Page 1 of The Demon Crown
ChapterOne
Asledgehammer to the face wasn’t how Greed expected to be welcomed back to his kingdom.
But it had certainly done the job his attackers had wanted.
His thoughts filtered back in as he tried to think past the pounding in his skull. It was hard to take down one of the demon kings. Apparently a sledgehammer would do it. He hadn’t expected that.
In any other circumstance, he might have allowed himself to feel surprised. Proud, even. His people were warriors first and foremost. They took what they wanted, and they let nothing stop them. Someone had been brave enough to attack him. It wasn’t the first time, but it was one of the few where he’d felt pain.
He’d like to meet the person who’d done it. Maybe clap them on the back and then crack their nose with his forehead. A little blood never hurt anyone, and he deserved a little retribution.
Grinding his teeth so he didn’t moan, he rolled over onto his side and set his palm down on the earth. No, not earth. Metal. Bad sign. He should have been flat on his back in the dirt, waking up moments after the blinding pain that he remembered. Not somewhere else entirely.
“Ach,” he muttered, groaning as he opened his eyes. Light flickered beyond where he could see and it burned behind his gaze, a headache suddenly blooming at the back of his skull.
He frowned, brows drawn down so tightly they almost hurt as he forced himself upright. His head throbbed. Worse than he’d thought it would. And he tenderly touched the knot on the back of his head while he looked around for any clues as to where he was.
What he found made his blood turn ice cold.
He was in a cage. A metal cage crudely made of iron and what looked like steel. The bars were all uneven distances apart, as though someone hadn’t had enough time to throw this together.
There was a bump on his skull that was the size of a chicken egg, and already he felt rage simmering underneath his skin. Greed could not lose it here. He would not lose control when his people were doing what he’d taught them to do.
Looking down at his body, he tried to assess the damage but was mostly surprised to see there wasn’t really much damage to see. He wasn’t wearing a shirt anymore. All his rings were gone, the necklaces he’d worn, not a scrap of wealth left behind. His pants were still on him, thank goodness, but even they looked dirty. Like he’d been dragged through the mud.
How had he gotten here?
Nerves churned in his belly as he looked around. They were in a cave, it appeared. Nowhere near where they had first attacked him, and unnervingly, his guards were not with him either. Greed had trained his people himself. They were impressive fighters who would stop at nothing to keep him safe, and yet, they were nowhere to be found.
The cave itself was dirty and old, not his attacker’s home base if he had to guess. And his new enemies were all sitting around a fire that burned through his eyes and set fire to the headache that was hard to think around.
They must have heard him sit up. Greed had groaned the moment he’d been upright, but none of them moved. It gave him a moment to look them over.
Dirty.
Musty.
Dirt streaked on their clothing and through their hair. But they were large, at the very least. Tall and broad and muscular. He might have hired them in his own castle if they had approached him for a job.
Unfortunately, they’d tried to kill him, and now he had to kill them.
The biggest of them looked up and yellow eyes met his glare. Yellow, just like Greed’s. Unusual for a human. The man stood up, his height making him seem even more massive than the wide set of his shoulders and broad chest. A scraggly beard covered his face, probably to make him more unrecognizable. His belly stuck out, but not only with weight. There was a natural power to this man, and Greed could see why others would follow him.
He wore leather armor over his chest, molded into the shape of pectorals and abs that he certainly didn’t have. And then the man leaned down, flashing a grin full of gold teeth through the largest gap in the bars.
“Look at you,” he said, his voice low and guttural. “The legendary Greed, all locked up. Right where we want you.”
Greed would not bare his teeth at this criminal like an animal. He was more than that. He was a demon king, and he’d taken this kingdom for his own and held it for almost a thousand years now. Just like his brothers, he could be the politician when the situation called for it.
So he reclined back on his palm and tilted his head to the side, even though it made the world spin. “I’m glad you know who I am. Now, who are you?”
The man laughed. His beard shook with mirth, although it moved slightly too much, like there was something living in the messy tangles. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
What was this? Some kind of kidnapping attempt?
Greed could bend these bars in half if he wanted to. He could destroy the entire cage that they’d built him and then rip out their hearts with his bare hand! They had seen him do this. Everyone in the kingdom knew the rumors or knew someone who had died, impaled on Greed’s claws. Were they so willing to risk their lives?
Apparently they were. Because they all turned to look at him now, their eyes alight with something fierce and dark.
