Page 25 of The Demon Prince

He nodded before taking a left.

Apparently, he didn’t want to have this conversation with her. But she wanted to talk about it. At least talking made her feel less like they were walking toward a dungeon where he would lock her up and use her as a personal snack whenever he wished.

“If you have lights, then why didn’t you install them in the front of the castle?”

“I just didn’t.”

“Ah. You’re suddenly at a loss for words, I take it.” She almost ran into his back. Katherine stumbled a few steps away from him, her hip screaming with pain as she twisted the wrong way to get away from him.

“Here,” he said, completely changing the subject. “We can speak in my office.”

“You have an office?”

Maybe she had her mouth open, staring up at him in shock, because he looked a little amused at the question before he nodded his head toward the room again. “I have an office. Most of us do.”

“Why?”

“Well, I am the king of this kingdom. And though many of you villagers might think I do nothing at all for you, there is a lot of paperwork that goes into trading.”

Now it was her turn to snort. Katherine strode into the room with her shoulders stiff and a bitter taste in her mouth. “Trade? For what? There’s nothing coming in or out of this kingdom.”

“That is where you are wrong.”

The door thudded closed behind her, feeling a bit too final for her taste. But then again, she was already struck dumb by the interior of his office.

This was nice. A mahogany desk, piled high with papers in neat little stacks. There was a pretty light made of stained glass that cast rainbow colors all over the floor. And then there was a thick rug underneath her toes, warm, plush, and soft. Two red chairs sat in front of his desk, velvet covered and faintly glimmering with bronze dusted over the wood.

It was cozy. Welcoming. Easy to see how someone could spend hours in here. And it didn’t require the candlelight that he still set on top of his desk as though it were necessary.

Turning toward her, Gluttony suddenly dropped the act. Or perhaps he picked up the mantle of demon. She wasn’t certain which. All Katherine knew was that one moment, a warm, kind eyed man had been staring at her and the next, she was being inspected like she was his next meal.

“So,” he said, leaning back against his desk and crossing his arms over his chest. “You are here to make a bargain with me.”

She wasn’t. Was she? That wasn’t the point of her coming here.

“No, I am here because you asked me to come here.” Katherine tried to remember the deal she had already thought of on her long walk to the castle. It was hard to think about anything other than the discomfort of his stare.

“That’s not why anyone comes to this castle. You want something, pet, and I want to give it to you.” He arched a pointed brow. “For a price, that is.”

She already knew what his price was. She already knew exactly what he thought he wanted, and she was willing to give it to him. But she didn’t think what she wanted to ask him would make him very pleased.

“All right,” she said. “Perhaps I did come here to make a deal with you.”

He nodded, although she saw the flash of disappointment on his expression before he turned to pick up something from his desk. “I have learned from my... previous deals with other that it is best if I have a taste before we go any further.”

“I do not give you permission to take an ounce of my blood before you have heard me out.” Katherine straightened her back, knowing she had to seem confident if she was going to get through this in one piece. “You, sir, are going to want this deal from me. Not the other way around.”

ChapterTen

The absolute gall of this woman. She thought she could order him around? He couldn’t have an ounce of her blood without permission, yes that was the deal he’d given his brothers. But the fact that she thought he would want her deal more than she wanted his?

How strange.

Every woman who came to this place knew what they wanted from him. Mostly it was money. Sometimes it was power. Most of the times, it was the same situation over and over again. They were poor. They wanted more out of their lives. He could give it to them and all they had to do was open a vein.

Gluttony had prepared himself after he had been so disgusted with the last woman who wandered up to his castle. First, his new rule was to taste the blood and see if it was even worth the cost. He already knew Katherine’s blood would be delightful and addictive, but he wanted to make sure it wasn’t some oddity of her scent. Second, he refused to drink out of their necks any longer. The intimacy of the position was enough to drive any man to madness, and he wanted to keep this as cold of a deal as possible.

But Katherine wasn’t like the others. She stood there, radiating confidence and disdain as she stared him down. And for the first time in his very long life, he felt a spark of intrigue in being looked at like that.

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