Page 32 of The Demon Prince

And when the room was finished, he started on the front hall. All the while, logic battered in his skull. He had a job. Figure out what the substance was that threatened him and his brothers. If he didn’t think he could do that, then he needed to let Envy know.

But his brother would win then, and Gluttony didn’t want his brother to win. He wanted to be the one to figure it out after he had this young woman in his grasp.

Some other voice told him that once he drank from her, he’d be able to think again. He just needed a taste. Then he’d be back to himself and he could start to work again.

But right now? He could think of nothing else but that lovely swan-like neck, the way his heart throbbed when she wasn’t here, and how much he wanted to be by her side.

All the time. It was madness. He knew this obsession could only end in heartbreak. She’d either leave, or she would die. And he would be stuck here, yet again, alone.

But she’d come to him of her own volition and for the first time, he’d not felt like the monster he had certainly become in the past few hundred years. Gluttony had given himself permission to enjoy that feeling, even if he knew it would only end in destruction.

Finally, he had everything ready for her. The castle, the room, and food because he had remembered at the last moment that humans ate food much more often than he did. And that was enough.

He settled himself down in front of the door, just on the inside so she wouldn’t think he was such a sad sap, and waited. He had no idea how long it took. There were no windows in the great hall. They’d all broken years ago so he’d boarded them shut in case anyone tried to sneak inside without his knowledge. So he sat in the darkness until he heard a soft knock.

Standing quickly, his body creaking with the effort, he ran his hand down his vest and clean cut clothing. He made sure everything was in place before he strode up to the door and threw it open.

The light blasted his eyes, and he almost couldn’t see at all for a few moments until he finally focused on her.

“Katherine,” he said, his voice a little breathy.

But how could he not let emotion get the better of him? She stood there, her wild red curls framing her face that was covered with so many freckles he just knew they were a challenge to count. She’d pulled it back with a tie, but those curls had a mind of their own. A soft, cream-colored dress covered her body, tied around the waist with a small brown corset. With a basket held in her hands, she was a dream he had when he first took this mortal form.

He’d always wanted a soft afternoon with a woman who looked at him with a quiet gaze that said she recognized him. Knew him for who he was and not who everyone thought he might be.

Her gaze flicked to the side, clearly looking around him before she frowned.

Frowned? Why? Why did she wear that expression when she was the one who had come here? He must have done something wrong. Obviously, he had cleaned something in a way she did not like and he was the foolish one who was standing here thinking she would actually appreciate or like what he had done.

But he froze as she leaned forward and plucked a rather impressive cobweb out of his hair.

“What have you been up to?” she asked, shaking the cobweb off her fingers. “Obviously, you’ve been quite busy.”

“I have.” And already he was shaking with the need to taste her. What would it be like? The first time he drank out of her neck would be rather intimate. He told himself he would drink from her wrist this time, but even that made him shift on his feet. His pants were rather tight, weren’t they? He should do something about that.

“Gluttony.” She arched a brow, and for a moment he thought he’d been caught. But all she said after that was, “Are you going to invite me in?”

“I have no need to do so.” He immediately stepped aside, gesturing for her to enter. “What is mine is yours.”

She gave him another odd look before walking through the door. “It seems... cleaner in here than before.”

“It is.”

Why did she keep twisting her face up like that? She had rather beautiful features, but they were less so when she made that expression.

“What?” he finally asked. “Do you not like it?”

“I—” Katherine paused in the middle of his entrance hall, that frown on her face as she glanced around. “Did you do this for me?”

Yes. Of course he had. Because he’d suffered for days without her, incapable of thinking about anything other than her. He’d had to entertain himself somehow.

Instead of saying all that, he tucked his hands behind his back and lied. “It hadn’t been done in quite a while. I wouldn’t say it was entirely for you, but merely the recognition that frequent visitors often requires more cleanliness than I am used to.”

“Huh.”

Now what was that noise supposed to mean?

He glanced around, uncertain that he’d done it right. And he knew it wasn’t much. The meager light flowing in from the outside revealed a building that hadn’t been a home in a very long time.

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