Page 53 of The Demon Prince

Of course, that made Katherine look at him with wide, stunned eyes. “What?”

“I’m not getting rid of you,” he replied before glaring at his brother. “You almost hurt her.”

“You are getting rid of her, now,” Envy said with a menacing step forward. “She cannot and will not stay here. She’s a distraction from what you’re supposed to be doing. Did you really believe any of us would let you keep her?”

“No one is keeping her,” Gluttony growled. Then he ignored his brother, gently running the back of his finger down her cheek because he couldn’t seem to get his claws back in. “Are you all right, pet?”

“Pet?” Envy repeated with an aggressive snort.

But even Katherine ignored his brother, having eyes only for Gluttony. Her tiny hands pressed against his chest and he felt like the world was only the two of them. “I’m fine.”

“I cut you.”

“It’s not the first time.”

Envy tossed his hands up behind her and groaned. “Not the first time? Gluttony, what have you gotten yourself into?”

Ignoring his brother—although it was starting to get a little harder now—he brushed his fingers down her back. Katherine’s dress was cut in three places. He’d been too careless with her.

There were bandages up in her room, and that would be enough to get her through the next couple of hours for him to deal with his brother. Then he could at the very least put the balm on her. Or stitch her if she needed it, but he could not do that when his damn claws wouldn’t go down because his brother was far too close.

Grinding his teeth, he forced himself to let her go. “Return to your bedroom, pet. I’ll come up in a while. I just need to get rid of our unwelcome visitor.”

But his Katherine was far too brave. She patted his chest and turned to Envy with a soft smile on her face. “Nonsense. I’d have to be blind not to see this is one of your brothers. Which one are you?”

Envy eyed him over her head, one of his brows raised in surprise. “Envy.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Envy. I’m sorry I ran into you. If you’d like something other than water to drink, I can bring it?”

“Wine.”

Over his dead body. “You don’t have to bring him anything, Kat. You are not a maid.”

“I’m going to bring him wine, and I’m going to bring the bandages back with me.” Her gaze watched him as he winced, but then she surprised him again. Katherine reached out and put her hand on his chest again, gently nudging him back. “You’re not wearing any shoes, Gluttony. You’ve got glass all through your feet.”

He looked down and realized he did. There were shards sticking straight out through the top of his foot where he’d rushed to get to her. He hadn’t even felt it in the moment, but now he was standing in a puddle of his own blood.

“Damn,” he muttered. “That’s going to take a while to get out.”

“I’ll do it. I work at the almshouse, remember?” She smiled at him, all confidence and poise, even though he knew she must be shaking at the realization that she was surrounded by demons.

Sighing, he waved her off. As if he needed to give her permission to slip out of the room as he hobbled back toward his table. The damned glass did hurt, surprisingly more than he’d expected.

“Really?” Envy broke the silence first. “You not only kept her around, but you brought her to the castle? What were you thinking?”

“That I didn’t wish to be alone any longer.” He reached for a pair of tongs and rested his ankle on his knee. Picking out the glass would take time, but at least the pain would prevent him from trying to attack his brother. “And that she smelled divine.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I’m tired of being so lonely.” He looked Envy in the eye. “Aren’t you?”

And there was the slightest flicker in his brother’s gaze. Almost as though Envy felt the same way, or perhaps that he was upset Gluttony had found someone who would stay.

It was rare to find a human who could stand them. And Gluttony knew how short her life would be in comparison to all that he would survive.

Still. He wanted his brother to understand why he was doing this.

Envy gave him a little nod. “I hope you know what you’re doing, brother.”

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