just how much could she push him when all she wanted was to bite into that strong column of muscle at his throat and ride him?

No, she would not have these thoughts about a living myth. He was a man standing right in front of her, shivering, even though he was trying not to let her see it. And though his words were brave, his face was slowly turning grey, and he’d widened his stance as if he didn’t trust his balance.

She kept her arms crossed and narrowed her eyes. “You can’t get out, can you?”

“I am fine. I’m a demon king. My healing is much faster than yours.”

“All right. Take two steps to your right, then.”

He eyed her with no small amount of suspicion. “Why?”

“Because I want to see that you can put weight on that right hip when I saw the blade they’d used slice right through to the muscle. If you can balance on that foot alone, I’ll leave you to your bathing.”

His eyes flashed gold, reflecting the sudden beam of sunlight that illuminated his form. The water around him seemed to glow. Glistening droplets clung to his shoulders as if even they didn’t want to let go.

A muscle in his jaw jumped, but he didn’t move.

She rolled her gaze up to the ceiling. “How long have you been stuck in there?”

“Long enough.”

The last thing she wanted to do was get her leathers wet. Again. She’d already washed them, but they were terrible to dry out when the cave was already rather humid. She’d have to find a safe place to dry them and for her to wait while she lacked her clothes. He’d look if he got the chance, and she didn’t want him to look.

But she also refused to let him sit in a pool of ice cold water longer than he needed to. So Varya waded into the water, gritting her teeth against the cold.

“Why are you so set on helping me?” he asked as she slotted herself underneath his arm. “You don’t seem like one of my subjects who likes me.”

“I don’t have to like you to help you,” she grunted.

“I’d think that’s a requirement for helping people, actually.” He didn’t lean as much weight on her as last time, at least. Maybe the water was helping.

She grunted again, heaving him up to sit on the edge of the pool. And then froze between his legs as he stared at her, face pale and eyes sunken. He looked... tired. Or perhaps resigned. Not at all what she’d thought a demon king would look like.

Varya braced her hands on either side of his bare hips and admitted, “I like helping people. Even people I don’t like.”

She could see the confusion on his face. He didn’t understand. But how could he? This entire kingdom ran on foolishness and greed and…

The question popped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. “Is it true that you can only feel greed?”

He sighed, leaning back on his hands as though he had to put space between them to answer her question. “In a sense. I can feel happy or sad or angry, but none of them are as powerful as greed. It is who I am, and what I was born to be.”

“You were born?”

“In a sense.” His lips twisted as though he’d said some kind of strange joke. “Now, I’ve been dying to ask. What is it that you desire?”

She felt it. His magic. People had always claimed that if they were close to him, that they felt the greed that he spread. They could feel it flowing through their veins and into their lungs, tangling in their blood. He made people do terrible things, but right now, he wasn’t asking her to do anything. He was asking for an answer and she couldn’t deny him that.

“I want my people to be safe,” she found herself saying. “Even if that means I have to steal from the Horde themselves.”

He frowned. “That wasn’t what I was expecting.”

“And what were you expecting?” she asked as his power flowed off her shoulders like water.

With an arched brow, he looked down between his legs. Then he flicked his eyes back to hers, and something warm sparked between them.

Suddenly she realized she was still standing in the pool of water, halfway up to her waist and she’d gone numb from the knees down. He was leaning back on his hands. All that lovely muscle flexed and bared before her. And she knew that if she just looked an inch lower, she would be treated to a sight of a half hard cock that bobbed for her attention.

She couldn’t do this. Not with the king of their kingdom, and certainly not with a demon who had used his magic against her to get her to fuck him!

Yanking herself out of the water, she shook off the frozen droplets and snarled. “Enough, demon king. You have made yourself very clear.”

“Have I?”

“Yes!” she shouted, her words echoing through the cave. “I am only here so I’m not hung after someone finds your dead body in this cavern and then realizes I was here with you. I will not have you die on my watch and the rest of my family die because I did not get back to them in time. You will heal. Faster than you say you are trying and then we will leave. That is what is going to happen here. Nothing else.”

He poked at a cut over his ribs and seemed to mull over her words. But then he tilted his head back, and that grin stole over his features again. “What if I want to add something to that list?”

“You will not.” Varya bared her teeth at him. “There is nothing you could possibly wish to add to that list. I have not, will not, entertain any more of your foolishness. I don’t know what your game is, demon king, but I have no interest in playing it with you.”

“Ah, I think you have more than a little interest in playing it.” He leaned back on his hands, looking far too comfortable and making her want to smack that grin off his face. “Do you want to know a secret about me? I haven’t told anyone about it before, little thief.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Is it not what you are?”

“I’m not a thief,” she ground between her teeth. “I do not steal from the living very often, and I try to replace what I steal when I do.”

He arched a brow. “What did you take from the Horde, then?”

He had her there, and he knew it. She’d stolen not only the map, but would steal countless artifacts that were listed on it. And then she’d stolen him. If Varya got any more tense, she feared her muscles would start spasming. He had no right, no right at all, and would it be such a bad thing if she delivered him with a few additional bruises? No one would know which ones she’d caused.

The infuriating man snorted. His eyes flashed that bright yellow again. “Every demon king is different. You’ve heard the rumors, I’m sure. Lust has his horns. Gluttony, his claws. I have a tail. All of us are a bit... different, yes?”

She should walk away. But her curiosity had always gotten the better of her. So instead, she stood there like a moron, dripping water out of the creaking leathers that were likely ruined. “I know the rumors.”

“Then I’ll admit to you, and I have never admitted this to anyone, that the rumors are true. Lust can use those horns as he wishes, but he also has another form. Gluttony can no more retract those claws than a leopard can its spots. And me?” He grinned, his teeth a little too sharp. “I’m more animal than you’d ever think. Tread carefully, little treasure, or I’ll gobble you up.”

Her face heated. The hairs on her arms raised, and she didn’t know if she was turned on or terrified.

“What?” she hissed. “Gobble you up? What are you, a children’s story? Ridiculous!”

She stomped away from him, muttering about foolish men and their attempts at being anything other than idiots. And she swore she heard him laugh at her.

It would serve him right if his fever came back. He could get back to his makeshift bed on his own.