Page 21 of The Demon Prince

Rounding a corner, he realized that dark mist was back. It thought he couldn’t see it, gathered up in the corner of the ceiling as it was. Lingering. Lurking. Obviously keeping an eye on him when there was only one person who wanted to do so.

“If you were sent by Wrath, you can go back to him,” he snarled. “I’m behaving myself and keeping to the rules that he put in place.”

The little mist didn’t move.

“You can leave,” he repeated. “My brother has trust issues. I fully understand that. But I am not going on a rampage across the kingdom to prove a point to my idiot brother. Wrath thinks I want to destroy this kingdom, but I just want to be left alone. Do you understand?”

Again, nothing.

Maybe he needed to get a companion for himself. This castle was all too quiet on days like today, when a shadow stared at him from a distance and all the darkness looked a little too close.

Had Wrath sent more shadows to keep an eye on him? This kingdom only had a few sunny days a year, let alone long daylight hours. This was a kingdom made of darkness.

Wrath could monitor him all too easily here. All his brother would have to do was create these monstrous shades and tell them what he wanted to know. Was there no where private for Gluttony anymore?

Groaning, he stalked away from the shadow and tried to find a place to disappear. But now all the gloom looked back at him. Everyone and everything wanted to judge him for the things he wanted, no, needed.

“Envy,” he muttered.

Envy knew better than most when Gluttony was lying. Their last conversation had likely not imbued any sense of trust. And Envy wanted the job that Gluttony had taken. Envy wanted to be the one to save their brothers, not for any altruistic reason, but simply because someone else had the job.

Perhaps that was the brother spying on him. Perhaps the shadow was his. Envy had control over his tattoos, and the man was more a sorcerer than a demon at this point.

Or it could be Sloth. Though that brother never left his castle, he knew everything that happened in other kingdoms. Far too interested in other people’s drama, he knew Sloth was likely to try to find out what he could about the brother who was suddenly rumored to eat people in his kingdom.

Tunneling his fingers through his hair, he tried to still the madness that threatened at the edges of his vision.

It could be any of them. Pride had every reason to get involved if Wrath had opened his mouth. Lust was too close to Gluttony’s kingdom to not have concerns, and his bride was now a sorceress of renowned abilities. Greed was the only brother he thought unlikely to be involved.

And that was only because Greed was so wrapped up in Varya that the man didn’t know where he was looking most of the time.

Which meant...

He had no one to trust. Not a single person in his entire life that was trustworthy.

And should he gift that to a stranger who approached his keep? The young women who wandered to his home were thin and panic-stricken. They desired something more than they cared for their own life, and as such, they were willing to trade anything to him.

Their body. Their life force. A few of them had even offered their very souls if he would give them coin.

Gluttony knew things weren’t great in his kingdom. There were so few resources he could sell in a swamp kingdom, let alone people willing to work or live here. His kingdom had the smallest population, and it would not change any time soon. Getting people to move here was almost impossible, just as leaving was equally difficult.

But for them to offer their very soul just on the off chance they might be able to leave? It was a fool’s errand. They had to know his money wouldn’t get them very far. He’d give them everything they asked, all for just a single drop of their blood and affection, but they never offered him either all that willingly.

He didn’t want someone to sell him their soul. He just wanted someone.

That was it. That was the rub and the problem and the disease all at once. He wanted someone. To do what with? He had no idea. Gluttony had no frame of reference for what people did with each other. But he was so damned tired of being alone.

The dark mist rolled past him on the floor, already heading for the grand hall of his castle as though it had a right to be here. Frowning, he trailed along behind the little beast.

Surely it was a spirit. He had thought it was the first time he saw it, and now he was certain. It moved like a spirit. Hopping from shadow to shadow, then looking in a direction before it moved again. The little thing was quick, but it didn’t move right either.

Spirits had a way about them that made it easy for him to recognize them. Spirits of happiness glowed with a little inner light and were bright green or blue. They had a bounce to their roll that belayed a certain levity in their movement. Spirits of anger were jagged edged and quick in their movements as well, though they were usually dark red.

This one was none of those things. It also had no characteristics that he recognized. So what was it? And what magic had sent it here?

“You know there is no food in my castle,” he scolded as he followed the beast. “You cannot feed off of me.”

It didn’t respond, but considering their historical conversations so far, he hadn’t expected it to.

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