Page 63 of The Demon Prince

“What?”

“That we’re friends?”

Oh, her heart broke. “Yes. Of course I meant it.”

The mirror wobbled. “Even though I haven’t been very kind to you?”

This Katherine could deal with. And it was the perfect distraction from her own emotions that were rioting inside of her. She scooped the little spirit up and hugged it close. “Even though you haven’t been very kind lately. Everyone deserves a friend, don’t you think?”

It didn’t say much after that, but she swore it was a little lighter as the day turned to night.

ChapterTwenty-Three

Katherine wished she could say she was a braver woman. She wanted to live up to what Gluttony had called her all those months ago. Brave, kind, and confident. That was the person she wanted to be.

But for the next couple of days after their kiss, she was not that person at all.

She hid in her room. She remained avoidant and, frankly, upset about all of it. Not at him, never at him. But at herself for falling so deeply head first into a complicated situation.

Everything had been so easy in the boarding house. She had her room and her friends, or at least the people who could tolerate her. She had her job and all the people who needed her there.

Sure, she’d been lonely. Even surrounded by people, she had been more alone than she was here. And she’d recognized that. Some nights she’d laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering if this was all she was going to have. Just her own little room, until she couldn’t afford to pay for it anymore, and then what?

No one to hold her at night. No one to care if she was even gone.

But she hadn’t thought the solution to that problem would be the most dangerous man in the kingdom, kissing her and touching her in such a way that the mere memory still sent flames throughout her entire body.

She wanted him.

Oh, by the gods, she was an idiot who wanted a demon king.

And so she’d spent a large amount of her time just sitting and staring out the window. Trying her best to muddle through her thoughts that were rather complicated and certainly weren’t productive. She wanted to smack herself across the cheek and say that this was foolish.

But she couldn’t. Because every time Katherine had settled that she would just thrust these emotions aside and forget about it, she saw his face in her mind’s eye. Or she would hear a quiet knock at the door and open it to find food on the other side.

He never pushed her. Never rushed her. Gluttony was the perfect gentleman who gave her all the space and time she needed to make her own decisions. Almost as though he was well aware that she was uncomfortable about the entire situation and that he couldn’t fix it.

A gray mist rolled from underneath the door, sliding through the cracks and then gathering back up in a familiar shape.

“Spite,” she said quietly, returning her attention to the stunning view of the moors. “What are you doing here?”

“I should ask the same of you,” the spirit grumbled. It climbed up to the windowsill to sit beside her. “You’re wallowing.”

“I’m not.”

“You haven’t left this room in days. Not even to go to that job you’re so ridiculously proud of.” It sounded rather disgusted that she was proud of it, though. “You should at least go into the kitchens. Get something to eat. Walk, maybe. You’ll turn into soup on the floor if you stay here much longer.”

She chuckled at its dramatics. “I won’t turn into soup on the floor, you silly spirit.”

“Silly,” it muttered. “When was the last time someone called me silly?”

Katherine leaned back, more grateful for the distraction than the spirit would want to know. “Well, I don’t know. I know nothing about you, really.”

“Didn’t your spirit seeing mother teach you anything about us?”

“If she did, I didn’t listen. Everyone told me she was stark raving mad, so what little girl would listen to her mother when everyone else said spirits were made up stories?” She leaned back in her chair, letting the moors disappear from sight as she focused on the spirit. “So, go on then. What’s your story?”

“Not much of one. I’ve been in this kingdom my entire life.”

---