Page 101 of Demon Food

I swallowed as we passed the barren space, perfectly primed for a new painting.

“Soon,” the king said, ushering me along. “Hopefully, very soon.”

There was not a naïve bone in my body. One didn’t survive an inhospitable orphanage only to survive a cut-throat brothel by anything other than grit and cynicism.

I had no doubt there was a dark, scheming reason the king himself was ushering me through the palace, even if I didn’t know what it was.

But one thing was certain. He was underestimating both of us. He was underestimating Alek. And he was sure-as-fuck underestimating me.

“He doesn’t want me, you know,” I said as he pushed us through clattering double doors, not bothering to acknowledge the three servants who bowed deeply as we passed.

“Does he not?” he asked, eyes fixed straight ahead as he turned us down another long hallway, this one lined with doors on either side.

“Of course, not,” I said, stealing a cold glance at him. “If he wanted to, he would have done it when I was healing his wound. He wasn’t even aroused.”

A smirk twisted his lips. “Yes, why did you do that, human?”

“Because I didn’t see the harm in it. He doesn’t even twitch around me. He never has. Not once.”

He hmphed, like this was news to him.

“And he’s tried to tell you that, if you’d just listen to him. I’m not the one he wants.”

“Ahh. Well, do you know what I think?” he asked, stopping us before one of the doors. One with a label that read, Infirmary. “I think it’s because you’ve not tried to be the one.”

My gaze narrowed. Was he mad? And why the fuck would I do that?

“And I think you’ve not tried because you’ve not been properly incentivized.”

I blinked. It took my brain a moment to comprehend what he’d said. Incentivized.

“Are you ready?” he asked softly, brushing off my shoulders. “Are you ready to see him?”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “Who?”

His grin was wolfish and white as he said, “Your brother.”

29

FELORÉ

The walls inside the infirmary were shrinking, pressing against me as if to press the air from my lungs.

I wasn’t able to move. I was only able to stare at Landry. At his sleeping body.

“You know what is so funny,” the king was saying from somewhere beside me, but I could barely hear him. I could barely even move. “My commander and I could both swear you said your brother’s name was Lennox. What a wild journey you sent my soldiers on.”

Maybe I couldn’t move because my heart was no longer beating for me. The moment I’d stepped into this room, it was his. It’d always been his.

The tiny, pale boy who lay limp on one of the beds lining the walls, only his chest rising and falling with his breath.

“Landry,” the king said. “Landry is his name, and he is so lovely.”

Inside, I was screaming. I was cursing their existence, shouting for him to get my brother’s name off his vile tongue, but there was only silence on my lips. Silence and stillness as the walls and ceiling crowded in tighter.

“He’d fit in nicely at the palace. A pampered concubine for the rest of his days where he’ll be fed and nurtured. Neopal took an immediate liking to him. What luck.”

My swallow hobbled down my throat.