Page 126 of The Demon Prince

“I think happiness is subjective. They are who they are, and they are happy in their current lives.” He hummed low in his breath, trying to find the right words to describe it to her. “If you take someone out of their life here, a mortal, put them into this castle that is so different from what they previously lived, and then ask if they are happy, are they?”

“It depends on the circumstances and what their life is like. Some people will be happy, others won’t. There’s just not enough details there to know if they’re happy or not.”

“The same goes for my brothers.” He curled his arms around her a little tighter, hugging her close to his heart. “The same goes for me. I am happy because you are here. Because we are working on making this kingdom a little better, day by day. Because you have woken me from my slumber when I was slowly rotting and allowing this castle to crumble along with me.”

“So they are happy, then?”

“I believe they are. Some days, they are probably less happy than others. There will always be a part of our spirit that remembers what we used to be. Changing from one spirit who has lived that way for over a thousand years into another... It’s hard not to still have the old thoughts. They’re just duller.”

“Oh,” Katherine said quietly. She hugged his arms around herself as well, unconsciously drawing him even closer to her before she sighed. “I wanted to ask if you had changed, but I also don’t want to pressure you to do so. I love you the way you are. And I have loved you for a very long time. I know that there are circumstances in your life that make it very difficult for you to change. And I don’t want you to think that I love you any less, or think less of you for not doing what your brothers did. I just...”

She trailed off, her words falling like drops of water on a still lake. He could almost see the ripples moving through her mind.

She didn’t want to make him feel bad, but she also felt a little bad about it herself. What was it about Selene and Varya that had changed their demon kings? Was Katherine lacking in some way that she couldn’t get him to change who he was?

All those thoughts and more likely played through his wife’s mind, and he’d have none of it.

“Kat,” he said with a warm chuckle. “Are you trying to ask if I have changed? Or if you have affected me as much as their partners affected them?”

“I wasn’t going to be so blunt about it.”

“And yet you are worried that you haven’t done enough to convince me to change?”

“Well...” she grumbled. “There aren’t many of you with partners, and the other two have already changed their emotions. You can’t blame a woman for being a little disgruntled about it. What is so different between the two of us that makes you stay the same? Is it the blood? Is it the feedings? I don’t...”

All right, that was enough of her spiraling.

He scooped her up into his arms and lifted her, rolling so he could stand with her wrapped around him like a little monkey. Together, they strode toward their massive bed in the corner that was completely covered in red silk and velvet. It was her favorite place in the house, she said, and this was where they would have this conversation.

Gluttony tossed her onto the springy mattress, doing his best not to snicker as he saw her bounce hard in the air a few times before she caught herself.

She glared up at him through the wild tangle of her hair. “Was that necessary for this conversation?”

“Absolutely.” Prowling up from the bottom of the bed, he crawled over her and forced her down onto her back. “I want to look at you while I tell you all this.”

“Why do you need to do that?”

“Because I enjoy watching your expressions change and I think it’s best that you cannot hide from me by looking out that window.” He tucked a finger under her chin and forced her to look at him. “Katherine, I need you to really focus and not let that anxiety whisper too much in your ears.”

She set her jaw and nodded firmly.

“Brave pet,” he muttered, leaning down to kiss her once because he couldn’t not. “You are afraid that I have not changed, and I have not told you about these changes because I thought you had seen them already. You’ve already watched a spirit change into another being. That is my fault. I should have mentioned it while it was happening.”

She blinked up at him, and he had the wonderful experience of seeing her rare expression of confusion. “What?”

“I’ve already changed, you ridiculous woman,” he said with a chuckle. “You should have been the first person to realize that.”

“What do you mean, you’ve changed?”

“I think it likely started the moment you walked into this castle. My spirit was more than ready to take up something new. I was hardly the remnants of the Gluttony I once was, anyway. Just a shadow of an emotion and then in you walked, the dream I had always had for myself and yet never was allowed to touch. Not even if I wanted to.” He traced his fingers down the side of her face, following the outline of her jaw. “You made me dream of another life, another being, long before you even realized you loved me.”

“Gluttony,” she whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He felt his cheeks flame a dark red before he gathered his courage to respond. “My brothers changed drastically. Lust to Love is a singular difference of how he learned to see the virtue in finding out who a person really is. Greed changed to Benevolence because he realized that taking from his people only hurt them, and it felt better to give.” Again, the blush deepened. He could feel the tips of his ears flaming. “I apparently am still learning.”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

He sank against her body, allowing her to take his full weight as he rocked his hips against hers. A distraction? Absolutely. And perhaps he needed to know that she was a little distracted so he could get the words out.

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