Page 13 of The Demon Prince

But still, she could feel how embarrassingly wet she was as she made her way over to her bed. Ignoring the window. Ignoring the man who thought he could watch her and she wouldn’t even notice.

She slithered underneath the cool covers and threw the blanket up to her neck. Rolling onto her side, she stared at the window for a few minutes longer before a plan rose in her mind.

If he was this close, maybe he would get even closer if she pretended to be asleep. Maybe she could actually see who it was that thought he had a right to linger in the darkness.

Was it Jackson? He’d been overly friendly at the almshouse lately, but they shared the same shift and she’d been taking on a lot of work for him. She’d always thought he had a thing for Grace, so why would he be... here? Wouldn’t he be at Grace’s door?

Alcohol induced choices continued to run her evening. So instead of doing the smart thing and calling for help, Katherine stayed awake and pretended to drift into sleep.

She measured her breaths, even and quiet and oh so delicate. She let her hand fall limp by her face, just enough to cover her slitted gaze if she had to. Enough so that anyone would likely think she was asleep.

And then...

Oh, and then.

A hand reached through her window. Long fingers, graceful in their movements, tipped with neat black claws that were so sharp she could see the little wood curls they left as he clenched her windowsill. Almost as though he was angry. Doing the same thing he’d done all those nights ago.

And by all the seven kingdoms, she really was an idiot because she felt an answering gush between her legs. She wanted those fingers to touch her. To stroke her skin and to part her thighs and do all those wicked things that Katherine wanted someone to do. Desperately.

Clenching her thighs together, she forced herself to remain still and silent as her shadow lifted himself through the window and then crouched on her floor. But when he rose to his great height, her breath stuttered.

Taller than most men she’d ever seen, lean and muscular, the man now standing in her living room was clearly a god. He’d stepped out of a portrait painted by one of the greats, with a face that would send any woman onto her knees as she begged for a taste of him. Chiseled, clean lines, red eyes that saw too much. A full mouth, with kissable lips just below a long nose. And his hair, oh, his hair. Long and dark, like a waterfall of ink that fell just below his ribcage.

He wore all black, and his button-down shirt had been opened to reveal pale muscles that were likely hard as rocks.

He was... glorious.

Handsome.

No, that wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t enough to describe the beauty that made her eyes sting with tears because he was perfection personified and it hurt to even look at him.

And then he took a step forward, and she remembered to be afraid. He was in her room.

He was in her room.

He’d never given her the impression that he would come all the way inside, and if he had, then she wouldn’t have put on that stupid show for him. She wouldn’t have tempted him to step all the way up to her bed.

Those gleaming red eyes reminded her, horrifically, of what so many of her patients had said. He was handsome, but his eyes were that of a demon. He hadn’t looked at all dangerous until he had met their eyes and then suddenly they remembered he was the demon king.

Was this... Gluttony?

Was the king himself in her room?

And then her heart thundered in her chest because the mattress just beside her head dipped as he braced himself against it. With one smooth movement, slow and calculated, he leaned down and...

Sniffed her? Inhaled her scent deep into his lungs and then suddenly, he was gone again.

She sat straight up in her bed, clutching the blankets to her chest as she wildly looked around in the moonlight.

But he was gone. Like he’d never been here at all.

ChapterSix

One inhalation of her scent was all he needed. That’s what he told himself for nights upon nights until he finally cracked. Because who was he kidding? One night where he sniffed that lovely hair didn’t mean a damn thing.

She’d been so beautiful. So tempting as she let her gown drop and stood there in nothing but a gray shift. She had likely thought she was being brave, tempting him like that when she thought he wouldn’t enter her private room.

And she knew he was there. Oh, his little pet knew exactly where he was at all times.

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