Page 95 of The Demon Prince

Though they all silenced the moment a dark figure appeared. Even with the blue light of the spell, Wrath was darkness personified. He suddenly appeared and all the oxygen was sucked out of the room. They all stared at him, waiting for their winged brother to turn around and face them.

Katherine’s soft gasp was the only sound as Wrath finally spun toward them. And Gluttony saw the anger in his eyes the moment his brother saw Gluttony had brought a woman to their meeting.

Katherine shrank in her chair, melting into the fabric as though that might allow her to disappear from his anger. And he knew that Wrath was the most intimidating of them. They all were strange and inhuman, but he was the worst of their lot. Leathery wings, broken and dragging behind him. The scars that covered his body on full display without his cloak or shirt to cover them. And the stitches around his mouth from where he’d been silenced by his own people.

“Wrath,” he murmured, squeezing her fingers and settling back into his chair. “Not as terrifying as he looks.”

“Is that so?” she breathed. “Because he’s looking at me like he wants to kill me.”

“That’s just how he always looks.”

“Are you sure?”

No, but he knew that he’d never seen Wrath look like he didn’t want to rip someone’s spine out of their body. It was a very normal expression for him to wear. And his brother was surveying all the others, those red eyes so similar to Gluttony’s own. Something that irritated Wrath horribly.

And finally, the last brother joined them. Pride blinked into view and he knew the moment all the humans went completely and utterly still that something was very wrong. Or perhaps it was that they were stunned to see such a creature existed.

Pride had taken an image that he knew the humans would worship. Golden skin, a face that was carved by the ancients. A perfect body that never once rebelled on him and, of course, massive white feathered wings that opened and closed with each of his breaths. He had modeled himself as their god, and as such, the humans had followed him without complaint.

“Cheat,” he muttered. Then leaned down to whisper in Katherine’s ear, “That is Pride. Our so-called king.”

And that king turned his attention to Katherine with a laser focus before he snarled, “What is a human doing here?”

All sound in the room ceased. The discomfort stretched as everyone seemed to struggle with how to answer.

It was Selene who first spoke, even though Lust’s hand spasmed on her hip the moment her mouth opened. “There is more than one human here, Pride.”

He turned that glare to Selene and she paled under his scrutiny. “You and Varya are hardly human anymore, are you not? Enlighten me if the spirits inside you have suddenly left and then I will question your right to be here as well.”

“Hey,” Greed snarled, leaning forward on his desk and bracing an arm across it. “Our consorts have every right to be here. Mortal or not.”

“Perhaps yours does, but she is a random mortal from a kingdom of peasants. Explain yourself, Gluttony.”

Anger simmered in his chest. He could feel that battle form already pressing against his skin. He wanted to rage at his brother. Flip his desk and throw it through that stupid shimmering image of a man who thought himself a god. And he refused to bow before a man who could dare to insult the woman he... he...

Fingers squeezed his, and he was brought back to the present. To Katherine’s eyes as she gave him a soft smile. “It’s all right,” she whispered. “Just tell them what you have to tell them.”

And it was all right. Because she was here with him and because nothing would change that. No matter how hard he fought or argued with his brothers, they didn’t matter.

This was his kingdom. And this was his woman. No one would take her from him.

He sat up straight and ignored Pride’s rude interjection. “I have found what they are using to attack us with. The herb is called henbane and is a rather difficult herb to find in my kingdom. Likely why I have seen so very few attacks here.”

Greed let out a grunt. “I’ll have to ask where they’re getting it here.”

“It grows plenty in my kingdom,” Lust murmured.

“The same in mine,” Sloth replied. He even looked a little less relaxed at his desk. “How did you discover this?”

He looked down at Katherine and smiled. “The human you so wrongfully attacked was the one who discovered it. She told me about henbane and how her mother used it when she was younger. Would you care to share what you said to me?”

Katherine’s eyes might have fallen out of her head, they were so big. She looked up at him like he’d asked her to spar with his brothers.

And, he supposed, in a way he had.

But she rose to the challenge, and he’d never felt more proud of her. She cleared her throat before leaning forward. “It is symbolic of the dead, an herb used to converse with the divine. In small doses, it causes hallucinations in mortals. But, I have no way of knowing what it would do to your kind. Apparently, it is rather like a sleeping agent. At least, according to what Gluttony has told me.”

Pride seemed to bristle. “Why should we trust you—”

---