Page 55 of Sinless Demons
Finally.
“I think you should have Ryke. I see the way you look at him and the way he looks at you,” Pen says on a new topic that makes Ryke’s mouth drop open slowly.
But it isn’t one Aries wants to talk about right now.
“You lied for me,” Aries says flatly.
The smile falls from the girl’s soft features.
“I need a favor, Pen,” Aries adds, like she’s watched one too many mafia movies back in the Bin.
Pen looks around at all of us one by one, and I try my best to feign interest in her frilly white curtains on the far side of the bedroom. They match her white bedspread. Everything is crisp and perfect in this room.
Just like the young girl staring up at the Princess.
“What do you need?” The moment Pen asks it, Krave shuts the door.
The click of the lock should be alarming when surrounded by so many powerful people in such a small space.
But the girl’s features remain smooth. She’s... very composed, if nothing else. Royals seem incredibly good at constraining their emotions at all costs. False calm is their forte.
They’re just as bad as Krave.
And now, I see it up close and personal between the two women currently playing the game among themselves.
“Reschedule my father’s weekly meetings.” Long silver hair fans over the small of Aries back as she tilts her head at the girl.
“Okay,” Pen says slowly.
“And then don’t tell my father.”
“Why?” Pen’s false calm is now slightly less calm.
She’s not as good at the game as Aries, it seems.
“There are people in this kingdom who want to kill our King, Pen. Not everyone thinks like him. Not everyone despises demons the way he does. And not everyone wants their future to be his.” Aries’s words are spoken honestly and flawlessly, and they seem to give Pen a hard line between her eyebrows as she looks at the Princess.
“I know,” Pen says quietly. “Are you—issomeoneplanning to kill King Gravier?”
The carefulness of this conversation is astounding.
Ryke sighs impatiently, while Krave just watches with that glinting look in his depthless eyes. When I glance to Zaviar, his hand is hovering over his heart. And his jaw is clenched so hard, he’s sweating.
He’s in pain.Again. And he’s too much of a hardass to admit it.
I shake my head at the asshole and keep my silence.
“At the moment, no one is taking action to kill him,” Aries says as her voice drops to a mere whisper. “But I’d like it to not come to that. To keep him safe, I’d like to take over for him.”
Careful, careful, Aries.
“You want to become Queen?” Pen asks, hissing the words out on a whisper that slithers around the room.
Aries swallows hard and takes a breath before answering.
“I don’twantto be Queen. I need to be. To keep demons safe. To keep my father safe. And to keep the people of this kingdom safe.” A tired breath slips from Aries’s lips, and it’s just now that I realize how much she’s carrying around at all times. She’s tired. But she’s still trying. “So. Will you do me a favor, Pen?”
The two girls stare at one another. The shape of their eyes and the sharp angle of their chins are so similar. The two of them seem more similar than either of them ever realized.
