Page 18 of The Demon Prince

Suddenly she had flashing images of his teeth sinking into her neck as he drove himself deep inside her. The pulsing sensation of him feeding upon her while she milked him dry below. And oh, it was as divine an imagination as it was obscene. She shouldn’t be interested in that, and she certainly shouldn’t dream it up, and yet...

His lips touched her neck now, pausing to suck lightly at that artery he’d pointed out before. “So sweet,” he groaned against her skin.

And then she remembered all the women she’d treated before. All the necks that were torn open so horrifically that the women almost didn’t survive. She’d spent hours, even today, meeting with people who struggled after the blood loss, and advised them on what to eat and how to replenish the blood their body needed.

This man was the problem. Again, he laved her neck with his tongue that had been so tantalizing just moments before, but now she felt the scrape of his teeth with it.

She was not a weak woman. She would not fall under his spell just because he kissed her a few times and expected her to fall at his feet.

Perhaps he had some demonic magic she was unaware of and that she was only just breaking free from. Whatever madness had overtaken her, this was ill advised.

Hissing out a long breath, she used her good knee and shoved him off her.

Katherine was surprised at how easy it was. She hadn’t expected him to be quite so light. But perhaps she was aided by the element of surprise as his eyes flew open in shock and he fell onto his knees at the edge of the bed. Though she had little time to waste, she noticed that he’d seemed a little stunned by his own reaction.

That expression was the last one she saw before she grabbed her lamp and bashed him over the head with it.

Really, she hadn’t expected it to do anything. He was a demon king, and therefore stronger than any man she might have met before him. He had an innate ability to simply be more than people like her. But he dropped like a stone the moment she hit him over the head, his eyes rolling back into his skull and his graceful body somehow wilting like he’d intended to fall.

Katherine froze, the lamp still lifted in her grip and her breath heaving in her lungs.

She hadn’t just done that. Had she?

Surely she was smart enough to not attack the demon king of Gluttony who ruled their kingdom through blood and vengeance?

“Oh, no,” she whispered when he didn’t move at all. “Oh, no. Katherine, what have you done?”

He laid on her floor, a little blood trickling out of the wound on his head. He was breathing, at least. She hadn’t killed him, and that was a very good thing. Now, she just had to get out of bed and... what? Run?

There was nowhere she could go in this entire kingdom where he wouldn’t be able to find her. She didn’t have the money for the bridge fees to leave to another kingdom, although maybe one of his brothers would take pity on her. Unlikely, but she’d heard Lust really didn’t like this brother.

Katherine had no plan. No escape. She had to face this head on and accept the fact that she’d attacked him in a momentary lapse of judgment and maybe, just maybe, she could use his obsession against him.

Yes. This was a good plan.

Sliding off her bed, she limped over to her closet and searched for anything that would help. Right now? Ropes. Which she didn’t have, of course. But she had plenty of thin shifts she could twist into a rope. Which... wasn’t ideal, really, but it was something.

Turning on her heel, she approached him with slow, measured steps. His chest rose and fell, but he didn’t so much as stir when she walked up to him. And if he was close to gaining consciousness, he would have stirred. Her floor was thin and bent with every step, like she was on a springy mattress rather than solid wood.

Katherine knelt behind him and nudged him onto his side. He really was thin. Too easy for someone to move, even though she had gotten a lot stronger the more she worked at the almshouse. Katherine could lift anyone necessary if they needed to get onto a bed or somewhere else. But this man was far too light for his frame.

Focusing, she put all her effort into making knots that were difficult for anyone to wiggle out of. He was stronger than she was, or at least, that’s what the rumors said. So she tied four of her shifts up and down his arms, making sure he was completely bound.

And then she sat down on the bed again, leaning forward as far as her hip would let her, and settled down to watch.

It gave her more time to study the demon king, who didn’t look that terrifying while he was unconscious. Was he as strong as people said? Surely he must be. There were plenty of people she’d treated who were wounded beyond recognition that he’d attacked.

But now that she was looking at him, they all claimed he’d bitten them. Twenty times, some had said, with raking teeth that ripped and tore.

Unless he had another form, that would be rather impossible. He had the same size jaw as she did. He wouldn’t even be able to make the wounds that she’d treated, or at least some of them.

But Rose? She remembered that wound. And that was the same size as the teeth he had and certainly the same spacing.

So she couldn’t deny that he was guilty. Because he was. There were plenty of women throughout this kingdom who had offered themselves to him in exchange for money, and he’d taken them up on that. It was wrong. It was disgusting.

And he’d felt so good lying between her legs like he had.

Eventually he stirred, interrupting her distressing thoughts. First, his hand twitched, then a fine little wrinkle appeared between his eyes before he groaned.

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