Chapter 34

ChapterThirty-Four

He wasted no time. Namely, because Gluttony felt as though he couldn’t enjoy her or her company until he proved himself worthy of it. If he could show his brothers that he was, finally, not the fuck up of the family, then maybe everything would change.

He’d deserve to have a woman like her. He’d deserve to wake up next to her. Not as the monster he was, but as the man he could be.

To her credit, Katherine didn’t seem to mind that he’d dragged her back to his office. She followed him with a bemused smile on her face, keeping pace with him even though it made her limp even more pronounced.

He’d massage her again later. Gluttony would do anything to run his hands all over her body again, to drag his talons along her back and to feel the plump cushion of her hips.

He wanted her. Everything about her. Every inch of her body and soul, that was what he wanted. And this was the only way he could feel like he deserved even the slightest bit of her.

“Where are we going?” she finally asked before they’d reached his office.

“Calling my brothers.”

At that, she yanked her hand away from him. Or at least, she tried. He was significantly stronger than his little mortal, and she couldn’t force him to do anything he didn’t want to do.

So he continued dragging her all the way into his office and then plopped her down in a chair. Crouching before her, he braced her hips with his arms as he forced her to look at him. “You deserve to be in this room just as much as them.”

“Talking to a room full of demon kings is rather intimidating, don’t you think?” Her wide-eyed stare proved just how intimidated she was. But that was silly.

Leaning forward, he bumped his forehead to hers and then leaned back to grin. “You’re better than the lot of them combined. And they won’t really be in the room.”

“What do you mean?”

Gluttony leapt to his feet, making his way to the desk where the small crystal was hidden. He twisted the top of it, activating the magic that would be required to summon all six of his brothers at the same time. “It’s magic. Something Envy came up with in his spare time. You know how he likes to dabble in spells. I’ll tell you who each of them are, don’t worry.”

“I don’t really want to—”

He didn’t let her finish the thought. Instead, he moved behind her chair and dragged it over to his side of the desk with her in it. She gripped the arms until her knuckles turned white and let out a little squeak that only made him grin even wider.

Sitting down in his own chair, he looked at his desk and then nodded with pleasure. “Yes, this will do.”

“Why will this do? You moved me like a sack of potatoes.”

Gluttony reached underneath his desk and grabbed her hand in his. He curled their fingers together, linking them as he’d wanted to do from the first moment he’d seen her through her window. As he always should, no matter what difficulty stood in front of them.

“There,” he murmured, squeezing her fingers. “Does it feel a little less intimidating now?”

Katherine’s mouth slightly opened, and she watched him with a soft expression on her face. “Yes. That’s much better, Gluttony. Thank you.”

He must have glowed with pleasure. That was all he wanted, after all. He just wanted her to feel comfortable and not like she was out of place because she was everything he’d ever wanted. And now she was right where she belonged.

The first flickering blue image was exactly who he expected. Gluttony leaned closer to Katherine and murmured, “That is Lust and his bride Selene.”

He tried his best to see his brother through her eyes. Lust with those shorter, curved horns that disappeared into the golden locks of his hair. He reclined at his desk, a billowing white shirt parted down to the short corset he had wrapped around his waist. His bride perched on his knee, draped over him in a stark contrast wearing a rather demure silk gown. Apparently, his brother hadn’t been able to get her to wear the revealing clothing he would have chosen.

Another blue image glowed across the room from Lust. “Greed, and his new wife, Varya. They were who I stayed with while I was not in this kingdom.”

Varya stood beside Greed’s desk, her hip leaning against the wood. But she grinned at him and waved the moment she saw him. “You’re looking well, Gluttony!”

“Well as I can be.”

“Still eating people?”

He bared his fangs at her. “Only one, these days.”

Varya’s eyes widened, and she bit her lip while looking at Katherine. “My, my. How time changes a man.”

Before his own little human could ask a question of Varya, another light blinked into existence. Gluttony quickly cleared his throat and said, “You already know, Envy.”

“I do.” Katherine gave him a little wave and then froze when the next demon appeared.

Gluttony’s brows drew down in concern. He’d never really looked much at his brothers. They were just demons, like him. But he’d forgotten how Sloth drew the feminine eye. His brother wore a sheer dressing robe, revealing plains upon plains of glistening muscle. Oiled and sleek, he didn’t even attempt to hide the golden scales that stretched over his shoulders and spun down his stomach in swirling patterns. Dark hair falling over his eyes, Gluttony could just barely make out their piercing blue color.

In person, Sloth was even more devastatingly handsome. He was perfection personified, as they all were, but unlike Lust, who had both women and men flocking to him at all hours of the day, Sloth had a deadly edge that only drew the most brave.

Or perhaps the most foolish.

“Sloth,” he said quietly, ripping his gaze away from his brother to look down at Katherine’s shocked expression. “Stay away from him.”

“Why?”

“Because he has a harem of women to choose from every night, and he doesn’t need to add you to his collection.” Gluttony bristled when he realized she still hadn’t looked at him. “Besides. I’ve heard he’s a terrible lover.”

That did it. Katherine flicked her amused gaze to him. “Really?”

“I’d imagine women would prefer a lover who enjoys partaking in the event rather than one who expects his women to do all the work.” He eyed her hungrily. “Or perhaps one who couldn’t get enough of them. Ever.”

She bit her lip to hide a grin he knew was there. “Oh, I highly doubt he expects his women to do all the work, Gluttony.”

Sloth interrupted them with a growled, “She’s right, you know. I’d be happy to show your woman just how much I partake in the... event.”

A snarl on his lips, Gluttony bared his teeth at his brother and pressed his hand against the arm of his chair, as though he could launch himself straight into Sloth rather than just the projection of him.

Though they all silenced the moment a dark figure appeared. Even with the blue light of the spell, Wrath was darkness personified. He suddenly appeared and all the oxygen was sucked out of the room. They all stared at him, waiting for their winged brother to turn around and face them.

Katherine’s soft gasp was the only sound as Wrath finally spun toward them. And Gluttony saw the anger in his eyes the moment his brother saw Gluttony had brought a woman to their meeting.

Katherine shrank in her chair, melting into the fabric as though that might allow her to disappear from his anger. And he knew that Wrath was the most intimidating of them. They all were strange and inhuman, but he was the worst of their lot. Leathery wings, broken and dragging behind him. The scars that covered his body on full display without his cloak or shirt to cover them. And the stitches around his mouth from where he’d been silenced by his own people.

“Wrath,” he murmured, squeezing her fingers and settling back into his chair. “Not as terrifying as he looks.”

“Is that so?” she breathed. “Because he’s looking at me like he wants to kill me.”

“That’s just how he always looks.”

“Are you sure?”

No, but he knew that he’d never seen Wrath look like he didn’t want to rip someone’s spine out of their body. It was a very normal expression for him to wear. And his brother was surveying all the others, those red eyes so similar to Gluttony’s own. Something that irritated Wrath horribly.

And finally, the last brother joined them. Pride blinked into view and he knew the moment all the humans went completely and utterly still that something was very wrong. Or perhaps it was that they were stunned to see such a creature existed.

Pride had taken an image that he knew the humans would worship. Golden skin, a face that was carved by the ancients. A perfect body that never once rebelled on him and, of course, massive white feathered wings that opened and closed with each of his breaths. He had modeled himself as their god, and as such, the humans had followed him without complaint.

“Cheat,” he muttered. Then leaned down to whisper in Katherine’s ear, “That is Pride. Our so-called king.”

And that king turned his attention to Katherine with a laser focus before he snarled, “What is a human doing here?”

All sound in the room ceased. The discomfort stretched as everyone seemed to struggle with how to answer.

It was Selene who first spoke, even though Lust’s hand spasmed on her hip the moment her mouth opened. “There is more than one human here, Pride.”

He turned that glare to Selene and she paled under his scrutiny. “You and Varya are hardly human anymore, are you not? Enlighten me if the spirits inside you have suddenly left and then I will question your right to be here as well.”

“Hey,” Greed snarled, leaning forward on his desk and bracing an arm across it. “Our consorts have every right to be here. Mortal or not.”

“Perhaps yours does, but she is a random mortal from a kingdom of peasants. Explain yourself, Gluttony.”

Anger simmered in his chest. He could feel that battle form already pressing against his skin. He wanted to rage at his brother. Flip his desk and throw it through that stupid shimmering image of a man who thought himself a god. And he refused to bow before a man who could dare to insult the woman he... he...

Fingers squeezed his, and he was brought back to the present. To Katherine’s eyes as she gave him a soft smile. “It’s all right,” she whispered. “Just tell them what you have to tell them.”

And it was all right. Because she was here with him and because nothing would change that. No matter how hard he fought or argued with his brothers, they didn’t matter.

This was his kingdom. And this was his woman. No one would take her from him.

He sat up straight and ignored Pride’s rude interjection. “I have found what they are using to attack us with. The herb is called henbane and is a rather difficult herb to find in my kingdom. Likely why I have seen so very few attacks here.”

Greed let out a grunt. “I’ll have to ask where they’re getting it here.”

“It grows plenty in my kingdom,” Lust murmured.

“The same in mine,” Sloth replied. He even looked a little less relaxed at his desk. “How did you discover this?”

He looked down at Katherine and smiled. “The human you so wrongfully attacked was the one who discovered it. She told me about henbane and how her mother used it when she was younger. Would you care to share what you said to me?”

Katherine’s eyes might have fallen out of her head, they were so big. She looked up at him like he’d asked her to spar with his brothers.

And, he supposed, in a way he had.

But she rose to the challenge, and he’d never felt more proud of her. She cleared her throat before leaning forward. “It is symbolic of the dead, an herb used to converse with the divine. In small doses, it causes hallucinations in mortals. But, I have no way of knowing what it would do to your kind. Apparently, it is rather like a sleeping agent. At least, according to what Gluttony has told me.”

Pride seemed to bristle. “Why should we trust you—”

But this time, it was Wrath himself who interrupted their “king”. The dark brother lifted a hand and all of them fell silent, even Pride.

Wrath’s wings snapped open and shut before he spoke. “If this is an herb that is symbolic of the dead, could other herbs with the same symbolism have the same effect?”

No one knew how to respond. All the brothers looked back and forth between each other, but they had never considered it. Sure, they had reactions to certain foods or drinks or objects, but they had never fully researched why. They’d just avoided them.

Katherine cleared her throat again. “I believe it’s likely. Considering the lot of you are unnatural in the waking realm, perhaps it is your greatest weakness? Items that are symbols of the dead also are what humans use in magic to walk the line between the living and beyond.”

Selene leaned forward slightly, her eyes doing that strange thing that she did when she was casting spells. “It would make sense. The sorceresses have access to almost all of those items or plants. We could trial them to see what happens when they are touched or ingested.”

Gluttony watched them all begin to murmur at the same time. Those with partners whispered amongst each other, while Envy and Sloth conversed quietly. Pride and Wrath remained silent, their eyes on Katherine as if they couldn’t quite understand what she was.

And that unnerved him.

He gave them all a few moments to speak before raising his voice. “I have done as you asked. I discovered what weapon the humans were using against us, and I have gifted you not only that, but an entirely new situation to research. From now on, I consider my debt to you all repaid.”

Pride glowered. “What repayment is that? There is no debt when you have besmirched our names. We are kings and gods. Now you have proven we are also the demons they call us. There is more repayment than simply discovering a weed that has been used to attack us.”

Gluttony was ready to fight over that, but Envy spoke. “I will create a cure, brothers. Now that I know what it is, a cure should be rather simple.”

“Good,” Gluttony replied before reaching for the crystal on his desk. “Then have a nice evening, brothers. I know I will.”

And with that, he turned the crystal’s top in the other direction and made the lot of them disappear. He had no interest in speaking with them any longer.

“What did you just do?” Katherine said with a laugh. “Did you really just end the conversation like that? They’re going to summon you right back.”

“And I won’t be in my office to be summoned.” Swinging her up into his arms, he laughed with her as they made their way back down the hall. “I’ve missed you. Forget my brothers. Why don’t we discover all the other changes I’ve made to the castle in your absence?”

It felt like the most natural thing in the world as she tossed her arm around his neck and kicked her good leg. “Can I suggest other changes?”

“Who is supposed to be the gluttonous one?”

She grinned at him and his entire world burst into bright light, like she was the sun itself. “I suppose it’s all right if I’m a little gluttonous too.”