Page 3 of Queens

Valeria refuses to look me in the eye.

I chew at the inside of my cheek, trying and failing to rein in my explosive anger. My brown-haired, brown-eyed brother is much too human for his own good, and he carries too many of their sensitive traits. He can’t keep a secret to save his life.

I rise from my chair, eyeing his baby-blue silk shirt with poorly concealed disgust. He’s so…colorful. I hate it, and I openly sneer as I meet his gaze.

“What are you doing here?” I bite out.

David cocks his head to the side, a smile toying at the corners of his lips. “That’s no way to talk to the King of Lust.”

I blink. “Being the King of Lust isn’t nearly as impressive as you believe it to be.”

Lust is filled with weak, sex-fueled demons. They offer no benefits to the larger demon population. Gray stepped down, handing his title over to David four months ago. My brother has been unbearable since.

“Says the woman who still can’t secure herself the title of Queen,” David quips. “Don’t think I didn’t overhear you begging Daddy A. to step down when you heard of my promotion. You reek of jealousy.”

I smack away Valeria’s outstretched hand. I don’t need her fucking peace offering.

“Lust is nothing more than a midsized kingdom of useless, horny demons and cheap brothels,” I say. “Wrath has millions of citizens, political relationships far too complex for your limited intelligence, and an entire fucking army. Leading Wrath is a huge responsibility, so of course I won’t take over at twenty-seven. That would be foolish, and Aziel is far from foolish.”

David laughs. Fuckinglaughs. “I don’t think calling Daddy A. by his given name will make him see you as the adult you so desperately wish to be.”

Power thrums through my veins, pushing at the barriers I keep it locked tightly behind. I should kill David. I should rip out his fucking throat.

“Guys…” Valeria sighs. “We should be working together.”

I shake my head. “Not with David.” I wave an arm in his direction. “He’s going to run to Gray with everything he knows.”

“I am not!”

“Of course you are! You always have, and you—”

“Guys!”

My jaw snaps shut at the rare sound of Valeria’s shout. David’s does the same, but we continue glaring at one another.Is he imagining my bloody death just as much as I’m imagining his?

“David has a contact who can create a tonic to dull your power,” Valera says.

Is that so? I’m hesitant to believe anything he says. David’s known to lie. He’ll do anything to be included. He’s a classic incubus, and he’s not to be trusted.

David smirks, brushing his hands down his shirt. “That’s right.” He’s taunting me. I clench my fists. “I’ve been…spending time with an elven woman for a few months now. She can get me some.”

I raise a brow.

David huffs. “I swear it.”

He seems genuine, and a power-dulling tonic would admittedly be helpful. I can’t enter Mammon’s kingdom like this, not with Aziel’s power roiling through me. It’s distinct, and I’m not great at controlling it. Any flares of strong emotion will put me at risk.

If it seeps out while I’m in Greed, I’m as good as dead.

Mammon must be on high alert. She has to know my family is after her, that we want her head on a fucking stake. She wouldn’t have survived this long if she hadn’t known who her enemies were.

I hope she felt agony when her shifter mate died. I hope it felt like her soul was being ripped out of her chest. Demons don’t have mate bonds, but she was a rare exception. Mammon sent her mate into the shifter realm to murder my mother, probably under the impression that the shifters wouldn’t kill their own, but she miscalculated.

I hope Vont’s death robbed her of every bit of enjoyment she’s ever fucking had.

I hope she burns. I’m going tomakeher burn.

I’m going to sneak into her kingdom under disguise, and I’m going to end this once and for all. Luca’s deathwillbe avenged. I’ll make sure of it. It may be twenty-two years too late, but that’s nothing to the demons. Mammon alone is probably thousands of years old.