Page 5 of The Demon Prince

Finally, the mass reached the village, and he thought it must be some kind of spirit. Few humans could see them, most didn’t even try, and there were plenty of emotions for spirits to exist off of in his kingdom. But what was this emotion, and why had it come to his castle at all?

Disgruntled, he trailed it through the empty streets until it floated up to the boarding house. Of course. The cesspit for all emotions. Gluttony tried to stay far away from it. But when the little spirit slipped through an open window, he couldn’t stop himself from striding up to the window and peering into the room.

Perhaps he feared the spirit would try to possess someone, not that it was all that easy to do. But then a scent drifted through the opening and he found his entire body locking in place.

Blood in the air, savory, thick, and smoky. It made bile rise in his throat again, but then there was another scent underneath it. He inhaled deeply, ignoring the sudden rush of vomit in his throat.

Because there was something more. Something underneath it all that captivated him.

Honey.

That’s what it was. Sweet honey mixed with ginger and spice, like the tea he’d drink on a cold winter’s day. Soothing, like a balm, it poured down the aching muscles of his throat and filled his lungs with a sense of peace that he hadn’t felt in years.

What was this scent? How did it smell like a warm crackling fire and a cozy blanket tossed over his shoulders?

He stepped closer, knowing this wasn’t his place or his right. That anyone could walk by and see him looming as he peered through an open window. They would scream if they saw him. They would try to throw him out of the town, and he would have to fight back. Blood would spill and flow into the moors until creatures came and attacked with him.

But he would take this risk if only to fill his lungs with that scent until he could taste it on his tongue.

The spirit was nowhere to be found. But the room was a bedroom. Filled with so many trinkets, he could hardly tell where to cast his eyes first. Countless books were strewn about the room, some open, some with folded edges, others that were laying on the pages themselves as if to keep track of where the owner had left off. Vases full of dead flowers and clothing tossed everywhere covered every surface he could see.

But his eyes found a small mound on the bed, rising and falling with her breath in sleep. And he had to look twice, because at first glance it appeared as though blood had spilled across her pillow.

It was her hair, he realized. Long, curly red hair that was the center of that scent he could smell. He was certain of it. Honey and sweet things, and it made his mouth water while that hunger rose from the bottom of his being. He wanted to slip into her room. He wanted to crawl through the shadows and bury his face in those curls.

There was no need to bite her. Not yet. He would soon have her blood. Whenever he wanted, really, he was the demon king. He could order her to give him whatever he desired and yet... Right now, all he wanted to do was curl up on that bed with her and draw whatever comfort he could from her scent.

Leaning against her windowsill, he watched as she rolled over in her sleep. She was strange, he would admit. Her features were slightly broad. Her eyes were spaced too far apart. A faint discoloration marred the right side of her face as well, hardly noticeable, but he’d spent centuries looking at her kind. Freckles dusted her nose. Where she’d gotten them, he had no idea. There was no sun here to give her the little marks that he found he might actually like.

Freckles always reminded him of Lust, and he didn’t particularly like that brother of his. But he could forgive the marks if she continued to smell like that.

Gluttony knew this was foolish. The longer he stayed, the more likely he was to form an attachment to the little creature. He’d already promised himself that he would no longer feed from people who did not first offer themselves. Lingering in the shadows, violating her privacy, wouldn’t lead to her giving herself over to him.

And yet, he couldn’t pull himself away. He wanted to look at her. Just look. He wanted to watch as the dreams moved behind her eyelids and her breathing kicked up a notch. She shifted underneath the covers, and they drew down her lovely neck. Swan-like, he thought. So pale and already throbbing with her pulse.

Perhaps she was having a nightmare, because he was living in one. His claws slowly extended, pushing out through the tips of his fingers like giant needles and he needed to get control over himself or he would bust into her room like an animal enraged.

He wanted...

No.

Needed to taste her.

And when he felt saliva pooling in his mouth, he forced himself to turn away. He had to go. The monster was coming out, and he refused to let it prey upon her.

But something deep in his core knew he’d be back.

ChapterThree

Katherine’s hip was on fire. The pain and stiffness had become a familiar companion in the long days she’d put in at the clinic. But a bad case of lung rot had spread throughout her town, and everyone else had called out sick.

Katherine had already had lung rot when she was a child. Most of these townsfolk hadn’t traveled through the kingdom in the earlier years of their life, and unfortunately, that meant they were very unlikely to have been exposed to it.

So there was no one else to work in the clinic. Her boss had nearly coughed up a lung, telling her that she would get paid double if she came in. He hadn’t needed to offer the money. Katherine only had her work, after all. If they closed the almshouse, she’d have ended up in people’s homes trying to treat them, anyway.

Otherwise, she’d be sitting in her room. Alone, while the pain slowly drove her mad. At least when she was standing and moving, her mind had something to do other than focus on the pain.

But now it was nighttime, and that made everything so much worse. Like now, lying in her bed and staring up at the ceiling. The pain spiked at night, so she tried to distract herself with the numerous cases that came in today. Cases outside of lung rot, even.

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