Page 33 of The Demon Prince

There were boards over the windows. His floor had once gleamed with polish and now it looked more like a regular, scuffed oak floor. He’d swept up all the shattered pottery, but that left no decorations at all. He didn’t know where to find more, and hadn’t spent enough time in this area to get them all set up for her.

It wasn’t very welcoming. That much he could see.

And now he had a guest who was looking at everything with a rather critical eye, and he didn’t know what to do with her. Did he make excuses for why his house looked like this? Was he supposed to bring her a refreshment?

But oh, his fangs ached because she was supposed to be the refreshment. He’d mistaken her reasoning for being here. They weren’t friends. She wasn’t some young woman coming to his home for a date where they would talk and find out more about the other before she wilted into his arms.

This was a transaction. He could pretend it was all the other things in the world, but she wasn’t here for him. Not really.

He stepped closer to her, perhaps a little too quickly, because she took an answering step back before nervously thrusting her basket out to him. “Here.”

“What is it?” Gluttony had no option other than to grab what she threw at him, although he had no idea what was in the basket. Food? She had to know he wasn’t all that interested in eating.

He had eaten when he’d first taken this body. Enjoyed all the food as well, because there was so much of it for him to eat. But none of it really satisfied him after the first bite. Tasting something new was always enjoyable, but it never lasted. Nothing ever did.

“A gift.” She tilted her chin up, looking back at him defiantly.

Her expression made him nervous. He might not know her very well, but he had seen enough to be wary around her. She was a wily one, this mortal, and the last thing he needed was for her to trick him.

It wouldn’t kill him, of course, but he’d seen what other mortals were doing in the other kingdoms.

Hesitantly, he opened the wicker basket, only to jerk back as a shrieking spirit erupted in a mass of darkness. It spilled out of the basket, icy cold on his hands, as it burst into hysterical laughter.

“You,” he hissed at it.

“You should have seen your face! The great demon king, all wide-eyed and terrified.” The spirit snickered again before looking at Katherine. “Told you it would be worth it.”

“Not really,” Katherine muttered in reply, her voice shaking.

He narrowed his eyes upon them both, but focused on Katherine, who gripped her skirts a little too tightly. He inhaled deeply, scenting her fear in the air and the sweat on her palms. She was nervous. She’d known this would perhaps enrage him, and she’d still taken the risk. Why?

With another step closer to her, he inhaled again. Those large eyes watched him, a little too wary of him for all that he’d done. And still, he found this a rather curious situation.

“Why take the risk?” he muttered, reaching out a hand to coil one of her curls through his fingers. “You clearly were afraid that I would be angry.”

“I’m not afraid you’ll be angry about the spirit.” She tilted her chin up, eyeing him up and down. “But I am very wary of what you’ll think when it all hits you what that situation was.”

“What do you mean?” He could smell her now. That honey coated his throat and spun through his mind like a spell. He could think so little other than what she would taste like.

“It talked to me and I responded.”

And then he froze, because she was right. The spirit had spoken to her, and she to it. Like they’d had a conversation before arriving here, and they must have. There was a plan they both followed. Which meant...

He looked at the black mass before searching her gaze. “You can see it.”

Katherine nodded, biting that lip in such a way that made him want to do it as well. “And I can see you.”

Oh, but those words froze him to the bone. Bitter, icy, he remained locked in place as her words played across the ends of his nerves. “What do you mean, pet?”

“My mother could see spirits. The townspeople thought she was mad, and when she wandered off into the moors, it only made them more certain they were right. But I can see that spirit just fine.” She paused, licking her lips before continuing. “And I can see you.”

Gluttony wasn’t proud of the snarl that ripped out of his throat. “See me?”

“I thought there was something underneath your skin. Ever since I first saw you, there were flickers of something else. Something I didn’t understand until I spoke with this one, and now I realize why I have always been able to set you apart from that monstrous side other people see. You’re a spirit as well, Gluttony. And I can see it.”

This changed everything.

His brothers were going to murder him. Not only was he taking his sweet time in deciphering what the substance was that waited for him in his laboratory, but now he had a young woman who could identify that they weren’t demons at all.

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