Page 77 of The Demon Prince

He stared down at her and she could feel how lost he was. “I don’t know how to put it down, Katherine. I’ve carried it for so very long.”

Getting up onto her knees, she shortened the gap between them. Scooping the back of his neck, she drew him closer to her and breathed against his lips, “I will help you.”

And because she needed to, because she felt like she would break apart if she didn’t, she kissed him. A soft, quiet kiss. A lingering touch that was gentle and kind.

He parted his own beneath hers, the exhalation of his breath filling her lungs as she consumed his sadness. Drawing it deep into herself so he wasn’t the only one who had to carry it.

And when she parted from him, she whispered against him, “I will carry it with you for as long as you wish to keep it. And then, together, we will let it go.”

A shuddering, trembling breath shook through him before he crushed her to him. Not in a kiss or even for hunger’s sake. He just held her. So Katherine slid her arms around him and held him back. She kept him close to her chest, tucked her head against his shoulder, and held on for as long as he needed her to.

She had no idea how much time passed, only that she listened to the crackling of the fire and the ragged sounds of his breath. And when he finally drew back, she thought perhaps his eyes were a little more red than normal.

“Thank you for that,” he breathed. “I’m not sure you can understand how much I needed to hear it.”

“Oh, I understand well enough.” Skating her thumbs over his cheekbones, she wiped away the last remaining hint of tears from his cheeks. “You don’t have to be alone, Gluttony. Not unless you wish to be.”

“I have been alone for a great many years.”

“Then I have a lot to make up for.” And she refused to stay in this office for any longer than necessary. She had a man to woo, and a heart to mend.

Standing, she held out her hand for him.

Gluttony looked up at her, suspicion already clouding his features. “Where do you wish to take me?”

“To rest.” Katherine was decidedly pleased when he placed his hand in hers and allowed her to draw him to standing. “Stay the night with me, Gluttony. You said you don’t sleep often, but I wonder if perhaps sleep is exactly what you need.”

And so the demon king placed his hand in hers and allowed her to guide him from the room. Together, they walked through the dark halls, and it felt like perhaps they were a little lighter. Just like Spite.

He let her draw him into her bed, quietly and without any complaint. And as Katherine crawled in after him, he curled his body around hers. Like this was the most natural position for the both of them, and she had to imagine that it was.

Because, like everything they did together, it felt so easy to lie with him like this and drift off into sleep.

ChapterTwenty-Eight

Gluttony couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so rested. He didn’t even dream. No nightmares to plague his rest, not even a single thought other than a peaceful, deep rest.

The one time he’d woken during the night, a tiny hand had smoothed over his chest. He’d come out of a dream that he couldn’t remember in a slight daze. A warm body pressed against his side, hugging closer to him with a slight mewl that put a smile on his face.

As she drew closer, Katherine moved in her sleep like she didn’t even know what she was doing. She just snuggled up to him, because she had known he was a little upset in his sleep.

Like she wanted to be near him. Even when he was angry or wasn’t acting like himself. She wanted to cozy up to him and breathe him in and damned if he didn’t want to roll her over and sink into her heat. Gluttony wanted to feel that acceptance all the way through his body until they were one piece. One person.

But he couldn’t do that. She was still Katherine, and he was still... a monster. Even if she didn’t want him to think that he was.

Rolling into the thin beam of sunlight coming through her window, he realized it was one of the rare sunny days in his kingdom. The people in the town were likely all rushing out of their homes. Running into the sunlight and cancelling all their plans for the day.

They would celebrate, as they always did. Pulling out kegs of wine and mead, breaking bread with each other, and visiting family they might not be able to visit on a normal day. But today, not a single monster would reveal itself in the light of the sun. They were safe. No matter where they went.

He lifted a hand into the light, turning his pale wrist back and forth. He didn’t disappear in the sun, so perhaps he wasn’t quite a monster either.

The door to the bathroom opened and a healthy wave of steam erupted from it. Katherine stood in the doorway, wrapped in nothing but a tiny towel. Her hair had turned dark red with the weight of water, tangled on her shoulders and stuck to the sides of her cheeks.

And she smelled divine. So perfect and so lovely, and he’d never seen her in this light before. Never noticed how there were a thousand freckles that danced across her skin in the sunlight. Never knew she would glow like that, as if a goddess herself had stepped into his castle to bestow him a rare gift.

Her cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink as she caught him staring at her. “Sorry,” she said. “I thought you were going to stay sleeping for a while, so I just had a quick bath. I can go back in to change if you—”

But he’d noticed the scars that his brother had mentioned. The scars that were only silvery and barely visible on her face, but that danced down the entire side of her body. He could see the coiled tangle up her leg, and the mottled pattern on her right arm all the way up to her shoulder.

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